Hyr
Fish Fanatic
Hi, I thought I might start an aquarium journal here. Yes, I know, this isn't necessarily an aquascaping forum, but, this forum has the most kind, helpful, wholehearted people, and I want to share with them something that they helped me work so hard on. This is my first aquarium over 10gal too, and my second aquarium with plants. Yes, I did go a bit over the top!
I live in Boise, Idaho, and we currently have only two LFS's; both are saltwater too! That being said, I purchased basically everything online, except the tank. I believe I got it for something like $50-60. As for being rimless, I couldn't care less for it. I'm going to be going with floating plants, so the top is already going to be kind of ugly (in my humble opinion), although I have seen people pull it off.
Here's the 30 gallon tank I bought (36inx12inx16in):
Next, I decided to go with Power Sand Special S and ADA Amazonia Powder for the substrate.. Due to the size of my aquarium, I ended up needing 18L of ADA Amazonia, and the Power Sand Special S was just fine as I ended up not using it on many places in the aquarium.
I went with ADA Amazonia Powder because the small form of the substrate demonstrates scale and in turn, makes everything look a bit bigger than it already is. If I were to go back, I would most likely go with inert substrate with added nutrients, but, really, I think spending the extra money may help me get off to a good start.
This set me back about $200, as one, being in the us to get ADA products a bit pricey, and second, I ended up dumping it in the aquarium, and waking up the next morning finding out that my cat thought it was a litter box, as she had gone number one in it! (She's been banned from my room since, haha.)
For hardscape, I bought 30 pounds of Seiryu stone(received ~45lbs), and no wood. I originally wanted a iwagumi styled aquascape, but as @Byron pointed out, that limits my fish tremendously and can stress them out. Since then, I was trying to comprehend what to do. I kind of wanted to do a biotope, but, I had already bought $100 worth of rocks. I came to a compromise however; I decided I would try to loosely replicate the habitat of the fish I chose.
My apologies for not taking any pictures of the rocks, I would now, but they're currently sitting inside my tank!
For the filter, I decided to go with the Eheim Professional 4 250gph filter. It cycles the water a bit more than I need it to, but it was what was in stock. Haven't tried it out yet, so I can't say anything good or bad about it.
So, now that leads us to the fish I chose. I decided to go with:
And that leads on to my current hardscape, simulating a river bed. I will most likely add wood, but right now I have yet to hear back from multiple places to buy wood. I have decided that manzanita wood will probably look best, but I'm up for suggestions! Ignore the poor lighting situation--I had to borrow that from my ball pythons vivarium.
I have chosen the lighting system-- although it hasn't come, and that's using Dr. Kevin Novak's "BrightStik" idea inside of a pendent light. There will be 4 bulbs overall, 2 in each Double Mini Dome by ZooMed. There is 1600lumens per bulb, and it should be easily enough to grow plants.
A few extra things: I will not be dosing co2, as @Byron pointed out (again) co2 is not natural and can harm the fish. I will only dose co2 if it's below what can grow plants, even then, moderately. I will have floating plants to help the fish not be so stressed too. That's it!
I can't figure out what plants I necessarily want yet, open for suggestions! Thanks everyone. Please don't be too critical of me, it's my first time! Thanks!
I live in Boise, Idaho, and we currently have only two LFS's; both are saltwater too! That being said, I purchased basically everything online, except the tank. I believe I got it for something like $50-60. As for being rimless, I couldn't care less for it. I'm going to be going with floating plants, so the top is already going to be kind of ugly (in my humble opinion), although I have seen people pull it off.
Here's the 30 gallon tank I bought (36inx12inx16in):
Next, I decided to go with Power Sand Special S and ADA Amazonia Powder for the substrate.. Due to the size of my aquarium, I ended up needing 18L of ADA Amazonia, and the Power Sand Special S was just fine as I ended up not using it on many places in the aquarium.
I went with ADA Amazonia Powder because the small form of the substrate demonstrates scale and in turn, makes everything look a bit bigger than it already is. If I were to go back, I would most likely go with inert substrate with added nutrients, but, really, I think spending the extra money may help me get off to a good start.
This set me back about $200, as one, being in the us to get ADA products a bit pricey, and second, I ended up dumping it in the aquarium, and waking up the next morning finding out that my cat thought it was a litter box, as she had gone number one in it! (She's been banned from my room since, haha.)
For hardscape, I bought 30 pounds of Seiryu stone(received ~45lbs), and no wood. I originally wanted a iwagumi styled aquascape, but as @Byron pointed out, that limits my fish tremendously and can stress them out. Since then, I was trying to comprehend what to do. I kind of wanted to do a biotope, but, I had already bought $100 worth of rocks. I came to a compromise however; I decided I would try to loosely replicate the habitat of the fish I chose.
My apologies for not taking any pictures of the rocks, I would now, but they're currently sitting inside my tank!
For the filter, I decided to go with the Eheim Professional 4 250gph filter. It cycles the water a bit more than I need it to, but it was what was in stock. Haven't tried it out yet, so I can't say anything good or bad about it.
So, now that leads us to the fish I chose. I decided to go with:
- 10x Dwarf Neon Rainbows (Melanotaenia praecox)
- 15x Espei Rasboras (Trigonostigma espei)
- 10x Shrimp (Have yet to choose which ones, leaning towards Amano or Crystal Reds)
And that leads on to my current hardscape, simulating a river bed. I will most likely add wood, but right now I have yet to hear back from multiple places to buy wood. I have decided that manzanita wood will probably look best, but I'm up for suggestions! Ignore the poor lighting situation--I had to borrow that from my ball pythons vivarium.
I have chosen the lighting system-- although it hasn't come, and that's using Dr. Kevin Novak's "BrightStik" idea inside of a pendent light. There will be 4 bulbs overall, 2 in each Double Mini Dome by ZooMed. There is 1600lumens per bulb, and it should be easily enough to grow plants.
A few extra things: I will not be dosing co2, as @Byron pointed out (again) co2 is not natural and can harm the fish. I will only dose co2 if it's below what can grow plants, even then, moderately. I will have floating plants to help the fish not be so stressed too. That's it!
I can't figure out what plants I necessarily want yet, open for suggestions! Thanks everyone. Please don't be too critical of me, it's my first time! Thanks!
Last edited:
