# Nano 8x6 inches (update 4/21/06 on last page)



## Raphael (Nov 13, 2005)

No filter? No light? You can't cycle your tank without a filter. Other than that, your tank looks good for a start knowing that it's 8x6".


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I have a temporary light on it right now one of those screw in power compacts.


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## Raphael (Nov 13, 2005)

Ok, just out of question. Why don't you buy a filter from your LFS?


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## daFrimpster (Mar 7, 2005)

I am Just curious why a tank wouldn't cycle without a filter?


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## Raphael (Nov 13, 2005)

Well, you can but it's not recommended, you need a filter to keep it going and you'll find yourself doing water changes very often without one.


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## turtlehead (May 31, 2005)

I have no nano filter and only do 2 water changes a week.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

am getting a filter from bigals, getting it from there because I need to get other things, and things are a lot cheaper than in my lfs


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

Raphael said:


> Well, you can but it's not recommended, you need a filter to keep it going and you'll find yourself doing water changes very often without one.


That's not really true. In nature there are no filters...everything is a cycle.

Plants will naturally take in ammonia and nitrite. If there were no plants in there- that would be a different story.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

Raphael said:


> Well, you can but it's not recommended, you need a filter to keep it going and you'll find yourself doing water changes very often without one.


the only thing a filter will really be doing is mechanical filtration anyway. But like I said I am getting one. Plus the endlers and cherry shrimp don't have much of a bioload, I put one flake it and they do not finish it totally.

Ian


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## shuks (Jul 10, 2005)

you dont even need a filter. I didn't use a filter on my 75 gallon. If the plants are growing, they are filtering the water. If you do 2 waterchanges a week you shuld be fine. IMO, no nano tanks should have filters. They are too big for such a small tank,and make it look ugly.


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## Goldfishcrazy11 (Nov 20, 2005)

I made a homemade filter for my 5 gallon... I simply found an empty fish food container, punched a hole in the center of the lid, stuck a tube connector on a tube, put it in through the hole, opened the lid, and added gravel from a cycled tank. You could also add filter floss to this. I then connected the tubing to an air pump.

I careful hid my "filter" in 10 lbs. of gravel. You could get an air diffuser (sp?) to slow down the flow.

No tank should be without a filter, besides betta tanks (since they don't like a strong flow).


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## gw11ucb (Jan 3, 2004)

i have my nano 1 gallon running now for almost three weeks without any filtration or waterchange. it has a 9 watts over it. the plants are growing well. I beginning to see algae on the glass. I think I will have to clean it soon. I did ordered a nano filter from bigals just didn't have time to p ick it up from my friend yet


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## figgy (Feb 27, 2005)

Maybe a matter of taste, but to my eye, there are too many different plant species in there...

Fig


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

i hear you figgy but I am also trying to see what will grow in the tank. 

Ian


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## Ibn (Nov 19, 2003)

Pick up that filter from your friend so that I can verify it'll fit! :hihi: 

Looks like a good start, but a bit too many plant varieties in there, but we'll have to wait and see what grows in there for you.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

I was thinking about making a diy mini canister filter. 

You can take a rio 50 (size of a quarter) and submerge it into the tank. Then pipe the tubing out into a sealed bottle or container of some sort with in and out barbs. Fill the container with filter floss and you are done. I'm looking for a container that isn't so ugly looking.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

let me know how that works out Marc. I did not get the nano filter yet bigals was out of stock, they shipped everything but the filter. I did take another picture, let me know what you guys think.


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## JBN (Oct 31, 2005)

Love the update man roud:. Hey, you still have the "OceanFree" sticker


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

JBN said:


> Love the update man roud:. Hey, you still have the "OceanFree" sticker


Thanks, I should get that sticker off.


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## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

ianiwane said:


> let me know how that works out Marc. I did not get the nano filter yet bigals was out of stock, they shipped everything but the filter. I did take another picture, let me know what you guys think.


I found this on APC and it was exactly what i had in mind.

http://www.petfrd.com/forum/articles.php?action=viewarticle&artid=87&page=1
http://forum.o-fish.com/viewtopic.php?p=159121&sid=050d852d51e76d5aaf0196154f78780a
http://www.aqugrass.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9668


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

cool Marc, let me know how that works out when you try it. I have a red sea nano filter on it now.

Ian


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## figgy (Feb 27, 2005)

ianiwane said:


> i hear you figgy but I am also trying to see what will grow in the tank.
> 
> Ian


 Gotcha--I do the same!


The filter Marc just posted looks like what you'd get if you followed Goldfishcrazy's homemade directions. As slick as it is, I still wouldn't bother with a filter on such a small tank--just too visually obtrusive to my eye...and you definitely don't need a filter to cycle a tank--if something poops or rots, chemistry happens!

Fig


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## krazykidd86 (Jul 27, 2005)

What type of aquasoil did you get? I like the look, and thinking about it myself. How does it compare to ecocomplete? I'm thinking about mimicking your tank style..hehe, hope you dont mind


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

its the regular aquasoil amazonia from aqua forest. Its like 16 for a bag that will do about 4 ocean free tanks. Are you a member of SFBAAPS?


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## littleguy (Jan 12, 2005)

shuks said:


> IMO, no nano tanks should have filters. They are too big for such a small tank,and make it look ugly.





figgy said:


> just too visually obtrusive to my eye...and you definitely don't need a filter to cycle a tank--if something poops or rots, chemistry happens!


I agree completely. 

Just as a data point, I've had a 2.5 gallon tank for a year with no filter, no heater, no water pump. Just good lighting, good substrate, and good plant growth. It's doing great. Very healthy tank.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

update picture taken today


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## milalic (Aug 25, 2005)

It has filled very nicely!


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## fish man 101 (Feb 15, 2005)

certainely has grown ..
nice tank.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

can't take credit for any of the moss, in the front. I planted it like that. The weeping moss and juncus did grow a lot though. I am going to put pressurized co2 on this thing, haha. How crazy is that. I got an ada mini regulator. I will post pictures when I have it available.

Ian


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## endparenthesis (Jul 13, 2004)

On the whole cycling thing... bacteria needs its food brought to it. It'll grow on whatever, but if there's no water movement only a minimal amount of bacteria is going to be able to survive.

Plants are somewhat the same way... movement usually makes for better growth.

So a filter might not technically be necessary, but it (or anything else that causes movement) helps for reasons beyond filtration.

No filters in nature, but stagnant water is pretty gross in nature too.

Anyway, moot point now.


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## deeplove (Dec 27, 2005)

You should try a moss wall to see if you like it or not. Moss walls are pretty cool. And if it doesn't tickle your pickle, then you sell the extra moss. Win - Win situation I must say.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

Update added pressurized CO2, ADA regulator/canister.


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## h20 plant (Dec 21, 2005)

Man that thing is going to be growing out of control, nice! Where did you get the weeping moss and is that fission in the middle?


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I got the weeping moss a while back from a member here on PT. That is fissidens in the middle, good eye. I removed the hygro from the right hand side, I am going to put something else there. Hygro did not fit.


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## h20 plant (Dec 21, 2005)

cool, How is the fissiden to grow? Do you have it attached to a log or rock? If you ever get cuttings from either one let me know i would be very interested since I would like to have a wide variety of mosses in my tank. keep the pics coming as the growth increases and any details on the CO2 system.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

Fissiden is the slowest growing plant that I have ever tried to grow. Its attached to a rock. I pulled out the hygro sp red out of the right background. It did not match the rest of the scape.


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## h20 plant (Dec 21, 2005)

yea I agree what about a brood leaf plant to of set the one on the left?


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I placed 3 stems of Ludwigia sp. Guinea on the right hand side. I'll take a picture when it grows in. I hope it will grow well in this environment. The tank was pearling like mad today, pretty cool for something so small.


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## krazykidd86 (Jul 27, 2005)

Great looking tank and progress. Where'd you get that sponge for your intake and how often do you have to clean it if it gets clogged up and reduces flow?


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I've only cleaned it twice since I had the tank set up. I got the sponge from a fellow sfbaaps member. I am not sure where he got it from.



krazykidd86 said:


> Great looking tank and progress. Where'd you get that sponge for your intake and how often do you have to clean it if it gets clogged up and reduces flow?


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

update taken today. I pulled out the mini moss and splits the fissidens on three rocks.


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## HEINEKEN357 (Feb 10, 2006)

Great looking tank you got there. where you get the pressurized CO2, ADA regulator/canister?


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## alphacat (Apr 21, 2006)

Possibly a stupid question, but: why did you choose male-only Endlers?


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## Matthew Mahling (Sep 4, 2005)

1 Endlers male + 1 Endlers female = 20 more endlers in about 30 days.
At least in my experience.
By having the same sex couple = 0 offsring.


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## alphacat (Apr 21, 2006)

Oh course! I should've guessed.

Thanks neighbor!


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

exactly it, also female endlers get quite large. I took the endlers out b/c I added some bee shimp into the mix.


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## Nightshop (May 12, 2006)

Very nice.

It's fun seeing beauty's in small packages as well as large ones.


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## fshfanatic (Apr 20, 2006)

Marc said:


> That's not really true. In nature there are no filters...everything is a cycle.
> 
> Plants will naturally take in ammonia and nitrite. If there were no plants in there- that would be a different story.


All depends on what you consider a filter. Most, if not all bodies of water are feed by either streams or rivers, which are in a sense filters. When moving water passes over and through rocks, gravel, etc. it is in a sence being "filtered". Mother Nature is the best biological filter you could ever hope to use.


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## bioch (Oct 1, 2006)

figgy said:


> Maybe a matter of taste, but to my eye, there are too many different plant species in there...
> 
> Fig


Out of topic! 
But Fig! You have such cute avatar!


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## fish_lover0591 (Nov 11, 2006)

any updates on this ?


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## sandiegoryu (Feb 15, 2006)

I'll join the demand! I love this tank! One of the threads I've bookmarked for nano reference, but my bookmarks disappeared so not anymore.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

Sorry tank was broken down. I have 3 right now which is already too many.


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