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Hello all, A very long time since I've been active on the forum, and have also had a break from keeping a tank due to some house moves, kids etc. However, I am now looking at a small office tank. I work for myself and have my own office, so its moreso enjoyment for me than anything else. Due to the unreliability of an office environment with WFH and holidays etc, it will be a low tech tank. At this stage I am considering Aqua One Nano 30, Petworx Nano 30 or Aqua One Betta Duo (if I can determine if you can remove the divider!) as I want to try an integrated filter with pumps, filter material, heater etc all hidden from view. I am trying to set myself a budget of $400 consisting of: Pet Worx Nano 30 - $135 (which comes with the filter and light) Pet Worx 25w Heater (Maybe 50w is smarter so the heter doesnt have to work as hard?) - $30 Substrate - Dark gravel - $30 Driftwood - $40 Plants - Frogbit, Java Moss and Mini Java Fern (or Anubias nana petite) - $50 Shrimp - A humble 10 x Red Cherry Shrimp - $40 Which leaves $75 for Food, ferts, bucket, little net, water test kit etc I'm moreso making this post to force me to do it as opposed to think about it and let the idea fade away! Cheers

I had a very similar tank to the petworx one and they are very clean to look at and easy to maintain, but obviously you are losing some volume/floor area for the shrimps to inhabit. You will probably need to work something out so the shrimp don't get through to the back area, especially babies (sponge behind the slots etc) - you may be able to just move part of the sponge to that compartment looking at this video: I would only get a 25w heater, I learned my lesson when my 50w stuck on and cooked the shrimps in my 35L tank. 25w should be adequate as you have a much warmer climate, in fact do you really even need a heater? One drawback with this type of setup is that the level of water in the back can drop drastically when the sponge starts to get clogged, though this is mainly only a problem with the heater which may break in insuficient water, or the pump in really severe circumstances. You will need to clean the sponges at least weekly. The level drop in the back can look quite alarming when you first see it happening. The other makes may also have the same issues? I would have thought nearer $250 as it already has a light and pump, and if you don't need a heater? I tried the 'let the idea fade away', but it keeps returning???

Looks very nice! Similar scope to what I'm looking to do so am snooping for inspiration! After another few weeks, how is everyone going?

Here is a photo of the floating plant (Azolla). Looks great! I am probably tempting fate by even mentioning this but the first shrimp arrived yesterday and went into the tank today, fingers crossed.............. Pandas and shadow Pandas, I ordered blue bolts and shadow pandas so I may be getting the blue bolts next week free as it was the sellers (ebay) error, but at this stage it is one day at a time - will these survive even. Keep your fingers crossed for me please! I have to say I am enjoying seeing them in the tank even though black isn't the easiest to see in my tank as the background is black? The parameters are a bit off, GH 7 the main one thats off, but hopefully the 24 hours slow drip will have paid off and the parameters of the sellers tanks were generally close to mine, hence I got them from them for that reason. I guess it will be a 'black and blue' tank as there is no-one selling red ones at the moment, but blue bolts are my favourite and as long as they survive, well thats a bonus on the last attempt anyway so I'll take that as a win! Maybe sometime further down the line I may get back to what I had before??? Not rushing anything this time.