# ringram's 2.5g nano - Iwagumi -esque



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Looks like a good start. Which type of aquasoil did you use? I have some amazonia II coming soon, so I'm trying to get as much info as I can. I'll look forward to the progress of this one!


----------



## Geoff C (Aug 1, 2007)

Looks good so far, the rocks look nice where you have them. 
I like the white backround to, looking forward to seeing it with plants.


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

The substrate is ADA aquasoil "amazonia". I had some leftover when I rescaped my 90g. 
I'll be adding some rotalas from the 90g and I'll be getting some HC next week. 
As soon as the tank is nice and stable, I'll add the CRS's from my 25g, which I believe will be around 8-9.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

one thing i would do if i used aqua soil again, would be to soak it for a few weeks to let the ammonia leech out as much as possible before i put it in my tank.


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

*10/30*

Ok, here it is. It's still kinda cloudy, but not as bad as last night. I just planted a few clippings from my other tank.
You'll see the ludwigia arcuata, rotala macandra and hemianthus micranthemoides (HM) on the right side, around that larger rock.
I plan to plant HC over most of this tank, but still undecided if I want to add another stem plant to the background on the left side.
I'm also not too crazy about this desk lamp I'm using for lighting. I may end up getting something with an actual PC tube, instead of a screw in bulb. I'm still waiting for the deco art filter and I just added about a 1/2 capful of Fluorish Excel.

Suggestions? Advice? Comments?
Don't worry, I don't bruise easily.











-Ryan


----------



## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

BIGGER ROCKS!!!!!!
Otherwise, looks nice.


----------



## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Take that rim off that tank!!! Would look killer.

Foreground plants? HC? Would put a bigger rock on left, but not sure what your intentions are here.

Love those little 2.5 gallons. Can't beat the price either.


----------



## Vinny (Aug 20, 2007)

Heh, sorry to Hijack your thread... But how do you take off a rim of a tank? Mine seems to be glued on there pretty strong. :icon_bigg


----------



## JustOneMore21 (May 23, 2006)

Lookin good! I just love nano tanks...so easy to setup.  I like the rocks and think the tank would look great with some HC in the foreground and maybe some Dwarf Hairgrass near the back...maybe. I'm sure you have tons of layouts in your head though. 



> I'll be using Fluorish Excel with this tank and will start planting as soon as the water clears up...
> Any suggestions? Can't exactly use a gravel vac in a tank this small.


In my small tanks, I use some airline and a bucket to do gravel vacs and get stuff off the bottom. Suck on the end or fill the tubing with water and you have a nano siphon.  Works nicely in my 3g. I just use a cup to do water changes though....easy as pie.


----------



## trfjason (Aug 10, 2006)

Taller Rocks! Otherwise, it looks like it is a good start!


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

JustOneMore21 said:


> In my small tanks, I use some airline and a bucket to do gravel vacs and get stuff off the bottom. Suck on the end or fill the tubing with water and you have a nano siphon.  Works nicely in my 3g. I just use a cup to do water changes though....easy as pie.



I'll give that a try. I have some airline tubing lying around. I tried using my python the other night and it drained the tank halfway in about 5 seconds flat. Then, when I broke the siphon, it made a mess and stirred up the gravel.

Yes, I'll be planting HC in there. I'll be getting it at our local club meeting next Tuesday. 
Looks like several people think I should go with larger rocks....I can do that. I have more in my garage. I was just afraid they'd be too large for this tiny tank.


*EDIT* I've never taken the rim off of a tank before. Is there an easy way to do it? Also, it is possible to do with water in it?


----------



## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

I use the regular size tubing, and a full length of it to do wc's. Like justonemore, I get a syphon going into a bucket. It's a nice slow drain so I can clean up the bottom. Any new pics?


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

I'll try to post some pics tonight after I add some larger rocks.


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Ok, here's an update:

On a side note, after doing this I can really appreciate the difficulty of nano tanks. This is one of the more frustrating and difficult tanks I've ever tried to plant. Trying to plant and move substrate....very carefully...made me feel like I had GORILLA HANDS!! LOL

I took out the rocks and picked some more interesting (I think) and larger ones. Once I did this, I decided I wanted to arrange the plants differently.....2+ hrs pass, where I was **VERY** carefully draining and refilling, to reduce the cloudiness. Here's an example of the airline hose siphon I had going:










The end result is this. I'm pretty happy with how it looks. I'll be adding some HC soon to fill in the foreground. I'm also going to toy with the possibility of getting a PC tube, so I get better light distribution. I'm also thinking about getting pressurized Co2 -- not so sure that the look I'm going for will be possible with Excel or DIY. The filter should be getting here on Friday or Saturday.

What do you think? (at least so far)










Try to visualize the HM growing into a lush, green bush and billowing over the front of the rocks a bit. In front of that will be a lush carpet of HC.
At least that's the plan.

-Ryan


----------



## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

It's perfect now!


----------



## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Alot better ring.

As far as taking the rim off when full...that would be a PITA. I will try it on my 2.5 gal tonight and let you know how easy it is. I have done it on a 10 and you simply need to cut the silicone seal under the rim. it takes some time, but its doable. there was a DIY thread started about this not to long ago but I can't seem to find it. Should work well on a 2.5 since the water pressure is so low.

I am even contemplating taking the whole tank apart to see if I can get some nice silicone seals as opposed to the "blob" that the manufacturer leaves you with.


----------



## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

Lookin' good. Its going to look great once the plants adjust and start filling out. 

I can totally appreciate the madness of trying to work in the 2.5g, its quite frustrating and makes planting pretty difficult. I remember when mine was setup I did it by the sink and ended up doing 4-5 water changes to get rid of the initial cloud from the AS. Your setup is really making me want to strip mine down and start over with new rocks.


----------



## trfjason (Aug 10, 2006)

Looks great! Get a black background to get more contrast.


----------



## Saraja87 (Jul 18, 2007)

Beautiful! I love those angular rocks, they bring mountain peaks to mind


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

That's actually what I was starting to think. Plus, if you look, you'll notice a seam near the far right side. That's because I just used a piece of glossy white photo paper, but it wasn't quite long enough, so I improvised. I didn't realize that the seam would be so noticable.
I have solid black in my other two tanks and like it very much. It keeps the focus on what's IN the tank.



trfjason said:


> Looks great! Get a black background to get more contrast.


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

One question....Where might I find a wood airstone? I know of the cheap airstones you find at the LFS, but didn't know that a wood one was made. I just want a good dissolution method as I'll probably be adding pressurized, but will use DIY at first. I could always get a Rhinox nano, but cheaper is better, since it's a tiny tank anyway.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Try here or somewhere else online. I think the coralife's are highly recommended
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp18288/cl0/woodairstones?viewType=Category


----------



## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

I believe aquaticmagic on ebay has them.


----------



## sandiegoryu (Feb 15, 2006)

Don't buy from Aquatic-magic. Or Bigals. Just go to your nearest Petco and grab a pair there (I think they sell them in twos).

Anyway your tank will look sweet once the HM starts to bush! It takes a while though :-D.


----------



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

sandiegoryu said:


> Don't buy from Aquatic-magic. Or Bigals. Just go to your nearest Petco and grab a pair there (I think they sell them in twos).


Makes sense, but I've had trouble finding them locally, so online seems to be the only option in some cases


----------



## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

Ringram, nice job on the layout.

I've got a couple of suggestions that will make your life easier and save you money.

1st, i would use excel.
I've had amazing results with excel and HC. Aquasoil seems to be the real trick, but the excel is great for spot treating those Clado bouts too.
It's a lot cheaper than a pressurized system, especially on a small tank.
a bottle will last a year or more.

2nd, Buy yourself some long tweezers. trying to plant HC in a nano with big hands is a crazy task, i tried.

LLLreptiles.com has some nice cheap tweezers, or if you want to go real cheap, walgreens and walmart have those 3" tweezers, but they're a bit short.

3rd, if you're looking for better light, AHsupply or coralife minis work well, although the AH supply may work 10x's better, it may be hard to fit it into the overall scape, wheras the coralife can be hung to keep that modern look(rimless and all)


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll just keep using Excel.
I went to Petsmart after work and picked up a black background which I think I'll like better. I also picked up some Elite (white) airstones...they're the cylinder-shaped ones...3 to a pack for ~$2.50, so we'll give it a try.

I also went to Home Depot and picked up the $20 PC desk light that has a lot better flexibility, plus it's a PC tube, as opposed to a bulb, so the coverage is more even. Not much of a reflector in there, but it puts out a lot of light, so that probably won't be an issue. It takes up a little more horizontal space than I expected. It's a 27w, but it doesn't say the spectrum....Looking at it, I would guess around 6500k though.

I also just bought a used woodworking book off Amazon and intend to teach myself how to build a stand/rack for this tank, my 25g and maybe another nano (2.5 or 5g). It will be either 2 or 3 level, to save space in this little bedroom that's also our home office...

I have some ~12" tweezers, but they're the ones that are hooked on the end. I'll see how they work for the HC. I've had them for at least a couple years and they work great, but I've always used them in larger tanks.


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

*Ok, this sucks....*

I had just spent a good 30-45 min planting the rest of the HC. Then I drained the tank to give it a quick wc and had the idea of trying to remove the rim. I got a razor blade and a screwdriver. I used the razor blade and cut the silicon down under the plastic rim. I thought that the silicon was all cut and just needed a good nudge to pop it off, so I used to screw driver to try that. Bad idea. Tank cracked and I spent 1 hr 40 min driving around Sac in the middle of commute time going to two different PetsMarts, before I found a new one.
Back to the drawing board on this. I'll hopefully get the new one up and running tonight, but we'll see...


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

that sucks the tank was coming along very nicely imo. do you think heating up the rim would help in taking it off?


----------



## ringram (Jan 19, 2005)

Maybe, but I'm honestly not going to try it again. I'll probably buy ADA for the next tank I get, just because rimless looks so nice, but I don't want to risk breaking another tank.


----------



## Süßwasser (Nov 1, 2007)

Sorry to hear about your tank... maybe this can be a lesson to those who are thinking about taking their rims off their tanks. :thumbsup:


----------



## Geoff C (Aug 1, 2007)

Same thing happend to me with my 2.5, I think the glass is a bit too thin for it. Good thing they are soo inexpensive 

geoff


----------



## j_m_lizard (Oct 14, 2007)

Oh, bummer! I never had the huevos to remove a rim form a little tank... looks like I was probably better off not risking it. Good luck re-starting.


----------



## wreckuLa (Feb 21, 2008)

I found this thread searching for rim removal on small tanks, I think I'll go ahead and leave mine on...


----------

