LL goes Nano

2685 Views 23 Replies 9 Participants Last post by lauraleellbp, Sep 14, 2014

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2014

Finally have all my house remodelling done to the point that I have places to set up some tanks! And I've gotten the itch again... it's been well over a year since I had a tank going!

So I'm starting off with a lovely little 30 cm AquaTop low iron rimless cube tank and AquaTop Nano P LED fixture that I picked up courtesy of Jake's (somewhatshocked) recommendations. So it's officially All His Fault. :icon_mrgr

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lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #2 · May 2, 2014 (Edited)

Filter will be an AquaClear HOB (I think I have either a 20 or 30 still packed up in my garage... gotta get out there this weekend and dig it out.)

Substrate will be the same Flourite black mix I've been using for years.

I've ordered some Manzanita pieces to play around with, and hope to run by a local rockyard sometime this week and pick up some small granite or slate pieces.

I have a rough visual of how I want the scape to turn out, but I'm going to experiment a bit with everything to see what I like best.

The plants I'll have so far to play around with are:

Echinodorus angustifolia 'vesuvius,'
Rotala rotundifolia
Anubias nana (may be in there temporarily till I pick up some A. nana 'petite')
Needle leaf Java fern
Hemianthus micanthamoides (dwarf Baby Tears)

Carpet will definitely be Lilaeopsis mauritiana.

I keep being sorely tempted by some of the newer Anubias on the market these days. Almost bought some Stardust last night, but it's just so ridiculously expensive! And I haven't researched yet to see if it keeps the yellow coloration even under low light/no CO2.

I'm still considering some small Crypts. I haven't seen anyone selling C. wendtii 'green gecko' in a while, but that's one of my faves, so I'll likely snag some if I run across it soon. C. lutea is another strong contender, just because it stays smaller. Might even add some C. parva if there's any gaps between rocks.

Haven't finalized my stocking plans yet, either, but likely will be dwarf shrimp and dwarf rasporas. If I don't go the Dario Dario route... we'll see.

I did snag a half dozen Tangerine Shrimp at my last TBAS meeting auction ($6!!!) that be the first residents:

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Crazy4discus

· #3 · May 2, 2014

Good deal on the shrimps!

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 3, 2014

The weather keeps thwarting my rock hunt. Needs to clear up soon, as my plants are all here sitting around in buckets till I can get my substrate and hardscape knocked out!

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 20, 2014

Well... at this point some of the plants I had sitting in a bucket have croaked (all my emersed-grown Lilaeopsis, which I really knew better than to try to transition to sumbersed growth in a bucket... *sigh*), so I'll have to pick up some more. I KNEW I should have gotten all my hardscape and the tank filled and running before buying plants. lol

Some of my supplies accidentally got shipped to my old address, so everything is still on hold.

Silver lining in the cloud; I've been debating what kind of background to go with on this tank. The background on my 90gal is really beat up, and I've been debating trying something other than my standard black paint. I ran across this 3M matte black vinyl product that *claims* the application process to be fairly easy, so I bought a small sheet that I'm going to try out on this nano first, before I spring for a big enough piece for my 90gal. (If I REALLY like it, I may do my 25gal, too...) https://store.dltinting.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=227

If I don't like it, I'll probably just pick up a piece of foam board for this tank.

Tihsho

· #6 · May 20, 2014

Laura -

Be sure to wet your glass prior to applying the vinyl in order to squeeze out the bubbles with a credit card. This will make things soo much easier. I'm not sure how much of a matte effect you will have as the sticky part of the 3M vinyl may not be the same as the exterior surface in terms of gloss/matte.

devilduck

· #7 · May 20, 2014

Love how clean the Aquatop light looks on the cube!

I used auto window tinting on my 30cm cube too. As long as you get a nice accurate cut, they surprisingly easy to install and clings extremely well.

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 20, 2014

Archerofthemoon said:
Laura -

Be sure to wet your glass prior to applying the vinyl in order to squeeze out the bubbles with a credit card. This will make things soo much easier. I'm not sure how much of a matte effect you will have as the sticky part of the 3M vinyl may not be the same as the exterior surface in terms of gloss/matte.

Thanks, I need these kinds of suggestions lol

The product description reads "looks wet once applied" so I figured the finish won't *really* be matte. But hopefully it won't look high gloss, either; which is the main thing I really hope to avoid.

Tihsho

· #9 · May 21, 2014

The thing about vinyl is that the exterior face holds the finish that you're looking for. The sticky side isn't made to follow the same finish. That said, it could be white or some other color on the adhesive side. Since you're in Florida, and there is a big car scene over there, call some tuner shops and ask them if they do vinyl wraps. If they do, see if they have scraps of the finish you want just to see the adhesive side once the backing comes off.

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 21, 2014

Well shoot, I didn't even think about how the sticky side may not be black!

I've already bought a small piece, so hopefully my $13 investment won't be a waste... but if so, at least it won't break the bank LOL

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #11 · Sep 10, 2014

2

Wellllll.... finally coming back to this thread! And I realized- I never received that window tint sample I paid for!

Anyways, the plans for this tank changed several times... and I ended up setting it up as part of a presentation for the Tampa Bay Aquarium Society. Then we auctioned it off as a fundraiser.

I didn't plan to bid, but I ended up winning it at auction myself, so it came back home with me! LOL Apparently it was destined to go on my kitchen counter after all. :fish:

'Scape needs a little bit of tweaking, but overall I'm happy with it.

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GraphicGr8s

· #12 · Sep 10, 2014

That auction was rigged.

Monster Fish

· #13 · Sep 10, 2014

Looks great! I love how you used Lilaeopsis mauritiana as your foreground. It's one of the best looking grassy carpet plants for low tech setups IMO.

anfield

· #14 · Sep 10, 2014

Nice, I need something like that. How many gallons does it hold?

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #15 · Sep 10, 2014

GraphicGr8s said:
That auction was rigged.

LOL I was actually kinda hoping to be outbid... but all's well that ends well! :smile:

Monster Fish- I agree! I don't understand why it's not easier to find among hobbyists. I always have to buy from a retailer to get the quantity I need. This tank took 4 pots.

Anfield - it's about 7 gallons.

Sean W.

· #16 · Sep 10, 2014

Looks good! Are you going to put a background on it?

Monster Fish

· #17 · Sep 11, 2014

lauraleellbp said:
Monster Fish- I agree! I don't understand why it's not easier to find among hobbyists. I always have to buy from a retailer to get the quantity I need. This tank took 4 pots.

I started with a single pot in my dirted 10 gallon low tech. It's completely taken over the front right half of my tank and is slowly encroaching into my Marsilea patch. It's really weedy imo.

god91234

· #18 · Sep 11, 2014

lauraleellbp said:
LOL I was actually kinda hoping to be outbid... but all's well that ends well! :smile:

I would have out bid you that tank looks good!!!

roud: i can't wait to get my motorcycle street legal so i can start making it out to these meetings they seem like alot of fun.

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #19 · Sep 13, 2014

Sean W. said:
Looks good! Are you going to put a background on it?

At this point, probably not? I'm still bummed that sample never came, I even missed my opportunity to file a Paypal claim and get my $$ back. :/

Monster Fish said:
I started with a single pot in my dirted 10 gallon low tech. It's completely taken over the front right half of my tank and is slowly encroaching into my Marsilea patch. It's really weedy imo.

Yeah, though IME it can be some work to get it established. Does yours always go through a huge dieoff and algae explosion during the emersed to submersed transition too? I always have to dose a lot of Excel to keep the algae under control till the new growth comes in and I can just cut off all the older algae-infested stuff. I wonder if a lot of people have tried it out, but gave up during that stage?

god91234 said:
I would have out bid you that tank looks good!!! roud: i can't wait to get my motorcycle street legal so i can start making it out to these meetings they seem like alot of fun.

Thanks, Billy! You def. need to start coming.

The auctions after the meetings are always a whole lot of fun. And there's going to be the BIG annual fish auction coming up Nov 1st. This will be my first time going, but they said they usually have a few hundred people show up, and could have as many as 500 this year as they've been doing a whole lot more advertising!

lauraleellbp

Discussion Starter · #20 · Sep 13, 2014

Can't believe I have to cycle a tank from scratch... first time in I have no CLUE how many years that I don't have another seeded tank to pull from! But I do, so I'm just going to do this the old-fashioned slow and steady way.

Dropped a half dozen Assassin snails in the tank, and I'm going to "overfeed" them slightly to make sure I get some free ammonia going. With a tank this teeny should be no problem to do water changes if needed to keep the ammonia levels safe for hardy snails, and I don't want to start stocking fish till after I've transitioned all the emersed-grown Lilaeopsis and Rotala.

I think I'm going to dose Excel regularly on this tank, so I also think I'm going to add some Downoi, after I've got the carpet established.

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