# Recycling a 12g Nano Cube



## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Should this be in the tank journal section?


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Looks like you're off to a good start. Personally, I suggest using Purigen instead of carbon since 1. carbon requires frequent changes and 2. carbon will absorb some nutrients beneficial to plants.



Lenthan said:


> Should this be in the tank journal section?


Both this forum and the journal forum are used for journals and picture threads, so you're fine.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

dj2005 said:


> Looks like you're off to a good start. Personally, I suggest using Purigen instead of carbon since 1. carbon requires frequent changes and 2. carbon will absorb some nutrients beneficial to plants.
> 
> 
> 
> Both this forum and the journal forum are used for journals and picture threads, so you're fine.


Thanks I'll check out Purigen, I used chemi-pure before when the tank was reef but I'm not sure it's suitable for a fresh water tank. I have a lot of bulk carbon that's why I was thinking about using it.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Hmm, after reading some more I might bake or boil my wood. Right now its just in a tub with a power head and fresh water. A bit of brown has come out but not much.

*posted links in first message*


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## Chaos_Being (May 18, 2010)

Nice looking reef tanks. Kudos for starting off with saltwater, damn. I'm just now getting back into aquariums, and starting planted for the first time. I've always loved SW tanks too, but have still never tried one.

I'm thinking this will be a good one


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Lenthan said:


> Hmm, after reading some more I might bake or boil my wood. Right now its just in a tub with a power head and fresh water. A bit of brown has come out but not much.
> 
> *posted links in first message*


Boiling seems to be the fastest method to remove most, if not all, of the tannis. Carbon and Purigen will also remove it from the tank's water, but the wood will likely keep on leaching tannis for a long while so it is best to remove as much as possible before putting it in your tank with the final scape.

Nice saltwater tanks, BTW.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Thanks chaos and dj2005.

I was going to boil the wood but I didn't have anything big enough to boil it in so I ended up just boiling some water and pouring it over it. I'm sure it will not take all the tannis out but I guess it will help. I'll just run purigen or carbon to clear up the water if it browns once I fill the tank.

I have been working on the hood for the tank. For my reef it had 4x24 watt pc lights which I will no longer need so I went ahead and removed 2 of the bulbs. I also removed the moon light and put the fans on the switch that the moonlight was connected to so I can turn the fans off if needed. The fans have a adjustable power supply so I can turn them down a bit to eliminate noise. With only 2 lights heat should not be as much of an issue.

Here is a picture of the before and after.




















The original power supply for the lights had a switch that turned both on and off at the same time so I decided to used the second ballast and switch that I installed for the additional light to power one of the 2 lights so they can be turned on and off independently.

A couple pictures



















the larger ballast was the original, I simply capped off the extra leads from it.

I was going though all my bulbs for the hood, I have several different options including 10k, 7100, 50/50 and actinic. I assume 10k is probably the best for plants and maybe the 7100 but I will have to do some reading on that. For now I plan to run 1 10k bulb.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Holy!! keep on posting.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Anything between and including 6500K and 10000K should produce very similar growth (I think even bulbs in the 5000K range would as well). It is mainly what looks good to you. I personally enjoy a mix of 6700K/10000K or just 10000K.

Spectrum is what deals with what the plants will use. Plants do not make use of actinic so that bulb would not be a wise choice.

For further reading, this thread is quite good: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/37501-best-kelvin-rating-plant-growth.html

There are many other topics about this subject made on this forum, too, but they all basically repeat the same answers.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

dj2005 said:


> Anything between and including 6500K and 10000K should produce very similar growth (I think even bulbs in the 5000K range would as well). It is mainly what looks good to you. I personally enjoy a mix of 6700K/10000K or just 10000K.
> 
> Spectrum is what deals with what the plants will use. Plants do not make use of actinic so that bulb would not be a wise choice.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info, I will have to play around with different combos. I am used to blue lights in my reef tank so 10k looks really yellow.

I am trying to decide if I sould start some plants emersed, hc as an example. It seems like a pretty good way to get things going. The down side is the impatient side of me will not be able to add water to the tank soon. I guess I'll do some more reading and see if my impatiance wins out....it probably will.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

If you're trying to get an HC carpet, then definitely go the emersed route. It'll fill in much faster and algae growth will be minimal. If you're not planning on growing a carpet, then don't bother with emersed.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Thanks, think ill just add water and go from there.....

I put in the eco-complete and cut the wood to fit. I'm pretty happy with the way it ended up looking.

The spot it's in the room it will be viewable from all 3 sides.





























You can see some of the fine scratches from the tanks life as a reef, I'm hoping with water you will not notice them as much.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Well I added water to the tank last night, this morning I have a nice tea brewed up. I guess the boiling water poured onto the wood was not nearly as effective, ah well. I will just run some carbon or purigen to take care of the brown color.

With the eco-complete should I give it a stir to help it "separate"


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

What do you mean by separate? To have the larger particles on top?

With eco-complete you just pour it in and that's it. The finer stuff will sift to the bottom over time.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

dj2005 said:


> What do you mean by separate? To have the larger particles on top?
> 
> With eco-complete you just pour it in and that's it. The finer stuff will sift to the bottom over time.


Yup that's what I ment.


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## Chaos_Being (May 18, 2010)

Awesome looking driftwood! :thumbsup:


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## ryanlogic (Dec 21, 2009)

...tagging along. looks like you will have a lot of fun.

what do you plan on using in the back chambers?


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

ryanlogic said:


> ...tagging along. looks like you will have a lot of fun.
> 
> what do you plan on using in the back chambers?


 
Not 100% sure yet, maybe some type of sponge in the first chamber, bio balls or ceramic in the second along with some purigen. I will probably put the heater in the third chamber with the pump.

After a couple days with water I have a nice tea brewing. The water is getting darker by the day. My plan is to simply do 50% water changes untill the water starts to run more clear then add the purigen to keep it clear.

Should be white in the background on this picture


















I am open to suggestions as far as livestock goes. I am reading up but there are a ton of options. I plan on a few different types of fish, some shrimp and various plants.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

What's your pH? If it is not overly high, then CRS are always a good choice - inexpensive, pretty, and fairly hardy.

For plants, can't go wrong with Anubias nana petite.


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## ryanlogic (Dec 21, 2009)

Lenthan said:


> Not 100% sure yet, maybe some type of sponge in the first chamber, bio balls or ceramic in the second along with some purigen. I will probably put the heater in the third chamber with the pump.
> 
> After a couple days with water I have a nice tea brewing. The water is getting darker by the day. My plan is to simply do 50% water changes untill the water starts to run more clear then add the purigen to keep it clear.


IM using a nanocube 6 and im just running filter floss and purigen in the first chamber, and then i filled the middle chamber with fluval ceramic rings. the heater is in the third along with my diy CO2. 

so far so good. but its a bit too early to swear by it. 
i might seek out a sponge just to make things a bit easier than it is with the filter floss/poly-fill.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Yeah right now all I have is some filter floss and carbon. It's what I had on hand. Unfortunately I think I pitched the ceramic disks that came with the tank and the sponges were used for my reef.

I'm still waiting for the drift wood to stop turning the water brown until I add livestock. It's slowly getting better.


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## globali (May 29, 2010)

Very nice.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

endlers and cherry shrimp work along with least killies


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

I hooked up an old pinpoint PH monitor I had from my reef tank yesterday and if it is accurate my PH is running close to 7.5 right now with pretty drastic swings, as low as 6.5. There is a chance the probe is bad considering it has been dry for some time although I did calibrate it with some solution and it seemed to read right.

Maybe it will even out with some time.


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## ryanlogic (Dec 21, 2009)

Lenthan said:


> I hooked up an old pinpoint PH monitor I had from my reef tank yesterday and if it is accurate my PH is running close to 7.5 right now with pretty drastic swings, as low as 6.5. There is a chance the probe is bad considering it has been dry for some time although I did calibrate it with some solution and it seemed to read right.
> 
> Maybe it will even out with some time.


if you want to boil that wood for a while you could probably find a cheap crock pot at a dollar store...


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Well the brown is starting to lessen and I added some plants to the tank that I picked up from local hobbyist. Some I have the name for some I don't. They are all supposedly good for a smaller tank so we will see. I'm pretty happy with the way things are looking, now just to see if the plants take. There are a couple different java ferns, some Anubias nana petite and several other things.

My PH is starting to level out a bit, it still fluctuates but not as bad. It seems to be settling in around 7 There seems to be micro bubbles in the tank, I'm not sure where they could be coming from. The pump is well under the level of the water so I should not be getting any air. Looking up at the tank from the couch it almost looks like smoke swirling in the tank. Kind of odd.

For temperature I think I'm going to have to run it around 77-78 degrees, I was going to keep it around 75 but with the lights on during the day it raises up to 78.

I tested my KH and it seems really low, around 2...I guess that's probably from using RO water, do you think I should add some dechlorinated tap water or is there another good way to buffer the KH of the tank? The test kit could be a bit old and that could have also effected my results

I had to change the fans in the hood due to some major noise so while I had the hood taken apart I went ahead and added one of the lights I took out back in so If I ever decide to add more light I will be ready to go. The way its set up I can have 1, 2 or 3 lights on at once so I have decent flexibility of lighting

I will try to snap some pictures and get them posted up soon.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Well the brown has all but went away and the water is clearing up nicely although after the lights have been on all day it does seem to get a bit cloudy. In the morning it goes away, not sure what would cause this.

I added a few Galaxy Rasboras to the tank, pretty cool looking fish.



















I will get a tank shot another night the water is a bit cloudy right now.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

I also picked up some Poret filter foam from a local business that sells it, http://www.swisstropicals.com/Poret Filter Foam.html

I cut a piece to fill the entire first chamber. It fits in there nice and tight so I should get pretty good filtration with it. In my second chamber I have purigen in a media bag surrounded by a couple small pieces of the foam with some ceramic pellets from an aqua clear filter on top.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

I have a yummy looking white stuff growing on my drift wood, from what I gather reading the algae forum it's some type of fungus that will more then likely go away on its own.










I also added a few crystal red shrimp to see how they do.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

I'm dying for a FTS.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

FTS from each side....turned on the lights at around midnight....the fish did not seem to happy about it haha.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Looking good. The Java Fern and Anubias nana petite aren't buried, correct?


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Thanks. 

Yeah right now they are for now to keep them from floating, I'm going to try to attach them to the drift wood soon.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Well I'm getting pretty good growth on some of the plants in the tank but I'm also starting to get some algae. I'm guessing most of the algae is coming from to long of a photo period and probably low co2. I have been running 48 watts almost 10 hours a day....not on a timer yet I have not taken the time to hook one up. I guess I was hoping excel would be enough to keep the algae at bay with the higher light but it's not working out that way.

Being addicted to do-dads I decided to go ahead and do a pressurized co2 set up. I had a paintball co2 tank laying around so I figured I would set up something using it. I bought a Milwaukee 957 regulator and an adapter to attach it to the paintball tank. Unfortunately it turns out my co2 tank was a bit old and had to by hydro tested before it can be filled which cost 16 buck. I ended up picking up a new tank with a years worth of free refills for 24 bucks.

So I was hooking up the regulator and I promptly screwed something up and blew out the low pressure gauge.....great I have had this thing for 30 minutes and broke something already. After doing some research it turns out that it works perfectly fine without the gauge and for the most part it's recommended you ignore the gauge even if its working so I guess my mistake was not that big. A word of warning though make sure you don't have the regulator adjustment knob screwed in to far and the solenoid unplugged when you screw on the co2 tank or bad things happen.

I still have to pick up a ceramic deffuser and a drop checker. I am still doing a bit or research on these but will probably order something this weekend.


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## dj2005 (Apr 23, 2009)

Yes, 48w is a lot of lighting for your setup. You have only low light plants so the 48w is not going to benefit you much over a lower amount of wattage. I suggest something around 18-24w at eight hours per day.

The diffuser and drop checker can be found cheaply on eBay, if you did not already know this. They will take weeks to arrive, though.


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

Yeah it's running that long simply due to the fact I have not hooked up the timers yet...I have them from my reef tank I just have not hooked them up. Right now I turn them on before I go to work then off soon after I get home which ends up being close to 10 hours.

I'm going to hook the timers up tomorrow and rearrange the lights so I can run 24 watts for maybe 8 hours and then maybe have 48 on for like an hour in the middle of the day.

I think I'm going to get a diffuser and drop checker from AquaticMagic, around 25 bucks for both.


-me-
:iamwithstStill mad about the blowing my low pressure guage......


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

I have pretty much filled out the Fauna.

6 x Rasboras, 3 Galaxy and 3 Emerald 
3 x Ottos
2 x Honey Gourami, 1 male and 1 female
2 x Crystal Red Shrimp (I will probably add more of these guys)

I have had the Rasboras the longest, the first few were to get the cycle well on it's way. Eventually I added a few more to end up with 6. They all seem to be getting along well. I even think I saw a pair spawning in the moss in the front of the tank....I could be wrong but they were acting very similar to my clowns when they spawn.

Next I added 1 otto then went back for 2 more after it seemed like the first one was happy. They were all a bit skinny looking when I picked them up but seem to be plumping up.

I actually added 3 CRS but I think one did not make it though the first night as I did not see it after the first day. The other 2 have been doing well as far as I can tell and have both molted.

Lastly I was looking for something to add with some more color and decided to go with the pair of Honey Gourami. They have only been in the tank for around 3 days but seem to be settling in well. The addition of the Gourami seems to have enticed the Rasboras to spend more time out in the open where as before they tended to just hide behind the drift wood.

I got a few pictures, the Rasboras are speedy little guys and hard to get a good shot of.




























Male









Female


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## heydude819 (Mar 17, 2009)

Lenthan, what are you using as the outflow for this tank? It doesn't seem to be standard loc-lines you get from nano cubes.



Lenthan said:


>


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

its a koralia nano


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

It's actually a hydor flo, a rotating deflector. It basically takes the water from the return pump and uses a propeller to rotate the water outlet.


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

Lenthan said:


> It's actually a hydor flo, a rotating deflector. It basically takes the water from the return pump and uses a propeller to rotate the water outlet.


haha my mistake =O
it is a hydro flo


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## Lenthan (May 30, 2010)

it does look a bit like a power head....


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