10 Gallon Pentagon Corner Tank

[FiSh123FiSh]

Hi all! Thanks for reading my journal.... Any ideas or advice is much welcome, enjoy

New tank now, this time in the kitchen tucked away in the corner. It was an old tank that I first started fish keeping in 9 years ago. It had goldfish in and then stick insects and then minows from the River Thames. I am hoping to only have a small biolode with a pair of Rams and various shrimp and 3 Panda/bandit Corydoras. At the moment my stats are:
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
pH - 7

So it's looking pretty good so far! I have a small filter, heater running at the moment but off to get a light which I will have to mount in the top like a desk light. I am hoping I will have enough light to get good plant growth.

The next hardware piece I am contemplating is for Co2. Will I need this?

I am going for a focal point of large bog wood with dwarf hair grass in the foreground whist some other plant in the sides and back of the bogwood.
What does everyone think?? Pics will be up soon of the bare tank...

Thanks

Tom.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Heres is my tank looking at it directly.

 

[lljdma06]

Heres is my tank looking at it directly.

Hello and welcome to Planted!

To get you started, why don't you have a read of PARC (Planted Aquariums Resource Centre). It has loads of information for beginners. Sometimes, it can read a little complex, but if you ask direct questions on your journal thread, you'll get an answer from one of us.

The tank has a neat little shape to it. I'll tell you now, aim for 10x turnover in your filtration. In other words, aim to circulate about 10x your tank's volume in an hour. So, roughly 100g in your case per hour. Many planted tank ills are not caused by a lack of light, but by fluctuations in ammonia, CO2 levels, and a lack of good circulation.

llj

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Thankyou, Il be sure to have a read of it. I ve just worked out that the filtration is pretty good and doing just over the turnover you suggested. There will not be that many fish in there just the pair of rams which will create the biolode. I ve decided agains the corys and I think I m going to stick with a couple of shirimp for extra entertainment and a little algae control.

So do you think a co2 'maker' is neccisary? If so what sort of type of dosing would you reccomend.... My knowledge isn't so good on co2 as I ve never used it as an aid to plant growth.

Thanks for your reply,

Tom.

 

[Biulu]

Rams are lovely, so are shrimp, but why don't you put something in the mid/upper level? You can put some white cloud mountain minnows or some neon tetras.

 

[lljdma06]

Rams are lovely, so are shrimp, but why don't you put something in the mid/upper level? You can put some white cloud mountain minnows or some neon tetras.

IMO, white clouds and/or neons will throw off the scale of the tank. It is not an issue of overstocking to me, but an issue of scale. Many here know that I am a serious over-stocker! They get too large and the tank has an unusual shape. These fish "look" better with a longer tank, at least 2ft. If you want to go tetra, think significantly smaller, Ember tetras are a good choice. If you are thinking cyprinid (white clouds are one), think Boraras species if you can find them or the new pearl danio. The smaller fish will make your tank look absolutely huge. Keep the overall length of the schooling fish to about 1" or less, especially if the tank is 10g or less.

Of course, keep what you want and what makes you happy, but for me, establishing scale and perspective are large parts of setting up a successful planted tank. Too many times, a great scape is ruined by the wrong fish choices.

The turnover in filtration is not for the bioload alone. Planted tank people, as I said above, can often get away with some serious over-stocking and maintain very healthy systems. The turnover is for overall water circulation to adaquately distribute nutrients and CO2 throughout the tank.

I would need to know the wattage of the bulb to determine whether or not CO2 would be an option for you. CO2 injection never, ever hurts, especially if you keep the levels stable. Your tank is quite small, you will not have to break the bank to get stable, high CO2 levels. My system was maybe $30 maximum, with the dropchecker and diffusor (both glass). I've used fermentation-based CO2 injection with great success.

Read this article in PARC

Why we should not Fishless cycle Planted Tanks

The article above is kind of important and addresses some of the stocking issues and cycling. When you setup a planted tank and start right off seeing to the needs of the plants, you will not need to cycle your tank.

llj

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Oh okay, if I were to pick a fish species I would go with the neons or a different variety of tetra possibly - black skirt.

I should be getting the light tomorrow once I come back from looking at cars as it was recently my 17th birthday

Il keep you all updated and il take a read of those links.

Thanks for the advice so far its been very helpful

Tom.