# extreme nano aquascape



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I thought this would be fun to play around with. It is a glass goblet like thing, almost like a brandy sniffer except the top opening is too small to drink out of. (It came with candy in it)










I have this black sand that someone gave me a few years back that seems to have quartz in it.

I am planning to use the following plants:

HC
Monosolenium tenerum 
Anubias nana petite

I will have a desk lamp over it, and I was thinking of either using Excel, or just add a little carbonated water each week.

Does anyone have any suggestion as to how much sand to put in for asthetic reasons? I'm not sure if I should keep it low, or fill the thing half way up with sand. Because of the shape of the glass, I'm trying to figure out what would look better


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

I have been doing something along the same lines. I put in on the windowsill and use natural light and grow hairgrass quite successfully in aquasoil.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Yeah, I was thinking of putting this in a window too. How much sun does your window get?


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

it gets around 3 hours of direct sun, but total light, including direct and indirect light, is diminishing in winter, so that's kind of a problem. I actually have a menagerie of these which I started many months ago.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Cool! You are using the same type of glassware I am... I am going to attempt a miniature aquscape in this thing. I will post a photo in a few days.


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## FacePlanted (Aug 13, 2007)

I really like these "extreme nano scapes". To me they epitomize the miniature "enclosed ecosystem". A piece of nature, taken out of nature, and put in a container by us, capable of carrying on as if it were still a part of the outdoors/nature.

A miniature aquatic world in a glass.

Cant wait to see more pics.

-Mike B-


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## Gomer (Feb 2, 2004)

Do you have heating problems with window lighting such a small volume of water?


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Gomer said:


> Do you have heating problems with window lighting such a small volume of water?


It's a good question. Not only with the high end, but what about the low-end. I mean the tanks can drop pretty low at night, depending upon heating conditions in the house. Do you move these away from the window at night. Also how would most plants tolerate for example a 20 F degree temp change from Day to night. I know tropica gives temp ranges for HC as low as 64F and Hairgrass/Riccia as low as 50F.


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

good questions! 
The design is nice because it gets much light front and back.

Indirect lighting is better than direct sunlight, which is a cause of algae and heat, so less direct light is desireable. 

As it turns out, adding moss is a good way to absorb the light energy. Or adding something like frogbit. 

One of the goblets had an algae problem. The other goblets had little daphnia critters, so some of these were added to the algae goblet, plus some moss, and the algae went away. 

Now that it's winter, there is a problem. The dense hair grass is gettng brown tips. Too much plant mass for the available light. 

It is cold by the window, may be that's a factor in the brown blades of hair grass.

Two new ones have been started with four or five grass plants, and they are growing; no algae, no brown tips. 

It's possible to add artificial light, but that's too complicated, too awkward, trying to get it just right.


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

So, Robert, what plants are you growing, and under what conditions, please?


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Well, I started simple. One Anubias nana petite, and two golf ball size lava rocks with Pellia tied onto them.



















The thread on th rocks is already coming loose. I was thinking of putting some HC in front of the nana. It will be very difficult to plant even with tweezers. My fingers are not real nimble!


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Here I added some HC. Boy, in this case a little sure goes a long way. That entire HC is only three "pinches"










I have a 13 watt PL flourescent, (cool white) desk lamp over it. I was messing around with the red rags when taking the photos. Too much?


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## voshod (Mar 22, 2007)

Looks very cool. I wonder how stable it's going to be. What do you do for maintenance for this ... "tank" ? How often do you do water changes ?


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I don't know about Mark, but for me this is all new territory, having just set it up. I have been wondering what to do about water changes. My biggest challenge is how to get the water out without disturbing everything. I tried a siphon, that didn't seem to work real well. I tried a wet vac: the force of the surface tension actually created a downward current as it was sucking out water that unearthed everything, so that is definetly out. Perhaps a smaller siphon. 

I used a flower pot watering pot to fill it with water. It created a small, slow stream of water, but even then I had to be real careful and the nana up rooted.


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## voshod (Mar 22, 2007)

Robet, the reason I asked is because I started very similar project about two weeks ago (independently  ). I used only moss and hairgrass. So far the biggest challenge appears to be the frequency of water changes I need to do. Water starts looking "stale" (little cloudy, kinda dirty) after about 24 hours of water change. So, I am wondering about what you will see in respect to water quality. BTW, I used the airline tubing to syphon water in and out and it works pretty good (but painfully slow).


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Well mine has been set up for two days now, and the water is still crystal clear. No surface scum either. Airline tubing for a siphon! Sounds like a great idea. The HC I planted yesterday and today it is all reaching upward to the light and looks good. The Pellia I am concerned about because it is very tranparent looking. I need to get some Flourish Excel. I added a few granules of KNO3 and plantex, just enough to perhaps perk the plants up a little, but I want to keep the ferts very lean if any at all.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

<update> day six,

The HC and Pellia are both pearling now. The pellia is becoming more green. Looks like the HC is starting to take root. Water is still clear, has evaporated about an inch. I'll post another photo over the week end


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

Cute little pico! 

You could try using a turkey baster for water changes.


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## Amazon_Replica (Nov 24, 2007)

poop I was gonna say turkey baster lol

That really is cool. If you have a Pat Catans or other arts and craft style store around you, you should definately check it out, they have some REALLY cool glassware, all different heights, shapes and sizes.


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## Cliff Mayes (Jan 29, 2007)

Tape a piece of rigid tubing onto your flexible tubing and use that as a siphon. It is painfully slow but it works. I have used this in various sizes to clean smaller heavily planted containers over the years. Just adjust the sizes to each tank. Otherwise you stand there like a Doofus waiting for a small container to empty out.

Maybe it needs a snail? The bowl looks interesting.

Thanks.


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