Planning a Desktop Nano - Tank Questions!

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T

TurtleBear

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2011
13
0
0
New Hampshire
Hello everyone!

I’ve recently been looking into a planted setup to display in my office at work. I know I want something small, plant-oriented and very light on fish. My head keeps going to the Takashi Amano-style Nature setup, and I’m using his books as inspiration (although if I get this tank looking even half as good as some of his I’ll consider it a victory). I’m still in the preliminary planning phase and am looking for the right tank to use – I was wondering if I could get some feedback here?? (Thanks!)

Physical requirements for the tank are:

-Small footprint, somewhere within 1.5’ x 1.5’
-No (or as few as possible) visible wires or “junk” cluttering up the office
-As little plastic trim as possible (personal preference) including the hood

I’ve been browsing various “aquarium kits” and I think I’ve found a potential candidate:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3730+18534+23677&pcatid=23677
(Fluval Flora Planted Aquarium Kit - 11.8"x11.8"x13.75")

This tank definitely has the look I’m going for, but before I even take a look at one I was wondering if anyone has any real-world feedback? Any & all thoughts on the subject would be awesome, things such as – is it easy to change the light bulb? Is the “mini C02 injection system” well designed & functional or is it just a gimmick? Is the filtration system well designed & functional? Any other random things I may not have thought of?

Thanks all!
 
i purchased a 1.5 gallon with the same idea, havent done anything with it tho, i dont think the bubble filter it came with is enough for filtration.
 
Update- Just paid a visit to one of the local pet shops, and I've found one of them has a 12"x12"x12" 'seamless cube tank' (unlabelled & I'm unsure of the make) for $34.99. They also had a Marineland T5 lighting assembly built to fit over such a tank (geared for a marine setup), and it'd be very easy to swap out the bulbs for proper ones. They were crazy busy and I wasn't able to find a price on the light setup, but I'm seriously considering going this route over the kit. Thoughts / suggestions??

I'd also need to buy a separate filtration setup if I go for the cube, do you guys have any suggestions? It's been so, so long since I've used a basic H.O.B. filter, but that seems to be the way to go - unless anyone has an alternative??

Thanks for reading
 
I would go for an internal filter run by a powerhead, this allows you to place it anywhere to hide it from plain view, and only the power cord sticking out. another option would to have a small canister filter and glass pipettes for the intake and return tubes, but that will cost you a lot more. As for a CO2 system I would not even bother and just dose it with something like seachem flourish excel or metricide. Its much more forgiving this way and cheaper in the long run. The background will make a big difference, you'll have to think about what sides will people see and which sides you want to have as the background... Placement is important here.

As for the light fixture that you mentioned, if it was good enough for a nano reef tank, then with different bulbs its probably good enough for a med-high light planted tank.
 
I don't think it has enough lighting, it needs at least 2 watts per gallon at least
 
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