My First Nano-Tank (By Sony!) ;)

[MacTech]

Sorry, couldn't resist the title

i just picked up a 2.5G All Glass tank and glass hood, i want to challenge myself setting up a nanotank and thinking small, it'll likely be plant-only, maybe a couple of shrimp, but it'll probably be plant-only

a couple of questions;

how critical is heating going to be, i typically keep the apartment around 68-72 in the winter, summer will vary depending on ambient air temp. but it typically runs around 70'ish

how critical is filtration/water movement?, there'll be no fish in it, so there'll be no real need for oxygenation, right? the plants do that themselves, and since i'll be predomanently using the Flourish line of liquids, the detrirus in the tank should be minimal

i have a spare Aquaclear Mini and VisiTherm 50 heater, but i'd imagine that'd be overkill on a 2.5

as it stands right now, i'm running the AC Mini (to clear out any dust or crud in the gravel) and using the small gravel (2 mm or so) and i have a 20W halogen desk lamp supplying light, (i know WPG is really only for flourescents, but what's the approx. WPG for Halogen lighting?

ambient air temps are in the high 80's so a heater is currently unneccecary, that said, i'll probably end up putting in the VisiTherm 50 *if* i decide to put a fish (or snail or invert) in, i'll probably turn the flow down to minimum on the Mini, just to get faint surface motion

i'm trying to decide between smaller gravel (similar to the fine gravel in the 20L) or a small bag of plant-specific substrate (kitty litter, flourite, eco-complete, etc...) problem is, it seems to be a waste to buy a big bag of plant substrate that i'm only going to use a tiny percentage of the nanotank...

yes, i know i could use it in the 20L and gradually replace the gravel with plant substrate....

i have a Dwarf Chain Sword currently in the tank as the starter plant, and when i get back to the apartment, i'll add in some of my surplus plants to this tank

[Wasserpest]

Regarding the heating, you should be okay without heater if it doesn't get below 70 in the room. I'd be more concerned with overheating due to the lights, just need to keep monitoring the temperature. Many plants don't mind the lower temps, shrimp-wise you'd need to do some research, some of them are doing great with lower temps, like ghost shrimps, others might be more sensitive.

I think water movement is always beneficial for plants, but you can do without, there are many examples of successful nanos/flower vases without any circulation. If you decide to add some filter, you should probably go a size smaller than the AC Mini, but turning down the flow might be a good option. I think there are smaller ones available from Azoo, not sure though. Or you could just use a tiny powerhead, like the AS 404, and put a sponge on the outlet to slow down the current further.

I hope you can resist the urge to add fish to that... it is too small for any fish, not so much space-wise, but the small water volume will undergo severe fluctuations (temperature, oxygen, pH, etc) in short time, not good for any fishies.

[MacTech]

Yeah, i figured a 2.5 would be too small, even for a betta, this will be plant-only, perhaps a couple of cherry or Amano shrimp, what i really want to do is to get a carpet of Glosso going, maybe an Amano-style layout, a "Bonsai-Tank" if you will....

filterwise, i also have a spare Hagen 1+ submersible power filter, which would probably be overkill, the biggest problem i have with HOB's on this tank is that it makes it impossible for the glass top to fit flush, yet the submersible filters like the Hagen 1+, and the Whisper 2-10i eat up valuable tank space and are just plain ugly

[pufferfreak]

i bet you could heat that small of a tank up with a human electrical heating pad. no need for filter really.......