# Nano Tank 6.25 Gallon Petco "Arc"



## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Figured I better start one of these, so here goes. :biggrin:

Tank: 6.25 Gallon Petco "Arc" Nano
Light: (2) Fluval Nano Aqualife and Plant LED fixtures
Filtration: built in sump style (media modified)
Substrate: FloraMax 
Heater: Aqueon Mini Heater 10W
Co2: Aquatek Co2 regulator and diffuser (paintball) 
Ferts: Tons of Flourish Tabs, fish poo, some API Leaf Zone, some Flourish Trace, the rest is a work in progress...
Light/Co2 Cycle: Currently 10 hours, dropping down to 8 soon...

Plants: A bunch of Dwarf Hairgrass in front (eleocharis parvula), 5 Crypts (cryptocoryne wendtii), 2 Amazon Swords (echinodorus "somethingorother"), a bit of Cyperus (cyperus helferi) in back, and some duck weed... 

Fish: Betta, 5 Rasbora Tetras, 2 ghost shrimpy...
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For those of you that remember me, I used to run only dirt tanks...and I miss them. I love Angel fish and Betta's. I'm also riddled with A.D.D., and I'm terrible at photography. This is my first nano tank. So enjoy, lol


Here is the tank empty. I include this only because it is new to the market and a few people have been curious about it. Feel free to ask any questions. So far I love it, it comes with a lid, yet the tank is rimless. It's sturdy and the glass is pretty clear, and as you can see, it's got a large "sump" style filter. 









Here is the built in sump. Sorry for the image being sideways...unsure about that. The two plastic pieces on the outside are my light mounts, more on them later. Anyways, I loaded it down with ceramic media...there is a porous sponge where you now see the ceramic from the factory. The sump is huge, for a nano tank. As you can see, I have a heater, the pump, media, a diffuser, a dropchecker (not visible here), a thermometer, and some room to spare. 









Here is the sump from above. Now you can get an idea of where the cartridges go and how the system works. It comes with two, a carbon filter, then the media ball thing behind that. 










Here is my entire setup from above. The lights are Fluval Nano LEDs. I think one would probably do it, but I decided to get two on a whim. They are very nice lights, but pricey. You can shop around and do better for a nano tank. If I had to guess, one would be low light, two is medium/high...but that is total speculation on my part as Fluval's "par" chart is ridiculous. 










Here you can sort of get an idea of how the LEDs are situated within the fixture. Again, really nice lights, but they are pricey. That being said...the hairgrass is shooting runners in less than a week. They do run blue only for a nice night effect, but you have to flip a switch. If you have any questions regarding them don't hesitate to ask. 









Here is the left side of the tank. I bought all my plants really small, so they are just getting going. Found all the rocks for this tank in my backyard. 









Here is the right side. 









Tetras...









The world's toughest shrimpy...









Betta (Sparticus)









Again, my photography shortcomings become apparent. Anyways, here is a full shot...so you can get an idea of how things are situated. 










The tank is just starting out, but I'm already seeing runners from my hairgrass. I hope to carpet the front area in front of the rocks, then have some crypts and swords behind the rocks for background plants. The random stem and duckweed are mainly there to help get things started...I hate stem plants, and they hate me back. 

As far as the tank goes...the only thing I've done to it was replace the sponge in the sump with a ton of ceramic media. I didn't have to do that, but I'm a sucker for overkill when it comes to biological filtration. I also painted the back of the tank, where the sump isn't, black. Other than that and lights, it's all stock. Speaking of light...the light that comes with the tank is pretty weak. I doubt you would be able to do anything but the lowest of low light plants with it. However, when the tank only cost $65 bucks, it doesn't hurt so bad to go fetch a light. 

About the Fluval lights...probably overpriced for what you get...but they are decent lights. The mounting system might put some off though. If you have a rim on your tank it might be problematic. They mount using some sort of 3m adhesive that attaches directly to the glass. The good news is it stays put, the bad news is it stays put...meaning removal will be a pain. Luckily the arm the lights mounts to is flexible, both up/down, in/out, and right/left...and they look pretty snazzy. 

That's about all I can think to ramble about right now. Questions and suggestions are warmly received, so have at it. roud:







Also, can anyone identify this Amazon Sword? I've never seen a red one...was at a LFS today and grabbed two of them 'cause they looked cool.


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## anfield (Dec 1, 2013)

Be interested to see how this turns out. Looking for a nano tank myself. What are the approx. dimensions of the tank. 

Also, Im no expert here but I was led to understand that having a betta, tetras and shrimp in such a small tank was a recipe for disaster?


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## agro (Nov 29, 2013)

anfield said:


> Be interested to see how this turns out. Looking for a nano tank myself. What are the approx. dimensions of the tank.
> 
> Also, Im no expert here but I was led to understand that having a betta, tetras and shrimp in such a small tank was a recipe for disaster?


Rasboras known to be pretty docile tetras so won't nip on betta, but both parties would love to take a bite out of shrimps.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

anfield said:


> Be interested to see how this turns out. Looking for a nano tank myself. What are the approx. dimensions of the tank.
> 
> Also, Im no expert here but I was led to understand that having a betta, tetras and shrimp in such a small tank was a recipe for disaster?





agro said:


> Rasboras known to be pretty docile tetras so won't nip on betta, but both parties would love to take a bite out of shrimps.


10x10x17.5, more or less...the depth is 9ish at the edges and 10ish in the middle...bowfront you know. 


Rasboras are relaxed for Tetras. Sparticus is moody, but he can't catch the Tetras when he's mad, and he ignores the shrimp altogether. YMMV, every betta has it's own special personality, lol. Nobody has died yet, the herd avoids the Betta, and nobody notices the janitors.


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

Like the tank. I was thinking of getting those tanks and replacing my ten gallon tanks. I like the idea of the built in filtration.


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## Neatfish (Jun 22, 2012)

I have the same light just sitting in the closet with an empty 3g picotope.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

starfire12 said:


> Like the tank. I was thinking of getting those tanks and replacing my ten gallon tanks. I like the idea of the built in filtration.


It's really nice. On big tanks, one expects to run a canister and stuff...but for a nano there is nothing better than a built in sump. 

I'm over HOBs. Just being able to scoot the thing all the way back to the wall, and having nothing "inside the tank" is winning in my book.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

That's a pretty cool tank. My last one as a AIO too. If you split that hair grass up a lot more, it will spread much faster. Mowing it down sooner than later will help too.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

oldpunk78 said:


> That's a pretty cool tank. My last one as a AIO too. If you split that hair grass up a lot more, it will spread much faster. Mowing it down sooner than later will help too.


Yea...my patience with planting got the best of me. I didn't separate them nearly enough. I don't know how the "pros" get the little tiny plants to stick in the substrate. 

I did give them a good haircut about 3 days in...sure enough the runners started running. From my limited experience, add enough Co2 and you can carpet anything no matter how bad you plant it, lol.

Bump:


Neatfish said:


> I have the same light just sitting in the closet with an empty 3g picotope.


Probably a perfect match for that tank!


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Great post! I bough the 3.7 version and am really excited to get it going! Still thinking about that 6 gallon, too.

Thanks for the post and comments on the other thread. These tanks are so new there's nothing out there about them, but they look soooo good and workable.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

NotCousteau said:


> Great post! I bough the 3.7 version and am really excited to get it going! Still thinking about that 6 gallon, too.
> 
> Thanks for the post and comments on the other thread. These tanks are so new there's nothing out there about them, but they look soooo good and workable.


Glad I could be of help. I don't sugarcoat things (call it a personality flaw), if there was something bad to say about these tanks I would say it. 

The lights suck. That's all I got, they are wonderful tanks.


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

You're right about the lights. Although mine is not set up, I can see that the light BARELY even reaches the actual portion of the tank where the fish/plants will be. The light hangs over the filter and very back sliver of the actual exhibit area.

I'm not sure if I'll upgrade. I'll probably try out some low light plants first and see.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Update: 


My dwarf hairgrass is sending lots of runners despite my poor planting skills. The dead ones are from the one week DHG haircut I gave them to encourage runner production. 









My Crypts and mysterious red Amazon Swords seem to be doing well. My stem plant looks bad, which is pretty typical for me. Spartcus wouldn't pose for decent picture and instead decided to display his back side. SNAFU. 









Have been fighting a mild hair algae outbreak. Could be new tank, inconsistent Co2, or too much light. Probably all of the above. I have cut down the light to 8 hours and raised them an inch. Just finally got Co2 where I want it two days ago, so I'm not going to make any evaluations for a couple days. 

Stats as of today...
Light: 8 hours, 2 inches above water (~12 inches from substrate)
Co2: 8 hours, just over 1bps (drop checker is green)
Ferts: None yet, except for root tabs.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Those are strong little lights. You're WELL into high lighting territory with two of them on a small 6 gal tank. You might want to cut your photo period a bit.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

kman said:


> Those are strong little lights. You're WELL into high lighting territory with two of them on a small 6 gal tank. You might want to cut your photo period a bit.


You are correct, lol! I completely underestimated these lights. I probably could have gotten away with one, but it didn't seem that bright to me when I had it set up like that. New to LEDs, live and learn. 

As of today I'm running 8 hrs and have moved them about 4 inches above the water (14 above substrate). If that doesn't work I'm going to have to cut down on time. 

I did some rearranging on the 'scape, but all is going well. DHG is shooting runners, and carpeting is my main concern right now.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Few random pictures of my little friend, Sparticus. 















































That is all, carry on...


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## starfire12 (Aug 13, 2009)

I read on another forum that some people are having problems with the pump draining out the overflow champer faster then return water is coming in , have you had any problems with this. The water level in the area where the pump is seems to be kind of low. Could you post better photos of how you modified the overflow. I have some filter floss in front of the cartridge, I'm thinking of removing some of it at least till I put shrimp in it.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

starfire12 said:


> I read on another forum that some people are having problems with the pump draining out the overflow champer faster then return water is coming in , have you had any problems with this. The water level in the area where the pump is seems to be kind of low. Could you post better photos of how you modified the overflow. I have some filter floss in front of the cartridge, I'm thinking of removing some of it at least till I put shrimp in it.



I have not had this issue...except when doing water changes with the pump running. If the water gets below the bottom of the intake "screen" then this can happen. 

My modifications will not have effected this. All I did was take the sponge out of the middle camber and fill it instead with a bunch of ceramic media. I am still using the factory carbon and bio-ball chambered drop in style filters...as well as the factory pump in the factory location. 

When the pump chamber is gets significantly (1-2 inches) lower than the intake chambers I take it as a sign I need to clean the first filter. 

If you are using filter floss perhaps it is packed too tightly into the primary chambers?


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

Crazy finnage!


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

vanish said:


> Crazy finnage!


Yea, he's a fluffy little sucker, not too shabby for a Petco rescue!


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## tattooedfool83 (Mar 15, 2013)

I couldnt find these tanks online


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

tattooedfool83 said:


> I couldnt find these tanks online



They're website suuuuuuuuuucks. I can't find the tanks or the filter replacements online. None of my 4 local Petcos carry the filters. To make matters more interesting, not all Petco stores have the tanks in stock, and of course the employees are totally clueless. 

I'm hoping its just a slow rollout of a new product, and availability will improve with time.


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## tattooedfool83 (Mar 15, 2013)

Yeah the only google searches pull up forums and threads like this one of the tank.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

How does your betta do with the inflow and outflow? Has he been sucked against it or blown around the tank?


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## Tyrone (Nov 22, 2013)

Nice set up! I think I might get one of these tanks!

That mystery red amazon sword is very nice! If it happens to spread, I would love to buy one off you!


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

AquaAurora said:


> How does your betta do with the inflow and outflow? Has he been sucked against it or blown around the tank?


Sorry for the delay...I need to monitor my thread more often. 

Here is the skinny on flow and Bettas... I run my pump on high, and my Betta is fine. I will admit it is a bit much for him out in the middle...but in the 6.25 gallon tank the sump is in the middle leaving some "deadspots" on the outside edges where he can go to rest. Plus once the plants grow up things will surely slow down. Betta is happy an flow is strong enough to keep all my plants swaying a bit...which is my personal "flow goal" in a planted tank. Plus if you are wicked nervous, there is low setting on the pump. 

My betta does get sucked against the intake...*on purpose*. The flow into the sump is very minimal, so any healthy betta will be able to "escape the suction". It s a funny story, but my betta sleeps against the sump intake. 

I was initially concerned about this...thinking he may be getting hurt. But one night, for whatever reason, I had left the pump off. The lights went out, and I watched dear "Sparticus" rub up against the sump intake for 20 minutes trying to get sucked into it...trying to get sucked into his bed. 

Bettas are strange critters...:icon_mrgr




Tyrone said:


> Nice set up! I think I might get one of these tanks!
> 
> That mystery red amazon sword is very nice! If it happens to spread, I would love to buy one off you!


Well it's still a mystery to me...but they is a growing! I'm learning that nano tanks require a whole new level of precision...a level that wasn't needed on my dirt tank 90 gallon. Nano tanks are fickle! 

Anyways, the sword is still red and growing, and as far as I am concerned you have first dibs on the runners! (yes, I know, swords don't "run" per se...but you catch my drift, lol) :icon_mrgr


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## moonmonkey (May 21, 2015)

*First tank...*

Hello,
I'm strongly considering getting this as my first tank, but i need to know if the filter and pump are very loud. I'll be putting the tank in a place that needs to be quiet at night. Thanks!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

wow that betta has amazing fins! a real show piece he is!


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

moonmonkey said:


> Hello,
> I'm strongly considering getting this as my first tank, but i need to know if the filter and pump are very loud. I'll be putting the tank in a place that needs to be quiet at night. Thanks!


I had the three gallon version of this tank, and the pump was quiet.


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