# 5.5g Planted Nano Tank switched to African grow out tank *new pics pg3*



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Ive had a small octagon tank at work for the past year. Ive tried many different fish but usully find they dont like the size of the tank so I end up bringing them home to my other tank. So the other day I decided to set up a 5.5g Planted Nano tank. I went out and bought Fluval Stratum just to give it a try. I bought a few plants. Some I had already. I was trying to keep costs down but as we all know one thing leads to another. I spent more money than planed but it did turn out well. I had to modify the light. It was for a 10g. Fits perfect now and should be plenty of light for the tank. Im still not sure what fish I am going to put in it. So far I have 2 platy's and 2 cory's. I will probably bring the platy's home and decide what I want to have in the tank later.

Tank size: 5.5g
Filtration: Aquaclear mini, Elite Mini Powerhead
Lighting: CFL 2x 13w, 120v 6500k.
Heater: Elite 
Substrate: Fluval Stratum
Rock: Hunter stone
Co2: DIY. Elite mini to inject and diffuse Co2


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I filled the tank with water on friday. I read the Fluval substrate can be messy and make your water merky for weeks. I found no issues with this. I didnt rinse it first. Just added water carefully into a cup that I placed in the tank. So far so good. The 3rd pic is the tank today after beeing setup for 3 days.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

Great start! although that's a decent wallop of light for a 5.5


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Nice looking tank jb! I've been wondering how it turned out.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Sidius said:


> Nice looking tank jb! I've been wondering how it turned out.


So far so good. Im a little pissed about the Co2 emptying after 3 days. I just made a DIY Co2 system which im not a fan of either. Im sure I will figure out a way to get this Co2 going properly. Without it the carpet plants arnt going to grow.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Co2 and planted tanks are one thing I need to do some more research on. I know nothing about how it works... I just started reading up on marine/reef tanks and now I really want to try one. I'm going to wait until I upgrade my Malawi tank to something larger and use my 90 for a marine tank I think.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I like it a lot, thanks for sharing. Good luck. Nice job on the light. 
I was thinking of buying the Fluval Co2 kit but decided not to because of the cost of the little co2 canisters and the fact that they dont last very long at all. Bt only 3 days is just ridiculous.
If it is not too far from your other Co2 tank may be you can just split the tubings from the same tank?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Sidius said:


> Co2 and planted tanks are one thing I need to do some more research on. I know nothing about how it works... I just started reading up on marine/reef tanks and now I really want to try one. I'm going to wait until I upgrade my Malawi tank to something larger and use my 90 for a marine tank I think.


Lots of good books out there on planted fish tanks. The Semiahmoo library had a few. I drove all the way out there to get them lasy year. Its just around the corner for you. Also I borrowed a salt water book from someone a couple months ago. It had all the information you would ever need. Bigger is better when it comes to salt water. If you are just starting out and dont feel like spending a ton of money. Start with a fish only tank rather than a coral tank. Less money off the start and if you dont like it you havnt spent a fortune. I shut down my coral tank a few years ago. You can buy some pretty neat crabs, fish and corals. I still like my African tank the best.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Fish rookie said:


> I like it a lot, thanks for sharing. Good luck. Nice job on the light.
> I was thinking of buying the Fluval Co2 kit but decided not to because of the cost of the little co2 canisters and the fact that they dont last very long at all. Bt only 3 days is just ridiculous.
> If it is not too far from your other Co2 tank may be you can just split the tubings from the same tank?


The Fluval Co2 must have a leak in the seal. It has a rubber seal that got torn so I replaced it with a cork gasket that I made. It looked and fit perfect so I assumed it would work. I should of left it for today but I was to excited to hook it up on friday and sice its my work tank I couldnt check n it until today. The Problem with the fluval Co2 bottle is once you break the seal you cant remove the the Co2 bottle. So either way I was screwed. Its a good idea but I think they need to improve their product. I would run a splitter but my other planted tank is at home. I made a DIY Co2 system today at work. Got to love getting paid to work on my own side projects. LOL. I will post some pictures of what I did. Its pretty simple but works.

As for the light. Thanks. Reckon a member on here mentioned buying the CFL lights. They are cheap $5 each and the perfect spectrum 6500k for plants. I had the 10g canopy aready. All I did was cut it with a chop saw and glued it back together with gorilla glue. It turned out good and you can barely notice I cut it.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Yeah I found some light bulbs in the dollar store at $2 each, 6500K, 13W. I am using them on my low tech 25 gallon tank and they are working just fine.
For your tank that should be plenty of light.
I saw some Co2 kits for sale on ebay from Asia for about $30-40 including the Co2 canister. Think they are kind of a copy of the mini ADA Co2 system. I have never seen them in person or know anyone who has used them though. 
Anyway I like what you have done, you made it look much better than a 5.5 gallon. Good job.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Here's My DIY Co2 setup. Im probably going to switch the coke bottle to something a little bigger. I dont have much space though. I used a tire valve stem. Drilled a hole in the coke cap. Voila a leak proof seal. Last one I made I used silicone. It was a pain to get it to seal. Valve stem works awesome. I tried to loosen off the valve so I could control the amount of bubbles which would probably work on a bigger bottle. In this case there is no need since it bubbling almost perfectly. I used a Elite filter to attach the hose off the bubble counter. It creates a bit of a suction which seems to help get the co2 out of the bottle. Hopefully in a few weeks my carpet plants will be growing good and some of the other plants will fill in.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

List your plants


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Here's My DIY Co2 setup. Im probably going to switch the coke bottle to something a little bigger. I dont have much space though. I used a tire valve stem. Drilled a hole in the coke cap. Voila a leak proof seal. Last one I made I used silicone. It was a pain to get it to seal. Valve stem works awesome. I tried to loosen off the valve so I could control the amount of bubbles which would probably work on a bigger bottle. In this case there is no need since it bubbling almost perfectly. I used a Elite filter to attach the hose off the bubble counter. It creates a bit of a suction which seems to help get the co2 out of the bottle. Hopefully in a few weeks my carpet plants will be growing good and some of the other plants will fill in.
> 
> View attachment 11348
> View attachment 11349


That is a very neat looking DIY Co2, awesome..

Does your co-worker understand why you need to have a coke bottle like that standing next to the tank?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Fish rookie said:


> That is a very neat looking DIY Co2, awesome..
> 
> Does your co-worker understand why you need to have a coke bottle like that standing next to the tank?


LOL. My co worker has a tank at home aswell. Ive helped him with it a lot. He hears all my fish stories all day long. I work in a fleet mechanic shop. The fish tank is in the parts room. My box and work station are out in the shop. So my co worker and a few others get to enjoy the tank all day long. They see it more than I do. Thats why I dont have tons of room and 5.5g was as big as I could go. It fun watching others enjoy the tank plus I get to teach them things about it. All work places should have a tank.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I took some new pictures today. Tank has been up and running for 2 weeks. Plants are growing good. I had to make some adjustments to the light and lid today. I found the glass lid was causing some shade in areas. I removed the plastic hinge. Painted the inside of the light fixture white and replaced the reflectors with some Aluminum sheet that I cut to fit. Looks brighter already.

Current Stock is: 5 White Clouds, 2 Platys, 1 Julii Cory, 1 Bronze Cory, 2 Panda Cory's, 4 Baby Bristle nose plecos, 6 Amano Shrimp


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Reckon said:


> List your plants


I will list the plants tomorrow. I cant remember all the names of them right now.

If anyone knows the name of the back corner plants feel free to let me know.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Reckon said:


> List your plants


I cant remember the names of the 2 in the back corners but the foreground plants are Ranalisma Rostrata and Glossostigma Elatinoides. I also have a cryptocoryne in the midgound that you cant see yet.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Your tank looks awesome JB!!!


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Week six

The tank is doing good. The glosso never really grew. Most of it floated up but the Ranalisma Rostrata has done very well. So far it seems easy to grow. I am trying it in a few of my friends tanks to see if it grows easily for them aswell. I had an algea outbreak which wasnt suprising. I went out and bought 3 nitrile snails and 3 Otto cats. Algea problem solved. The plant in the back left corner keeps lifting up aswell. Im finding the fluval stratum is making my filter foam very dark and muddy and I find it tough to anchor some plants down. Next tank project I will be trying a different type of substrate. I stoped using the DIY Co2. I think it was causing part of the algea problems. Tank has been doing better without it. I have 5 amano shrimp. 2 Panda cories, ! bronze cory, 5 white clouds, 2 Platys, 3 Ottos. Im going to try to find a couple more plants for the back wall.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Very nicely planted little tank.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Well I got bored of the Nano planted tank. The light I have is too much. Some plants grow to fast while others not so good. Co2 would of made the difference but the little co2 system I had was leaking. I needed a grow out tank for my baby Africans. Since this tank is at work the girlfriend cant complain about me having another tank so I made the switch. I have baby F2 yellow labs and some Lwanda x ???? Peacocks I need to grow out. They were in a small hang on breeder box so Im sure they will be happy with the new home.


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