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15 Litre Nano

Top Banana

Top Banana

Seedling
Joined
23 Apr 2013
Messages
13
Afternoon all,

This will be my first attempt at a planted aquarium - I'm sure there'll be mistakes along the way but hopefully with your help I can rectify them early on and have a beautiful nano to appreciate 3 months down the line! Pictures will be up tomorrow once my parcel from AquaEssentials arrives :thumbup:

AQUARIUM
30cm x 29.5cm x 36.5cm

FILTRATION
Superfish Aqua Flow 50 - will most likely upgrade this along the way but to date has served me well.

LIGHTING
Built in LEDs - 33 White & 6 Blue

HEATING
Marina Mini 25W

Pressuried Co2
Yes - I have done small bit of DIY to fit it into the filter - tested it and it appears to work well.

SUBSTRATE
TetraPlant Complete Substrate 2.8kg

FERTILISERS
Yet to come fully to terms with fertilisers, I have ProFito (which I've been informed isn't sufficient for a Co2 infused aquarium) - I'm sure I'll learn all about it sooner rather than later! Plan on making up my own Liquid Co2 in the coming days. Any advice a fertiliser for my tank would be greatly appreciated!

PLANTS
Due to arrive tomorrow are:
  • Anubias Nana
  • Bacopa Compacta
  • Bacopa Crenata / Monnieri
  • Cryptocoryne Amicorum
  • Hydrocotyle Tripartita
  • Microsorioum Mini
  • Rotala Rotundifolia
Haven't really thought about what livestock to put in - maybe shrimp, maybe a Betta. I'll decide along the way! I look forward to your invaluable criticisms. :D
 
Okay so the plants aren't going to be delivered until tomorrow :( I'll start my attempt as soon as I get in from work though and post up the result tomorrow night.
 
Tank might be a wee bit small for a betta. Planted tanks need good flow too and in a tank this size the betta wouldn't have anywhere to go to get a break from strong flow. Mind you I'm confused by the tank dimensions as they suggest the tank volume will be twice the 15 litre quoted in your journal title?
 
I'm going off what the manufacturer specifies - I've just calculated it myself now and you're right, those dimensions give 32 Litres. I presume that it will include the trim and lighting above the tank; I'll measure it out when I fill it up tomorrow!

Are there any other fish suggestions then if the Betta may be too small an inhabitant?

Cheers for your advice,

Danny.
 
You could go for a pair or trio of small live bearers such as endlers but I don't think 15l is big enough for fish personally, have you looked into shrimp, such as sakura cherrys or other vivid varieties.
 
Just finished planting it now! I'll try to post up pictures of my progress later on.

Thanks for the suggestions Palm Tree; I'll look in to it. I'm a little bit worried about having shrimp - as you'll see from my pictures I have a large piece of wood that comes out of the tank so I'm a little cautious of the fact that shrimp would stroll straight out! :)

I've been researching some more about Bettas with very mixed results, some say anything above a gallon of water is sufficient, some say anything over ten! Confused, very confused.
 
I have a Betta in a fluval flora, 30x30x35(h) 30l tank and I will probably upgrade him when I rearrange some tanks, right now he is ok but there is only some moss and crypts in there. A 25cm cube would be the bare minimum if it wasn't planted at all, and in that case it would only be temporary.
Also note that Bettas will jump out of open top tanks no matter what, however with shrimp if you fill a couple cm from the rim they will not escape.
 
Bettas can survive in a gallon of water, infact I saw them in Thailand being kept in jars by the locals, but I think quality of life is important too. Male bettas can get pretty big so it will make your aquascape look tiny too.
 
Cheers for the replies - I've managed to hack away at the acrylic sheet that came with the tank to allow for the wood to protrude out of the tank whilst still covering the water.

I agree regarding the quality of life - if it's going to be cruel on the livestock in anyway then obviously it rules them out!
 
Have you figured out how many litres you have then? I keep dwarf puffers and a 30cm cube is perfect for a pair of these fascinating fish. Look at Dwarfpuffers.com The only down side is they are very aggressive and really limit what can go in the tank with them, ie you might get away with some amano shrimp to clean up.
 
This is the tank completely bare:
O8JSIYA.jpg


This is the piece of wood that I used - I wanted to use something that would really be the focal piece of the tank.
WnNNELy.jpg


And finally this is the tank as is, fully planted!
vPJejxf.jpg
 
LDCGroomer - I measured out the water with the plants, substrate and bogwood already in the tank and it came to around 13L. That website you showed me is very interesting, but it suggests a tank of 5US gallons which would leave me approximately 5L short of water.

What is the average tank size for dwarf puffers?
 
I have a pair in a 16ltr tank as a temporary measure but they are going into a 30cm cube whenever thats ready. They don't behave any differently in the 16l than they did in my 54l so I can't really say they aren't happy. 13l is really small so you may be better going for some hardy shrimp, You get cherries in a variety of colours and they are so interesting to watch.
 
What are the chances that the shrimp will escape from the tank given that the wood would allow them a clear path up and out? That is my main worry with having shrimp in with this layout.

I was doing some more research on dwarf puffers last night; it's a great recommendation and a shame that I can't fit them in this tank - I'll definitely set up a dedicated tank in the future though. For some reason I always thought they needed a far larger tank hence why I had steered clear of them!

I'm not planning on putting any livestock in yet for another month at least to let the plants root in and for me to mess around with any changes that are necessary. I today purchased some Neutro+ fertiliser and Neutro CO2 along with a fresh AquaEl internal filter that gives me up to 260L of output. That should help spread the pressurised CO2!
 
Thanks for that suggestion - I'll certainly look in to it! I'd presume something like ebay would be my best bet for getting cheap ones to test whether they'd stay in the tank?

And just an open question, would it be possible for me to tie the Hydrocotyle Tripartita to the wood so that it grows along and up it?
 
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