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Desk Nano, your input? :)

Skunk

Skunk

Seedling
Joined
24 Sep 2010
Messages
14
Location
Hull, UK
Hey there guys!

I'm 18, been interested in keeping fish for the past year. I currently have 2 beautiful Ranchus, Fuji and MotoMoto, along with Golden Zebra Danios, White Cloud Mountain Minnows, Apple Snails (plus new hatchlings :D). I also have two juvenile axolotls :) I have a lot of plants in my coldwater tank, my faviourite being Cabomba, it looks prehistoric :D Glad to see it being used in Takashi Amano's Gallery (means I can use it!) :D

I've recently acquired a new pc (well iMac <3) and so had to remove the tanks I had on my desk, in replacement I got an Aqua 40 :) I just can't not have a tank on my desk!

It's 25L, has a built in light and came with a free filter and heater.

I set it up today, I had got Tetra Complete Substrate, and was a bit bewildered when it said that I needed to cap it (after advice that I didn't need to!). Anyway, after some research, I decided to go ahead and use it. I already had washed sand (basic Unipac) that I had in a tank which I'm cycling as an upgrade for my axolotls. So, about 3cm of the Tetra went in, and then about the same of the sand, higher in some areas than others.

I got it filled up with dechlorinated water (of course using the dish method to avoid flying substrate!), got the filter and heater turned on, and added bacterlife (whatever good that might do! It's just habit I suppose!).

I want to get some hardscape for it...bit late though now? Hmm!

I'm planning to move some livestock into it in about 3 weeks; if all of the water parameters are stable.
Possible stocking list:
-Lots of cherry shrimp and some golden zebra danio fry I should have by then (I had a breeding pair lay today in a separate tank); or
- Dwarf Puffer :D Love these guys, but are they ok to be solitary?; or
- Betta Splendens (Siamese Fighting Fish), have had these before, but I can imagine a single male swimming around the large rock formation I'm planning, think it would look quite cool :D; or
- An invert of some type, I really like crabs, but of course they need a terrestrial area, do they all? Or is there a completely aquatic species?; or
- Guppies, bit boring, but they are pretty.

I know my choices are limited because of the size of the tank, and that they tend to be a bit more unstable, but I've had experience in small, unruly tanks! :lol: My first ever tank was 16L...(was for a single male fighter, so no cruelty there! :p)

Anyway, back to the plants!!

I want something that will carpet well for the majority of the tank, and I'm really keen on using Cabomba to cover up the hideous filter and heater.

I'm planning on dosing daily (or what is recommended) with easy carbo and a Tetra Plantamin. Not wanting to use CO2 at this point.

Plenty of questions there, but honest, this is a journal entry! :D

33849_432741816289_641271289_5627107_5978214_n.jpg


Will check ammonia levels at a more godly hour, see how that is, if it's low I'll probably add fish flake as I usually do with my cycling tanks.

Back to more reading about plants! :D

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
You can have good results with hairgrass if you have sand topping up the Tetra Substrate. Also Marsilea Hirsuta grow very fast to make a carpet. If you want to keep away from CO2, then why not just use Anubias and Java Ferns, setting up a low tech tank?

Carpeting plants, apart from mosses, will require CO2.

Mosses is a good choice, so maybe look at that, you can get a mesh that would cover large part of the substrate and use it with moss.
 
Tom said:
You could probably go for 2-3 Dwarf Puffers in this tank from experience - just make sure there's hiding places. I'd go for the puffers, but then different puffers are pretty much all I've ever kept!

Tom
Click to expand...

Ah cool, glad to know that I can actually keep them! :D Not sure if there will be enough hiding spaces though, unless dense cabomba would be enough?

And, I thought using easycarbo was similar to using CO2, just less sophisticated?

Not too keen on using Java Fern, as I have that in my other tanks, but the hairgrass sounds a good idea. Will check that out along with the other species you named :) I've seen some carpet mosses on a mesh from ebay, I had a look at riccia too, would that be an option?

Thanks for the advice!

Will be making a plant order sometime this week :)
 
Just done some parameters, with API droppers.

Ammonia: 0.25ppm
NitrIte: 0ppm
NitrAte: 20ppm
pH: 7.8 ish.

My Nitrate in my other tanks is usually around 35ppm, and ph about 8.4. High I know :p but I take plenty of precautions!

Going to add an ammonia source, i.e. some fish flake.
 
It's been about a month now and the progress with parameters seem good, but haven't tested in two weeks, hopefully it will have fully cycled by now.

Still considering what fish will be going in. Have picked up a beautiful piece of granite as the centre rock, looking around for some more smaller pieces.
 
Have purchased some plants and used tweezers to put all the little seperate plantlets in! I bought 2 Cyperus Helferi as the background, and 3 Glossostigma Elatinoides (all potted and from Maidenhead Aquatics). Seem to be very healthy plants and pleased with how they look, some photos to come soon :)

Still trying to work out what fish I want. Seen Green Tiger Barbs which are beautiful, but red eye tetra also look good. Really don't know as there is so much choice at my lfs.
 
Decided to go for guppies, they were acting as feeders in my axie tank for the last week, felt too bad and have moved them into this tank. Never gonna use feeder fish again, none were eaten :p but felt bad anyway, lol.
 
Up soon! Must remember to charge the camera! :p

EDIT: Aww, just looked and I have about 5 guppy fry :)
 
Hey Skunk, that Glosso is looking a bit tall, if you want it to carpet cut each stem right above the lowest set of leaves and cut the bits that float to the top in to individual plantlets and replant, a set of tweezers is the best tool for planting.

This is my Glosso 1 week after planting. It has been trimmed once as bits of it were climbing upwards.

1o7se8.jpg
 
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