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35l Arcadia Arc nano tank

Y

YCChen

Member
Joined
30 Apr 2014
Messages
29
Location
Hitchin, UK
Now that I've got fish in this tank, I thought I might do a journal for progress as it's my first foray back into the hobby in over a decade.

Setup:
  • 35l Arcadia Arc (which had been in storage for the entire 10+ years at my mum's while I didn't have space for a tank, and yes she was very glad when I finally took it back)
  • hygger 5w HOB filter
  • hygger 50w heater
  • Wavepoint 6500K clamp light (also been in storage for 10+ years)

Original plan: low tech planted Neocaridina shrimp tank, dosed with Tropica Premium Nutrition.

I set it up on 15th February 2025 with Colombi Nutri Base layered with Colomba Flora Base Pro Fine on top and two pieces of mopani wood as centrepieces. I picked up some Micranthemum monte carlo as the carpet, and a java fern for one of the pieces of wood as well. Managed to get filter media from a friend to seed the HOB and get things going 🙂
 

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24th February 2025

When I went with my mum to Wildwoods in Enfield to get her some more Bentosi tetra and assassin snails, I picked up some frogbit and they let me have three ramshorns for free since they're considered pests anyway, but I quite like them.

I hadn't realised just how hard North Herts water was and as I wanted shrimp, and it's not a big volume tank, I decided to slowly swap out the tap water I started with to bottled spring water. At this point I had to keep an eye on getting the water parameters stable before introducing any more livestock. I figured the frogbit would be helpful as a visual cue too.
 

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Some point in March 2025

Yes the ramshorns had a party and yes I slightly regretted getting more than one 😅 I did also notice a few tiny bladder snails which must have hitched a ride on some plants at some point. Ended up borrowing an assassin from my mum (they did such a good job in her tank she was worried they were running out of food anyway). Turns out one assassin couldn't cope with the speed at which those ramshorns reproduced so I bought another assassin to help out...

I also noticed there was a bit of algae build up on the glass so cut the lighting times to 5 hours instead of 6.

No picture from this stage as it was quite ugly with algae and bucketloads of baby snails everywhere haha. The frogbit was having a great time though and exploded in number!
 
10th April 2025

The water parameters were stable and I'd become interested in nano fish. Having researched including on this forum, I decided I wanted chilli rasboras (Boraras brigittae) for the mid-level area. I initially got 8 to begin with and became obsessed - they're so curious and adorable, I think only one was a bit shy at first but the rest were immediately interested in what was going on whenever I came near the tank!

I wanted to introduce shrimp soon and had my eye on blue carbon rilis, but the eBay listing I'd saved disappeared...

The monte carlo was doing great but the java fern was starting to go a bit black in places and losing leaves, not sure if this was part of the dying off process or if it's a lighting/ferts issue? I do have an acrylic lid with custom cut outs for the lamp and HOB which I'd started using to limit the evaporation, so I wonder if that was also limiting how much light was getting through.
 

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16th April 2025

By this point, I'm smitten with the chillis. And they've been thriving, no changes to water parameters since introducing them, despite eating very happily. I've had to create a makeshift mortar and pestle to grind down even the "nano/micro" fish granules so they can fit it in their mouths! I was surprised to find even live adult daphnia are too big for them. I'll be trying to cultivate vinegar eels this week for a ready supply of live food they can actually fit in their mouths. They'll be useful for whatever I decide to stock in my next tank too, I'm sure. More on that later.

Since the chillis are doing so well, I added another 6, who slotted right in. If they do OK I am thinking to eventually add another 6 to get a final shoal of 20. I don't know if Wildwoods just has some really good quality stock or if chillis are just robust and nosy, so I'm scared to introduce any from other LFS.

No improvement to java fern and frogbit starting to look a bit yellow, so I've removed the acrylic lid for the time being.
 

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21 April 2025

We've been away for the Easter weekend, only got back this evening.

The light is off until tomorrow morning so will investigate more then, but I've read Darrel's thread on the duckweed index, so will try to up the ferts if the frogbit's still yellowy. Will also compare using the leaf colour chart.

The shrimp question seems to be solved - Shrimp Corner's website has been relaunched so I'll be able to get some blue carbon rilis soon.

In the meantime, I've been thinking more on the living room tank. I think I'd like the Aqua One Aquanano 60 as the footprint works better for the space I've eyed up, while maximising the volume I can play with. Only problem is, we've got 3 cats... I'm hoping the combination of the included glass lid and the overhanging light will put the cats off trying to launch themselves onto it? My reasoning is that they'd be more likely to try to jump on a tank with a hood as it looks more like solid ground?

Also the more I look into it, the more I hate the look of most tank stands. Why do they all look so flimsy and cheap, or like something you'd find in a granny's house? I've seen a custom made solid wood cabinet by a carpenter that looks sturdy, so I've inquired whether they'd be able to do a custom size.
 
Last edited:
dw1305 said:
Hi all,

Vinegar Eels (Turbatrix aceti) are incredibly low maintenance <"Breeding CPDs - food stages">, but not very productive. Banana / Micro / Walter worms (<"http://aquaria.palo-alto.ca.us/inverts/worms/nematodes/">) are very slightly more maintenance, but easier to harvest and much more productive.

cheers Darrel
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That's really helpful, thank you! I was looking at vinegar eels as I read that culturing them didn't take up much space or cause smells. Is it the same for the other worms too?
 
Hi all,
YCChen said:
them didn't take up much space or cause smells.
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Vinegar Eels are incredibly low maintenance to keep, all you need is a glass jam pot / kilner jar etc., some muslin (or sponge), a slice of apple and some cider vinegar. They don't smell at all. If I keep them again I'll try the "dry culture" method from - <"Vinegar Eel Culture – British Killifish Association">.
YCChen said:
is it the same for the other worms too?
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You get a very slight yeasty smell from the Panagrellus spp. worms. A lot of people say their cultures smell, but I think their problem is using "instant potato" as a culture medium, rather than <"Rolled Oats"> - <"Do Microworms need light?">.

cheers Darrel
 
Riley said:
Perfect aquatics is quite near Hitchin, they always have plenty of stock
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I've been a few of times! But they only had chillis in the last time I went, about a week ago, and they are freshly in so not on sale yet. I'd not seen any on the visits I'd been before that. Planning to drop in on the weekend to pick up the final 6 to complete the set though 🤞🏻
 
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