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AquaNano 40 modifications

DaveyC

New Member
Joined
7 May 2018
Messages
15
Location
Gloucestershire
I had to make a few improvements to my AquaNano 40 (55 litres) before it was great for growing plants.

I replaced the intake polypad that came with the tank with a coarse AquaNano filter media block cut to size to keep the filter turnover high as shown in the photo below:

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When the filter pump is on, a gap opens up between the plastic back and the glass on the left hand side of the tank as you look at it and water bypasses the intake making the filter less efficient. I squeezed in another filter media block (might have been a Juwel one) in the bottom of the filter compartment to close the gap at the bottom.

The suckers on the pump give out over time so, again, a filter media block can be squeezed into the filter compartment for the pump to sit on. Has the added advantage of making the pump quieter and further helps with the the water bypassing problem mentioned above by closing the gap at the top. You can just about see it on the photo below:

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The photo above also shows a curved filter outflow pipe attached to the filter pump. This is a bit of a silicone engine pipe from that great online auction site we all know and love. A search on "Auto Silicone Hoses 45 Degree Elbow - Coolant Car Engine Pipe" will hopefully sort you out. You then have to saw the pipe in half. It means you can stop the pump output from disturbing the water surface too much.

The great thing about this tank is that the CO2 diffuser can be attached to the glass at the top of chamber 2 in the filter compartments and so maximises the time the bubbles are in contact with water. They get sucked down then up and through the filter pump and bomb around the tank.

I would really recommend this tank - I continue to have a lot of fun with it. The LED lighting is superb and the greens look more intense in real life than in my photos which look a bit bleached out.

Best to clean the back plastic panel with a fine filter media block rather than a razor blade like I did and ruin the surface of it.

Hope this helps!

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Son has the aqua nano 60 which has moded the internal sump filter very similar to yours so heater and CO2 atomiser fits in there as well. He has chihiros A series LED light with a TC420 plus he has a Hydor nano nano wave maker on and off every five minutes or so. He also has a surface ehiem surface skimmer in the first compartment of the internal sump as well. No algea on any plants but does have his [CO2] in the yellow on the DC like myself.
Great little tanks which with a bit of moding can do great scapes
 
I've got one of those Eheim skimmers and did think about doing that but my fish are small enough to get through the filter intake grill so the coarse filter is a physical barrier to them really.

I will check out the kit you mention.

Forgot to say that you can also make a plastic "cap" to sit on top of the filter compartment to stop algae growing in the compartment itself and to slow the growth on the black plastic wall in the tank. Also has the pleasing effect of creating a shadow that blacks out the back of the tank when you look at it from the front and the filter out pipe becomes almost invisible. The black plastic sheet was from Ebay.

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