# 5 gallon nano planted, filter or no filter?



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I am going to do a 5 gallon nano planted tank. What are the chances I can get away wth no filter?

I want this to be a really nice aquascape and plan to have lots of plants. Could I just put in a well seeded chunk of lava rock for a bio filter? I may even make this tank have the first complete taiwan moss wall.

Anyone ever try having their DIY c02 hose go behind a moss wall and get dispersed by the wall itself? Just had this interesting thought.

I will use a filter at first while the plants get going and the tank gets well cycled, but hope to remove the filter once the plants are doing well.

Im thinking a couple panda cories and some neons or other of similar size.

Note, I have multiple larger tanks and I've learned alot and learn new stuff daily. Yay, im not a newb who kills his fish anymore!

I have more plans than I do money and room to try them all.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Hi,
I've tried 5 G without filter. The plants will do fine but a thick biofilm will develop on the surface of your water and glass. The water will turn yellow due to no circulation. Eventually even plant growth will be stunted due to minimal gas exchange. The situation improved dramatically over a week after I put in an air stone. 
So I would suggest, probably a HOB filter for some water flow or at least a powerful air stone for gas exchange.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Hmmm, yeah, I can see something like that happening.

I want to not see any equipment in the tank if I can help it. Maybe because of the small size I will be able to hide most of it with plants and stuff.

Maybe I can make a sponge filter with a black sponge, I like to paint the back of my tanks black.

Im doing dirt in the bottom and then gravel, there is some organic stuff in the dirt that will probably cause some ammonia so it looks like a long cycling process without fish but at least I wont have to worry about adding ammonia in some way.

Can ammonia and nitrites hurt plants? After I have the dirt and gravel setup for a week if tests arent too bad I hope to put plants in to speed up the process. 

I am not going to seed bio filter at first, I want to see if the dirt causes ammonia which I may not see if I seed the tank at the start. This is half experiment while I get the tank setup.

I will be using an AC20 with just sponge while I get the dirt cleared up and test things.

If I take it slow and test things, maybe it will help others who have been thinking of doing the same thing.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

I don't think ammonia will hurt your plants. Mine is dirted too. I just put in a bunch of plants as soon as I set it up. Man, they grow like mad and slowly taper off to a steady rate. I guess, initial there's the nutrient and CO2 trapped in the dirt. Some even say, plants absorb ammonia more readily than nitrate. 
I think AC20 is good and if you paint the background black U will only see the intake which you can easily block off with stem plants. No need to make a sponge filter that'll occupy more space inside the tank. 

Let me know how it goes. I'd love to chat more!


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I got the tank and filter cleaned, they were used, now they are all cleaned and sanitized.

I starting washing my dirt, dump in bucket, add water, stir a little, over flow to get rid of some of the light stuff, fill up, let the heavier parts settle, then dump the water and stop before you start to loose the good stuff, and refill again and settle and dump again and repeat. This is also kinda how I do sand but sand is higher density so you don't have to wait for it to settle, I just keep running water and all the light stuff flows over.

and then I discover a hole in the bottom of my sink! I dried it and tossed on some silicone, have to wait till tomorrow to finish cleaning the dirt.

I plan to do about half an inch of dirt and then add the gravel which I also can't wash till tomorrow. I also bought some sand to add to my other tanks that need a little, but cant wash that till tomorrow either.

Maybe I'll do an ammonia test on the water in the bucket tomorrow before I dump it to see if there is any, maybe do nitrate test to to see if there is any, shouldnt be any nitrite yet so wont test that most likely.

Will update with test results tomorrow.


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Sounds like lot of fun. Starting the tank and watching it evolve over time is the best part IMO. Sorry to hear about your sink. I would suggest adding at least 1 inch of dirt. 1/2 inch really isn't much. I love dirt, I wish I put in some dirt when I started my 90G. It's just flourite, which I find isn't enough to supply the growth associated with high light, I have to dose ferts. I think I'll probably redo it in the summer. Looking forward to see how it will turn out.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Still washing that damn soil and I had noticed some rust and stuff on the light so I took it apart and cleaned it, put bulbs in and one mostly worked and the other didnt, go cleaned the contacts a bit, still didnt work, cleaned some more and broke off one of the contacts! Basically the light is garbage now.

I can't seem to find a light of the right size and price but I have a plan http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...3&langId=-1&keyword=clamp+light&storeId=10051 and put in a good CFL, not this exact light but something like it.

This would actually work out cheaper as the CFL that would fit in the light fixture I broke would cost $15 each. It wouldnt look as clean, but with luck I can find just the right light so it looks ok. And I can just use a single higher watt CFL which should be under $10.

Just have to find a light now.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Just so you know pyrrolin- your LOVING WIFE thinks that you are crazy!


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

HAHAHAHA, this is funny!

Anyways, ya CFL is great for small tanks. I use it for my 20g, 10g and nano. Get a cheap hang/clip on desk lamp and get the 6500K daylight fluorescent bulbs. I have one that's 26w, equivalent of 100w of regular bulb, over my nano. They are blindingly bright and my dwarf hair grass loves it and rotala is turning real red the more iron I dose.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Happen to remember where you got the light?

Oops, left a window open and the wife saw


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## baozi2089 (May 17, 2009)

Everything Canadian Tire. The 100w replacement CFL light is 15 for 2 bulbs I think. I also got the black clip on desk lamp for 9.99 too.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Nice, will have to go look around, thanks


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