Who says aquarium tanks have to be huge, clunky and take up a lot of space and a lot of time? Nano tanks are quickly increasing in popularity because of their ease in care and esthetic value it can bring to a small space- especially nowadays when people are opting to buy smaller space condos and have smaller office spaces than their bigger more expensive counterparts.
They fit easily on a desk with a good lamp for lighting, on a coffee table, on a bookshelf to add life to a room, you can basically showcase them anywhere, as long as there are no extreme temperature changes and there is a decent amount of light for the types of plants you include in them.
As for maintenance it takes only a few seconds to feed your livestock every day and because of such a small amount of water, 5 minutes max to do a good water change and tank clean.
Take this cute little desktop Shrimp Nano Tank. Pop this tank on your work desk and use it as a reminder everyday to take a break and relax, enjoy watching the beautiful playful shrimp, the beautiful plants and nature right in your own office space. In our crazy hectic lives these days we need all the beauty and tranquility we can get, to keep us sane! And for people who love nature, animals and water this would be a great reminder to relax and enjoy life once in a while. =)
So here are the steps to creating this adorable desktop tank.
-Wash your bowl in dechlorinated water , (soap is a nono!)
-place about an 1/2” to 3/4”inch or (whatever amount will make you happy) of sand in the bottom, and then rinse the sand in the bowl using dechlorinated water.
Pour as much water out as you can then using clean dechlorinated water slowly pour enough water to just cover the sand, trying your best not to disturb the sand too much with water flow.
We used Clear fishing line to secure the wavy fern to the driftwood and placed it into the middle of the tank.
Then you can plant the small helzine into the sand around the driftwood. It is easiest if you use a set of aquarium tweezers.
After that you can fill the water up to the top, slowly to make sure you don’t disturb the sand or substrate.
*tip, put a plastic bag just big enough to fit on the bottom where you will be pouring the water(or a piece of one for really tiny nanos like this one , to cover the substrate a bit) and pour the water in slowly , the plastic will protect the water from stirring up the substrate.
If there is a lot of cloudiness, wait for the dust to settle – It might take a few hours depending on how much you disturbed the substrate.
Now you have a cute little nature aquarium!
Depending on what kind of water you use – new dechlorinated water or old tank water from another tank you will have to do one of two things:
-For new water you will have to wait a week to buy and put any kind of livestock in. Brand new water needs to cycle first, to have some natural bacteria in order for any fish or shrimp to survive.
-For old water you don’t need to wait, you can put livestock in after all the dust and everything have settled.
When you are ready to put in your new shrimp, float the bag on the top of the tank for about 10 min to make sure both the water in the bag and the water in the tank are the same temperature, so that the shrimp or fish would not get temperature shock and become really stressed and get sick x_x.
After that 10 minutes, empty everything in the bag into another container and using a small shrimp net, transport them into their new home.
Congrats now you have created a cute nano shrimp tank!
I will cover, maintenance in another post since this one ended up quite lengthy. See you soon!