Zoom's 38l Nano

Hi Brads,

The tank looks pretty much the same as the last update. Just a little bit more grass growing. I took one of the "trees" out because it kept falling over and irritating me.

The canister is working very well actually. The noise I was a little worried about is completely gone... as I thought it would, and is completely silent now.

I'm struggling a bit with Green Spot Algae on the glass at the moment though. I actually don't mind seeing it on the tank by about day 6 or 7 after waterchange, because that means I have a nice balance with nutrient uptake with regards to the nitrates. However this GSA is now starting on about day 4... meaning I have a bit of a nitrate problem. Might be because of the fish, overfeeding, or over fertz. Not too sure at this stage. The fish in this tank only get fed once a day, light is on 8 hours a day. Fertz is according to Professor's instructions. So I can only assume it's finding the balance between the new filter and the tank at them moment that is throwing it off a bit.

I will post some pics this weekend.

Z

 

Update 17 August 2010

This Tank has been up and running for 3 months now. And I must admit I am now getting to the point where I am almost ready to move onto the next phase....

The next phase is a bit daunting, because I actually don't know what I want to do... LOL. So any suggestions would be appreciated. (Hint Hint: Vis, Rudi, Brads...)

At you can see the hairgrass is growing very well. Gerhard told me the yesterday that the grass won't grow in a vertically mounted CFL... so I just had to prove him wrong. (Even though I know Gerhard said it in fun and games)

So before I bore you with too much details.. here are the pics:



In the last picture you can see the inlet to the canister on the left, and the spraybar at the top. This filter has far surpassed my expectations, and I would recommend it to anyone looking at a small tank like this.

I have not quite nailed the fertilization stratedgy yet, and after following Rudi's DRY START thread (here), I am going to consider sweet talking him into sharing his secrets with me.

I have spoken to a member down in CT about getting some other small plants... just waiting for her to have some "left over" that she wouldn't mind posting up my way.

I am also almost ready to get the moss going in this tank. I'm still considering doing a moss wall at the back to hide all the equipment, alternately I was thinking of doing some kind of moss "columns" on the left and right hand sides to hide the inlet pipe for the canister and the heater. This all comes down to how I finally decide to scape this tank.

On a different note... I chucked in some brother and sister guppies (1m, 3f) into this tank about a month ago to assist with the algae... and this weekend we have found 6 or 7 babies. So this tank has even got some breeding going on in there. (Even tho guppies will just about breed in stagnant pee!)

The moment I am settled on the scape, I will take the guppies out, and get a school of 10-15 Cardinal Tetra's, or Neons. All depends on what is available at the time, quality, and price.

Send some suggestions...
(And send some moss if you have... I will gladly pay you for postage)

Regards

Ashley

 

Who would have guest, they do work vertical:blink1:

That grass is looking good. I would also like to get hold of Rudi, you can do the sweet talk and i will then threaten him if he does not deliver because he got some great growth in just 2 weeks. Maybe hair grass just grow slower?

OK about the scape.

You need a really cool looking little rock in there somewhere.
Maybe to hide the heater and such some of that red rotala? Densely planted.I know some people have it. You should have enough light etc to keep it.

Moss wall can also work with the correct moss. Try Spiky moss, got a moss wall of that going in one of my nanos and it looks really good when it fills in.

Not sure I would turn that piece of wood into a tree. It looks somewhat mystic like it is now.

 

Thanks Vis,

I'll see if I can get hold of that red rotala. Looks interesting when I googled it. I will also try the spiky moss... also prefer it to the old fashioned Java moss.

I've got some rocks I wanna play around with... just haven't had the time to put them in yet.

And yes, I agree 100%, that wood looks nice the way it is set up... I'm not going to SPOIL it with moss. (LOL)

 

Spoil it with moss, the nerve of this man LOL

One more suggestion.
Do the moss wall as background and use the wood as a tree but with
Anubias nana as the tree canopy. This would also creaye a contrast with the background
and finer hairgrass below. If it does not work it should remove very easily.

 

I love this idea!!!

Zoom, I definitely have loads of spare plants for you. My man is currently out of the country (in Namibia) so when he get's back (26 August) I'll send those plants to you. I left some floating in my 3ft and they've pretty much doubled in size

Anyhoo, the growth looks great! I wouldn't change too much... maybe only add the anubia's like Vis suggested?

Regards

 

I was originally going to go with the Anubias route. (Guys... don't mention Anubias Nana... it's blacklisted.. heehee)

But the problem is that the leaves of the anubias is going to be HUGELY out of preportion to the wood!

I've managed to source some Red Rotala, so gonna give that a go when it arrives.

Linxie, that would be GREATLY appreciated.

Regards

 

hey zoom

Tank is looking good.

I think the "tree" idea is cool!
So what is the next step? - some fishies?

:blink1::blink1:

 

I'm still playing with the tree idea. not sure if I want to go with a full tree, or leave it as it is.

next step is other plants.

Guppies are in already... but want to change that eventually.

 

Hey Ashley,
Change the back ground to black and take out the smaller pieces of wood.You've placed the bigger piece roughly according the Golden ratio and the other pieces are very distracting.The black back ground will bring out the green of the grass.
When you take pics. next time ,consider removing all the equipment for the photos,the scape will look allot less cluttered.
If by "red rotala" you mean R.rotundifolia,the leave size could be to big and could over power the scape,try something with a finer leave shape,like R.wallichii.But personally I would not add more plants.The image of a lone,dead tree stump on a hill appeals to me.
You should also consider the fish you want to add carefully,10 or 15 neons will really over power the design,in your case less is more,so think smaller and less.Neons and Cardinals ,although small,still grow quite big,and in this case even a small neon can be to big.If you could find Rasbora maculata,they would look stunning.
Anyway,it's looking great.
Rudi

 

Thanks Rudi...

TAKE OUT THE EQUIPMENT... (You gotta be kidding!!!) Actually, that is a good idea... and I like the black background idea too. Next W/C I'll just turn the one that's on there around. (The other side is black).

When I saw you had commented on the thread I was all exciting thinking.. here it is... Rudi's secret fertz.... but alas... next time maybe.

I might change those 2 pieces of wood for the one I actually took out. It's a lot more appealing.

Can you give more explanation on the "Golden Ratio"?

 

You find the golden ratio in al kinds of art and even on your tv if
you know what to look for.
It works in thirds. If you devide a picture in three the two lines making the devision
will be the golden ratio. Also counts vertical as horizontal.
This is focus points according to artists. Check a movie or paintings and you will see
the peoples heads or the house in the painting is in the golden ratio.

It is fine taking the equipment out for a photograph but I like to hide the equip
because I do not like looking into them when not taking photographs.

Rudi is correct with the simplicity.

 

New idea for a background PLAGUED my mind all day. I itched to go to the stores all day to go get the stuff, but only managed to get there at 16h30.

All I can tell you so far is that it's another DIY coming up soon, and hopefully by the end of the weekend, I'll be able to post something to show ya'll.

 

Boraras species all the way. I don't think they are on the banned list. May I be honest? Ditch the wood. The presence of a single plant species is more along the lines of Iwagumi style aquascaping. A simple scape would be to get 3 rocks, two smaller, one larger. Arrange the larger rock in the Golden ratio of the tank, both in width and length. Then position the two smaller rocks, so that they "bow" to the larger rock. This is called Sanzon Iwagumi. You then compliment with very small species of a shoaling fish. Many will opt for a black background. This way, you can keep your basic scape, not worry about adding more plants. Up to you, but when I look at your tank, I see a nice Sanzon Iwagumi already half done.

Great growth on that hairgrass, by the way! Looks very good.

ECS

 

Why not the Iwagumi but with wood? Have always only seen them with rocks.

 

Nope... the Iwagumi stuff is too minimalistic for my tastes. I want neat... but not bare. They are lovely tanks.. don't get me wrong... but I've got something else under my sleeves that will blow the Iwagumi idea right out the water.

 

If you've seen my DIY pebble background thread (here), then you've seen this pic.

Tank has stood for 2 weeks whilst I made the pebble wall.





UPDATE:
During the two weeks, I didn't do ANY wayer change. Tank is 11 litres, had 5 adult guppies, and 7 fry. The glass got a LAYER of algae. NOT green spot algae, but rather an extremely fine hairy algae. It "whisps" around in the current. Figured I may be overfeeding the fish, as a pinch once a night is obviously more than enough for this tank... however, when I tested the water this evening, I get the following readings:

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0... But not just zeore... NOTHING registered. I tested 3 times with same test kit. (On my big tank it read 20ppm... so I know it should work). Took water to the LPS quick for them to test, and they had same result... not even a reading. Water remained completely clear in the test tube. So I'm only assuming that the algae is some sort of nitrate anialator.

Anyway.... cleaned it all up, took the adult guppies out and put them back with the big tank, and left the fry. Changed the "stump" and added the rock wall.

You will also see some small plant on the left. It grows tiny leaves on a long stem. (Don't know it's name) It was dying in my big tank, (due to me lowering the light intensity in it for the past 4 weeks). Gonna see how it works in this tank.

I'm still using the Prof's fertz (but not the GH+) in this tank, and have just added my first does of Flourish Excel to the tank. I'm suppose to put in daily... but to try and put in 0.025ml every day may be a bit difficult.

Regards

 

Cool little tank.

I like the grass ground cover.

Well done.

 

Ashley,'small plant' Bacopa monnieri,slow to medium fast grower,needs medium to high light.
Rudi

 

Wow Ashley, looks beautiful, I love the pebble wall, well done!