Zaxol's 2.5g Nano

10341 Views 91 Replies 14 Participants Last post by shoteh, Jan 29, 2008

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · Oct 15, 2007 (Edited)

I was thinking about starting a 2.5 gallon nano and wanted to make sure I was getting the right things. I plan on getting a 2.5 aga soon and then some gravel for it. I will use a 20 watt desk lamp for the time being. I plan on getting a filter after I get a couple plants in it just to keep it clean. I wlil work on finding rocks and sorting them to make a nice aquascape while I save up for some plants/a couple neon tetras. Does this sound like a good plan?

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Kayen

· #2 · Oct 15, 2007

Sounds like what i did....
Good luck =)
What the desk lamp a screw in type bulb or the long type?

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 15, 2007

well I have one thats a bulb and one thats aabout an inch long kinda thing. The second ones real tiny.

Kayen

· #4 · Oct 15, 2007

hm
any order are you going to purchase them?

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 16, 2007

Well first I am going to get the tank and gravel. Put the gravel in the tank and add water. Then while I save up for a filter, new lamo, excel and plants(in that order) I plan on looking aound for soe rocks and getting them placed in there just right.

Kayen

· #6 · Oct 16, 2007

Sounds great im using a desklamp type(well not quite i ripped it out of the cieling)
i plan to use a socket splitter and use two of those bulbs insted and be cheap on my part lol.
Filter reccomendatioon wise i would go red sea nano or elite mini, both are great... elite mini is an internal filter though.
You could also try topfin/whisper/aquatech 10.
Quite cheap filters.
Any tetras in particular you like?

pet-teez

· #7 · Oct 17, 2007

I have two of the red sea nano filters and I really like them!
In a tank as small as this you might prefer to not have an internal filter wasting space.
You might have to watch with the tetras, they kinda school and because of the tank size you would be limited in the school size.

pet-teez

· #8 · Oct 17, 2007

The rock is cool, I think your gravel is a bit big though. I'm sure it'll work (depending on plant choice) but it is a bit big.

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 17, 2007

Yea I was thinking about possibly switching it out later. Was the smallest I could find at petsmart. Would it work ok with HC? I really want to add some HC in the future.

trfjason

· #10 · Oct 17, 2007

Zaxol said:
Yea I was thinking about possibly switching it out later. Was the smallest I could find at petsmart. Would it work ok with HC? I really want to add some HC in the future.

No, those gravels are too big. You should start with something like Flourite or Aquasoil as they are the best substrate for plants. HC does best in Aquasoil.

trfjason

· #11 · Oct 17, 2007

For light, I personally use Coralife Freshwater Mini-Aqualight, which is 2 x 9w on my 2.5G. It grows HC very well.

If you are on a budget, you can use GE screw-in compact flourescent bulb 6500K. There are many choices for the power (15W, 27W, etc..) Keep in mind that they are not as efficient as a light fixture such as the Mini-Aqualight because it is in a spiral shape and a lot of the light energy is reflected.

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 17, 2007

Okay well would this be enough for a 2.5?

http://www.adgshop.com/product_p/104-033.htm

So a normal bulb desk lamp would not work then?

pet-teez

· #13 · Oct 17, 2007

Heya Zax, there is a guy selling portions of aquasoil on here...
you could also use a small amount of SMS (soilmaster select), someone could probably sell you enough for your tank (they come in 50pound bags so it'd be best to just get a lil from someone else), I have their charcoal color but the normal color is a reddish.

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 17, 2007

Okay I don't really want to buy new gravel so this is what I am going to do. I am going to measure each peice and if it'slarger then 4mm I will get rid of it. This will probably take some time and will really suck if when I finish I don't have enough but I have time on my hands.

trfjason

· #15 · Oct 17, 2007

Zaxol said:
Okay well would this be enough for a 2.5?

http://www.adgshop.com/product_p/104-033.htm

So a normal bulb desk lamp would not work then?

Yes, the 3L bag of Aquasoil is enough for two 2.5G aquariums.

I recommend the Amazonia II. This one has the most nutrient.

I haven't tried those SMS yet, but I can tell you that you that Aquasoil and Flourite are better.

trfjason

· #16 · Oct 17, 2007

Normal desk lamp with compact flourescent will work as I mentioned earlier, but it might not give you the best result. Desk lamp is a great alternative when you are on a low budget.

j_m_lizard

· #17 · Oct 17, 2007

Zaxol said:
Okay I don't really want to buy new gravel so this is what I am going to do. I am going to measure each peice and if it'slarger then 4mm I will get rid of it. This will probably take some time and will really suck if when I finish I don't have enough but I have time on my hands.

God I hope you're joking.

Just go to a hardware store and get some sand.

good luck, and keep us posted.

-Jared

Zaxol

Discussion Starter · #18 · Oct 17, 2007

I was told that sand was a bad choice. Is there any other plant similar to HC that will work with a bit larger gravel?

j_m_lizard

· #19 · Oct 17, 2007

Anything will work better than that gravel, and many hobbyists have great success with sand over a layer of soil or even sand by itself.

pet-teez

· #20 · Oct 17, 2007

The main thing with sand is try not to make it too deep, if it's too deep you could end up with anerobic bacteria (I think I said that right) under there, if you do a search for that word in the forum you should be able to see what I mean.
Some plants might not do well in sand, it all depends on the plants.
I have "natural gravel" over some 100% clay kitty litter in my office tank and the plants I have grow ok in that but I think your grains are larger plus I'm not growing any foreground plants like HC and I don't think they do well in large grained substrates but I could be wrong. Someone should be able to help ya out though.

One cool thing about using a smaller substrate though, by the way, is that it will give the effect of a larger tank. Right now when we look at your tank we can tell it's a 2.5, at least I can. While checking out other people's threads you may have seen comments like "that tank looks so much bigger than a ___" which is usually pretty cool

How much did you spend on that gravel? Was that a fish store purchase or did you go to a rock center?

I still like the two hardscape rocks you chose

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