# Planted Tanks > Beginners' Corner >  Office desktop mini tank

## rakurime

Hi everyone,

It's been sometime since i last posted here, and i've been busy with work and my home tanks (tropical fish, shrimps and goldfish tanks)

I've introduced this desktop tank to my office table (secretly and got found out  :Grin:  but everyone was amazed by it, even my boss was impressed by it)


Tank has been cycling since 21/01/2015 and the readings are:
Ammonia (0.25ppm)
Nitrite (0.25ppm)

Clearly stating that the tank is not ready for livestock yet...


Love the top view of the tank, spray bar doing well and not much sound coming out from the tank, just some subtle water sound from time to time. All thanks to GEX Corner F1 Filter with adjustable flow-rate control!

Setup specs:
Tank: 22cm x 15cm x 17cm (front curve)
Volume of water: About 3 litres
Internal Filter: GEX Corner F1
Sand: ANS Sunset yellow sand
Gravel: Small river gravel
Stones: Small lava rocks and small pebble stones
Driftwoods: 2 small size driftwoods
Plants: Anubias Nana, Rosaefolia mini & Water wisteria or Lace java fern? (i'm confused which is it)

Temperature 
During office hours: 24 degrees celsius 
After office hours: 25-26 degrees celsius 

Still thinking what fauna to keep, as i wish to keep it low maintenance and low-tech if possible. Means not intending to install CO2 kit for it.
Internal filter is taking up some space there so the free zone is very limited for fish to roam about
Shrimps and maybe 1-2 pigmy corys

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## sheng

Your Internal Filter seem to be too big for the tank.

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## kurty

yeah, shrimps and a few corys will be great and suffice.

I'm impressed yet in doubt, does the company give you the approval for such setup?
Afterall, it's using their resources.

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## kurty

> Your Internal Filter seem to be too big for the tank.


strongly agreed, a HOB would be more ideally?

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## rakurime

> yeah, shrimps and a few corys will be great and suffice.
> 
> I'm impressed yet in doubt, does the company give you the approval for such setup?
> Afterall, it's using their resources.


Yeah i was thinking about just less than 10 shrimps and 2-3 corys...

Yup my boss said she wouldn't mind and it doesn't use up a lot of electricity and water, as i told her i just need to do a 10-20% water change weekly which is like less than 500ml
In fact they swarm over to my table and keep looking at the tank even though there's no livestock yet  :Very Happy: 




> strongly agreed, a HOB would be more ideally?


Oh man, looks like HOB really more suitable, but there are many choices out there for such a small tank,

Shiruba PF-60, 
GEX SS Slim filter (very ex as i'm using one of it for my shrimp tank at home)
Dolphin H80
Jeneca Slim HOB filter

(need a slim HOB, with sufficient space for bio-media)

Ok the real question is, should i change the filter immediately since its cycling? Actually i'm intending to change it when i get my salary in Feb first week, would that be ideal?

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## sheng

Can use small canister filter like Eden 501 too

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## rakurime

> Can use small canister filter like Eden 501 too


Looks small enough, but the overall feel is that canister filter's hose piping and where to conceal them on my desk is a big headache man especially the tank height is only 17cm!
It would look quite unsightly with 2 hose pipes protruding out of the tank, and i dont think i have the space for the canister at all.

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## kurty

> Yeah i was thinking about just less than 10 shrimps and 2-3 corys...
> 
> Yup my boss said she wouldn't mind and it doesn't use up a lot of electricity and water, as i told her i just need to do a 10-20% water change weekly which is like less than 500ml
> In fact they swarm over to my table and keep looking at the tank even though there's no livestock yet 
> 
> 
> Oh man, looks like HOB really more suitable, but there are many choices out there for such a small tank,
> 
> Shiruba PF-60, 
> ...


with that temperature, you can consider CRS?
i believe they will go gaga over it, anyway your boss is pretty nice. Not many, are that generous to tap on company's resources.

Go for dolphin HOB, but with that tank size, go for H200 or H300.
I'm using H300 for my shrimp tank, not an overkill. always better to filter more, after all, shrimps will reproduce and its not expensive.
less than $15 in seaview?

My take is to change the filter immediately, after all, you need 2 weeks or so, to cultivate the bacteria.
Tentatively, you can do a jump start. Take the media at your home, put into the new filter along with new media.
Within a week, they should be ready.  :Very Happy:

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## rakurime

> with that temperature, you can consider CRS?
> i believe they will go gaga over it, anyway your boss is pretty nice. Not many, are that generous to tap on company's resources.
> 
> Go for dolphin HOB, but with that tank size, go for H200 or H300.
> I'm using H300 for my shrimp tank, not an overkill. always better to filter more, after all, shrimps will reproduce and its not expensive.
> less than $15 in seaview?
> 
> My take is to change the filter immediately, after all, you need 2 weeks or so, to cultivate the bacteria.
> Tentatively, you can do a jump start. Take the media at your home, put into the new filter along with new media.
> Within a week, they should be ready.


CRS is tempting... but expensive!! i've only bought like 4pcs the max for the whole of last year, and none of them survived for more than a month for my home tanks)

i feel like getting those blue color shrimp but not blue bolt... more like blue jelly, maybe Rilli-orange/red/blue

Dolphin i think i may get it from c328 since i stay near to it. what about the bio medias? any recommendation?

On the other hand, i'm intending to kope a few media rings and bio-homme from my shrimp tank to jump start once i get my new HOB, i should be adding livestock after i come back from CNY leave on 25/02

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## kurty

> CRS is tempting... but expensive!! i've only bought like 4pcs the max for the whole of last year, and none of them survived for more than a month for my home tanks)
> 
> i feel like getting those blue color shrimp but not blue bolt... more like blue jelly, maybe Rilli-orange/red/blue
> 
> Dolphin i think i may get it from c328 since i stay near to it. what about the bio medias? any recommendation?
> 
> On the other hand, i'm intending to kope a few media rings and bio-homme from my shrimp tank to jump start once i get my new HOB, i should be adding livestock after i come back from CNY leave on 25/02


if you are not particular on the grade of CRS, actually it is quite cheap.

There's a gentlemen in the forum, named Alan, located in west and he sell pretty decent crs with much affordable price range.
Like $2-$3 each? 
He's a pro when comes to shrimp, he has all the types that you mentioned. he's selling fire red at $1 each..
I recently bought 10 for $12 at C328.

Well, Bio media.. i'm using Ista, the taiwan brand.. to me, i feel media is a media..
hence, dont spend much money on it. good filter size and regular weekly water cycle, matters the most to me.

I had my equal share of experience..
I bought close to 300 of cherry and none survived.
This 300 was break down in many phases, 100, 100, 40, 40, 20..
even tried CRS, but only a few.. culling give away, so i take.

Only now, then i got the hang of it..

yeah, after CNY is good. HENG heng  :Very Happy:

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## rakurime

> if you are not particular on the grade of CRS, actually it is quite cheap.
> 
> There's a gentlemen in the forum, named Alan, located in west and he sell pretty decent crs with much affordable price range.
> Like $2-$3 each? 
> He's a pro when comes to shrimp, he has all the types that you mentioned. he's selling fire red at $1 each..
> I recently bought 10 for $12 at C328.
> 
> Well, Bio media.. i'm using Ista, the taiwan brand.. to me, i feel media is a media..
> hence, dont spend much money on it. good filter size and regular weekly water cycle, matters the most to me.
> ...


Yeah man it took me like a year to get the hang of it, starting from keeping shrimps, then tropical fish to gold fishes~

And to setup aquascaping, tank management, water perimeter etc... its a good hobby!!


I agree with the media part, i'm also using Ista brand, Zeolite and Mini Quartzite Glass, long lasting and cheap, 1 box of each can last all my 4 tanks at home and recently i mixed it with Bio-homme plus.

With regular water-change and monitoring of fishes, we can provide good environment for our fishes/shrimps.

my filters also not high end models, most of them are just GEX slim HOB just that i;ve changed to an Ista all-in-one external filter for my main tank as the GEX filter broke down

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## Urban Aquaria

Your tank dimensions work out to around just 5+ liters (even less after factoring in the hardscape, substrate and internal filter taking up space)... i guess just a few shrimps should be okay for that tank volume. Just have to make sure to maintain the tank carefully as such small water volumes tend to encounter sudden fluctuations in parameters and temperature, and gets dirty very quickly.

A small hang-on filter like the Dophin H80 will be more than sufficient for your tank's size and volume (larger hang-on filters will just be creating too much water turbulence in that small tank even if tuned to the lowest flow rate).

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## wooty100

Nice mini tank. How big is the vol?

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## genki89

Lol i guess we got the same set up. But my company office hours 22 to 24 degree, after office hours 28 to 29.

Using dolphin overhead filter with bio rings. i strongly suggest you to have bio ring induce. 

i loss heavily as the bio load will change the water parameters in hours as compared to bigger tanks (days/weeks)

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## rakurime

> Your tank dimensions work out to around just 5+ liters (even less after factoring in the hardscape, substrate and internal filter taking up space)... i guess just a few shrimps should be okay for that tank volume. Just have to make sure to maintain the tank carefully as such small water volumes tend to encounter sudden fluctuations in parameters and temperature, and gets dirty very quickly.
> 
> A small hang-on filter like the Dophin H80 will be more than sufficient for your tank's size and volume (larger hang-on filters will just be creating too much water turbulence in that small tank even if tuned to the lowest flow rate).


I've gotten a Dolphin H80 last night, for my newly setup nano cube tank at home to try out the flow/efficiency, the flow is strong (adjusted to the Low setting)for a 15x15x15cm tank, but saving a lot of space as there's just a 10-15mm inlet pipe going into the tank compared to my internal filter which taking up a huge area. But i like the compartment that can allow me to easily drop in 10-15 mini bacteria house (bio media) and half of the black wool sponge near the outlet to prevent bio media dropping out of the filter.







> Nice mini tank. How big is the vol?


the water volume which i've measured when i added water into the tank, is approximately 2.9 litres or so..




> Lol i guess we got the same set up. But my company office hours 22 to 24 degree, after office hours 28 to 29.
> 
> Using dolphin overhead filter with bio rings. i strongly suggest you to have bio ring induce. 
> 
> i loss heavily as the bio load will change the water parameters in hours as compared to bigger tanks (days/weeks)


mine after office hours will be still around 26-27 as there's no windows (except toilet window) so the air is quite "stagnant",


what do you mean by induced?

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## anothermix

Wah nice setup. Ur boss must be really nice. I tried putting up a 15cm tank once for a lobster. Was told by my boss to keep it under my desk cos people keep flocking to my desk. So end up bring back home. Haha

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## genki89

The bio filter provided by the dolphin hob is not as sufficient as compared to those bio ring.

The amonia spike up in hours with tank volume like yours. So you might see your shrimp looking fine and suddenly not moving in an hour time. However, that is from my experience. After i induce the bio ring, somehow the parameters stabilise more and there are lesser casualty. But it it still under monitoring.

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## rakurime

> Wah nice setup. Ur boss must be really nice. I tried putting up a 15cm tank once for a lobster. Was told by my boss to keep it under my desk cos people keep flocking to my desk. So end up bring back home. Haha


haha... i was trying my luck, as i did contemplate to bring my tank to office but not sure whether will get scolding or weird remarks. But turned out to be very encouraging as everyone said it looks nice and certainly takes a lot of patience to do the scaping from scratch...






> The bio filter provided by the dolphin hob is not as sufficient as compared to those bio ring.
> 
> The amonia spike up in hours with tank volume like yours. So you might see your shrimp looking fine and suddenly not moving in an hour time. However, that is from my experience. After i induce the bio ring, somehow the parameters stabilise more and there are lesser casualty. But it it still under monitoring.


Ya, the "bio filter" is nothing more than just a piece of black wool, therefore i bought one to try out yesterday for my home cube nano tank, i sliced the black wool into half and filled the back portion with ANS mini bacterial house and can easily fill up 10-15pieces 

I'm planning to get a dophin h100 or h200 so i can put more bio-media (of cause must the flow-rate to the lowest if not it would cause the entire tank like washing machine)

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## Urban Aquaria

For the H80 hang-on filter i, try slicing the supplied black coarse sponge into an even thinner layer (around just 2-3mm thick), it'll be enough to block the media from spilling out, then there will be even more extra space to put additional bio-media. You can also fill the impeller side with more bio-media too, just make sure the media is large enough not to get into the impeller compartment.

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## rakurime

i did this on my newly bought H80




didn't fill up the impeller section as i'm afraid it might "jam" up the inlet part where water get pump into the entire compartment

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## MultipleTankSyndrome

> if you are not particular on the grade of CRS, actually it is quite cheap.
> 
> There's a gentlemen in the forum, named Alan, located in west and he sell pretty decent crs with much affordable price range.
> Like $2-$3 each? 
> He's a pro when comes to shrimp, he has all the types that you mentioned. he's selling fire red at $1 each..
> I recently bought 10 for $12 at C328.
> 
> Well, Bio media.. i'm using Ista, the taiwan brand.. to me, i feel media is a media..
> hence, dont spend much money on it. good filter size and regular weekly water cycle, matters the most to me.
> ...


Possible to PM me his contact? Eager to purchase shrimp, thanks!

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## Dscheng

> i did this on my newly bought H80
> 
> 
> 
> 
> didn't fill up the impeller section as i'm afraid it might "jam" up the inlet part where water get pump into the entire compartment


 Ya this is good enough for small tank. I using H80 on my office shrimp tank. Just dont adjust the flow too high.

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## rakurime

> Ya this is good enough for small tank. I using H80 on my office shrimp tank. Just dont adjust the flow too high.


Will the low flow-rate setting minimise or slow down the oxygen aeration in the tank? i noticed if i set to the lowest flow, there is not much water movement on the surface

my current GEX F1 internal filter is doing very well in aerating the surface, like river flow feel/speed

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## Dscheng

If u are keeping shrimp, don't on too high. If normal fishes / cory, it ok.
As for my office shrimp tank, it has shrimplet swimming. It is soo small. Although i have sock on the filter, just to play safe.

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## rakurime

Live stock has been added after Nitrite went down to 0ppm, ammonia was 0.25ppm before i did a 40% water-change yesterday.

I've chosen mini guppies as their miniature size would suit this tank setup and cost at low as 1/4 the price of Endlers  :Shocked: 

After some consideration, i have decided to stay put with my GEX F1 corner filter which is an internal filter, on top of that i've added a Sudo breeding box (S) for housing my bio-medias and filtration sponge to provide more beneficial-bacterial. Here's an update of the current setup...


Actually after taking this photo, i have raised the breeding box level up by putting 2 scotch tape rolls stacking up at the bottom of the breeding box so the inlet of the airline pipe is not sucking up the sand from the base of tank, that leaves some gap in between the bottom of the inlet for air and sand.



Bio media that i've arranged and filled up with,

from top to bottom:
Black Sponge
GEX Super Active Carbon with charcoal (natural power) to remove odour and driftwood stains/coloring
ANS Mini Bacteria House (1 layer)
Black Sponge again
ANS Mini Bacteria House (3 layers)

Rinsed it last night with de-chlorinated tap water and let it "cycle" with a bare tank for like 30mins to an hour to remove unwanted dusts or debris

Gotten this idea from youtube and see how creative Japanese people can be

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## rakurime

Feeding time and once i switched off the filter, the mini guppies swarm up and look at me and they know its their favourite meal time!!



Happily munching Hikari Fancy Guppy pellets

The plant at the back near the filter is growing very fast and well, without the need of CO2 injection and i'm happy that the lighting set is providing enough for the plants.

Dosed 2 drops of SeaChem Flourish before i've installed the breeding-box-bio-media-kit

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## Urban Aquaria

Good idea on using the air-powered external box to DIY a hang-on filter, its definitely able to contain alot of media.  :Well done: 

Though i can't help but notice that with all the added equipment cluttering inside and outside the tank, you could have just started with a larger tank instead. Just a thought.

The desk space looks like it should be able to hold a standard 1ft tank (or even slightly larger) which would offer at least 13 liters water volume, almost 4x more than your current tank water volume. It'll have larger area to scape and more space for the fishes to swim... perhaps thats something to consider.  :Smile:

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## rakurime

upgrading to a bigger tank means have to re-scape and re-cycle the tank  :Sad: 

actually i have the intention changing the tank but i'm afraid that i would use up a lot of water, which is not paid by me lol

my boss intending to let me and my colleague propose a 2 feet tank near our office entrance, and do up a cabinet and let us decide on what theme to do.

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## Urban Aquaria

> upgrading to a bigger tank means have to re-scape and re-cycle the tank 
> 
> actually i have the intention changing the tank but i'm afraid that i would use up a lot of water, which is not paid by me lol
> 
> my boss intending to let me and my colleague propose a 2 feet tank near our office entrance, and do up a cabinet and let us decide on what theme to do.


I know what you mean... better to "test market" and see if your boss is okay with it, once they get used to the idea, can gradually "upgrade" the tank size.  :Grin: 

The office display tank would be a great project, it'll be a very rewarding teamwork exercise for everyone to participate in.

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## rakurime

> I know what you mean... better to "test market" and see if your boss is okay with it, once they get used to the idea, can gradually "upgrade" the tank size. 
> 
> The office display tank would be a great project, it'll be a very rewarding teamwork exercise for everyone to participate in.


yeah, i joined the company for 2.5yrs and i just started to introduce a tank into the working environment, it's very nice to hear everyone saying "now, at least there's something to see and hear"

It's gonna take us some time to plan it all out and start our project as our office will be going through a renovation soon, to shift things around and making more space.

so far i've never fail to get useful information, tips and resources here at AQ forum, as i started out this hobby 1 year ago~

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## Ipit

Isnt that awesom?! image at work also can get hands wet, not just home but office, how i wish i can have a tank in my office. 

My opinion, the External dreeding box is really an eyesore hahaha, distracts the attention, a Shiruba external canister might be great.

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## rakurime

> Isnt that awesom?! image at work also can get hands wet, not just home but office, how i wish i can have a tank in my office. 
> 
> My opinion, the External dreeding box is really an eyesore hahaha, distracts the attention, a Shiruba external canister might be great.


Exactly, best is when you are able to feed the fish during work, and do small water change as and when, to keep water "clean" and "safe"


I know its eyesore to some, but i gotta be patient, now still "testing market" as i might upgrade to a bigger tank (30-45cm), see how it goes for now

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## Ipit

> Exactly, best is when you are able to feed the fish during work, and do small water change as and when, to keep water "clean" and "safe"
> 
> 
> I know its eyesore to some, but i gotta be patient, now still "testing market" as i might upgrade to a bigger tank (30-45cm), see how it goes for now


Once testing done make sure you do work and not play with the tank or move into office hahaha.

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## rakurime

what a miraculous monday morning, after 2 days of "fasting" the mini guppies are still alive!! 

just fed them 2 rounds, and did 50% water change + a dose of seachem flourish for the plants


what does it mean if the guppies have "brown patch" on their tummy? as in their tummy are transparent, so i noticed there are some brown egg-like thing on one of the female guppy

usually if black dot, i know its time for breeding, but brown patch?

the ratio is like 5 female to 4 male now, 1 RIP

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## Dscheng

Good ! I also having guppy fry in my planted tank. I saw a mature guppy trying to bite the fry. But the fry hide into my plant. I dont bother to separate and let nature take it course. BTW, speaking of shrimp, last weekend i saw Y618 is selling red cherry shrimp, one bag 10rcs cost 8 bucks, each RCS cost like 80 cents

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## rakurime

i'm intending to add in small yamato shrimps but the LFS around my office is marking up prices and usually during lunch time i just go there to see see look look, gaining ideas for my scaping and end up not buying anything.

i'm thinking of getting it from c328 after work which is nearer to my place, but come to think of it, how do i transport them in the early morning, need a battery pump and airstone inside a container to keep them alive, any other suggestions in transporting livestock from 1 end of Singapore to the other end? (45mins bus ride)

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## Dscheng

Lolz.. dont need la. Just get a small cup container, like LFS selling java moss, round like cup shape with top cover. Point a few hole for air will do. Yamato shrimp are quite hardy one.

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## rakurime

> Lolz.. dont need la. Just get a small cup container, like LFS selling java moss, round like cup shape with top cover. Point a few hole for air will do. Yamato shrimp are quite hardy one.



How about transporting sakura/cherry shrimps with yamato in that plant-cup-container?

imagine 630am in the morning, scoop them out, transfer them into a cup-container

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## wooty100

Ask them to pump air and package a bigger bag for u to transfer tomorrow?

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## Dscheng

Ya can too. Remember to put small plant for them to hide. When transporting don't shake too much. Avoid direct heat.

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## rakurime

I hope my eyes not playing trick on me, after such a full lunch

Ammonia test reading: 0ppm !!

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## rakurime

> Ask them to pump air and package a bigger bag for u to transfer tomorrow?


Don't think it will last till morning, i have to acclimate them in my shrimp tank after i get home, and transfer out to smaller container the next morning and bring to work.




> Ya can too. Remember to put small plant for them to hide. When transporting don't shake too much. Avoid direct heat.


the usual hornwort that come along with the shrimps lor lol...

it will be a challenge, as i need to climb overhead-bridge and walk quite a distance and up a slope to reach my office building hahaha

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## Urban Aquaria

Not sure if you are aware, yamato shrimps grow to 5-6cm size (even the smaller juvenile ones are already larger than adult RCS or CRS), so they will look way out of scale in small tanks.

It'll be better to stock RCS shrimps instead... more color too.  :Very Happy:

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## rakurime

> Not sure if you are aware, yamato shrimps grow to 5-6cm size (even the smaller juvenile ones are already larger than adult RCS or CRS), so they will look way out of scale in small tanks.
> 
> It'll be better to stock RCS shrimps instead... more color too.


oh ya, i always have problems looking for small yamato, and usually they come in "adult" sizes, RCS is an good idea  :Very Happy:

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## Dscheng

Seaview has small yamato. One bag 10pcs / 15 buck. I think i saw C328 too.. not sure the price through.

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## rakurime

the LFS near my workplace selling yamato at $4.50 each  :Sad:  and RCS $2.50 each

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## rakurime

Peek-a-boo

playing hide and seek with me when i was counting their strength, never fall-in properly lol

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## fireblade

where is your office located? yamato at $4.50!!

your shrimps will survive in a container for days... I've my CRS in a tau huay container for a few days before pouring them in my tank without any problem. of course for that few days the lid must be open lar.. when transport, close it and move on.. no worries at all

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## Dscheng

Wa.. CRS in a tau huay container for a few days? U store inside the fridge ar?

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## fireblade

wanted to bring to my office but left it in car, so wife bring to her office.. then few days later bring back to me. not an issue...
they are more hardy then you can imagine  :Smile:

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## rakurime

maybe i'm not so adventurous afterall, i would probably be getting the shrimps at c328 just one night before i transport them to this desktop mini tank, need to acclimate them too, bringing a short length of air-line tube and control valve for the dripping method. Oh well i'm bringing more and more tools and aquarium stuffs to work lol

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## fireblade

I just let the shrimp be used to the temperature and scoop them into my tank.. :P

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## Dscheng

in fact i feel that CRS is like more hardy than RCS !! I encountered more death of my RCS than CRS ! Not sure why too..

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## rakurime

"night mode"

what a relaxation sight, plus the water splashing sound produce by the spray bar~

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