2 gallon unheated and now filtered nano

Greetings,

First of all, I have no working shift key right now, so if I miss a few capital letters I apologize.

I have been eyeing the little 2 gallon cube rimless tanks at Aquarium Co-Op for a while now, and yesterday I finally went for it and bought one. I have surprisingly been fairly successful with my little 4 gallon cube, even having some red cherry shrimp make babies in it without even knowing, so I have decided to try something even smaller. It should be a challenge, but a good sort of challenge.

I am probably going to keep this tank in my room next to my bed, using just the north-facing window for light and no heater. In the past I have kept tanks with filters and heaters and air pumps in my room, and along with being just too noisy, the water tends to evaporate very quickly when it's above room temperature. I'm hoping that not heating it, as well as the smaller volume, will stop the water evaporating so quickly and then condensing on the poorly insulated window.

Mainly, though, this will be a 'show' tank for my room, so I may end up lighting it if I am not happy with the growth of the plants. Right now I plan on going with all java moss and maybe a bit of lace java fern in the future, but I may get bored with it and need to get a light for the tank. I think I will stick with the unheated/unfiltered aspect though, especially since those items end up using a lot of space when there is only 2 gallons to work with.

Creatures right now are about 10 red cherry shrimp of various sizes, and probably 12 juvenile  H. formosa. I think some tiny snails came in with the java moss, but I plan on keeping this tank snail-free if I possibly can.

Sorry the images are so washed out, I am using a crappy camera and without lighting it's hard to get good contrast.

Really nice! I like it, very simple and elegant too. I'm sure the cherries will do well. As for the heterndria formosa, not sure... BUT... they are pretty hardy. So they might do well in there too keep us updated!

yeah i am not sure about them either, they are eating though, so that is a good sign. i have a feeling they won't thrive, so i will probably move them back into the 4 gallon when i am sure this tank is 'cycled' enough that i won't kill something else that i buy, like a trio of white clouds

edit; another picture i snapped before the shrimp ran for it

THIS IS AWESOME Keep us posted on the progress!

Since this is lit by sunlight, you may find the java moss gets overwhelming. If it does, I would try another plant. Maybe something like micro chain sword? I've been meaning to try it on my nanos for a while. I think it would work great.

I'm also curious how the stocking ratio works out for the H. Formosa. They're hardy, but... that's a tiny amount of water to dilute! Hope it works out well

im going to be watching it very closely, i did a 50 percent water change this morning with seasoned water from my 20 gallon, hopefully that will help a bit more with 'seeding' the little tank with bacteria that will help deal with any ammonia. i don't feed those guys much, and i'm going to be sticking with more clean food like frozen baby brine shrimp and things, so that i don't overwhelm them with ammonia

I'm not quite sure if there's any beneficial bacteria in the water itself. You're better off just getting a scoop of the substrate, or moving a plant/some decor in the old tank into the new tank. Anything that has a surface on it, basically... that'll have more beneficial bacteria and whatnot.

If anything, the old water from the old tank, might have nitrates in it, which might end up being worse for the newer tank.

LuminousAphid wrote:im going to be watching it very closely, i did a 50 percent water change this morning with seasoned water from my 20 gallon, hopefully that will help a bit more with 'seeding' the little tank with bacteria that will help deal with any ammonia. i don't feed those guys much, and i'm going to be sticking with more clean food like frozen baby brine shrimp and things, so that i don't overwhelm them with ammonia

If you are setting the tank up without filtration...then what Angelo said is the way to go...use plants, substrate, wood, rocks etc from an old established tank.

If you are setting the tank with filtration, then used some filter media from an established tank...some sponge and biomedia. I do usually use some water from an established tank but only about 30%, the rest is fresh/dechlorinated. I also add some "Cycle" to the new tank...not a new tank dose but a maintenance dose. I've never had any problem doing things this way and haven't lost fish from this method.

Good luck with your nano tank...looks like a great project.

Thanks guys, I added a bit of Lace Java Fern and I think it adds a bit more interest without making it too cluttered. I will take pics later on tonight, when I get home from work.

I thought about the old water/nitrate issue, but the water from the small 4 gallon usually runs with very little nitrate anyway since I feed it so little. I figured using the water that the fish came from wouldn't hurt, and would help them adjust easier than just using all new water, but I'm not sure if this is the right way to think or not. I was also thinking that the nutrients from dosing fertilizers would help the moss filter more efficiently, vs all new water without as many micronutrients

Update on this tank;



Now just 6 gold white clouds, and I put a filter on it obviously. Java moss and Java fern 'lace' with a piece of petrified wood I found at my parents' house

Looks like a very happy tank...great work!

I like the filter addition, it should help manage the water changes Love the vertical petrified wood, gives it a lot of character!

Thanks guys, I wish I had more pieces of the same wood to use, but since I just had the one piece I figured it should be the centerpiece. I may move it slightly off to one side eventually, but I'm still debating

I love what you've done to the tank! Those gold white clouds really stand out from the tank too! Great job, Ryan!

The petrified wood really adds a nice contrast of colors from the green plants too. Me likey!

Thanks, Angelo! looks better than it did before, still not really super happy with it but now that it has a filter and a light (just a single semi-directed 6500K cfl does great for such a small tank) I am happier with it

edit: Question for people with rimless tanks- what do you use for a top on a rimless tank? The first day I had the white clouds one of them actually jumped out twice (or two different ones jumped, but I like to assume the most absurd conclusion), so I have been keeping the water level down about an inch so that they don't go to the great tank in the sky

Cool little tank! I like the look of it! It would be perfect on my desk at work! How did it fare today with the high tempatures ?

nothing wrong as far as i noticed, although i was at work for the afternoon.... my window faces north, so i don't think it got to more than about 80 at the most inside. i was surprised, i thought it would be hotter and was wondering about that. The fish seem fine as far as I can tell, they are today and everything.
The one I was really worried about was my outdoor guppy tank, but I shaded it so I don't think it got too hot. Before I went to work i did a nice cool water change too, so i'm sure that helped both cool it down and take care of some of the stuff that gets more toxic as the temp increases- i don't know if it's just ammonia or nitrates as well, can't remember

LuminousAphid wrote:edit: Question for people with rimless tanks- what do you use for a top on a rimless tank? The first day I had the white clouds one of them actually jumped out twice (or two different ones jumped, but I like to assume the most absurd conclusion), so I have been keeping the water level down about an inch so that they don't go to the great tank in the sky

... the sad answer: natural selection... I lost three rasboras out of 10 the first week, then they stopped jumping for the year since then.

the better answer I've found: I don't know I'd do this myself, but I hear you can use clear foil, like saran wrap or something like it. Or you can have a custom lid built at your favorite plastic place. Another alternative I've used is eggcrate mesh. Works well, but kills the light in the tank. Another answer is to lower the water level 2 or 3 inches from the rim. That would reduce the jumping on average.

best answer I've found/come up with: Floating plants and LOTS of hiding places. Usually I find a lot of my fish jump out because some other fish is chasing them. Giving them lots of hiding spaces tends to reduce that a lot. It is harder to do in a small tank, but maybe adding a small anubias plant or more java ferm will give them nice hiding spots that should reduce chasing.

Sadly, jumping is an evil part of keeping a rimless tank... hope those ideas help mitigate the problem.

LuminousAphid wrote:

edit: Question for people with rimless tanks- what do you use for a top on a rimless tank? The first day I had the white clouds one of them actually jumped out twice (or two different ones jumped, but I like to assume the most absurd conclusion), so I have been keeping the water level down about an inch so that they don't go to the great tank in the sky

Another option for lids...not super beautiful but buy some of that white plastic eggcrate, cut to fit, overlapping the edges a little, then cut a piece of lexicon to fit on top of that...would work pretty well.  You could even drill the plastic so that you could ziptie it to the eggcrate and then when you need to remove it, both could be removed.  You could also cut to allow a feeding opening.  Again, not beautiful but functional.

My rimless tank, an Eheim 9G, came with a nice glass lid with little plastic clip things that keep it from falling into the tank. Very nice and functional.

The cheapo side of me--the main side I guess--likes the plastic wrap idea, haha. I may have to get some nicer brand stuff and see if it doesn't look half bad, then I could go for that.

Also, I don't really mind keeping the water level low, which seems to be a good solution, but it seems to be a delicate balance with this small tank and size of filter- if the tank level is too low the filter starts getting a boost from gravity on the outflow, and the tank basically becomes a whirlpool. The fish constantly have to swim to stay stationary and I feel bad for them. I may need to devise some kind of flow diffuser for the outflow to fix this

Donna, that sounds indeed like something that would definitely work, but I guess I am looking for somehting pretty and functional. The glass lid you described sounds really nice, I wish mine had come with that, but of course then I wouldn't be able to use the filter, either. I might have to go back to 'my favorite plastic store' lol and have them cut me another silly piece of polycarbonate... and the little plastic feet you mentioned could definitely be bonded to that. that's probably the best solution, and usually they only charge me for the cutoff and maybe a little for labor if they do a filter cutaway or something. The one I have for my 20 is really great and even at 1/4 inch it is very clear and doesn't block much light

thanks for the replies and kind words everyone

Here's a pic of the lid setup on that Eheim





the clip has a little u-channel on the underside that sits over the tank rim edge. Works great.

Thanks for the pics on that Donna, by the way. I was thinking I might be able to just get little clips like that at the plastic store, or even just get little shims to glue on the underside of each edge to keep it from sliding off the top. I think I might even go do that today, but before that, here are some more pictures...



I added some more lace java fern to the left side to give it some more depth and height contrast


I didn't really notice until I took the pics, but I need to clean the glass a bit, getting some light algae which I can actually take care of in this size tank   

That is looking awesome Luminous! How is that filter working out for you so far? Is it making a big difference in the water quality?

Yeah, that lasted for about a week and I have had the filter since then. I don't think unfiltered is something I am interested in; without any water movement there was quickly a weird oily sheen to the top of the tank, which may have affected gas exchange, and I don't think the moss appreciated it either. I was just thinking it might be a neat project, but I enjoy it much more with the filter.

I agree, unheated is one thing, but unfiltered is a totally different story. Glad the tank is still working out!

LuminousAphid wrote:Thanks for the pics on that Donna, by the way. I was thinking I might be able to just get little clips like that at the plastic store, or even just get little shims to glue on the underside of each edge to keep it from sliding off the top. I think I might even go do that today, but before that, here are some more pictures...



  

U are welcome. And the clips might just work...great idea.

ohhhhh...ahhhhh...love the new look. The "column" in the middle is stunning. I've been wanting to get a basalt column for one of my tanks (or a couple of them) just to see what they would look like. But I have to special order them...yikes!

Yeah, I was lucky enough to find this in my parents' garden... It works perfectly for this tank, and they haven't noticed yet either edit; it's actually petrified wood, i forgot to mention.

Still dragging my feet on getting a top for it- I actually like the way it looks open, and it seems like the little guys are content to stay inside now as long as I keep the water level down about 1/2" from the top. Although one thing that has made me want to just go and get one is that the water is evaporating so fast that I am having to replace water nearly every day