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Nano 8L "messcube"

whitey

whitey

Seedling
Joined
22 Sep 2009
Messages
103
Location
Dorset, UK
Hi
Recently I've set up a small tank in the kitchen. At the moment is just mess inside (throwing some plants from bigger tank), maybe after Easter I'll have some idea how to rescape it. Some information below:
Tank DIY 20x20x20cm (made from old clear seal 60x20x20 which had cracked corners), small hang on filter 25W, heater, Arcadia 11W light (cheers SteveUK!) (actually I need to replace the light to Arcadia 9W one, if someone is interested);
substrate: akadama+some rocks+sand; plants: Haigrass, Glossostigma and Mayaca fluviatilis.
Easycarbo (standard dosing) and PMDD 5 drops every day.
No life stock at the moment, some snails (cherry shrimps in the future)

nano.jpg


Cheers
 
That's really cute Whitey! Glad the Arcadia is doing it's job. I'm definately a fan of the Mayaca/eleocharis look :) Nice idea to cut down the tank and make a nice cube out of it, was it hard to do?
 
Hi Steve. That was my first attempt to cut the glass (reel from B&Q) and it was quite tricky I must admit. In my opinion if the glass is fairly "fresh" (I mean not from old tank like 3 years old) is easier. The trickiest part is polishing edges, require lot of patience.
Anyway, I've discovered really nice way to keep the cube clean after sealing. On all the edges you have to apply scotch tape (transparent one), then standard procedure - put everything together (in right order: front, both sides, back) and smear by a finger all the corners. Instantly afterward gently remove the tape. You need leave without the tape only the surface which you'll stick together, see picture below:

smear_and_remove.jpg


It's good to to play during the operation Metallica piece: "Smear and remove", very helpful :lol:
 
Thats going to look great when it grows out, nice simple scape and the tank has come out great too!
I remember speaking to you at work quite a while back about making small tanks and you used the exact same method as me to make sure you dont get silicone all over the glass, works a treat for those not as experienced with tank building as the pros!
How do you find the akadama works out? Do you have to cap it and does it increace the GK/KH at all?
 
Hi. Your small tank looks brilliant, making me jealous ;). And it's probably the same which I've used as a source to build mine. I'm not bothered at the moment about GH/kH because I haven't got any livestock (just small snails but they are tough buggers). In bigger tank GH an kH is dropping quite a lot. My tap water is approx. 10/20 kh/gh after 2 days is about 6/14 5/12. So far no disaster even with quite a lot of CO2, fingers crossed. Again I'll probably replace sand by akadama in the future.
Cheers!
 
Nice cube :) i have a cude that i could do with a better light to team with the standard one that came with it so if you do get a 9w pm me as im interested in this one :)

Regards Ryan
 
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