gBOYsc2 Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Hi! This project has been a long time coming. I have wanted to do it for quite some time but finding proper lighting at a reasonable price was always difficult. I then recently discovered that Aqua Forest Aquariums made an alternative to the ADA Solar Mini S as it is ridiculously priced at 200 USD. It does look awesome though. The new model doesn't look as sleek but it houses the exact same bulb and only cost roughly $65 USD. If I had the money I would buy the ADA one, but I don't lol. I already spent way too much on this project and hobby in the first place.... but don't we all? So I received almost everything in the mail on January 11, but the light bulb was broken. I took a picture and emailed it to Steven at AFA and he quickly agreed to replace the bulb for free because it should not have been broken. It was inside the light housing, inside a little box, inside a bigger box with the tank and filter which was bubble wrapped and had a lining of sealed bags of air around the whole inside of the box. This wasn't much of a biggie because the stock bulb was 10,000k which is not the best for plants. So I ordered a replacement 6500k bulb. I got the bulb in the mail yesterday! YAY! It has felt like FOREVER! Now I finally get to tinker with it. This is funner then lego was when I was young. I have no experience with planted nano tanks so I have no clue how this is going to go. I'm hoping it will go as smoothly as the 20g is going so far, but who knows. These tiny systems have much less room for error then a large tank. I'm going to document the good, the bad and the ugly. I plan on having a grassy woodland type of setup using a couple different types of moss and Utricularia graminifolia for the carpet and possibly a stem like plant for a bush effect. I bought a really nice clump of fissidens from Blake which I plan to use in here. Possibly some of the Hemianthus micranthemoides from my 20g or some downoi. I really want to make this tank look like you can't really tell it's a 3.5g. I also find it extremely difficult to scape with wood so maybe I will be posting different hardscape options and hopefully get some of your opinions. I will be starting it emeresed and transferring over the UG I have in my 2.5g. Here are some pictures: A shot of most everything. The tank and the light. The ultra small and awesome Eheim 2211. The CO2 system and glassware. I kind of regret buying this system because it's long term 1 year cost will be around the same as a regular 5lb setup. We'll see how it goes. I still need to get the nice glass lily pipes. Unfortunately they are currently sold out at the moment. The hardscape materials. I might also use some small pieces of dark lava rock. The Fluval Stratum which I am hoping will be comparable to the ADA Aquasoil Amazonia. .... and the pfertz. Yes they are in my fridge. LOL hopefully more updates to come later today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaVishVish Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 can't wait to see the result :smokey: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 I'm jealous already! Looks neato, and you've got it decked out with all the tech; should be awesome when you've got it all together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 can't wait to see all this come together and not only are your ferts in the fridge, they have their own shelf! lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 LOL BFM that's because I spent the money on aquarium stuff instead of food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 lmao! i'd be in the same boat if i didn't have a kidlett to worry about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 WOW! Scaping a tank this small is extremely hard. Especially with wood. The footprint of the tank is only 31cm x 18cm. For some reason I find it really hard to make a nice layout with wood. So far these are the only 2 I could come up with that I like at all. What do you all think? Suggestions and CC are welcome. I really want this thing to look good. I'm really scared of messin around too much and having the substrate fall apart alot. It is basically like little semi hard dirt pellets that you can crush with your fingers or wood and rocks. I'm thinking maybe somehow try to incorporate some rock into here. Or something like this. Maybe the use of more or different rocks around the base of the wood. Please forgive the lame photography. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 i like the first layout better, but maybe move the wood just a bit? the larger piece in front - move it's wider end right back to the back left corner, and the smaller piece - move it in front of the larger piece's 'arm' (nice detail on the bottom half of the smaller piece, be a shame to hide it behind more wood). make sense? lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 That makes a lot of sense. I will definitely play around with your idea and see how it is. Thanks for the input BFM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 I'm kind of diggin this type of scape. It would definitely need some tweaking though, and I think some different type of rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 light grey round river stones perhaps? i have some. will trade ya for one of those pieces of wood shown in the first set of photos in this thread sound good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 Thanks for the offer BFM but I would really like some dark rocks. Almost black. Unfortunately I haven't seen any around in the LFS. More then likely I will have a bunch of this wood left over once I decide to go with something final and you are welcome to have some for quite cheap or possibly something to trade? Here are 2 more scapes I came up with. So far I'm liking this last one the most. But again I would like to incorporate the use of some rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 oooh, both those scapes look great! i can't decide which one i like better. the first one adds depth but the second adds height. hard to choose! and sounds good on the wood. all i ask is that i get first dibs when you put it up for sale, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 27, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Haha ok I'll give you first dibs. I'm really diggin this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 :thumbs: for the last one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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