# Three Nano Tanks



## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

I have three 2.5 gallon betta tanks in my office, and I've been itching to scape all of them! My plan is to do three different scapes on the cheap, keeping it low-tech and using mostly supplies/plants I already have. The tanks will be as low maintenance as possible. Here's my plan so far:

*Supplies:*
-Soilmaster Select Charcoal ($15)
-Three 18w Coralife mini fixtures ($72 shipped from Hellolights.com)
-No filter
-No CO2
-light dosing as necessary + Excel ($0)
-rocks I already have, possibly driftwood if I can find some small pieces ($0)

*Plants:*
-hemianthus micranthemoides ($0)
-anubias nana petite ($0)
-fissiden sp. moss ($0)
-maybe some eleocharis parvula

*Total:* $30-$40 per tank

I'm not sure what other plants I could use with this set-up. I'm willing to spend a little more money, but the whole point of these three tanks is to keep them as cheap as possible, so it would have to be something I was sure I could keep alive with no CO2. I think that means HC, riccia, and glosso are out of the picture, though I could be wrong.

So what would _you_ do if you could pick 3 different low-tech nano aquascapes? I would love your input!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

my 2.5gal 
redsea flora base
riccia 
hemianthus micranthemoides
some taiwan moss thats growing at one edge of the driftwood
coralife 18w pc ($35)
aqualife legs for light($10)
brass retangle from hobby shop to customize stand/legs for light ($2)

dose of excel whenever i remember to and 20% water change every third day. tank is stocked with red cherry shrimp so i dont risk killiing them or their babies with ferts.

tank has been up for about two to three weeks and everything is growing great.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

Looking good! Thanks for sharing. I found the Coralife fixture at Hellolights, which looks perfect for my purposes and is on sale for $21. But it says the mounting legs don't fit this unit--you managed to make them work, right? Can you share how the brass piece works?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

i got the idea/instructions here, the coralife doenst seem to have an option for legs and i didnt like laying it directly on the tank.

http://www.geocities.com/jhoetzl/tank/lighting/coralifemini/index.htm


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

Thats a great link. I actually have one of those mini lights and I would have never thought about doing that.

eklikewhoa,
Is that a plant weight holding down the ricca on the substrate? I imagine you tied it to the wood. I currently have a 0.5g nano going with riccia, but I think I ODed with excel and killed off the first batch, so I'm doing it again. I was concerned zero flow (I have no filter) might have been an issue, but I think it was purely the excel overdose.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

Thanks for the link. I would definitely like an open top tank, but that may have to wait. After some further reading, it turns out those cheap clip-on lights only adjust to fit glass up to 1/4" wide, so I can't use them on my tank rim. 

I think I'll have to stick with the Coralife fixture directly on a glass top, or find another way to mount it. The coralife legs, even if I could get them to work, are an extra $6-7 per package, and if I buy three packages that starts to add up. I'm trying to be a cheapskate here


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## frozenoak (Jul 30, 2005)

awesome link, I have that light and I have been looking for a way to raise it off the tank. The light can raise the tank temp 5 deg. F in a couple hours.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

abnormalsanon, what are you talking about? did you look at the link?

its the coralife fixture with a customized base/legs. you use the legs meant for the aqualight and then cut the retangle to fit your needs. the legs itself actually just sit on the rim and not clamp on anything, just sits on the rim and has the bend which grasp on the outer side of the tank. let me take some pictures to better show what im talking about.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

I saw the link and think it's an extremely cool idea, but apparently you have to have a dremmel or other tools (which I don't) to accomplish cutting the metal rectangle. So unless I'm missing something, which I very well might be, I don't want to take the time/money to modify the mounting legs.

The cheap clip-on desktop lights were the ones I first posted about, before I saw the 18w coralife fixture you posted about. I'm going with the coralife for sure--it's only $5 more and probably much nicer.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

houseofcards said:


> Thats a great link. I actually have one of those mini lights and I would have never thought about doing that.
> 
> eklikewhoa,
> Is that a plant weight holding down the ricca on the substrate? I imagine you tied it to the wood. I currently have a 0.5g nano going with riccia, but I think I ODed with excel and killed off the first batch, so I'm doing it again. I was concerned zero flow (I have no filter) might have been an issue, but I think it was purely the excel overdose.


yes the plant weight is what is holding it down, the others is just shoved into the crevices of the dw. in another tank i tied some down to a piece of dw and it died like yours. im sure it isnt the excel cause i had a problem with algae and overdosed with excel to get rid of the problem and there are two patches of riccia in that tank with only one dieing.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

the brass retangle is really soft, its brass. you could probably work it with a file thats thin if you go slowly or have the patience.

here are some closeups of the legs.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

abnormalsanon said:


> I saw the link and think it's an extremely cool idea, but apparently you have to have a dremmel or other tools (which I don't) to accomplish cutting the metal rectangle. So unless I'm missing something, which I very well might be, I don't want to take the time/money to modify the mounting legs.
> 
> The cheap clip-on desktop lights were the ones I first posted about, before I saw the 18w coralife fixture you posted about. I'm going with the coralife for sure--it's only $5 more and probably much nicer.


i bought extra just in case i messed up and i knew the guy at the r/c shop so he hooked it up with a roll of servo tape. if you have some sort of plant or something we could trade. i would cut it for you and send you some servo tape with it. if you want it black then you can handle that yourself or i could do it for you.

let me know.


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## Geo (Feb 10, 2004)

I did the same exact thing with the brass / servo tape with my 2.5 gallon on the coralife light. Works out pretty slick, I can't wait to see the pics of your nanos as well ... I'm a huge fan of the 2.5 gallons so I might setup another one as I already have one right now. (And a Betta addition ... and no current betta!)


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

That's a very generous offer  I'd need three of them though! And all I have to trade is some moss right now...not too exciting. I will see if I can find these rectangle things and give filing them a shot. Thanks!


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

flip the phone book open and look for r/c shops, hobby shops, or airplane shops.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

I received the lights from hellolights.com and can't wait to get them set up! I did encounter a snag with the substrate, though. My local Lesco doesn't have Soilmaster Select in stock, and it would cost much more than it's worth to have a 50lb bag shipped. So now I'm looking at AquaSoil, specifically the Amazonia type because I like the dark color. (So much for cheap tanks, heh.) But I don't know how many bags to order for three 2.5 gallon tanks, or whether the normal or powder form would be best for my purposes. In tanks this small, the smaller the grainsize the better. Any suggestions?


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

I just bought soil master select for my very first tank that I am setting up this weekend. My nearest Lesco (Rock Island, IL) did not have it in stock either, but was able to order it in for me with no shipping charge. Of course, I did have to drive to Illinois to pick it up!

I am surprised they would charge you shipping. Maybe different stores have different policies. I suppose you could check. 

Good luck with your nanos!

Kelley


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

So the first nano is finally set up as of this afternoon. I started the second one today, but it needs some more work so for now I'll just post Vince's tank. Sorry about the pic quality, but it hasn't totally settled yet.









Before Vince went in









Left side









Right side









Vince checking out his surroundings. He keeps flaring at the oxygen bubbles pearling off the plants, hehe.










2.5 gal
AquaSoil normal and powder type
Petrified wood
Micro sword, fissidens sp. unknown, and anubias "petite"
Coralife 18w CF 6700k
Will be dosing very lightly NPK, micros, and Excel


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Looking good! 

But it doesn't look like you let the tank cycle before you put the betta in


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

I already had the betta and this was his tank, so there wasn't much I could do about that. I used 50% water from an established planted tank, plus some mulm to get things going. I'll be doing frequent water changes as well to make sure the ammonia doesn't spike. I'm hoping the micro sword will suck up a lot of toxins though.


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

*Second nano*

I finished scaping the second tank this morning. I'm really pleased with how the first scape turned out, but I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I think I need something different for the background, but for now this is how it'll stay due to no money/plants to replace the sag. subulata. The anubias may also come out and be replaced with more HM or moss. Specs are the same as for the first tank in terms of size, substrate, and fert regime.


















Right side









Left side. That stone won't be staying, it's just there to hold down the driftwood for now.

Suggestions welcome!


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

*Progress on all three tanks*

Here's an update on all three betta tanks.

This was the first nano I set up about six weeks ago. Unfortunately, within three weeks I had to tear it down and start over, thanks to a blanketing of slimy brown algae (not diatoms) on everything. The second time around I learned my lesson and added some fast-growers to prevent another outbreak. I've got duckweed floating on top to give Vince some cover, as well as to suck up the excess nutrients. Other plants are Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (micro sword) and an unidentified moss--Octodiceras fontanum or Fissidens fontanum? Here it is on day one (old set up):










And the new set up at 2 weeks. Pretty much the same, except for the rock placement:









The second tank on day one. This tank includes java moss, HM, dwarf sag, and duckweed. I will probably remove the dwarf sag soon, as it's really irritating to trim back all the time:









The second tank today, a little over one month later:









View from the top. The bettas love hiding in the duckweed, and when it gets to be too much, I feed it to my goldfish as a snack:









The third tank, which I didn't photograph on day one. It's now 12 days old. I'm not crazy about the size of the rocks, but it's the best I could do without spending more money. HM, riccia, and duckweed are the only plants:









That's it for now. I can't wait for the HC to fill in and the riccia to take off, and I will post another update in a few weeks. Thanks again to buckeyemolded, who supplied me with the HC and riccia


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