# 30 cm Nano Nature Scape



## ShawnMac (19 May 2016)

Hello all, thought I'd share my little nano scape. It is not yet complete, but after the latest trim the stems have been shaped well and should be ready for a final photo to present in a few weeks.

Specs: 30 cm 3.5 gallon (unit conversion is left for you )

Light: LED flex mini

filter: eheim 2211 with ADA glass jet pipe outflow. I found the spin type a little light on the flow through the dense plantings of stems. I had some melting and less than ideal growth with it. 

Substrate: ADA aquasoil

Hardscape: Manzanita

Flora: Rotala green, rotala H'ra, rotala wallichii, Eleocharis belem, fissidens fontanus, lobelia cardinalis mini

Fauna: neocaridina heteropoda "red", Boraras brigittae

This is how it looked a couple days after planting. I had not put the wood in yet, since it was still floating around. There was little space to try and weigh it down with a stone.






more images coming soon...


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## ShawnMac (19 May 2016)

well....while I try to figure out why my compressed images are too large to upload here is a youtube video of the tank


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## greenmac75 (20 May 2016)

like it. Filled out nice and I like the hard scape addition


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## Nelson (20 May 2016)

Very nice .


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## ShawnMac (20 May 2016)

greenmac75 said:


> like it. Filled out nice and I like the hard scape addition



Thank you. The video was shot after the first trim grew back out. I've since done two more trims. The latest trim has given it the shape I wanted. 

This little setup has grown in very nicely. My only trouble has been keeping the fish inside it. All but one have jumped out over the course of the last couple months.


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## ShawnMac (20 May 2016)

greenmac75 said:


> like it. Filled out nice and I like the hard scape addition



Thank you. It was planted with this piece in mind. It just wouldn't stay down at the start, so I soaked it in another tank and allowed the plants time to grow in while it became saturated.


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## GHNelson (20 May 2016)

Hi Shawn
Very nice indeed....looks great....like the Rotala's and the belem!
hoggie


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## ShawnMac (20 May 2016)

hogan53 said:


> Hi Shawn
> Very nice indeed....looks great....like the Rotala's and the belem!
> hoggie



Thanks! The belem works really well for this one. Something like H. monte carlo or HC would have been too neat. The plants are swallowing up the manzanita while it helps me maintain the midground. 

The rotalas are growing very dense under the flex mini, which makes trimming the two species into two distinct bushes easier. I hope to have the wallachii spilling over in the left corner. At the time the video was taken the rotala green was choking it out a bit, so I cut it back and now there is some room for the wallichii to grow.


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## CooKieS (20 May 2016)

Very Nice looking nano setup...I love this mini flexi light, would probably use one for my next project. 

Sorry about the jumping boraras...I lost one B.Urophtalmoides this way too...


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## Greenfinger2 (21 May 2016)

Hi Shawn, Sorry to hear about the fish mate 

Fab nano love the planting and the fiss on the DW


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## ShawnMac (31 May 2016)

A picture from today




sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## Ludvig_swe (1 Jun 2016)

I love it! Very nice thick feeling!


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## ShawnMac (2 Jun 2016)

Ludvig_swe said:


> I love it! Very nice thick feeling!



Thank you. I think I've managed to create the look and feel of a much larger tank in this one. I'm hoping to get a proper final photo done soon. The R. wallichii needs some extra time, so one more refined shaping trim should do it.

I'm starting to have some special plans for this scape. Since it is so small it is easily moveable. I am considering taking it on a little local tour to introduce folks to Aquascaping. First I need to get a nice cabinet for it and a CO2 regulator since this is running off a splitter hooked into three other tanks.


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## ShawnMac (2 Jun 2016)

A shot of its current home 



sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## CooKieS (2 Jun 2016)

Killer little scape...love it!


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## Cor (3 Jun 2016)

stunning pic


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## alto (3 Jun 2016)

That rock composition in the 45P is outstanding - it looks as if they've _grown_ there 

My rocks always look placed


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## ShawnMac (3 Jun 2016)

alto said:


> That rock composition in the 45P is outstanding - it looks as if they've _grown_ there
> 
> My rocks always look placed



Thank you!
Lots of practice...I went through several various arrangements before settling on this one. It was amazingly simple. Only 3 stones...very nice stones with great character. 

To avoid the "placed" look you could try by just putting in a stone randomly and trying to work a scape around that randomness. I do not do this, but am interested to try it as I think others have used it to good effect. 

One thing I do try to do is to not place the stones on the substrate. I like to have them in the substrate a little bit. The lower stone is the larges one in there and is holding up the prominent stone as well as much of the substrate.


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## Robert H. Tavera (4 Jun 2016)

Damn good!!


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## alto (4 Jun 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> To avoid the "placed" look you could try by just putting in a stone randomly and trying to work a scape around that randomness. I do not do this, but am interested to try it as I think others have used it to good effect.
> 
> One thing I do try to do is to not place the stones on the substrate. I like to have them in the substrate a little bit


yep - working with these concepts  
Finally got some ADA Ryuoh or Seiryu stone (cant recall the box label  ) & it's definitely much easier to toss together & get something that looks halfways "natural"- compared to my previous attempts with  landscape Blue Stone (beautiful stone but difficult to break into good shapes).
Unfortunately available stones were all quite small & tank is 90cm x45cm x 53cm (H) but having fun anyway  - practise helps, just I've no eye for it, so something I like very much "through air" suddenly looks much different "through water" (& not for the "better"  )


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## ShawnMac (7 Jun 2016)

Before the trim





After




sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Jun 2016)

Great!


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## Andy D (8 Jun 2016)

Looks great!


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## ShawnMac (29 Jun 2016)

An update from today. It has recovered nicely from the last trimming. The trimming photo from earlier was not the most recent trim. In the last photo the curves of the stem bushes did not work well and it was far too steep on the right. The next trim rectified that and you can finally see the R. wallichii. Another challenge has been coordinating the cardinalis mini with the stems It recovers and grows slower, taking about 4-6 weeks to fully bush back out, whereas the stems take about 3 weeks. 

excuse the finger


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## CooKieS (29 Jun 2016)

Wow, that's an healthy looking tank!


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## Alexander Belchenko (29 Jun 2016)

Wonderful tank! Awesome. Masterpiece. I guess such tank gives you many challenges to keep it in best shape over time!

The top view - is excellent mix between colors. Like a waterpainting. Kudos to your skills and patience!


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## xandro007 (29 Jun 2016)

What are you dosing


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk


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## ShawnMac (30 Jun 2016)

xandro007 said:


> What are you dosing
> 
> 
> Verzonden vanaf mijn iPad met Tapatalk


To be completely honest. Not much. It has new aqua soil and for a while received EI daily. Then the solutions ran out and it went about 3 weeks without. Now back to EI daily. 

I try to dose Excel daily at a double dose. Seems to be beneficial.

sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## Greenfinger2 (6 Jul 2016)

Hi Shawn, Stunning scapes as always


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## ShawnMac (6 Jul 2016)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Shawn, Stunning scapes as always



Thank you, Roy! It is good to see you around 

I have been working on getting some final photos of this one taken. I will probably do another round after the next trim as well. I'm not totally happy with the R. wallichii...it needs more time to thicken in.


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## ShawnMac (7 Jul 2016)

A final presentation video of this aquascape. Final photos coming soon... Enjoy!


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Jul 2016)

Beautifully done. Can't believe it's just 30 cm tank. I can't fit my ideas to twice as big tank, but you do. That's inspiring and disappointing in the same time.


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## Tim Harrison (7 Jul 2016)

Looks amazing Shawn...but where's the video?


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## ShawnMac (7 Jul 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Beautifully done. Can't believe it's just 30 cm tank. I can't fit my ideas to twice as big tank, but you do. That's inspiring and disappointing in the same time.



Ha ha!  You are too kind. This tank turned out just as it was planned from the start. I am very happy with it and hope to do something special with it moving forward.


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## ShawnMac (7 Jul 2016)

Troi said:


> Looks amazing Shawn...but where's the video?



Thank you....sorry, I noticed an error and fixed it then am uploading the revised version again. It will be up soon.


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## AnhBui (7 Jul 2016)

Great tank Shawn. It does remind me of this


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## ShawnMac (7 Jul 2016)

@AnhBui , thank you. Anything that can remind someone of a page out of that book is quite a compliment. 

A photo my co-host @J Art , edited for me which captures the mood well...


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## Alexander Belchenko (7 Jul 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> Ha ha!  You are too kind.



No, I'm a little bit envy. But I really like the result you have achieved. For me the hardest part is trimming and force plants to take desired shape.


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## rebel (8 Jul 2016)

Shawn, you are the master. I am certainly not worthy. That photog of yours also very good. Kudos.


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## JackMartins (30 Jul 2016)

Hi Shaw.
How are the current results with the Chihiros A-Series? Still working well?

Thanks!


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## ShawnMac (30 Jul 2016)

JackMartins said:


> Hi Shaw.
> How are the current results with the Chihiros A-Series? Still working well?
> 
> Thanks!



This little tank runs a Flexi mini. It works wonderfully. My 45 cm has the Chihiros. It is a very strong light, so in the beginning it can be a challenge to get things going well and I usually end up combating algae. Still have a little that peaks up if I don't stay on the weekly maintenance. The 45 cm is developing really well though, the HC has filled in thickly, the downoi is bushing out well ( I replaced the C. parva with it because there was just too much light for the C. parva and it struggled), and I have a few other stems that will dot the carpet of E. belem and HC. The two stems are rotala Mexicana goias and Ammania bonsai (True rotala). I'll try to get a journal up on the new developments soon. Life has been busy lately, my second son was born a couple weeks ago.


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## JackMartins (1 Aug 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> This little tank runs a Flexi mini. It works wonderfully. My 45 cm has the Chihiros. It is a very strong light, so in the beginning it can be a challenge to get things going well and I usually end up combating algae. Still have a little that peaks up if I don't stay on the weekly maintenance. The 45 cm is developing really well though, the HC has filled in thickly, the downoi is bushing out well ( I replaced the C. parva with it because there was just too much light for the C. parva and it struggled), and I have a few other stems that will dot the carpet of E. belem and HC. The two stems are rotala Mexicana goias and Ammania bonsai (True rotala). I'll try to get a journal up on the new developments soon. Life has been busy lately, my second son was born a couple weeks ago.



Hi Shaw, thanks for you reply!
First of all, congratulations for you second son!!! 

On the sequence, I was wondering what light should I buy for the tank I'm planning (60x35x35 cm) and over my research I came up that the best "cheapest" solution would be the Chihiros. I'm still in doubt!  Haha
Any other suggestion you would give for me on light perspective for a tank this size? Planning a carpet and will run with CO2 and good substrate. 

Thanks sir and congratulations again!


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## ShawnMac (1 Aug 2016)

JackMartins said:


> Hi Shaw, thanks for you reply!
> First of all, congratulations for you second son!!!
> 
> On the sequence, I was wondering what light should I buy for the tank I'm planning (60x35x35 cm) and over my research I came up that the best "cheapest" solution would be the Chihiros. I'm still in doubt!  Haha
> ...



Thanks for the kind words.

The Chihiros is a very strong light, more PAR than the ADA aquasky ( at least my older model, I cannot say for some of the newer versions). I'd only use it over a high tech scape with good pressurized CO2 and fast growing plants. Great for carpeting and growing stems. The dimmer button you can get with the light isn't that great, in my opinion. It seems to have a very subtle flicker to it, which I find annoying. With that being said, there is another option to reduce the light, which I have yet to try. My co-host on The Aquascaping Podcast, J , suggested using low density gel. It is designed for over photography lights and reduces the light while maintaining the color. Its basically a film that can be cut to size, heat resistant, and easily applied and removed. Overall, the Chihiros is a good light, but strong. There are good options to dim it if needed. Here is an amazon link to the gels: https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Neutral-...gel .5 stop&qid=1464986880&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1


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## JackMartins (1 Aug 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> Thanks for the kind words.
> 
> The Chihiros is a very strong light, more PAR than the ADA aquasky ( at least my older model, I cannot say for some of the newer versions). I'd only use it over a high tech scape with good pressurized CO2 and fast growing plants. Great for carpeting and growing stems. The dimmer button you can get with the light isn't that great, in my opinion. It seems to have a very subtle flicker to it, which I find annoying. With that being said, there is another option to reduce the light, which I have yet to try. My co-host on The Aquascaping Podcast, J , suggested using low density gel. It is designed for over photography lights and reduces the light while maintaining the color. Its basically a film that can be cut to size, heat resistant, and easily applied and removed. Overall, the Chihiros is a good light, but strong. There are good options to dim it if needed. Here is an amazon link to the gels: https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Neutral-Density-Lighting-Filter/dp/B000B73OM8?ie=UTF8&keywords=neutral density gel .5 stop&qid=1464986880&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1



Hi Shaw!
Well, so, the Chihiros is too good? Haha
I got your point that it is too strong and bright and this film should dim it. Not fan of "adaptations", but i think this would be a solution. And limit its light to 6h/day?

The good think about the Chihiros is that it is cheap compared to many other famous brands like ADA, Kessil, Elos and others. 
The ideal I think would be a DIY, but with my limited knowledge of electric I'm afraid to burn all the leds I buy! Haha

Still in doubt regarding the light for a 60cm! 
Thanks!

PS: Waiting for you journal of this tanks!


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## ShawnMac (1 Aug 2016)

When I start a scape with the Chihiros I run the light 6 hours a day and then move to 8 hours once things have grown in well. Due to the intensity planting as dense as possible is important. Algae will likely show up in the start, so good CO2 and nutrient management as well as maintenance is important to get through the growing pains of a scape with so much light. It runs upwards of 200-220 mmol PAR. I like the light, but the intensity presents challenges. For a high tech, colorful high growth tank it is one of the best. The low density gels is a great way to turn down the intensity, I think or at least allow for some more flexibility to put over various style tanks. 

I'm not a DIY guy either....for similar reasons. I'd constantly be wondering if my DIY light was going to catch fire.


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## JackMartins (1 Aug 2016)

Hmm got it!
I never know which tank I will more likely run. Always start with a mixed low/high specs and end moving to high specs (read here: carpet).

Considering it is "cheap" compared to other brands, I will buy and if not fit on my tank specs, I will sell to some will a higher specs aquarium.
I was only asking for other possible brands because I have a friend flying to USA (I live in Brazil) on August end, and he would be able to bring some package for me.

Believe me, I'm not a DIY guy, but always try! Once, stopped the lighting system for the hole flor in the building I lived (4 apartments).


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## ShawnMac (2 Aug 2016)

JackMartins said:


> Hmm got it!
> I never know which tank I will more likely run. Always start with a mixed low/high specs and end moving to high specs (read here: carpet).
> 
> Considering it is "cheap" compared to other brands, I will buy and if not fit on my tank specs, I will sell to some will a higher specs aquarium.
> ...



For a cheap and flexible LED the Fluval Aquasky isn't bad. Good PAR and adjustable dimmer, although not programmable. That is what I recommended a friend get for his 60 cm tank. I found the cheap eco tech from fluval grows ferns and anubias very well and when stems get to the surface they even get some good color. Problem with the ecotech is the spread and power. Another option that provides greater flexibility, but not as much power as the Chihiros.


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## JackMartins (3 Aug 2016)

ShawnMac said:


> For a cheap and flexible LED the Fluval Aquasky isn't bad. Good PAR and adjustable dimmer, although not programmable. That is what I recommended a friend get for his 60 cm tank. I found the cheap eco tech from fluval grows ferns and anubias very well and when stems get to the surface they even get some good color. Problem with the ecotech is the spread and power. Another option that provides greater flexibility, but not as much power as the Chihiros.



Got your point Shawn.
Ended buying the Chihiros.  Now, I need to wait 1.5 to 2 months until it arrives! Haha

And man, post your new Journal!


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## ShawnMac (12 Oct 2016)

Quick update, the tankard gone Some time without a trim recently and in the midst it trimming the overgrown tank I decided it was a time for a rescape. I've worked out the hardscape and am waiting for an order of bucephalandra before planting. New photos coming soon.

p.s. I just wrote this post with my new surface tablet pen. so cool it can read my handwriting and convert to type, even cursive... I love it!


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## Alexander Belchenko (12 Oct 2016)

it seems your surface is fan of heavy metal bands (tankard)


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## alto (12 Oct 2016)

Just noticed you're running this with a Flex Mini - what are the tank dimensions?
30cm cube or ???

Do you have any more recent photos from this tank?
(I'm always keen to see the "tank abandoned" version .... as my tanks tend to run in that style  )


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## ShawnMac (12 Oct 2016)

30 cm x 18 cm x 24 cm

I didn't happen to snap a photo of it overgrown. It didn't look bad but needed to be trimmed to keep it healthy. Part way through I decided trimming was more work than a reshape and this layout had run its course. New one will be another good one I hope. I very much liked this layout.

The layout pretty much followed the cycle in the previous photos. To keep a stem heavy tank healthy long term I think it is good to hack back the stems drastically and start the shaping process over. Basically refreshing the scape with lots of new growth.

sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## ShawnMac (12 Oct 2016)

This is my most recent photo






sent from tapatalk on my phone so auto correct and other errors are bound to happen


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## ShawnMac (12 Oct 2016)

alto said:


> Just noticed you're running this with a Flex Mini - what are the tank dimensions?
> 30cm cube or ???



not enough spread front to back to really run well on a cube.


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## alto (13 Oct 2016)

Thanks, that's what I thought ... ordered one recently anyway, hoping it's the 2015 upgraded version that arrives 
(but not holding my breath )


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## Tim Harrison (29 Dec 2016)

That's spectacular...


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## Shane Puthuparambil (29 Dec 2016)

All your tanks and plant growth look awesome Shawn! I'm jealous lol.


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## ShawnMac (30 Dec 2016)

JackMartins said:


> Hi Shaw.
> How are the current results with the Chihiros A-Series? Still working well?
> 
> Thanks!


So probably way too late but the chihiros I was using was an E series. Very strong light...Too strong IMO. I've swapped it for a twinstar led on my 45 cm. 

This 30  scape uses a flexi mini which works really well. Currently growing buce with no algae and stems with nice colors

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk


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