# 24l/5g Nano



## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Tank:
60cm x 20cm x 20cm (24ins x 8ins x 8ins) 24L/5g Clearseal rimless aquarium

Equipment:
15w Undergravel cable heater
Hagen GLO T5HO Linear lighting system 2x 24w T5 Daylight tubes
Fluval 103 external canister packed with bio media (Old school!!)
DIY Acrylic lilly pipe and intake (Coming soon)
Hydor 25w Submersible heater
DIY stand (Coming soon)
Black PVC background
Flora grow CO2 Nano kit (Pressurised)

Substrate and Hardscape:
Mini landscape rock
JBL Manado substrate

Fertilisation:
JBL Ferropol (Weekly)
JBL Ferropol 24 (Daily)

Flora:
Hemianthus callitrichoides
Eleocharis parvula
Pogostemon helferi

Fauna:
Undecided yet, probably 
Caridina dennerli










The aquarium, I chose this for its slightly longer narrower dimensions to your usual nano aquariums. I quite fancy setting up an aquarium of similar dimensions but much longer say a custom 140cm x 20cm x 20cm wall mounted on a shelf with reinforcing legs at each end and a small weir and sump to maintain water level but that is a project for another day!










With black backing installed, I used an off cut from an old PVC pond liner and good ole selotape to stick it on!










15w Heater cable installed, I know a lot of planted aquarium keepers don’t bother with heater cables these days or think that they are of any benefit but I believe considering the substrate is more or less inert and nutrient free at least a little circulation through the substrate will be beneficial in providing the roots with nutrients. Also in the case of dry start planted aquariums (which I will be doing here) I usually use a heat mat anyway as I have found there to be a noticeable difference in the growth rate and health of emmersed plants when provided with greater warmth than those just left at ambient room temperature.










Substrate goes in, this is JBL Manado a relatively new substrate on the market. I would have used aqua soil but as I have a 25L sack of this stuff I might as well make the most of it rather than spending even more on expensive substrates! Iv had pretty good results with this substrate (Pretty good might actually be an understatement!) However in aquariums before now it has been used to cap a fertile base substrate so the results using the substrate by itself as it is intended to be used should be interesting! The theory behind this substrate is that it is extremely porous both helping the growth of roots, acting as a biological filter to some extent and actually absorbing excess nutrients through cat ion exchange from the water which in turn both prevents algae (my worst nightmare) and passing those nutrients directly to the roots of the plants further increasing plant growth.


















Substrate contours and hardscape, I will have a bit of a play around with this later tonight before I plant it, I am pretty happy with it but feel that something isn’t quite right yet.


















Right hand hill


















Left hand hill










Middle valley


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Seems like too much "hill" for such a shallow tank. I really like these tank dimensions though.


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## BMueller777 (Feb 5, 2008)

looks great man, I've got 24" T5HO on my 20H, good luck with algae though... at only 8" deep (less with the gravel) you'll be getting a ton of lux at the bottom... whatcha puttin in it?


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

over_stocked said:


> Seems like too much "hill" for such a shallow tank. I really like these tank dimensions though.


 Unfortunately not much substrate can be removed as it is supporting the rocks (they are a lot bigger than they seem in the pictures.) Also the excessive difference in levels exaggerate the effect of two hills and a valley.



BMueller777 said:


> looks great man, I've got 24" T5HO on my 20H, good luck with algae though... at only 8" deep (less with the gravel) you'll be getting a ton of lux at the bottom... whatcha puttin in it?


 I am only using the double T5 lighting (48w) for emmersed growth in the first month or so, once I fill it I will remove one of the tubes to decrease the lighting down to 24w and suspend the light unit from brackets on the wall increasing the distance from the light to the water hopefully this will help cut back on algae and giving the plants a head start through emmersed growth should do the rest!


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## shoteh (Nov 13, 2007)

Nice setup. Was it custom built?


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

shoteh said:


> Nice setup. Was it custom built?


 Nope just a cheap clearseal tank!


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## Portalz (Nov 28, 2007)

I love the hills, It would be a different story if you were gonna go with stem plants. -Nick


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Portalz said:


> I love the hills, It would be a different story if you were gonna go with stem plants. -Nick


 Im very tempted to get another one and set it up as a dutch style nano and run these next to each other.


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## dacrax07 (Jan 10, 2009)

The red substrate and and rocks remind me so much of mars.


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## JennaH (Sep 28, 2009)

wow that hagen fixture sits so nicely on the rimless tanks... i may consider this fixture for my 36"L 12g rimless. is it secure against the glass or just sitting around the edges?


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

JennaH said:


> wow that hagen fixture sits so nicely on the rimless tanks... i may consider this fixture for my 36"L 12g rimless. is it secure against the glass or just sitting around the edges?


 It is just sittin on the edges, it tightens right down but you have to take the ends off and it is impossible to adjust if it is against a wall as you need to get a screw driver in there. Eventually this is going to be suspended from some shelf brackets on the wall behind it.


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## Bmonarch (Oct 19, 2009)

This is the tank size Ive been looking for!! Does anyone know where I could pick one of these up?


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## timme278 (Jan 1, 2009)

Bmonarch said:


> This is the tank size Ive been looking for!! Does anyone know where I could pick one of these up?


clearseal are a uk based company. which must suck as much as us not being able to get ada tanks in the uk. you could probably custom build one.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Bmonarch said:


> This is the tank size Ive been looking for!! Does anyone know where I could pick one of these up?


 Not sure if clearseal trade in the US but I'm sure there must be an aquarium company out there that does that size... If not either get a custom build or at that small size of aquarium build it yourself! I bet it would look awsome in optiwhite with a very very fine bead of black silicon holding the glass together!


























Built a small stand and put up some shelves to suspend the lights from. Due to the narrow profile of the tank it had to be fixed to the wall with shelf brackets to avoid it toppling over. At the moment the lights are a bit wonkey but as soon as I get some decent galvanised wire rope and smaller hooks I will sort that out!


















Planted out using HC, Pogostemon helferi and Eleocharis acicularis taken today after trimming the 200L aquarium I set up in a garden centre restaurant.


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## sapphoqueen (Feb 9, 2010)

nice one but........... the heater???????????


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

sapphoqueen said:


> nice one but........... the heater???????????


 I havent thought that one through yet, for now the heater cable will do whilst this is growing emersed. However I do have an idea formulating for a DIY HOB heater!


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## shoteh (Nov 13, 2007)

Wow now that it's all planted it looks bigger than a 5g. Can't wait till water goes in


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## dacrax07 (Jan 10, 2009)

Mowze said:


> I havent thought that one through yet, for now the heater cable will do whilst this is growing emersed. However I do have an idea formulating for a DIY HOB heater!


Isn't that just like a sump heater?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

This looks great! I love the plant selection and placement (however common hg and hc may be in nanos, I still love it ) and I like the dramatic substrate sloping. It gives the tank more character.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

shoteh said:


> Wow now that it's all planted it looks bigger than a 5g. Can't wait till water goes in


It feels really nice to scape, kinda like a scaled down 120 x 40 x 40cm 200l tank and looks a lot bigger than it actually is when you view it from a distance!



CL said:


> This looks great! I love the plant selection and placement (however common hg and hc may be in nanos, I still love it ) and I like the dramatic substrate sloping. It gives the tank more character.


 I know they are common but there is a damn good reason for that, they are great plants for little tanks! I like it because it includes a combination of my three favorite plants and they didnt cost me a penny! Once the tank is filled I may try a few more demanding plants, thinking maybe blyaxa and something else although I dont want to over crowd the tank.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

A week on…


























Its 8 days since I planted the tank out (9 days since I set it up) I have been misting it twice daily with RO and airing it out to replace any “stale” air. Yesterday I started a “flood-drain” regime which makes the HC pearl like crazy! I will do once a day basically filling the tank entirely for 30 mins and then draining it again entirely with 25L RO dosed with NPK stock, micro and macro nutrients. The idea of this is to let the substrate absorb any nutrients and moisture to its full capacity as well as to help remove any harmful fungus, bacteria and other nasty’s that might develop in such a moist and humid environment. Also when draining this draws fresh oxygen back down into the substrate and to the roots promoting health basically the same principle as a hydroponic ebb flow system! Whilst I’m not about the heater cable keeps the water constantly evaporating and then condensing on the cling film lid which keeps the entire substrate moist from the “rain” that is constantly falling, it also keeps the whole thing warm which I’m SURE speeds up growth hugely compared to many other dry start planted tanks.



















HC is growing out a treat! Almost all of this was from rootless cuttings of individual stems and from the few bit iv pulled out they already have grown roots! Quite a bit of new growth at the top of the plant also developing where it is growing out of the water.



















Pogo isn’t doing too badly considering its been in a week, a few bits have fresh new growth at the top of the rosette but I think they might take a fair while to spread. Lost quite a lot that melted probably where it was rootless cuttings that had been growing immersed and the shock of being cut and going to emmersed at the same time probably didn’t do too well. However today I planted a load of mature rooted pogo taken from another display tank at work which I hope will fare a bit better!



























Here is the tank half full for its evening “flood” just before lights out with the HC pearling like mad!

My theory with starting aquariums out “dry” is that for the first month or so you can blast out as much light as long as you want without having to worry about algae issues giving the plants one hell of a head start! At the moment I have it on a 12/12 photo period with 48w of light over the tank giving me around 8wpg! If the tank was full of water 24/7 I would be looking at a pea soup by now but in a months time when the plants grow out a lot more in theory they will be well and truly healthy and more or less ready to take on anything! Soon as that point rolls around I will fill the tank completely remove a tube drop the lighting down to 24w and the photo period to 7/17 hours and commence full EI dosing (Something I would never do if I had started the tank “wet”) and CO2 in combination with a dosage of liquid carbon hopefully preventing algae my worst nightmare from even getting a smidgen of a foothold as it should be unable to out compete the plants. Also with warm mature water and filter media taken from my large Amazon biotope aquarium straight away I should be able to put in about 6-8 RCS (From my Amazon aquarium sump/refugium) and about 4 Otocinclus (from the Amazon aquarium itself) again giving the dreaded algae NO CHANCES!


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## Outlawboss (Dec 30, 2008)

That's an impressive start. I never thought about the rain cycle idea. Really cool twist on the dry start method. I may try that and compare previous growth to what I get with the method you describe. Way cool!


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Outlawboss said:


> That's an impressive start. I never thought about the rain cycle idea. Really cool twist on the dry start method. I may try that and compare previous growth to what I get with the method you describe. Way cool!


 Its basically a simplified manual version of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebb_and_flow filling with a hose from a highly oxegenated bucket of nutrient solution, then syphoning it back into the bucket with an airline suckered onto the glass drawing from the lowest point in the substrate.
I used to be really into growing certain other plants hydrophonically back in the day and as far as I can see the same principle applies just slightly more basic. Iv used more advanced setups with pumps/misters on timers etc on emmersed cultures for growing plants to use in other tanks too. As well as drawing nutrients and oxegen down to the roots it also helps flush away any dead plants, leaves, fungus (some of which was growing on the melted pogo) and also algae and algae spores.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Another week on and its growing out even more! Pogo is still quite slow with the odd plant melting here and there but plenty of new growth, hair grass has finally started to spread and the HC is INSANE for around 2 1/2 weeks growth! Another few shots of the tank filled:




























If all goes well I am planning on filling the tank permanently this Thursday or Friday which means reducing the lighting down from 48w to 24w starting up my smallest external filter (700Lph) with mature media and water from my larger aquarium and dosing full EI and double dose of easy carbo as well as introducing around 10 or so shrimp after the weekend to keep the algae under control.

I'm really not sure about the hardscape something just doesnt feel right its not dynamic enough, the hills don’t look right because they are the same height, too late to change it much now anything with the plants settling in moving rocks would be too destructive. Maybe once the pogo and hairgrass grow out it will make it feel a bit better.
I also think the "valley" between the two hills needs something each side other than hairgrass/HC/Pogo to make it stand out more... I'm thinking something spiky! Blyxa?


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Did a quick re-scape, its late and I really should be getting to bed but this was bugging me and I wouldn’t have slept if I didn’t!
I feel a bit more comfortable with it, I didn’t like the big rock at the top of the right hand “hill” but it seems a little bit symmetrical now but much less chaotic.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Tank has been filled since Sunday now, doing really well especially the HC carpet which has EXPLODED since I filled the tank and pearling like mad! The pogo isn’t doing so great with the transition from emmersed to immersed and I’m getting a little bit of melt although there is evidence of a little new growth. I got rid of the hairgrass in favour of using some stem plants and Blyxa, for the moment I have Micranthemum umbrosum until next Thursday when I can order some more plants for it. I chose to go for stems in the end as I can grow it out and trim it to give a bit more of a busy textured feel to the background and maybe some colour if I decide to add some smaller red stem plants.
From day one I have been dosing NPK daily along with JBL ferropol 24 and JBL ferropol (split into 7 daily doses rather than a single one off dose.) I am also dosing easy carbo at a double dose of 2ml a day as I am getting a little green hair algae, this isn’t the normal hair algae I am used to rather than bushy soft green clumps this is more like single long wiry strands growing in various places but at the moment nothing that isn’t manageable!
I also dropped the lights down to a single 24w Arcadia plant pro T5 rather than the double 24w 6400k daylight bulbs I had before and this is much more aesthetically pleasing as well as working wonders for the plants!
Filtration is an old school 103 I have had for YEARS and still works brilliantly, I filled it with mature media from another aquarium and am also using it as a CO2 reactor which works very well with very high (nearly 100%) dissolving although up the CO2 to about 5-10BPS (it is normally at around 1-2BPS) which will overfill the canister it sends out a very nice fine mist of CO2.





































P.s. Sorry for the poor quality of photos, unfortunately I broke my camera yesterday so I had to use my phone until I get it replaced!


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## adjangs (Mar 13, 2010)

Really nicely done.
Where did you get the mini landscape rock?


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

I like the second rock arrangement alot. Nice work!


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

adjangs said:


> Really nicely done.
> Where did you get the mini landscape rock?


 Iv collected bits and bobs over the last few years from work and sometimes when I see a good bit in a shop, we get a lot of it in at work but I will only buy it now if I see a REALLY nice bit. Its a pity really because they only ever seem to send fairly small bits (up to 3kg) and I would like to get some REALLY big bits to do a larger tank!


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## JamieOxford (Apr 5, 2010)

Very nice tank! Really like the rock arrangements.
I picked up a 24x8x8 clearseal tank a few days back and am currently in the process of setting it up as a shrimp tank.
I like the way that you can make it look like a huge tank because of the length of it.
What are you planning on keeping in here?


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## daFrimpster (Mar 7, 2005)

24"x8"x8" is about 6.6 gals


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

JamieOxford said:


> What are you planning on keeping in here?


 I was planning on Caridina sp. cardinal but unfortunately that rubbish substrate makes the water totally unsuitiable. From pure RO water (No GH, NO KH, pH Neutral) I have gone to GH 150ppm KH 8ppm and pH is STUCK at 7 despite the fact that I have an INSANE amount of CO2 going into this tank. Dont Buy JBL Manado, it really is RUBBISH and offers absolutely no advantage to the planted aquarium, unfortunately I'm stuck with a 25L bag of the stuff and next time I see the rep I'm gona have a right old moan and ask him why the hell they cant make a proper substrate.

Anyyyyyyways, rant over! Caridina sp. cardinal I believe require a very low GH and KH but very high pH and are hard to keep in any other conditions, not really planted aquarium conditions and next to impossible for me to recreate in this tank. I think I will probably go with some Red cherry shrimp, ottos and maybe a shoal of small fish maybe 7 or 9 Small cardinals or Lampeyes, may also possibly add in some panda corys but I'm not sure how they will be with the HC.



daFrimpster said:


> 24"x8"x8" is about 6.6 gals


I dont actually work in gals but Litres and if I convert it over to gallons I use UK gallons not US gallons. 1 US gallon = 0.83 UK gallons or = 3.8 Litres
If you take into account displacement from the rocks and substrate there is actually only about 19 Litres (5g US/4g UK)


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)

Another update, again pictures (and editing) aren’t too great as I am still stuck using my camera phone! Tank will have been filled 3 weeks come Sunday and the growth from all the plants is fantastic! Added a few more stem plants in favor of the hair grass that was in there initially which have quite a bit of growing out to do yet. I also added some red crystal shrimp and assassin snails.

Plants are:
_Hemianthus callitrichoides
Pogostemon helferi
Micranthemum umbrosum
Micranthemum micranthemoides
Rotala wallichii_

Plants are pearling VERY heavily within 30 mins of the light coming on.

For those who want to know my daily dosing regime:
3ppm NO3
0.15ppm PO4
0.5ml JBL Ferropol
1 Drop JBL Ferropol 24
1ml Easycarbo

The NPK is a bit on the lean side, I was dosing 5-6ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm PO4 every other day but I have reduced it slightly and upped the dosing to daily as I was getting a fair bit of algae growth and I am still wary dosing NPK in excess in a nano tank.

50% RO water change every Sunday.

DIY CO2 (2x 2L bottles of yeast and sugar.) direct into filter intake with near 100% dissolution rate/occasional misting via plastic lilly. Air pump to filter outlet on timer that goes on when the lights go off and turns off about 1 hour before lights on
External fluvial 103 approx 400LPH with mature Ehiem substrat pro as media (no sponges or floss)
No heating yet, will add one when I introduce fish, heater cable maintains at about 20c
1x 24w T5 Arcadia plant pro + 24w 6700k Hagen Day glo for photography only. Light is currently suspended 5cm from water surface but can be raised/lowered on the chain for increasing/decreasing intensity or for maintenance as required.

I would really like to get pressurised CO2 and glass/acrylic lilly pipes on here but at the moment I cant afford it.


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## Mowze (May 11, 2009)




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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

B.E.A.Utiful!


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## Birds'nBunny (Sep 3, 2008)

Update please?


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## zeldar (Jun 24, 2009)

This tank is looking great!! I like how you didn't keep it "true" iwagumi with 1 or 2 plant types. The stems are what really enhance the stones in my opinion. Downoi was a great choice for the midground as well.

I still can't believe your tank is only 5 gallons! If I had to guess I would of said at least a 20long.


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## naturalwonders (Dec 24, 2008)

Wow, beautiful..........:drool:


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## BrettAA (Jan 15, 2012)

Stunning tank! Very inspiring, I've got my eye on a 7 gal rimless in a shop near here I quite want to do something similar to.

Is it still well? Fish? I'd love to see a picture.


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