# Just set up a 10 gallon w/pics to follow



## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

After many fail attempts of trying to do a moss tank I decided to try something different. I bought a 10 gallon aquarium and decided to try low tech. Heres my set up so far with pics to come. I'm just waiting for the water to clear up a bit.

10 gallon aquarium with a 15 watt strip light. I'm gonna pick up a 6500k bulb today. Specificaly a Life 2 glo bulb.

Penguin 150 hob filter w/ bio wheel. Flourite for a substrate.

I bought a bunch of plants they were all potted. I spent $40 on just plants. I bought 2 bronze wendtii, 2 red wendtii, 1 cryp. lutea, 1 anubias nana, 1 hyrophilia kompact.

The Hygro was listed as medium light so I don't know if it will make it in my set up. The guy at the pet shop said it might and it was in a low light set up so I figured I'd give it a try.

After removing all the plants from thier pots there is a lot of stuff floating around in my tank. I'm hoping the filter catches most of it and I'll clean it in the morning.

When removing the plants from thier pots how much of the pot substrate should I remove? I tried to get most of it but some I couldn't get to without tearing the roots so I left some. Is it ok to do this?


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## MikeP_123 (Aug 31, 2008)

> When removing the plants from thier pots how much of the pot substrate should I remove? I tried to get most of it but some I couldn't get to without tearing the roots so I left some. Is it ok to do this?


If the plants were grown in it, it probably works. So I would say Keep it.


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Well heres the tank so far. The water is realy cloudy and every time I touch anything inside the tank it stirs up a cloud. I rinsed the Flourite for over an hour and it's still a mess. I'm thinking about switching to sand. I have some ADA nile sand. Would the plants be ok in that or should I get some eco complete?

Also in my penguin filter it has carbon in the cartage should I use it with the carbon in it?


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## PROLINKer (Sep 30, 2008)

Nice start, di you cycle the water before you put in the plants?


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Cool, sounds like you've got a great beginning here! Those plants look healthy too, so that is also a great start  You should look on the swap n Shop here for more plants, you'll get a lot more plants for a lot less $$  

I don't know much about the substrate you're using or the sand, but my plants grow great in eco-complete in my 30. The plants grow great in my 20 and 5 with regualr gravel though too, so who knows! :tongue: but from what I hear the flourite will calm down with teh clouding soon enough so you may want to wait it out since you've already laid it out and the plants are planted. But that's your call and I'm sure someone else will chime in on the matter 



PROLINKer said:


> Nice start, di you cycle the water before you put in the plants?


you don't need to cycle a tank before adding plants, in fact, adding plants first usually really helps to speed up the cycle :thumbsup:


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Thx for the coments

Yeah I didn't cycle it first. The plants are healthy for the most part but a couple of them have holes in the leaves. The one small Cryp. Lutea is wilting a bit but I'm hoping it might come back. I have some cool drift wood I'd like to add to the hard scape but I'm gonna wait and see what happens to the plants first.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Crypts have a tendency for their leaves to "melt" (they wilt and die) when they are moved into a new environment, but they'll usually bounce back pretty quickly (it's a good idea to remove the dying leave when it's obvious they won't bounce back) Make sure the rhizomes (the brownish parts that the roots grow out of) on the Anubias and crypts are very close to or a bit above the substrate, that part need to see the light too. Personally, I'd go ahead and put the driftwood in and get everything arranged how you want it as soon as possible, a lot of the plants might drop leaves while they're adjusting to new parameters, but then they should bounce back, so they'll adjust better if you set it up how you want it and then leave it, instead of waiting to see if they do ok and then moving them again....but that just me  Either way it all sounds good and like you are on the right track!


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Thx for the advice. I've decided to let the tank be for a while. I turned the lights on for minute to check on everything and the water is clearing up. The Crypt that looked to be melting has bounced back except for one leaf that I'm gonna remove. My filter has trapped a bunch of debri that was floating around and I'm gonna clean that out too. 

I have my lights set for 8 hours a day is this enough?

I'm aslo gonna get a Oto catfish in a day or two. I'm just waiting for the aqaurium to stablize a bit. I also bought a test kit to check my water peramiters.

Aslo how often and how much should I do water changes?

I'll post more pics as time goes on.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

You'll want to be testing your water at least daily while it's cycling, and that will tell you how much water to change and when to change it (basically if the ammonia and or nitrIte are high, do a water change) In order to get the tank cycled though, as you may know, you need an ammonia source. I would not put Otos in the tank first, they're VERY sensitive to ammonia and nitrIte and generally unstable parameters, I'd wait and get them once you've got everything where you want it and the parameters are stable, I'd also get more than one as they are actually a fish that likes to school, generally speaking the seem to do better and live longer if they're not alone. I would either do a fishless cycle, or pick up some fast growing stem plants to help absorb ammonia and try for a silent cycle with fish. If you try a silent cycle though you need to kep a very close eye on parameters and if ammonia or nitrIte go above like .5 you'll need to do a 25-50% water change ASAP. Did you seed the tank with established filter media or substrate or mulm from an established tank? This will definitely help jump start the cycle and goes a looonnng way toward successfully silent cycling. Adding in your livestock slowly is the other key to silent cycling if you want to get fish in right away. The plants will have some beneficial bacteria on them as well, so that should help too. 

Info on silent cycling: 
http://www.rexgrigg.com/cycle.htm

Also doing a quick "search" on this forum will find you some good info on silent cycling.


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Yeah it's been 48 hours since set up and I tested the water and there is 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. I used seachems biological starter to kick things off. I added a few drops to the biowheel. 

I think I'm gonna go pick up some Danio's soon.

In a low tech set up like mine how densly can I plant it?

I'm also going to order some Yamato Green fertalizer to use sparingly down the road.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

You can plant pretty densely, the more the better as long as there's enough nutrients! Stem plants that grow fast are key to helping with the cycle though! And adding stuff to kick start the cycle is good, but the beneficial bacteria need an ammonia source to feed on. So getting fish in there soon is a good plan if you're aiming for a silent cycle


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

I just picked up 3 Danio's to help with ammonia.

Heres an updated shot I took before cleaning the filter and adding fish.

This isnt my final scape but I'm gonna let the plants ajust and fill in for a few months then rescape. I have some cool drift wood I want to add down the road and I want to get more anubias nana's. I like this plant alot.


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

I have a question for anyone out there. I'm gonna dose with ferts the tank has only been up and running for 5 days. How long should I wait to start dosing?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

All you have is Crypts and Anubias in a low tech setup? Personally, I'd put some fert tabs in there and wouldn't dose the water column at all until/unless you add some stems.


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## MistyRiver (Oct 7, 2008)

Great looking start! I'm excited to see where this tank goes.
Did you get your light at your LFS? I looked at the petco near my house for that particular bulb (they use to sell it), but they did not carry it... I was wondering if they still made it and what the price range is on it?

Do you plan on doing CO2 in this tank? 

I'm liking the looks of it, especially the Anubias.

Happy planting!


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Ok Thx lauraleellbp I'm gonna get some tabs today.

Thx for the complament Mysty. I'm going no co2 on this tank I want too keep it as low tech as possible. I did some rearanging since the pic and it looks even better. I have some wood I want to add and I'm going to get more anubias and a java fern today. Only bad thing is the Flourite everytime I put my hand in the tank it stirs a cloud and takes 2 days to clear up. I'll add some more pics in a few days.

Yeah the bulb is a life glo 2 by Hagen. Yeah it was kinda pricey I paid $16. I got it at Petsmart.


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Heres an updated shot I rescaped yesterday.


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## queensalmon (Oct 15, 2008)

So what is your new substrate? It's very bright, almost too clean looking. Did you bury the florite or remove it altogether?

Queensalmon


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## chally567 (Aug 10, 2008)

dang sweet tank


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Thx

I removed 1/2 of the Flourite and put ADA Nile sand on top of it. The wood is Swahalla root wood from Africa.

The sand looks realy bright in the Pic but my camera takes bad pics it's just light reflecting off of it. It looks realy natural in the tank. 

Also the sand is helping to keep the flourite cloud away.


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## queensalmon (Oct 15, 2008)

Great! Sounds like a win - win for this tank! Best of luck.

queensalmon


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## discuscardscorys (Jul 29, 2008)

very nice tank, especially the wood
do you have any plans for the foreground?


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Thx for the complements.

Eventualy I'll add something to the foreground but I ran out of funds for now. I'd also like to add some moss to the wood and get some threadfin rainbow fish or furcata rainbows.


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## Oscar17 (Dec 7, 2007)

wantsome said:


> When removing the plants from thier pots how much of the pot substrate should I remove? I tried to get most of it but some I couldn't get to without tearing the roots so I left some. Is it ok to do this?


If what your talking about is the rock wool, I'd try to get as much as possible off. It tends to look nasty later on if it should come up. Rinse the plants in a bucket of water and use something like a chop stick to carefully poke at it.


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Ok I've got a problem the tank has been up and running for close to a month. No major algae outbreaks yet but the leaves on my Anubias minima are turning yellow around the edges, tips, and theres holes in the leaves. 

Is this some kind of deficincy? Should I start dosing ferts? If so what kind?


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## mizu-chan (May 13, 2008)

Love that piece of DW. Nice tank. :thumbsup:


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