10 Gallon Aquascaping Project

[mdwheeler]

So i've decided to massively aquascape my tiny twenty inch 10 gallon. As of right now I have rotala magenta, rotala colorata, cabomba, hygro rosa, and vallis. Any other plant recommendations? What I really need is some kind of plant that will coat the bottom of the tank. I'll be using the rotala colorata to cover the powerhead and have two rocks surrounding a buschel of cabomba (kinda like a centerpiece). I'm thinking of ditching the rotala magenta. It grows fine but its not that attractive (in my opinion) or I might just mix it in with the rotala colorata. Tomorrow i'm going to look for some small wood to place in my tank at a small local lake (and yes I know to boil and scrub it). My substrate is eco complete at about 2 inches. I'm thinking of getting java moss to grow on the wood (unfortunately i'll probably have to order it online....no one has it here).

As of right now I have co2 running through a powerhead with a sponge attachent and will be recieving a Current USA Nova Extreme 24 inch 48 watt fluorescent light with one 24 watt 10000k T5 and one 24 watt 6700k plant growth bulb. My main question would be is it possible to eventually ditch my power filter (aqueon 10) and simply leave the powerhead and small heater in it? I've noticed that when I look at aquascaping photos for small tanks none of them seem to have any filters attached to them (once they're well established, of course).

If someone could tell me how i'll put some pictures of what my tank looks like now. I don't like the file attachment thing because it makes the photos limited in size.

 

[aaronnorth]

As of right now I have co2 running through a powerhead with a sponge attachent and will be recieving a Current USA Nova Extreme 24 inch 48 watt fluorescent light with one 24 watt 10000k T5 and one 24 watt 6700k plant growth bulb. My main question would be is it possible to eventually ditch my power filter (aqueon 10) and simply leave the powerhead and small heater in it? I've noticed that when I look at aquascaping photos for small tanks none of them seem to have any filters attached to them (once they're well established, of course).

That is because they take them out for the photoshoot
Or, they use glassware which is almost invisible on smost photos depending on the skill of the photgrapher.

Are you going to be having any fish in there?

 

[lljdma06]

If someone could tell me how i'll put some pictures of what my tank looks like now. I don't like the file attachment thing because it makes the photos limited in size.

Open an account at Photobucket.com. It's free. Upload your images. When the images are uploaded, and you hover your mouse over the image, several types of addresses will show up. Copy the one that says "Image code" or "IMG Code" and then past it onto your post. The image will appear when you post the image.

Dude, don't ditch the R. magenta. I'll take it if it's healthy. You're in Arkansas, I'm in FL. PM me rather than bin it. Or put it up in Plant swap or the Classifieds.

 

[mdwheeler]

Open an account at Photobucket.com. It's free. Upload your images. When the images are uploaded, and you hover your mouse over the image, several types of addresses will show up. Copy the one that says "Image code" or "IMG Code" and then past it onto your post. The image will appear when you post the image.

Dude, don't ditch the R. magenta. I'll take it if it's healthy. You're in Arkansas, I'm in FL. PM me rather than bin it. Or put it up in Plant swap or the Classifieds.

Thankyou! This helped! I already had an account but lately I kinda like flickr a little more (beside the whole limited free upload crap)

This was taken about two weeks ago and my tank has changed a small bit since I'm rearranging it for my aquascape project.

Well the rotella magenta never really grew so great and its all kinda entangled with some kind of algea....I forgot what it was called but it's like a net all over the plant.

That is because they take them out for the photoshoot
Or, they use glassware which is almost invisible on smost photos depending on the skill of the photgrapher.

Are you going to be having any fish in there?

Yes I currently have two rasboras, one platy and four small catfish. I don't like the platy but I have to keep him because he was the only survivor out of five that bought several months ago when I didn't know a flip about a little subject called cycling.

 

[mdwheeler]

Heres my new official tank setup:

I placed four rocks in the tank and rearranged the plants. I about killed my plants because I didn't think it would take me as long to reorganize the tank and left them laying on a towel for maybe an hour. They shriveled up pretty bad but once I put them back in the tank and cranked up the co2 they perked back up. A stem of cabomba seems to have been damaged as a bunch of its leaves are broken and barely hanging on. I'm thinking about attaching a small amount of java moss to the 'driftwood' (more like oversized twig). Quite a significant rearrangement from my previous setup. Spilled a bunch of the eco complete on my carpet (thank god for vacuums!) during the transition. I bunched the rotala magenta with the rotala colorata. The wisteria was a big mess so I basically stuffed it in the dirt and hopefully it will start to root itself and spread out. When my light comes in i'll start dosing the plants with flourish excel and hopefully get my tank nice and full in about two months. The local aquarium store has it for $9.99 but hopefully I can find it cheaper somewhere else (or get them to match Dr. Fosters & Smiths for $5.99).

Plants:
Cabomba
Vallis
Hygro Rosa
Rotala Magenta
Rotala Colorata
Wisteria