15 Gallon (54L) Planted Tank

[EllieJellyEllie]

So yesterday I finally picked up my ten gallon tank!
 
*dont yell at me or tell me to rehome them*
 
It has an Albino Bristlnose, less than an inch long, a Red Devil Cichlid about 2 1/2 inches long, and a yellow lab cichlid, about the same size as the red devil.
 
I know their tank is too small and I need to rehome the fish. I know for a fact the red devil will be hard to rehome as he needs a 75 gallon, and the yellow lab needs a 55 gallon. As well as the Bristlenose needs a 20 long, but if I cnt find him a home *might* be okay in the ten gallon.
 
Anyway, the fish dont have names, even though I really want to keep them, Im not going to name them.
 
Back to the tank!
 
Its a 10 gallon leader, and measurements are 10 x 12 x 20. It has a mix of a brick red and blue gravel, and some coral reef like ornaments. I finally got my moss ball, and some sort of crypt is growing along with more bulbs. It has some fake plants as well.
 
The filter is an Aqueon Silent Flow HOB Ten Gallon. The heater is also an Aqueon 50w Heater. I put the bubbler in because I like the way it looks and its just a TopFin one.
 
 
Since I dont know how to resize photos Ill just link the album to them
http/s1302.photobucket.com/user/PigsnPets/library/?view=recent#/user/PigsnPets/library/?view=recent&page=1&_suid=1379178449034010546613056821791
 
 
I hope you like! And dont worry, Im will try to rehome the fish soon!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well, since you already know what we were going to say, that leaves very little to what I can say.
 
Some decent pictures you have there. Tank is certainly colourful, more colourful now with these fish!
 
Can I just mention, please don't touch the fish if you can avoid doing that, this may damage their scales or at the very least affect their natural slime coat. I only say this as can see one of your pics there is the BN in the palm of your hand.
As tempting a sit is to do that, best not to really.
 
And yes, as you know already. re-home asap! 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

The story behind that picture wqas that I was rescpaing and he climbed on my hand so I cupped my hand and my mom took the pic. I dont know why he wanted my hand. Took him like 5 mins to swim off.
 
I promis I dont like touching them, they feel weird lol. And it was weird when he was eating my hand as well

 

[Ch4rlie]

lol, kinda sweet really.
 
No probs in that case then 

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Oh yea, I forgot to mention I saved up al the money myself and my friend was going to tank the cichlids into 2 55s but bailed on me last minute

 

[DerpPH]

Great tank. But im afraid the lab wont fi in it much longer

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I know. Im tryingto rehome all 3 of them

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Ok! The first step of my "naturalling" process is flipping the backround over to the rock and driftwood side. Here is the before-
 
http/s1302.photobucket.com/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1298_zps0142c565.jpg.html?filters[user]=137234679&filters[recent]=1&filters[publicOnly]=1&sort=1&o=7#/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1294_zps512b76fb.jpg.html?filters%5Buser%5D=137234679&filters%5Brecent%5D=1&filters%5BpublicOnly%5D=1&sort=1&o=9&_suid=1379260953386030811755522313316
 
And the new result!
 
http/s1302.photobucket.com/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1304_zps098e19ee.jpg.html?filters[user]=137234679&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0#/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1304_zps098e19ee.jpg.html?filters%5Buser%5D=137234679&filters%5Brecent%5D=1&sort=1&o=0&_suid=137926115811407621214953052983
 
The reason I switched it is because it was double sided and I didnt like the wave side much anyway, this side is darker, bringing out the color in my fish more, and its natural. Its a driftwood and rock scene if you cant tell and I love it!
 
Here is a really good photo of the Yellow Lab
 
http/s1302.photobucket.com/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1304_zps098e19ee.jpg.html?filters[user]=137234679&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0#/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1303_zpsc856e31c.jpg.html?filters%5Buser%5D=137234679&filters%5Brecent%5D=1&sort=1&o=1&_suid=137926115811407621214953052983
 
My plan is that I am petsitting my neighbors dog on the 28th and 29th, and I usually get 20 dollars from them whenever I petsit for a weekend. So Im spending the bulk of my money on a siphon, as the tank didnt come with one, and some of the rest of it on the bags of river rocks from dollar tree, and pea gravel from Home Depot. Then in the first weekend of October Im going to BayPort and they have a river and I always find driftwood but have no use for it, so I am picking up a few peices and soaking and boiling them, and seeing which I like best. Im also putting a peice of aquarium decor I got ia while back, and have used if for my hermit crabs. Im going to pour boiling water over it and soak it for a day then put it in the tank too.  Its a tree type thing. Natural, and I love it.
 
I might also pick up some plant bulbs from PetsMart, or maybe buy a plant if I have the money.
 
If you have any questions or concerns *Other than rehoming the fish, I know about that* Please feel free to tell/ask me!

 

[DaveIOW]

Good to see your heading in a more natural direction!

It's frustrating trying to build a tank on a relatively tight budget, not being able to go and buy everything you need in one go, I know exactly how that is

Have you thought about sand for your substrate, I know your in the US but in the UK we can get play sand for really cheap, might save you some money for something else and looks great!

Free driftwood is always great, hope you can find the bits you need, I guess you could gather quite a selection.

Reading your posts, it's difficult to believe you're 13, you spell and use better grammar than most of my friends twice your age!

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I have thought about it, but I like the look of gravel better, and I need this to be a quick change without the fish living in a bucket for a few days lol. So the water cant be cloudy from the sand.
 
I dont need it all except for the siphon. But oh well. It can wait for a bit. I found one for $7.99(5.03 in pounds) so Ill get that one and it had all good reveiws And I found a 50 lb back of pea gravel for $3.99 (2.51 pounds) plus the flat river rock bags from Dollar Tree (a dollar each, 0.53 pounds each)
 
So this 15 gallon tank (It wasn't a ten, SCORE!) is going to be 70 dollars max. What a deal!

Oh yea, ten gallons is 37-38 liters and the 15 gallon is 56- 57 liter tank if you wanted to know

 

[DaveIOW]

Fair enough, if it's gravel you want, I'm sure you'll make it look great

Bonus about the tanks capacity! Always good to find out you've more room than you first thought! My first was a 70l tank, had fun with it too, but now gone for a 180l.

Good luck on changing your stuff over, and rehoming , when I first bought the 70l I had to rehome 3 fish that came with it, that I got attached to pretty quickly. It's hard to let your fish go and have an empty tank, but you know that it's the right thing to do.

Make sure you keep posting up new pictures with your progress

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I wont have an empty tank, my betta is waiting pateintly for it! lol

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I added an old betta plant Here it is
 
http/s1302.photobucket.com/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1317_zps2acb9a36.jpg.html?filters[user]=137234679&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0#/user/PigsnPets/media/10%20Gallon%20Fishtank%20PigsnPets/IMG_1317_zps2acb9a36.jpg.html?filters%5Buser%5D=137234679&filters%5Brecent%5D=1&sort=1&o=0&_suid=137928677475702565866459520842
 
Its smack in the middle of the tank. I might add another one too. But who knows

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

Shooping List!!! Lol. Here it is-

Siphon- 7.99
Cheapo Fake Plantsx4- 99 cents each, brings total to 11.95
50 lbs of pea gravel- 3.99, bring total to 15.93
River rocksx2- $1 each, brings total to 17.93
Tax- 1.08, brings total to 19.01
Driftwood- Free

This makes my finish tank a total of 59.01 dollars!!

I hope I counted right. If not I will just ditch the river rocks...

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

I just cleaned the tank out and its so cloudy you cant see in it because of the gravel.... I took out all the coral reef decor, added 1 more plant, took out a pink plant, and added one peice of other driftwood decor...
 
Next step is to add new gravel and more plants. Then I will be doing a final 80% water change and added some driftwood! Next step is just to change whatever I dont like.
 
The red devil is very very ill, when I have him in the bucket he just sat there.... Poor guy