# Zen Nano Planted Office Tank



## SmellsFishy (Dec 9, 2013)

Looks interesting. The site you listed has some pretty cheap stuff! I'm going to go dig around on there for a bit ^_^


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## Leviathan_XE (Jun 10, 2005)

I have one myself, chose the the 3 gallon, wish I would've went with the five. Nice tank though.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

I've got some nice pieces of driftwood laying around and am thinking about maybe doing an underwater root scape. Looking forward to getting the tank and start arranging the hardscape


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Some pictures. The tank just arrived. Probably put the substrate down tomorrow and let the substrate outgass.


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## PeterN1986 (Jun 15, 2011)

You are going to get good light output from the Nano Type-P; I have it also on my office desk tank. There are some pics of the light and tank in my Mini-M journal towards the end.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Had the plants in a holding tank too long, didn't fertilize so are a bit yellow. Expecting them to bounce back now they are being properly nutrified.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Had a bit of a rough start with the tank. The impeller didn't seem to want to turn. Took the impeller out and covered it with petroleum jelly, and added some to the drive shaft as well. Filter working fine ever since.

I added a finnex PX-360 canister from one of my other tanks onto the tank to increase the overall filtration of the system and to help establish the bacteria colonies.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10ppm

Doing a daily dose PPS and the plants seem to be picking up.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

The room is getting pretty hot - its Florida. So I added a small chiller to the tank. Since this is a desk tank, I decided to go with one of these:

csxc-1-aquarium-chiller

Small compact, and keeps the tank at a nice 73 degrees in a room around 85 degrees.


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## SmellsFishy (Dec 9, 2013)

The tank is looking good so far. I have the complete opposite problem. My house is so cold that I had to add a second heater to my 29g to keep it up to 75 degrees. It needs to warm up lol


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

What's that fish in the tank?


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Little black moscow guppy frys. Once they get big enough they're going back in the community tank.

I think this tank just became the unofficial fry grow out tank


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Interesting, have a shot of the tank with the chiller on it? Don't think I'll need one, but I'm curious how it looks.

Other than the initial impeller issue, how does the filtration look? This is an interesting setup, it looks like they're trying to do something similar to the Fluval Spec tanks.

I've been wanting to set up a cube; I'm torn between something like this (or another Edge) and one of TruAqua's low iron Cube tanks (4 or 7 gallons, I guess), and adding my own filter of some sort.

That Fluorite looks an awful lot like Eco Complete.


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

Leviathan_XE said:


> I have one myself, chose the the 3 gallon, wish I would've went with the five. Nice tank though.


The 5 Gallon is $54 with free shipping. Am I clear, it includes tank, filter and light? Some one tell me not to do this. This is a support group, right?


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

kamebard said:


> The room is getting pretty hot - its Florida. So I added a small chiller to the tank. Since this is a desk tank, I decided to go with one of these:
> 
> csxc-1-aquarium-chiller
> 
> Small compact, and keeps the tank at a nice 73 degrees in a room around 85 degrees.


That chiller is only going to quicken the time it takes for the water to equalize with the ambient room temperature. Unless I'm missing something, it's only a nice fan.


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## dubels (Jun 14, 2012)

farmhand said:


> That chiller is only going to quicken the time it takes for the water to equalize with the ambient room temperature. Unless I'm missing something, it's only a nice fan.


Its not just a computer fan. Its a miniature thermoelectric cooling setup similar to those on the higher end wine chillers. It does not create condensation like regular compressor driven chillers. Impressive but expensive. I just use a dual fan and a temperature controller that keeps my tanks at 71 degrees through out the hot summers here in Sacramento. It causes a bit of evaporation but top offs with RO works well enough.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

farmhand said:


> That chiller is only going to quicken the time it takes for the water to equalize with the ambient room temperature. Unless I'm missing something, it's only a nice fan.


Looks like it functions the same as a computer fan. Heat is drawn off by the fan blowing across the cooling fins on the heat sink. Not sure how much cooler than ambient it can get, but an ordinary fan cools (at least a small amount) temps just by blowing ambient air, so I believe it can get at least somewhat lower than ambient. Interesting application for a computer cooling system, however.

Edit: Based on the above, perhaps they've integrated a powered cold plate into the design, which would certainly increase the temp delta.


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

dubels said:


> Its not just a computer fan. Its a miniature thermoelectric cooling setup similar to those on the higher end wine chillers. It does not create condensation like regular compressor driven chillers. Impressive but expensive. I just use a dual fan and a temperature controller that keeps my tanks at 71 degrees through out the hot summers here in Sacramento. It causes a bit of evaporation but top offs with RO works well enough.


I've left this hobby a few years ago. Excuse me for being amazed at the changes upon my return. When I started they hadn't invented dirt yet. :eek5:


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

farmhand said:


> That chiller is only going to quicken the time it takes for the water to equalize with the ambient room temperature. Unless I'm missing something, it's only a nice fan.


It's got a peltier cooling element in the base, large heat sink and fan to cool the heat sink.

Brought the tank down from 85 degrees (ambient) down to 73 degrees - so definitely working more than ambient. Nice thing is its relatively quiet so doesn't cause a lot of annoyances. 

I was a bit skeptical at first and was going to go with the ice probe, but since the tank doesn't really have space to put the probe in, I went with this little one to go inline with the output of the filter. 

According to the specs it should cool a 10g by 8-10F - so far so good (even though this is a 5g). Very easy to set up and install, and if you don't have a filter you can always use a water pump to push through the cooler.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Temperature readings from the tank and ambient.

29C Ambient, 23.4 tank:









Cooler running about 42C









Cooler Shots









Power Supply Shots (10A 110/220V)


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

kman said:


> That Fluorite looks an awful lot like Eco Complete.


Thought I had enough fluorite for the base, but ended up only barely covering the bottom, so I took some extra Eco Complete black and laid it on top - hence the black and orange specks)


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## farmhand (Jun 25, 2009)

I just realized the light that comes with the package is much smaller than you are using. Would I be correct that the light coming with the package won't do much?


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## ChillSolutions (Feb 25, 2014)

farmhand said:


> That chiller is only going to quicken the time it takes for the water to equalize with the ambient room temperature. Unless I'm missing something, it's only a nice fan.


You are most certainly missing something roud:

It is thermoelectric.


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

finally, someone using the cooler i've been wondering about. do you just set the temperature limit on the cooler and it's done?


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## ChillSolutions (Feb 25, 2014)

gnod said:


> finally, someone using the cooler i've been wondering about. do you just set the temperature limit on the cooler and it's done?



Yes, just set your desired temp and that is it. The unit is proportionally controlled so it will vary output power from 0-100% using pulse width modulation (PWM) to maintain the exact set temp.

Unlike compressor based chillers which must either be ON or OFF (cycling the tank +/- a degree or two each run cycle), by modulating output power this unit can keep a very constant temperature. The fan is temperature controlled so it will vary speed according to heat-sink temp, reducing unnecessary noise (Also, it is a dual ball bearing fan which is warrantied by the manufacturer (Vantec) for 6 years, so fan life is certainly not an issue).


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

farmhand said:


> I just realized the light that comes with the package is much smaller than you are using. Would I be correct that the light coming with the package won't do much?


For growing plants, no. If you look at the description it specifically mentions that it isn't rated for plants. I went with the Aquatop Nano+P - their nano planted tank version and the plants all seeming to be thriving in the tank.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

gnod said:


> finally, someone using the cooler i've been wondering about. do you just set the temperature limit on the cooler and it's done?


Its an awesome set it and forget it unit. The iceprobe is nice if you have a HOB filter you can stick it in, but for the nano tanks, this really can't be beat. 

Options:
1) Fans blowing on the tank. Reduce to just below ambient (evaporation and all that). Not really an option for places like Florida where it gets up in the mid 80s during the day.
2) IceProbe - nice little unit, but you need to stick it in the water somewhere, and if your tank doesn't have a HOB, space in the canopy, drilled holes for you to stick on the side, or a refugium where you can stick it, it's not going to work. Also, the iceprobe looks a little unwieldly at the top of the tank.
3) 1/13 HP compressor Chiller. Overkill for nanotanks and really noisy.
4) ChillSolutions Unit. Small, compact, fits inline with any pumping system you already have, easy to conceal behind the tank with the other supplies, and with only a fan for noise, stays relatively quiet all day long.

It's ~2x as much as an iceprobe, but cheaper than a 1/13hp compressor.

Definately has it's place for smaller tanks and comes highly recommended (from my experience so far). Also their customer service is awesome.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

kman said:


> Other than the initial impeller issue, how does the filtration look? This is an interesting setup, it looks like they're trying to do something similar to the Fluval Spec tanks.


Once I get all the fixtures in place, I'll do some rearranging to make the set up a bit more aesthetically appealing. Hide the canister filter, co2 unit, chiller, UV sanitizer, route the tubes all pretty like, etc... will update with pics later.

As for the tank, after I lubed the impeller up it hasn't given me any issues. I still like the canister filter on the tank as a supplemental filter and pump for the chiller.


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

kamebard said:


> Its an awesome set it and forget it unit. The iceprobe is nice if you have a HOB filter you can stick it in, but for the nano tanks, this really can't be beat.
> 
> Options:
> 1) Fans blowing on the tank. Reduce to just below ambient (evaporation and all that). Not really an option for places like Florida where it gets up in the mid 80s during the day.
> ...


sweet. thanks very much for your feedback!


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## nomad1721 (Jan 3, 2011)

That little chiller is awesome (except for the price, ouch). Looks like it would make a fun DIY though. If it ever got warm enough in my place I would consider breaking out all the old computer water cooling bits and fabricating something along the same lines.


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

Updates


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## kamebard (Jan 30, 2014)

I added the BML (6300XL) on top because it gives a much prettier spectrum. The guppies are growing and about to be moved to another community tank once they start popping. Wonder if I can start growing a guppy runt strain - dwarf moscow velvets

Going to have to start shaping the plants to start taming the jungle


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