# First Tank (15 Gallon)



## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

This is going to be a build and question thread. As this is my first tank, all advice is appreciated. I am going with a 15 gallon tank for my desk. I know larger tanks are easier, but but my requirements are 1 that it needs to stay within the weight limit of my desk and 2 it needs to be easily movable as I am currently renting. This tank will be low tech and I need to be able to be away from the tank for 7 day stretches.

So my goals are to have the following:

Fish:
1 Male Betta
6-10 Neon Tetra
1 Bristlenose Pleco
Possible some snails and shrimp

Plants (still deciding):
Foreground:

Mid (around trees): 
Right - Staurogyne Repens
Left - Water Wisteri

Background: 
Right - This will probably stay empty as it will be hard to maintain
Middle - Amazon Swords
Left - 

Trees:
Right tree - Christmas moss 
Left tree - Anubius nano midway up the main part / Anubius nano petite on the branchs

Floating: Frogbit (at least for the starting to keep algae under control)

Gear:
Aqueon 15 Gallon
Fluva 206
Cobalt Aquatics 100 watt heater
Finnex Planted+ 24/7 24" (didn't get first preorder unfortuantely)

Stretch:
Use my Raspberry Pi and possibly Arduino(s) as a controller
Potentially automated feeder for when I'm out of town
Redo the 24 hour function on the Planted+ to have a sunrise, 4 hour light cycle, all LEDs full brightness except white, 4 hours cycle, fade to moonlight

Progress/Photos:
Masking tank to plastidip background...Could find any paper so I uses targets lol


















The tank was too low on my desk, so I custom made a stand. I took 4 pieces of mdf (drilled the center 2 panels a bit to reduce weight) and screwed and glues them together. Next I took some fake leather from the fabric store and glued it to the mdf. Turned out pretty well.



















Fitted stuff in... The driftwood broke so I re-adhered with 20 gallons of silicon, so now it is never moving.









Starting to add substrate.




































Quick shot of the desk









Gluing the driftwood back...









After it set enough to tack, I continued with substrate.


















Shot with the other pick of driftwood in the tank.









Custom made an intake prefilter









Unfortunately when buying driftwood, my eyes were bigger than my tank. Ended up with an extra piece that looks awesome, but I can't use on this tank. Kind of looks like a dinosaur.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

So have a couple questions.

1) Where should the out on the canister filter be? (Under water, half and half, above water)
2) Should the out be facing the front of the tank to create a swirl effect of it just straight across good enough?

Here are some updates.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Finally coming together. Planted + 24/7 arrived last night, so I put a few plants in.


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## HolyAngel (Oct 18, 2010)

Coming along nicely! I love the footprint of the 15 gallon, I have a custom made acrylic one but it needs some fixing.

Anyways, I usually put the filter outtake in one of the back corners and have it facing the opposite corner to have the water kinda make a u-shape to get back to the intake. Having it under the water is usually no problem, you can have it half in/out if you want more aeration of the water but it'll obviously be louder.

My only thought on the plant selection is the amazon swords can eventually easily fill the entire tank, even just 1 will fill out the entire middle section front to back by itself. maybe some hygro pinnatifida or compakt, or crypts or something would work better over the swords, but up to you ^^ May turn out fine as is.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Here are a few more pics. Had the BN since the start and he is a beast. Was planning on waiting a few more weeks for the betta, but finally found one I really wanted. The flaring pic is a bit washed, but he is basically Black body with blue accents and red fins with a 1mm black edge.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

I'm guessing your beta is a ctxdt mix (crown tail x double tail) from the spiky rays of the dorsal and the split in the caudal fin (unless it ripped?). Snails and shrimp will be in competition for natural grazing microfoods with the pleco. Also shrimp are very sensitive to uncycled/non aged tanks (with plenty of natural food for them).. and its a roll of the dice if the betta will be mellow or hunt and eat the shrimp. As it stands now the tank does not have anywhere near en ugh hiding places/line of sight break up for shrimp, or a schooling fish (imo). Its best to have the tank very heavily planted or with a lot of large decor/hardscape to break up line of sight to reduce tensions between betta and other fish.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

AquaAurora said:


> I'm guessing your beta is a ctxdt mix (crown tail x double tail) from the spiky rays of the dorsal and the split in the caudal fin (unless it ripped?). Snails and shrimp will be in competition for natural grazing microfoods with the pleco. Also shrimp are very sensitive to uncycled/non aged tanks (with plenty of natural food for them).. and its a roll of the dice if the betta will be mellow or hunt and eat the shrimp. As it stands now the tank does not have anywhere near en ugh hiding places/line of sight break up for shrimp, or a schooling fish (imo). Its best to have the tank very heavily planted or with a lot of large decor/hardscape to break up line of sight to reduce tensions between betta and other fish.


 
Thanks. Snails are out. And since I just got the lights Friday, those were the plants I found locally. I have some more in the works pending some deals going down. Excited to have the light, just been waiting and waiting.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Got some plants and tank cycled in 2.5 weeks


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## big b (Jun 3, 2015)

You got your tank cycled in 2.5 weeks? I once got my tank cycled in just a few days , but then again I cheated and used a filter from an already cycled tank lol.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

big b said:


> You got your tank cycled in 2.5 weeks? I once got my tank cycled in just a few days , but then again I cheated and used a filter from an already cycled tank lol.


I wish I had something, but since this is my first tank its fresh media, substrate, everything.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

What kind of algae is this?


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## big b (Jun 3, 2015)

I am most likely wrong on this but I think that looks more like mold.


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## loach guy (Jun 2, 2014)

It happens with all of the driftwood I have ever used. It's not algae. It's not harmful. I just blow it off with a powerhead and let the filters get it. It doesn't come back.


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## JEFF9922 (May 8, 2013)

My drift wood did it for about 2 months got a oto he cleaned it all


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## Vancat2 (Jun 23, 2010)

normal for driftwood. fish may eat it


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

So I think I am going to modify my stocking to be:
1 Male Betta
6 Cardinal Tetra or 8 Ember Tetra
8 Celestial Pearl Danios (2 male 6 Female)
1 Bristlenose Pleco
4 Crystal Red shrimp (worth risking an expensive snack)

AqAdvisor shows this as fine for stocking. Any thoughts? Also, I have a lot of anubias nana petite and dwarf sag on the way, as well as a Narrow leaf Java Fern. Going to get a test kit today for water hardness, but my PH is 7.5. As a note, the tetras, danios, and shrimp will be introduced over the course of a month or few so I can test betta temperament. But as it is now, I can only get my betta to flare for a half second max (if that) to his reflection in a mirror before he goes back to his docile self.

Note: This will be a heavily planted tank except the middle, so it should be enough for the shrimp to hide. Also, I am concidering putting a Christmas moss wall on the right side hanging from the tree down. On the left side, I am trying to get some small driftwood branches/twigs to build a natural grid for an anubias wall.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Another question. Do bristlenose pleco collapse their tail when sucking on the glass? I stuck the rounded end of the planting tweezers in and he moved a bit and his tail expanded. However, when he is chomping at the glass, it is folded straight like it isn't there.

The white spot is the tip of his tail. Also, never buy tetra wafers. He wouldn't eat them. Put a Hikari wafer in by him and he started eating in 20 seconds.


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## StellaStars (May 15, 2015)

Sarlindescent said:


> Also, never buy tetra wafers. He wouldn't eat them. Put a Hikari wafer in by him and he started eating in 20 seconds.


My bn loves the Hikari wafers. And the shirmp love them too. It's adorable watching them share. 

My bn seems to keep his tail expanded most of the time, even when eating or sticking on the walls... but now I'll keep a closer eye on him and see if that changes.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

So I have the GIANT driftwood on the right side out of the tank atm to clean and add plants. I am considering leaving it out because the tank is much easier to handle. Thoughts? Would heavily plant that side.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

StellaStars said:


> My bn loves the Hikari wafers. And the shirmp love them too. It's adorable watching them share.
> 
> My bn seems to keep his tail expanded most of the time, even when eating or sticking on the walls... but now I'll keep a closer eye on him and see if that changes.



I think he was just hungry. His fins are up 80% of the time now as opposed to about 5% before.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Some new additions. Think I went a little heavy on the red and over planted a bit too much. Sorry about the light, just added the CPDs an hour or so ago and trying to ease them in. So far, the betta is still mellow. BTW CPDs suck to get a shot of.


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

Sarlindescent said:


> Another question. Do bristlenose pleco collapse their tail when sucking on the glass? I stuck the rounded end of the planting tweezers in and he moved a bit and his tail expanded. However, when he is chomping at the glass, it is folded straight like it isn't there.
> 
> The white spot is the tip of his tail. Also, never buy tetra wafers. He wouldn't eat them. Put a Hikari wafer in by him and he started eating in 20 seconds.


They spread their tail and dorsal rays to look big when threatened or defending turf. My leopard sailfin pleco would be defensive of his food and have all his fin rays stretched out when eating "keep away, MINE!" But birstlenose plecos are much more peaceful fish.

Also the driftwood fungus is normal with newly submerged wood, especially non aged wood (your piece does not look like it was dead and dried for years before going into the water). I believe its the sugars left in the wood causing it (might be remembering that part wrong though). The pleco may eat it.. but if you're impatient remove the plants from it, take it out and boil it in a large pot for several hours, rotate it so all ends get boiled. Once an hour dump and refill water (rotating wood at this time is ideal). After 3-5 hours take out of water and let cool completely before reattaching moss and putting back in tank. You can either put it in a bucket/pot of COLD water or let it dry (drying may effect bouancy if its not already attached to slate/rock).


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Here are some morning shots now that the lights are back on.


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Here is an update.

The mesh on the right wall is Christmas moss and the mesh rock on the right back is flame moss.


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