Here we go then

[Markmark]

Looking forward to setting up my first nano after picking up a super fish Qube at auction for a bargain £6. It was just the tank with no light or filter. Any advise on the following items would be greatly recieved,

Lighting is being taken care of by boyu 3 x 8w t5 luminaire which should be arriving any day now. If my calculations are correct then the i should be getting 24watts lighting on 8.8 gal giving me around 3 watts per gal. Taking into account displacement after substrate and some hardscape is my lighting overkill?

From what ive read on this forum co2 is a must along with dosing but is it really as easy to set up and run a pressurised system.

 

[Lisa_Perry75]

Hi Mark

Welcome to the forum!!!

That is quite overkill on the lights - your CO2 and fert dosing will have to be spot on to avoid a big mess of algae. On the setting up CO2 side I did set up CO2 once but the D&D reg was broken, got a replacement which I will set up when I flood my tank (currently growing plants emerged). Most people on here have CO2 and run it with mostly no problems.

Filtration will depend on the size of tank and what you want aesthetically.

 

[Fred Dulley]

WPG isnt a great guide anyway but it certainly doesnt apply on small tanks.
Get your CO2 and ferts right and you should be ok.

 

[bigmatt]

With these lights pressurised CO2 and EI dosing are a MUST!!! If you don't want to take the plunge just yet drop your lighting and you'll have a much mroe comfortable "buffer zone". Pressurised CO2 really isn't a big deal. Ithought it was, but after lots of reading on here about setting it up and getting it to the right level (which is the real art!) i was surprised at how simple it was. Even with CO2 and EI i'd still start my light at a lower level (prob. just one 8w tube) then gradually step it up over a month or even more just so you get the hang of dosing. I charged straight in with MAHOOSIVE lights and just made a mess (and an expensive one at that!). A bit of patience now will really pay off in the future.
Hope this helps, and happy reading!
Matt

 

[Markmark]

Thanks everyone for the advise. The lights in question can be used with all 3 on or 1 on and 2 off so I may run the latter to begin and build up the light intensity over a few months.