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Superfish Scaper Tanks

I've recently picked up a second-hand Scaper 45, and this thread has been very useful reading - many thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences with it. How are your tanks doing now? Any tips and tricks over a year on?

My modifications (thus far using only second-hand stuff I already have):
  • I've put a fine foam pre-filter sponge on the intake. I considered tying one of the coarse foam pieces around it, but I felt like it wouldn't reliably protect shrimp or delicate fins, so I've got the fine foam on it for now since it was more able to fully enclose the intake.
  • I've put two coarse foam pads inside a cartridge cage, specifically the final cartridge with the stopper on it, so the water is forced to travel through the foam.
  • I'm planning to put some Biomax rings in the rest of the filter, and try to arrange it so the water goes through a polishing pad.

Lauren at Tiny Menagerie says the skimmer is a death trap for shrimp, so I'll see about making a cover for it. And following the advice on this thread, I'll look into getting a dimmer that works with the light!
 
Awesome stuff, post up a few photos.
I'm in the middle of refreshing mine after a couple of years use. You're right about the skimmer, it can be a shrimp hoover, so I put a tiny conical piece of coarse foam in it, cut to size. This prevents shrimp loss.
I'm very impressed with this 45L, it's great value for money.
 

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Very nice! I love those dramatic root tendrils :) I was planning to do a journal with photos once I've made more progress on setting up the tank, but sure, here's a snap of the two filter mods so far:

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The Biomax is currently cycling in a little holding bowl where I'm also keeping spare plants and pre-leeching ammonia from the aquasoil.

Oh, also, the tank came with lid clips and some sheets of thin acrylic which the previous owner cut to size himself. I've sliced my fingers on them several times already so will definitely be replacing ASAP! My intention is for this tank to be an upgrade for my betta, so I'm absolutely not going lidless, as he's an excellent little jumper. I'd ideally like to make something with a feeding hatch so I don't need to remove the entire lid every time I feed him - I'll have a look through the forum (and beyond) for more info later, but if anyone has good links / tips readily to hand, that'd be much appreciated :)

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The skimmer is sitting very weirdly - I don't think the pipe should be protruding from the top like that? I've watched quite a few videos and checked posts/pictures, and not seen this or heard anyone reporting it as a problem, so I'm wondering if there's a missing piece or something since I got this second-hand. Any ideas?

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I thought it might be that, but in the review videos I watched (Tiny Menagerie, Natquascape, Everyday Aquarist) I couldn't see the pipe poking out of the top when they were assembling it dry :) Thanks for letting me know!
 
jameson_uk said:
Just noticed these tanks (45/60/90 cm) pop up and wondered if anyone has seen these in the flesh?
Seem reasonable value and comes with an LED light, HOB, foam underlay, background foil and some Columbo ferts / carbon (the 45cm seems to be ~ £110).
They are apparently made of "Crystal Clear" glass 🤔 Not sure if this is just glass you can see through :angelic: or whether this is actually good low iron stuff.
The LED has a D energy rating which seems a bit odd but it does give a PAR rating.
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Hi - I'm quite a newbie , but I've just bought my first proper scapers tank - its the Superfish 60 Qube ( stupid name !!!) My lfs has one set up with an iwagumi , so I've sort of adapted it for a wild betta ( with lots of stem plants at the back 1/3 as hiding places ) I hope they'll feel comfortable . I'm not sure what the ' crystal clear' glass is - it has a slightly green hue along the side ends , so I don't think its low iron ; but it looks good so far . Set it up yesterday .
 
I just set up my scaper 45, for the price it's amazing. I put corse foam wrapped in filter floss in the first cartridge of the filter and ehiem bio balls in a filter bag in the second. I got about 18 nano fish and shrimp. And about 20 plants. So far so good just past the white fungus stage, but not much algae.
 
I finally ordered the S2pro dimmer, after just having the light on a timer for ages, and now it's here I'm totally stumped. How am I supposed to connect it to the light that comes with this tank? The light has a continuous lead, no adapters. What am I missing?
 
... oh my god. I thought I'd checked the cable all the way along but nope, this bit was hiding from me. Well, now I feel very silly. I'm currently stressed/tired and clearly not at my best. Thank you!
 
Coming back with another question - has anyone had success escape-proofing it, or is this just not a tank for Amano shrimp? I found these sad dried-out shrimp during a deep clean of the living room. I'm currently using the polycarbonate lid method but evidently that wasn't good enough! (Excuse the algae buildup.)

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UrbanDryad said:
Coming back with another question - has anyone had success escape-proofing it, or is this just not a tank for Amano shrimp? I found these sad dried-out shrimp during a deep clean of the living room. I'm currently using the polycarbonate lid method but evidently that wasn't good enough! (Excuse the algae buildup.)

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Can’t imagine much better than what you’ve got there. I have lots of plants growing above the water line so a lid wouldn’t work for me. None of my shrimps ever jumped out though. Didn’t know they were likely to escape.
 
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