10 Gallon Planted Tank Plan

[hakova]

Hi all,

I am currently cycling a 10 gallon tank without fish and plants. I am at week 3 in cycling and will probably spend another 3-5 weeks until the tank completes cycling. I will plant 2 java ferns, 1 Anubias barteri v. nana, 10 Sagittaria Subulata and 4 pots of Hemianthus Callitrichoides afterwards. However, I will receive some star moss within next week from an online order, which I have to put in the tank before the cycling is complete. I will probably just let it float for a while and see what happens. I will also set up a CO2 system (yeast based) at the time of plantation. My substrate is 1.5 cm laterite at the bottom and 2-3 cm Eco-complete on top.

My main concern is having an algae problem before I even plant the tank. I have Nova Extreme 2xT5 24" (one 10,000 K, one FW plant spectrum tube), a total of 48 W for this tank. I opted for this medium-high light option because I wanted to develop a carpeting effect by Hemianthus Callitrichoides. Now, once the star moss comes in, how would you recommend me set up my light schedule? I am currently considering to start with 6 hours per day, then adjust accordingly depending on what I see. Does this 6 hours need to be continuous or interrupted or does it even not matter?

Once the cycling is completed, assuming that I have no or negligible algae problem at that time, would you recommend any change in the light schedule? Other than no growth, what are the signs of insufficient light especially for Hemianthus Callitrichoides? If I can only get it grow with a certain duration of light that also explodes algae growth, what would be the next thing to do, to optimize conditions for plants and minimize algae growth?

I also seem to have a very soft tap water (GH=20 ppm, KH=40 ppm, pH=7.6). Do you think this will become an issue for optimal plant growth? According to the the classical pH-KH table, my conditions will not be optimal.Is there a practical way to increase hardness, without affecting the pH? What would be the signs of problem for plants, if this becomes an issue; in other words what signs on plants should make me to attempt increasing water hardness? It seems to me that even if one uses potassium bicarbonate to increase the KH, it would still increase the pH, which would make getting the right concentration of CO2 in the tank still difficult. What am I missing here?

I am sorry for the explosion of questions, but I really need some guidance here to avoid some stupid mistakes due to inexperience and outgrow algae by plants.

Thanks in advance to all responders.

 

[Dave Spencer]

My main concern is having an algae problem before I even plant the tank. I have Nova Extreme 2xT5 24" (one 10,000 K, one FW plant spectrum tube), a total of 48 W for this tank. I opted for this medium-high light option because I wanted to develop a carpeting effect by Hemianthus Callitrichoides.

You will find good ferts and CO2 to be more important than light, within reason. A lot of people struggle with HC thinking it is a light factor when it is more likely to be CO2.

Now, once the star moss comes in, how would you recommend me set up my light schedule? I am currently considering to start with 6 hours per day, then adjust accordingly depending on what I see. Does this 6 hours need to be continuous or interrupted or does it even not matter?

Somewhere around six hours, and slowly building up over the next month or three sounds fair. I usually start my tanks at around four hours, with the CO2 sky high.

Once the cycling is completed, assuming that I have no or negligible algae problem at that time, would you recommend any change in the light schedule? Other than no growth, what are the signs of insufficient light especially for Hemianthus Callitrichoides? If I can only get it grow with a certain duration of light that also explodes algae growth, what would be the next thing to do, to optimize conditions for plants and minimize algae growth?

As above for the light and HC. Unfortunately, you have wasted your time cycling a tank that is going to be planted, IMO. Planted tanks should be started out from the outset with the plants in, controlled light as above, high CO2 and ferts to encourage maximum growth, and reduce the likelihood of algae. There is no real need to cycle planted tanks with CO2 injection. By encouraging good growth in the substrate too, you will be growing a healthy bacteria colony virtually from day 1, as the bacteria come with the plants and their roots.

I also seem to have a very soft tap water (GH=20 ppm, KH=40 ppm, pH=7.6). Do you think this will become an issue for optimal plant growth? According to the the classical pH-KH table, my conditions will not be optimal.Is there a practical way to increase hardness, without affecting the pH?

If you can find me a plant that isn`t happy in the parameters you quote, I wil be amazed. There are one or two exceptions, but all mainstream plants will be fine.

What would be the signs of problem for plants, if this becomes an issue; in other words what signs on plants should make me to attempt increasing water hardness? It seems to me that even if one uses potassium bicarbonate to increase the KH, it would still increase the pH, which would make getting the right concentration of CO2 in the tank still difficult. What am I missing here?

Whatever you do, as a planted tank keeper, NEVER allow yourself to get roped in to the whole adjusting KH, pH crash mythology spread around on this site. I can run tanks on virtually 0KH, with wood, ferts and CO2 all driving the pH down and never see this "crash". All my fish like a low pH (which obviously helps), and they never indicate anything to say the pH has "crashed".

You will hear some rubbish about the plants having some kind of effect to prevent the crash, but this isn`t true. Crashes don`t occur. What is the definition of a pH crash anyway? I know I can grow a bacteria colony from scratch at a pH of 6 or lower. Development of the colony may be slower than a fishless cycle, but a cycle certainly does happen in my tanks.

I am sorry for the explosion of questions, but I really need some guidance here to avoid some stupid mistakes due to inexperience and outgrow algae by plants.
Thanks in advance to all responders.

One other thing you shouldn`t get roped in to is the whole "plants outcompete algae for nutrients" statement. This is not true either. They are different entities occupying different niches in your tank. The reasons why a healthy plant suppresses algae growth has yet to be explained satisfactorily, but it is nothing to do with excess nutrients, as none of my tanks would work if this were the case.

Your light is OK and will be a non variable once you are established. Your fert regime will be a non variable too, as you will be adding the same amount each time. The big variable for you to target will be your CO2. Get this right and you will have no algae issues, and your HC will carpet just fine.

Dave.

Dave.

 

[hakova]

Thanks Dave for taking time to address my questions individually. I kind of realized that fishless cycling was not necessary when you had plants but it was kind of late, I was already at week 2.

...
Somewhere around six hours, and slowly building up over the next month or three sounds fair. I usually start my tanks at around four hours, with the CO2 sky high.
...

I can definitely imitate your schedule here, but what do you think is the maximum safe CO2 level when there is fish in the tank? And again, we are supposed to calculate the CO2 level via KH and pH, right? After all those weeks spent for cycling, I think I can afford a couple of more weeks to get the plants growing with sky high CO2 levels without fish, but I certainly miss the day that there will be some fish inside that tank . So, would you give plants a couple of weeks without fish too, or just put the fish in with plants and adjust the CO2 to the highest safe level? If you opt for the first one, than I guess one should continue adding ammonia right?

Sorry if these are rather stupid questions, but I really want to do this right.

 

[mdwheeler]

I can definitely imitate your schedule here, but what do you think is the maximum safe CO2 level when there is fish in the tank?

As long as your fish don't seem to be respirating heavily or acting strange I wouldn't worry about too much co2. Most people would say that the 'danger level' is 40 ppm, but having a level of about 30 or so is perfectly fine. I wouldn't worry a bit about it. I have my co2 cranked up to about 6-8 bubbles a second flowing through a powerhead. My plants are sprouting roots and leaves like crazy and my fish are perfectly fine.

 

[hakova]

... I have my co2 cranked up to about 6-8 bubbles a second flowing through a powerhead. My plants are sprouting roots and leaves like crazy and my fish are perfectly fine.

Thanks mdwheeler, I know this will sound really stupid now, but how can one adjust the bubble rate with a DIY kit? If you put an adjustment valve in the tubing, is it not going to cause a high pressure in the system, maybe causing leaks, etc? Or is there an easier way to do this that I am missing?

 

[Tu13es]

Hmm...you could put a T in the tubing with one end going into the tank and the other connected to a valve. I'm not sure if that'd let you control how fast bubbles enter the tank, but it'd let you open the valve and not have the system explode. I just build my DIY CO2 a few days ago so I'm new to this too. Just started my 10gal too!

 

[hakova]

Sounds like a workable idea to me Tu13es. Best of luck on your project. I hope one day we can show off with our tank pictures here .

 

[Dave Spencer]

The only viable way for us hobbyists to measure CO2 in our tanks is with a drop checker. Forget the KH/pH tables, they don`t work because they fail to take in to account all the other aspects of a tank that affect the pH besides the CO2. A drop checker measures CO2 in isolation.

What I meant by sky high CO2 was having it way beyond the yellow of the drop checker to absolutely maximize plant growth in the early stages, then bring it back to a workable level when the fish are introduced.

I didn`t realise you had DIY CO2, so levels of CO2 will generally be lower than if you were using pressurised. I very much doubt if there will be any point in you regulating the CO2, as you are unlikely to be able to produce enough to gas your fish. Unless, of course, you have several bottles connected.

Dave.

 

[Tu13es]

Sounds like a workable idea to me Tu13es. Best of luck on your project. I hope one day we can show off with our tank pictures here .

I already have pics in the Planted Aquarium Journals section.

 

[mdwheeler]

... I have my co2 cranked up to about 6-8 bubbles a second flowing through a powerhead. My plants are sprouting roots and leaves like crazy and my fish are perfectly fine.

Thanks mdwheeler, I know this will sound really stupid now, but how can one adjust the bubble rate with a DIY kit? If you put an adjustment valve in the tubing, is it not going to cause a high pressure in the system, maybe causing leaks, etc? Or is there an easier way to do this that I am missing?

I have three bottles of diy co2 all hooked up to a three way metal gang valve (ya now, three inlets, one outlet). I let the pressure build on the bottles overnight and this allowed me to have a controllable amount of co2. Since I have the bubbles rising into a powerhead intake i'm able to count the bubbles because you can hear them being sucked into the impeller (it's really not that loud...one night I thought it was a small clock ticking.... ). It might be scary knowing that there is a high amount of pressure in a bunch of two liters but its really not any different from when there filled with coke and you shake em up. They dont explode.

My valve looks like this, but with three valves instead of five (bought at local petsmart):
http/www.fish-fish-fish.com/images/catal...LVE_large-1.jpg

If you were to connect to a t valve you'd basically be wasting all the co2. There is quite a bit of pressure and you have to make sure not to open the gang valves quickly. ALSO there is a slight air leak (the valve was cheap, but it does give the bottles a little bit of relief, even though they still maintain a high level of pressure) but it leaks right back into my aquarium. In order to completely stop the co2 from entering the tank I simply have a second outlet that relieves what little pressure is entering the air tubing. My gang valve has an outlet on each side, but one of them had a screw (that came with it) screwed into it. I took this out and hooked a small air valve thingy to it (it came with my powerhead.....don't know what its called. It allows you to control how much air is being blown into the tank through the powerhead outlet......).

 

[hakova]

Sounds like a very good setup mdwheeler. Thanks for the detailed description. What size is your tank? Mine is 10 gallons, should I expect to use more than one DIY CO2 systems you think?

I just ordered a CO2 drop checker from ebay (Hong Kong). It should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

 

[hakova]

Star moss arrived. Such a tricky little plant! It was quite difficult to wrap it around the rock with a net, it crumbles like a fatty cookie. I hope it outgrows the net, right now it kinda disappeared under it.

I set up the CO2 system, gotta go to bed right now. By morning, I should hopefully see the bubbles. I will keep posting updates.

 

[mdwheeler]

Sounds like a very good setup mdwheeler. Thanks for the detailed description. What size is your tank? Mine is 10 gallons, should I expect to use more than one DIY CO2 systems you think?

I just ordered a CO2 drop checker from ebay (Hong Kong). It should arrive in 2-3 weeks.

I have a heavily planted ten gallon filled with Rotella, Vallis, Hygro Rosa, and some other plant (just bought it, literally an hour ago).

What do you mean by more than one co2 system? As in more than one yeast/water/sugar bottle? IF so then YES. Especially if you have a lot of plants.


I'm afraid i'm planted out ! I just bought this plant (begins with a 'c', stem plant, has fan like circular leaves) and the person at the store spoiled me with it! I wanted it to hide the powerhead/sponge filter....it sure did!!!!!

 

[hakova]

I have a heavily planted ten gallon filled with Rotella, Vallis, Hygro Rosa, and some other plant (just bought it, literally an hour ago).

Good for you! I think I was too worried about the possibility that the plants may overgrow the 10 gallon tank, I didn't buy many kinds I liked that may grow too much.

What do you mean by more than one co2 system? As in more than one yeast/water/sugar bottle? IF so then YES. Especially if you have a lot of plants.

Well I just started my first yeast/water/sugar bottle and I will not have a drop checker for a couple of weeks. I guess the star moss, which is the only plant I have right now, has to deal with it. I am thinking one bottle should be enough for just 50 cm[sup]2[/sup] of that.

I started the light cycle today as well, with 4 hours only. As I continue adding more plants next week, I will increase the duration to 6 hours.

Is it OK you think to continue adding ammonia to my tank with the plants in? I am getting elevated nitrate levels (right now 40 ppm) and my nitrite levels also are within chart, somewhere between 1-5 ppm depending on how much ammonia was added 12 hours prior to testing. Maximum ammonia I am adding is 50 drops, which brings the level to 5 ppm. I just don't want to lose my colony which took me 3 weeks to come to this point. Here is a link to my cycling diary.

 

[mdwheeler]

Is it OK you think to continue adding ammonia to my tank with the plants in? I am getting elevated nitrate levels (right now 40 ppm) and my nitrite levels also are within chart, somewhere between 1-5 ppm depending on how much ammonia was added 12 hours prior to testing. Maximum ammonia I am adding is 50 drops, which brings the level to 5 ppm. I just don't want to lose my colony which took me 3 weeks to come to this point.

I'll be fully honest I don't know a flip about adding ammonia. All I know is I hate the stuff, as it was sky high on my cycling tank (and it took me FOREVER!!! As in 3 MONTHS forever! to get it down to zero).


I know that ammonia does help fertilize the plants but I'm really not sure about adding it....sorry!!!!