Step by step video guild to setup a nano aquascape tank

We have collaborated with Seachem Malaysia to bring you an in-depth video of creating a nano aquascape aquarium. 

The Scaping

In this video we will be using Seachem Flourite as our substrate. 7kg of Flourite will occupy a 7000cm³ area. Which means you'll just need to multiply the length, width and the thickness of the substrate you prefer and divide it by 7000 and multiply the result with 7 to determine the kg of Flourite you'll need. Unlike soil type substrate, Flourite doesn't come with nutrients but instead it absorbs and stores nutrients. Planting with Flourite is rather easy as it is heavy allowing it to hold the plants easier. But it needs to be clean throughout before using as it's rather dirty out of the bag. In the past we used Flourite as a substrate before. We find it easy to use and maintain. Another advantage of using Flourite as it can be clean and reuse during respace. Although some of the Flourite will be lost during cleaning, especially the sand version. The downside is that it’s rather expensive.

Sometimes we would use bonding substances such as super glue, epoxy or silicone glue to hold the scape together. But in this case the hardscape is rather simple and holds itself together quite well therefore no glue was needed. 

The plants being used are Utricularia, whipping moss and mini pellia. Utricularia is a bottom crawling plant with grass-like leaves. Because it is a family of bladderwort which is a carnivorous type of plant, it doesn’t need nor does it like nutrients rich substrate. The Tropica 1 2 Grow Utricularia is very healthy and we find it easy to plant, especially with the heavy and fine grain Seachem Flourite Sand. To attach the moss and pellia on rocks we'll be using Flourish Glue by Seachem. We recommend wearing gloves during this process to avoid mosses sticking on your fingers.

The Lighting

The NemoLight 18w that we are using on this tank has some age to it but we thought of giving it another go before replacing it with the newer version. But if things don't turn out as it should we will be replacing it with the updated 24w version.

The Filtration

Canister filter will be used for this tank and we are having Seachem Matrix for maximum bio filtration capacity and as well as Seachem Purigen for optimum water condition. This is the usual combination that we run on our display tank. We find that the Purigen really helps give us the crystal clear water quality and the plants love it too. After the filtration system have been setup, we dose Seachem Clarity to clarify the water follow by Seachem Prime and Stability to remove chlorine and start the bacteria cycle.

The CO2

As for the CO2 system we will use the Intense system. They are reliable and easy to use while providing best results. We choose the Intense non-solenoid Expert unit. We really love the Expert control of the Intense Regulator as it gives easy and accurate control and it lasts for a very long time. Non-solenoid versions are used as we don’t think it’s necessary but if you have the budget it will not hurt to have one. We will be running the CO2 24 hours. This will not pose a problem if we can make sure that before the light is turned off the CO2 concentration doesn’t fall below 20mg/l and doesn’t accumulate beyond 40mg/l before the light is turned on. We can easily do that with the help of Salifert CO2 tester. To help dissolve the CO2, Intense Bazooka Atomizer is being use while Intense Precision Bubble Counter XL with give us an accurate ready of CO2 release speed. We highly favor the Atomize from Intense as it's able to create the smallest bubble size as well as last for a very long time if maintain well. We use the XL counter even in a small tank because it's easier to read and we doesn't need to top up the water as frequent. The Intense Precision Bubble Counter also comes with a built in check valve but we added another Intense Check Valve just incase. Intense suction cups are use to hold everything in place. It is made out of high quality rubber and if you clean the suction cup as required, it should last for a very long time. 

The Nutrients

Aquavitro’s plants nutrients will be use for this tank to maintain the potassium at 20-30mg/l with the KH at 3dKH and GH at 3-5dGH. Phosphorus will be ideally keep at 0.2mg/l while the nitrogen at 2mg/l. Salifert Freshwater Potassium tester can be use to determine the level of potassium in the water while tester that could measure low level of nitrate and phosphate such as the test by Salifert or Seachem should be use.