Anyone Used an Aquapod for a planted tank?

justintoxicated

justintoxicated

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Dec 19, 2005
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Looking at buying this

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13976

and an Eheim 2213.

I want to put CO2 Diffuser, Intake and outleft from filter, and Heater (Visitherm stealth or 2 if they will fit) all behind the back wall. Leave the pump hooked up, but not use the filter it comes with.

Are these tanks worth the money? I'm thinking this would be a nice clean setup if I can hide all the equipment behind the back wall? I want to do a high tech planted tank for my Dwarf Puffer and maybe some Oto's. Right now he is in an eclipse 3 gallon and the upkeep is killing me and my plants are all dying!

There is ths delux JBJ tank as well but I hear alot of people have problems with JBJ made tanks? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=10677&N=2004+62760

Is the delux better than the aquapod?
 
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Here's a couple of pics of my planted 12g aquapod:

IMG_0537-1.jpg


DSCN0892.jpg


The filtration system is composed of 4 compartments in the back that you can fill with various media like a sponge, bioballs, etc and a compartment for the pump. The compartments are each about 12" tall, almost 4" long, and 3 inches deep. You can easily hide the heater and a small diffuser back there but I'm not sure about the ehiem filter. I don't see the point in stuffing an ehiem in there, the stock filter is enough for a planted tank.

The build quality of the aquapod is good, although they could have done a cleaner silicone job in some spots. I haven't really checked out the JBJ Nanocube so I can't compare the two. The lighting on the regular aquapod is better than the nanocube, it uses 2 28w PC lights rather than 24w on the nanocube deluxe (though 28w bulbs are hard to come by). I heard that the Oceanic Biocube is better than both but is more expensive.
 
phanmc said:
Here's a couple of pics of my planted 12g aquapod:

IMG_0537-1.jpg


DSCN0892.jpg


The filtration system is composed of 4 compartments in the back that you can fill with various media like a sponge, bioballs, etc and a compartment for the pump. The compartments are each about 12" tall, almost 4" long, and 3 inches deep. You can easily hide the heater and a small diffuser back there but I'm not sure about the ehiem filter. I don't see the point in stuffing an ehiem in there, the stock filter is enough for a planted tank.

The build quality of the aquapod is good, although they could have done a cleaner silicone job in some spots. I haven't really checked out the JBJ Nanocube so I can't compare the two. The lighting on the regular aquapod is better than the nanocube, it uses 2 28w PC lights rather than 24w on the nanocube deluxe (though 28w bulbs are hard to come by). I heard that the Oceanic Biocube is better than both but is more expensive.
Click to expand...


wow this is the best aquapod/nano cube planted tank i seen! can you give more detail on your spec? what exactly do you have to grow those plants:

1) did you change the lighting that comes with it? what's the temperature
2) co2 injection?
3) dosing amount?

etc..
 
Phanmc,

The reason I wanted to put a canister in the back rather than the stock filter is because I was lead to believe the stockfilter on that thing creates alot of surface agitation which will outgas the CO2? Is this true? This is my main concern...

I want to do something similar with Dwarf Puffers and Ottos.
Couple Q's

Will a Visitherm Stealth fit in the back (I would like to use 2 25 watt heaters but if space is an issue I can go with one 50 watt)?

How do you run the CO2 tuning into the rear and keep it low profile? and what kind of difuser are you using? How much space is there for a diffuser?

Does Oceanic make a 12 gallon? What would make it so much better?

I'm not at all worried about finding 28 watt bulbs if they are square pin? 32 watt bulbs are compatable with 28 watt ballasts.

What is that red plant in your tank I really like it!

Thanks for your help, and great looking Nano, you spent some time on that one!
 
The outlet for the aquapod has an adjustable dual nozzle (top right corner) that you can use to minimize surface agitation. The filtration system is similar to a wet/dry system but the water doesn't actually drip down, the water level remains pretty high throughout the system as the water moves through the compartments and there isn't much agitation.

You should be able to easily fit two 25w heaters within one or two compartments, you can have a free compartment and add another heater in the compartment that houses the pump. My CO2 system is a Nutrafin yeast system, I replaced the ladder with an small ADA pollen glass diffuser (right hand side of the top pic). The CO2 chamber simply sits behind the tank. If you want to hide the diffuser completely just stick it in one of the compartments with the heater or pump, small glass diffusers won't be a problem and even some of the bigger diffusers should be manageable.

Oceanic makes a 14g one and I don't know if it's actually better, I just heard it from a LFS owner friend of mine. According to him, the designs are similar but the overall build quality is better.

The lighting that comes with the tank is a dual daylight (10,000k/6,700k) and dual actinic, which I replaced with another dual daylight. It is a square pin. This is more than enough light for pretty much any kind of plants.

As for the rest of the tank specs, this was my ADA test tank and I used ADA's aquasoil & powersand for the gravel and their liquid ferts which I add daily along with some Flourish Excel since I have only a yeast CO2 setup with alot of light. I highly recommend the aquasoil, helps me grow a few plants that I've never had success with by dropping the kH quite a bit(though I think I'll skip the white powersand in the future as they are easily uprooted when I replant).

The red plant is ludwigia sp pantanal, very fast grower that I need to trim almost weekly. I believe it does require water with a low kH (mine's below 2 after the gravel) Other plants are tonina belem and fluviatilis, eriocaulon setaceum, HC, ludwigia sp guinea, downoi, and a purple chainsword of some kind.
 
Sounds good! I may still pickup the Eheim, worst case is that I can replace the AC50 on my 10 gallon guppy planted tank.

This will be my 3rd planted tank I have MTS (but it willa ctualy be getting rid of 2 tanks I have temporarily setup right now). I was almost thinking that the lights will be too much for a 12 gallon. I actualy have a spare, 6700k square pin bulb I just pulled out of my 10 gallons fixture that is 28 watts. It still seems to work fine but it is over 10 months old is that a problem? I'm thinking to use that instead of the antic that it comes with.

I was actualy going to test some ADA stuff in this tank as well. I'm already planning on Amazonia even though I have some Eco Complete to spare. This way I will have Flourite in one tank, Eco in another and ADA in the 3rd, each a little different. Will one bag of aquasoil be enough? Should I mix in the Eco (About 1/2 a bag extra probably?)

I'm also thinking it may be better to go with one 50 watt Stealth heater to save space since they are fairly large and the 25 watt version is the same size. Or I may just order another 25 watt stealth and throw a 50 watt theo I already have in there (it goes in my 10 gallon tank) but its a little smaller (but if there is room to spare I will stick 2 small heaters in it).

I only run heaters once it starts to get cold, only one of my tanks has a heater in it right now.

BTW have you tried any ADA Driftwood, I bought a small $25 piece and I have to admit I almost think it was worth the $25 I spent, it leached practicaly nothing into the water and the color and perfectness of the piece are much better than any other driftwood I have used. nice smooth natural look to it! I still can't believe I paid $25 for it if my friends knew they would slap me lol.
 
A bulb that's been used for 10 months will provide less light but you should still have plenty of light for most plants, 56w is really alot of light for the tank.

I used 2 bags for the tank, regular and powder. The powder, which is really small grain, looks nice at the beginning but it's since mixed in with the regular. Their coloration is similar to eco-complete so you can just mix the two.

All the other ADA stuff is mostly an impulse buy, I could have just gone with my regular EI routine but I liked their bottles :p

ADG didn't have any driftwood in stock at the time so I haven't used them. The aquasoil will leach some since I believe it has peat mixed in, just use carbon to remove it.
 
I was going to setup DIY CO2 for this tank (might as well since I have it on my other tanks haha) will the glass diffuser still be my best bet?

I'm thinking to go ahead and purchase the tank, set it up slowly, add plants, and thin figure out how to cycle it.

BTW, how do you like this tank compared to say a normal glass 10 gallon? I like glass better myself since my Acrylic tanks tend to get scraches but I like the way the corners are rounded and things like the filter and heate, and maybe CO2 reactor can be hidden.
 
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Hi. Last time I had a glass one, this time I have an acrylic one. It does scratch easily (pretty much towards the bottom by the rocks.) But I found that when I went for the darker tone (darker substrate, dimmed lighting, etc), the results were dramatic. Although it would be hard to see something more dramatic than Phanmc plant wonderland! (applause!)

Anyway, the acrylic seems to be clearer. Especially with the dim lighting, the scratches are hardly noticeable. I fretted about them all day long until I made this change. Now it's almost like there's little barrier between me and the (would be) fish. It just faded away.
 
Well I went to my LFS (All About Fish) who always carries rare fish for reasonabel prices. They have every thign from Rainbows to DP's to many kinds of Freshwater shrimp. Even ADA products.

Anyways he told me to stay away from the Oceanic Biocube for a FW planted tank because the filter is not adjustable. He recomended the Aquapod and said he could give me 15% off $159 + tax. I can get it online cheaper though but I do like to support LFS's when they are good ones!

Online it is $120 + $15 shipping.

I'm thinking to head back there and get it!

Oh yea he had the 24 gallon on sale for almost the same price! well it was $175 + 25% off He strongly recomended that one over the 12 gallon, but my plan was to set this thing up on my Ikea desk (the only space I have for a tank)... I am thinking it could support it since it has extra steal braces in that location, but thats alot of weight....
 
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