I would recommend UNS rimless cube tanks. They have a 2.1G, 4.1G, and a 7.1G cube sizes. I would recommend the 7.1 just because it’s only 5cm larger than the 4.1 gallon but you get almost doubles the water capacity which will actually make it easier to maintain water quality (especially in a high tech setting) they are also quite affordable. Hope this persuades you.

I have the deep blue 12" cube and its a great tank. But you do need to consider if a no-lid aquarium is what you want. Some of the nano fish I had my eye on are jumpers so those are all out. Evaporation is pretty high so I have to top up the water every few days, and worry about long vacations. And (finally) I added a bubble stone to improve circulation and now get some fine spray coming out of the tank and onto the stand. I think that would be a definite issue if it was on a bookshelf.

There's no doubt rimless tanks look great but worth thinking about the downsides as well.

I would highly refrain from using a bookshelf for a set up unless said contents of the rest of the shelf are water resistant...
From personal experience, it only takes one small mistake to mess up a lot of books.

Those look sweet, thanks for the plug. I was doing a little more research and it looks like most small rimless nanos (<7 gallons) are all relatively around the same price. So price is not really an issue here. Just depends on me getting the best quality. Any difference in glass quality between ADA and UNS and Mr. Aqua?







Yeah for sure you bring up some good points. I love the clean look of rimless nano's, and have had other similar nano's in the past (Spec v/all in one) setups but they were too bulky for small spaces. And yeah, the whole lid situation is important too, I plan on just going plant/shrimp only anyway so it's not a huge deal, but evaporation and co2 gassing off could be an issue. I could always just cut a piece of glass/plexi to size and place it over, but then that contradicts the whole rimless/minimalistic design.



You got me thinking whether I truly want the whole rimless gig. Do you know of any tanks that combine the simplicity of rimless, with the ease of use with all in one setups?







Haha very true, there's nothing like ruining a pair of books that are worth more than their weight in gold. I'm actually thinking about building my own bookshelf, I was planning on doing this anyway as my apartment isn't furnished, so might as well. I'd be able to build it right, make sure it super strong and waterproof it.



You also bring up a good point about weight. Just a random thought of mine, but, I was planning on going plant-only anyway; so why include the water if it isn't needed. With all the potential issues water brings, a terrarium would be pretty cool.



Any of you guys have experience with what's required in terrariums/emersed builds? Is it just lighting and substrate? I mean what's to it?

Return of the Shallow - Buces Flowering
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sha...F&share_type=t

Thanks for the link, what a beautiful tank. His aquascaping skills are sublime. The DSM honestly looked better than the flooded version. Everything looks better and faster. No need for water changes, or dealing with things like algae. Something like this gives me a lot of inspiration to pursue a possible terrarium/DSM build. However, he did mention in one of his posts, that due to the condensation, the tank is often viewed as a "green haze". So then again it has it's trade offs.



If there's really no difference between UNS and ADA, then it'll just come down to sizing. I just need to figure out what size works for my apartment, as my room is only 7'x13'. I need to do some thinking/create mock ups to see what to do. Thanks for the help!