Taybird's 10Gal Planted Tank

[Taybird]

Hey all,

I thought Id start a little journal to chronicle my (mis)adventures in planted tanks. What this actually means, is that I'm not allowed anymore fish (fully stocked) so I'm going to learn more about plants.

here is what I started with, and got roasted on another forum for it being 'way too small for ANY fish'.


Pitiful, isn't it?

I put some plants in it, which helped it look better, but took more space away from the fish (a female betta, and a snail)


I had a misadventure with the filter in this little tank! Because the tank is small, and my fish was a baby, she'd get blown around by the filter current. After much looking around on the forums for solutions, I decided to put a piece of J-cloth over the outflow to kill the current. APPARENTLY, what this does is make the water back up the air intake tube.... and out of the tube... directly onto the floor.. behind my desk... where I keep the powerbar that holds all the fish/computer power. It took 4 or 5 days to dry out the carpet in my office, but only about 30 seconds to pitch the filter into the trash can.

...continued...

 

[Truck]

That's a neat little tank, providing it is ten gallons and not ten litres it will be fine for things like endlers, dwarf cories, small tetras and barbs.

 

[Taybird]

.....

So for Christmas (which came early) I arrived with this:


This is the tank I am working with now, it's a 10 gallon set-up with a whisper HOB filter, and ..a... tube light... that came with the tank. (My Husband assured me that the sales guy assured him it would be great for plants. I'll buy that for now.)

So, since we're in the planted tank journal forum, I'll mention that I've got a baby amazon sword plant that ended up doing a bit of melting and a lot of growing. Once it reached the waterline, I gave it away to someone with a taller tank.

I've also got a Hygrophila Corimbosa, which you'll notice is still bunched up. Yes, I've sinced figured out that you're supposed to separate them

I was using no ferts, no nutritous root tabs or anything. I cycled with the Betta and 3 Cherry Barbs.

Truck, I think that tank is less than 6 litres. It really IS no good for anything!

 

[Taybird]

So by the end of December the tank was cycled (more or less), and I started in on the plants:


Hornwort is doing its very best at world domination, and I've managed to separate the Hygro, which sprang to life once it had room to breathe. The sword is starting to do better. At this point I am still not using ferts.

Oh yes, urn is courtesy of Wal*mart.

 

[Taybird]

So, for reference, here's Betty the Betta from January. She's really pretty, and totally the Matriarch of the tank. She's not aggressive, but all fish defer to her.

 

[Taybird]

So here's the full tank shot from mid January. I've diteched the sword plant by now, and you can see the Hygro really flourishing. I'm using Kent Botanica Broad range vitamin and mineral supplement at this time, 4 drops a day, and they seem to love it! Also, note that Hornwort is continuing its vie for tank domination. I should also mention i've got a heater, and a lot of natural light as well as a 12hr photo period. (i know.. too long...)

Stocking here now includes
Betta female
3 Cherry Barbs
4 Ember Tetras
1 Pristella Tetra
1 White Cloud Mountain Minnow




Must fetch husbad. Will post more later tonight.
(also, are there any other Canadians out there?)

 

[Biulu]

Great that you are journalling this tank! Maybe in the long run you will like to use some smaller crypts on this size of tank so you don't need to trim the plants very often. For now, it looks though as if your plants are flourishing.

 

[lljdma06]

(also, are there any other Canadians out there?)

I believe, if I am reading the journal below correctly, that Channti is Canadian.

First Planted Tank

The tank has come a long way. You've got some good growth there.

llj

 

[Biulu]

(also, are there any other Canadians out there?)

I am not Canadian but spent a lot of time a year (several months) in Montreal, and might become a resident from next year onward

 

[Taybird]

Meant to get back here sooner, thanks for your patience!

This is my little tank mid-April this year.



Grow Hygro Grow! Notice that i've ditched the hornwort completley. I forgot to mention the addition of a Mystery Snail in December

I added two little ghost shrimp in April. One of them was berried, but as of yesterday (May 8) she's not carrying the eggs anymore....and I just did a gravel vaccume.... *facepalm*

April was my BGA month. This lovely slime started on the leaves of my plants and on the urn ornament, and my best guess at how to deal with it was to just srape it off, change th water (sucking up the floating algae), repeat as necessary. Not successful.


Biulu, I love Montreal! I'm a solid 8 hour drive/train away, but it's such a culturally rich city, with a very interesting history! You're lucky to have been there! (IMHO)

 

[Taybird]

So since we're on a candian kick, I'll explain again that the tank was a Christmas gift from my husband, and thus the red white and blue gravel. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but it did the trick. After the BGA took over, I realized it was in the gravel too. Not really knowing what else to do, I hauled most of the gravel out, and replaced it with a more natural looking colour.



I realized that because my plants rely on the crap (literally!) in the gravel to survive, I had to leave *some* gunk/substrate to keep the biological system going. So there's maybe a cup or two of the coloured gravel under the natural stuff. Also, I only did a 50% water change when i flipped the stones, and the water was quite gross, so hopefully I left enough good bacteria in the tank to avoid total disaster.

I also bought a chunk of Mopani wood. My plan was to get some moss/fern/anubias to grow on it, but I had a helluva time finding interesting plants nearby. Lots of good suppliers in the USA, but they want an arm and a leg and a firstborn child to ship it over the border in to Canada.

 

[PDSimon]

Looks nice Much more natural with the new gravel

 

[Biulu]

I also bought a chunk of Mopani wood. My plan was to get some moss/fern/anubias to grow on it, but I had a helluva time finding interesting plants nearby. Lots of good suppliers in the USA, but they want an arm and a leg and a firstborn child to ship it over the border in to Canada.

I know exactly what you mean; they don't want to ship it over their southern border (Mexico) as well... On the other hand, it has its advantages too, otherwise I would now be paying my credit card due all the purchases I would have made on aquabid

Yes, Montreal is lovely, with lots of festivals going on during the year. I just went to see the new show of the Cirque du Soleil (Totem) last week. You know that all their shows start off in Montreal...