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Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestions:)!

gregalon

Member
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Messages
43
Hello,

I have a 30-30-30cm nano tank (aquael shrimp set) with an eheim 2211 filter, glassware, heater, 18watt superfish light and an eheim automatic feeder.

It has planted substrate (caribsea) and currently has bogwood, anubias, dwarf hairgrass and cryptocryne. (I WILL TRY TO POST PHOTOS SOON!)

I have 5 rhummynose tetras (3 months and they look healthy, good fins and red noses!), a siamese fighter (finding the current slightly strong but doing well), 2 otos and 2 corys. All the inhabitants seem happy due to many natural hiding spaces and strong flow with regular water changes.
NOW…

Over the summer holidays I would like to change the set up of my tank as I am changing school and will be away from home a lot so I would like an easy set up without too much trouble that my parents can take care of (they do waterchanges and check fish and feed, along side autofeeder).

so my question is…AQUARIUM WITH OR WITHOUT PLANTS?

I would not use fake plants because I personally find them slightly irritating, but rocks and wood and maybe a few natural plants (I absolutely love my microsorum and cryptocryne but the hairgrass is proving high maintenance!)

BUT THE KEY IS TO KEEP IT SIMPLE!
IDEAS PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
GREG
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

That tank is way too small for those fish, especially the rummys.
A hardscape only tank is effective but a plant tank is visually much richer and rewarding.
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

I'd lose the rummys and possibly the Corys - the fighter and Ottos should thrive in there! If no water changes are being done then go low-tech. Try searching the Low tech thread or "walsted method" for low tech tanks.
Off the top of my head i'd cut the light down to 11w and plant with low light slow growers (slow growth = less metabolic activity = fewer waste products ejected by plants into water column = more stable tank). Think about crypts, ferns and mosses. Also consider leaving only the Ottos in there and moving to a shrimp only tank - they help keep plants nice and clean (esp. mosses). Or maybe ask your biology teacher at your new school if you can keep the tank there - a mate of mine did this back in the day!
Hope this helps,
Matt
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. For the otos and beta I did hours of online research and when I went to my local lfs and they didn't have false neon tetras, I'm quite impatient and I asked the shop keeper if they would be ok in my tank and he said yes. I guess I learnt another lesson!

Well I don't want to give my rummynoses back to the pet shop because they seem to be doing quite well in my aquarium and they were'nt doing well in the shop, but I'm keeping a good look out for friends that have aquariums who want them. Because I started aquariums to keep fish I don't want to go all out lo-tech so I'm wondering,

what do you guys recommend for plants which are easy (forground, mid and background, bogwood plant)? thanks
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

I'm growing rotalla "pearl" a supposed hi light species with 11w's I think you'd need some co2 suplimentation even at this low a wattage.

ADG do very good hardscape only tanks that will give you inspiration, bear in mind however, that the fish are temporary and solely "for the photo".
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

Garuf said:
I'm growing rotalla "pearl" a supposed hi light species with 11w's I think you'd need some co2 suplimentation even at this low a wattage.

ADG do very good hardscape only tanks that will give you inspiration, bear in mind however, that the fish are temporary and solely "for the photo".


I'm interested as to why they remove the fish from the hardscape tanks afterwards? Would they not thrive in a non planted environment? thanks gregalon
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

Garuf said:
ADG do very good hardscape only tanks that will give you inspiration, bear in mind however, that the fish are temporary and solely "for the photo".
Which tanks are you referring to, Gareth?

Most I've seen are professional installations for clients who keep the fish long-term.

Their book, The Inspired Aquarium, is also a good read. (edit - just noticed it's £90 on Amazon! :woot: I bought mine for £20 about 5 years ago. )
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

gregalon said:
what do you guys recommend for plants which are easy (forground, mid and background, bogwood plant)? thanks
Driftwood covered in moss is a nice addition to any aquarium, large or small.

Low-maint foreground plants include Cryptocoryne parva and Marsilea hirsuta.

Cryptocoryne wendtii makes a great midground in a nano. Small Anubias or fine textured ferns attached to wood make a nice focal point.

Most easy stems will make good background i.e. Rotala, Limnophila, Hygrophila, Bacopa etc. Ideal for honing your pruning technique too.
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

These two were the ones I had in mind:


There are others in the hardscape only too where the fish are unsuitable which I assumed were on youtube but apparently not.
 
Re: Ideas for easy maintenance and nice nano tank,suggestion

Yeah, no a lot of their recent pro-mo stuff seems to be aimed at the casual hobbyist and for the impact so fish choice isn't really such a big consideration.
 
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