# 10 gallon rimless LED tank.



## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

I am hoping to use this thread as a sort of breeding journal for my daughters progress, but first let me introduce the tank!

I started this project a few weeks ago for my 11 year old daughter. I wanted to start a tank for her that she could learn from and care for and *hopefully* do some easy breeding in.

The easiest choice for her small bedroom was a 10 gallon. So we hit walmart, picked up a $13 10 gallon and I spent 3 hours taking the rim off while she played the sims 2 and "supervised".

Then we looked at fish online for about 6 hours. Her choice was CPDs. So we did our research and decided that a moss carpet would be our best bet for a good fry survival rate. 

Then I decided to try and get that cool "shimmer" look by using LED lights. I would like to take this opportunity to thank IWANNAGOFAST because he pointed me to a LED fixture that produces the BEST shimmer effect I have ever seen!!! It is so awesome! 

I used green plastic needlepoint canvas to sew the x-mass moss to.

I bought some fresh, bark on, manzanita twigs for this tank and I still need to figure out how to make safe. (I just stuck them in the tank and stuck petites on them for the pics.)

Tank Specs-
10 gallon rimless tank
10 watt LED floodlight mounted with PCV 6500k
miracle grow organic soil topped with play sand
Penguin 170 filter
probably DIY co2, we'll see
a heater a need to buy still
manzanita

Flora-
Vallisneria americana
anubias nana
anubias nana petite
x-mass moss
amazon frogbit
pennywort

Fauna- We dont have these yet!
6 CPDs
6 shrimp, most likely OEBTs

Here is how the tank looks today-




































I really hope the moss carpet fills in well!!! I am HATING how it looks now! LOL!

Please tell us what you think!!!
WL


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

WOW!! what a lucky kid!! I wish my parent would have made a cool tank like this for me! I got a fish from the carnival and some rocks from the back yard. Once the moss fills in it will be awesome. This is a lesson in patience as well  Good luck to you two on this tank and learning to breed CPDs!!!


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

chad320 said:


> WOW!! what a lucky kid!! I wish my parent would have made a cool tank like this for me! I got a fish from the carnival and some rocks from the back yard. Once the moss fills in it will be awesome. This is a lesson in patience as well  Good luck to you two on this tank and learning to breed CPDs!!!


Thanks Chad! I have always set up the kid's tanks as natural as possible. I think it helps them to learn about the fish, doing research on their habitat etc. Its pretty hard to talk them out of hot purple gravel though... the trick is to set it up when theyre not home! Then they love how it looks when youre done! LOL!

Thanks for the luck!


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

Oh yeah... um the lewd looking piece of art behind the tank is actually a Marilyn Monroe advertisement for Chanel perfume. I swear its age appropriate! LOL!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

Hey! No need to thank me haha I just like to spread my love of LEDs

The CPDs will hunt your OEBTs for sure though, esp. the babies so maybe go with a cheaper shrimp.

The spread on that LED light is actually pretty good, I thought it'd be a lot more focused or you'd have to mount it like 2 feet off the tank. 

Lets see a video so we can see that shimmer!


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## karatekid14 (Jan 16, 2011)

That is so cool, I wish my parents did that for me! I did something very similar in a 5 gal, but I had to take the wood out because it molded.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

That is sooo pretty!

I so hope that Manzy doesn't rot on you! IDK, though, if it's all fresh wood, not dried?


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

karatekid14 said:


> That is so cool, I wish my parents did that for me! I did something very similar in a 5 gal, but I had to take the wood out because it molded.


Thanks! Speaking of the wood (I just popped it in for the pics) I'm trying to find a way to make it safe for the tank as we speak. 



lauraleellbp said:


> That is sooo pretty!
> 
> I so hope that Manzy doesn't rot on you! IDK, though, if it's all fresh wood, not dried?


Thanks! Yeah it's fresh wood not dried. I am hoping I can seal it somehow so I can keep the gorgeous bark. IDK either. I started a thread in the DIY section for help. I already took the wood back out though. 

Some thanks to you are in order as well since I took some inspiration from one of your gorgeous tanks for this layout. :fish:


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## mylittlefish (Oct 5, 2010)

WaterLogged said:


> I am hoping to use this thread as a sort of breeding journal for my daughters progress, but first let me introduce the tank!
> 
> I started this project a few weeks ago for my 11 year old daughter. I wanted to start a tank for her that she could learn from and care for and *hopefully* do some easy breeding in.
> 
> ...


Is that you behind the tank? LOL!

So, How many led's in that light?


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## Aubzilla (Mar 2, 2008)

Just 1- it's 10watts.
Like this- http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=684


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

mylittlefish said:


> Is that you behind the tank? LOL!
> 
> So, How many led's in that light?


 Oh yeah it's me alright! :icon_cool Hubba hubba! LOL! Actually it's Marilyn Monroe. My daughters room is decorated with in an old time movies theme with celebrities like MM, Audrey Hepburn and James Dean.

I have no idea how many LEDs. Here is a link to the light- http://www.ledwholesalers.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=684


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> The CPDs will hunt your OEBTs for sure though, esp. the babies so maybe go with a cheaper shrimp.


Agreed. Try RCS instead.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

IWANNAGOFAST said:


> The CPDs will hunt your OEBTs for sure though, esp. the babies so maybe go with a cheaper shrimp.





Geniusdudekiran said:


> Agreed. Try RCS instead.


Thanks guys! I was actually more worried about the shrimp eating the fish! Whoops! I'll go with rcs!


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## Chaos_Being (May 18, 2010)

That's so much nicer than the first tank I remember having (also a 10 gallon, but with el awesomeo plastic plants. Oddly, it was also a breeder tank, with fancy guppies.) That moss is going to look incredible once it fills in


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

WaterLogged said:


> Thanks guys! I was actually more worried about the shrimp eating the fish! Whoops! I'll go with rcs!


Cool. They are a cheaper and easier to keep alternative. Oh and please comment on the tank in my sig PLEASE??? How does everyone else get so many views on their journals?


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

awesome!i love the tank. how much did the light cost after shipping?


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

orchidman said:


> awesome!i love the tank. how much did the light cost after shipping?


Thanks! The light was $41 and change with shipping.


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

I've been boiling the wood and baking it alternately. Sadly there is no saving the gorgeous red bark. It started peeling off in long strips last night. I'm going to go check out the silk flower dept at a few craft stores tonight to see if I can find a plastic branchy type alternative until this wood is ready.

I ordered the fish and shrimp!!! YAY!

I went with 6 CPDs and 10 caridina babaulti. They will be here Saturday! SO EXCITED!!!


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## WaterLogged (Feb 2, 2011)

Update!

The fish and shrimp came in on last Saturday. The CPDs are eating like pigs and are doing very well. I have been feeding them bbs and Omega One crushed flake. MsJ sent me 8 CPDs instead of 6! Woot!

I also got 10 C. Babaulti and 3 zebra nerites. I moved over my olive nerites from my other tank as well. 

Yesterday I observed the first males displaying at each other. Very cool to watch! 

I have never seen these in person before so I can't tell their age based on their size because I have nothing to compare it to. I assume they have some growing to do before they are mature enough to breed. I may be wrong though because there are a few with very fat bellies and the males are colored up super intensely! 

Hopefully they are still too young because my moss carpet needs to GROW IN before there will be any hope of fry survival. 

Speaking of my moss it is doing awesome. It has turned the most vibrant emerald green and there are a million little bright green new growth shoots everywhere. 

The Valls and Anubias are doing excellent in this tank. The valls are popping up lots of new plantlets on runners. I have been rotating out my A Nanas every few days from my 29 gallon algae farm to feed the snails. LOL. I also placed a tiger lotus in this tank a few days ago. I'm trying to learn how to keep it short...successfully. 

The Babaulti are just ok. I mean they are great looking specimens but I dont really like them very much. Pretty borring. Just a personal preference. I am going to get some CRS soon I think. I prefer CBS but the child has spoken! "Peppermint candy shrimp" it is!

I still don't have the drift wood in the tank. :icon_frow I've been boiling and soaking and baking the crap out of it and I am pretty terrified to put it in the tank nomatter what I do to it after the advice I got about it in the diy forum...

I did buy some incredibly realistic and awesome looking fake branches at Michaels that are meant for flower arranging. These took about 1 hour to turn the tank the color of 2% milk. WHOOPS! Luckily the fish werent here yet and a few 100% water changes fixed me right up. LOL! I also stole the filter off my 29 gallon after this ordeal just to be safe.

I will be testing the drift wood out soon in a 5 gallon bucket with sacrificial minnows from the creek behind my house before I put it in the tank.

Here are a few pics of the CPDs, sorry they are so terrible! The only way I could get a pic was with flash which bleached their colors so I then had to darken the pics. I just used the "shadow" tool on picasa 2 to darken them a bit. The shadow tool also seems to sharpen the heck out of the pics though. I need to practice taking better pics of them!


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## IWANNAGOFAST (Jan 14, 2008)

oh wow those are pretty nice! any updates?


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## Gig'em (Apr 8, 2010)

I'm looking to put LEDs over my 10 gallon too, does your 10w light create much heat? It looks like it produces strong light from your pictures, are you still having good plant growth with it?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

WaterLogged said:


> probably DIY co2, we'll see
> 
> a heater a need to buy still


Great start!! 

I don't think it would be necessary to inject Co2 with the plants you have. Especially if you have lights on 4hr 2x with a siesta of 3hrs. I have found that this helps keep algae under control.

I think Rotala rotundifolia would grow nicely in there and help absorb out put from fauna.

You may not need a heater. Keep an eye on the temp and see if the temp is close to house temp.


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## orchidman (Dec 15, 2010)

additional co2 is helpful, no matter what plants or lighting you have. i'd say go ahead and try diy co2, its really not hard or expensive.


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## soup_nazi (Jul 15, 2009)

Wow :thumbsup: nice tank. If you ever breed those i will surely be interested.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

WaterLogged said:


> I decided to try and get that cool "shimmer" look by using LED lights. Got a10 watt LED floodlight mounted with PCV 6500k


Did you also buy a driver or just splice it into a 3 prong extension cord?


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Hilde that light is meant as a replacement for halogen flood lights. Just splice it to a grounded cord and plug into a timer.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Can we get a update on how you're getting on with those LED's?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

WaterLogged said:


> The fish and shrimp came in on last Saturday. The CPDs are eating like pigs and are doing very well.


I have some CPDs. I was thinking of breeding them and selling them AquaBid but fearful of shipping them. For seller told me that they didn't do so good shipping. Where did yours come from and how were they shipped?


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## TwoStrokeKing (Mar 24, 2011)

Nice i like the LED


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Got the same LED light. I am having a hard time finding something to splice the wires together that will keep it water proof. What did you use?


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Update, please!! 

I have the same light over my 29 gallon. Just nailed to the wall above it. I lights up the room 6 feet forward. Does it do the same over your tank?

See you haven't been on the site since April 2011. What's up?


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