Designed By A 4 Year Old - 10 Gallon

[jmiller]

All excellent points to take into consideration. I'm glad I posted the dimensions because, as much as I hate to admit, the height issue hadn't dawned on me. Being fairly short (5'-8") that could very well be a problem. I just measured my desk at work (29") and if I had a 22" tall tank on it the lip of the tank would touch my underarm. Not a very comfortable position to be in. I do see your point about working at substrate level though. The 10 & 5 1/2 are currently on a dresser and it's a little awkward to reach a few areas in the 10 sitting down and looking through the front.

There are a whole host of issues that have to be thought about. Space is definitely the main consideration because the tank will be going into a small bedroom along with the other two. The wife has no interest in this so I'm keeping everything confined to one room. Then there are the two cats (possibly a third since I just brought an abandoned one home a few days ago) that have a great interest in the fish along one dog that make it impossible to stack tanks or have anything sitting to low. So I do have lots to think about before purchasing.

A very interesting point about the depth. As you may remember a 46 bow was one of my initial choices but was later discounted because of the distortion. I was originally drawn to it for the depth. Funny how it all goes back to what first catches your eye.

Looks like I have some more research to do.

 

[waterdrop]

You are not alone, the height issue is very easily overlooked until too late and is not something that gets brought up in the forum very often but has had its airings in the past. Anyway, good, I sense you are now on the correct path of thinking of these odd things and you will be able to put them all together satisfactorily. I have the cat issue too but thankfully my siamese for some reason only gets mildly interested when I'm in there working, as he does with all my "projects." Cats jumping to the lids of tanks can topple the entire setup over! (well, potentiall the smaller ones I guess) (thinking about tank lids as keeping big animals out puts a whole new angle on their planning!)

~~waterdrop~~
edit: ps. see ya later, its time for the daily swim, so I can experience first hand how much worse at it I am than the fish

 

[jmiller]

For right now only one cat bothers with the tank, the other is to fat to jump up there, and so far she stays off the lid. Her only issue is with the cory. Whenever he comes out to feed she's nose to glass. The guppies and tetras she could care less about.

 

[waterdrop]

Is the cory bigger?

 

[jmiller]

Yes. I just figured she would be more attracted to the movement of the guppies.

I was looking at tanks during lunchtime today and it appears that if I'm going more for depth I would be looking more at a breeder tank, correct? It looks like a 30 breeder (36x18x12) or a 40 breeder (36x18x16) might be worth looking into. My thoughts now would be to rehome the cory & ember tetras from the 10 gal to the new tank and expand their numbers leaving the neons & guppies and increasing their numbers also. How would small shoals of corys, embers, lemon, black widow & pristella tetras sound in the new larger tank? As you can tell I really like tetras. I'm kind of going back and forth between several small shoals or one/two much larger groups. But I have pretty much decided on a mixture of sand and natural colored gravel, rocks, wood and some easy live plants.

Still thinking and reading though.

 

[waterdrop]

I'm just an average hobbyist and not a tetra expert but its my impression that shoals get tighter and more defined as the get larger. I've found that the business of trying to define a minimum number (6 individuals is common) is tricky because while you can significantly lower stress, you might still get fairly ragged behaviour in terms of shoaling. Of course it varies a fair amount by species.

We're getting in to the area where even a knowledgeable hobbyist will find himself pulled in both directions. A couple of large shoals will have more impact from across the room and will presumably have those stunning moments when the whole shoal is partially emerged from within some plantings and just looks great. On the other hand it might be that having the interest of the different behaviors of a greater variety of species would offer a larger number of interesting moments of insight. There is an aesthetic danger, though, in having more species of the tank becoming too busy looking.

Yes, I expected the next thing you would run across would be the breeder dimensions. I find them quite interesting myself and stand there staring at them thinking of the possibilities. At the same time I kind of sigh and remember what I think was a greater variety of available shapes years ago, but that could be wrong with the haze of time. I can't help but think that 40 would be perfect if you could fit it, but I'm sure it would be a pretty big area once you included equipment etc. In some ways I do think the 16" height would be better than the 12, certainly it would allow you to more easily view farther back in this tank, the 18" being pretty far back. Plus, of course, its always a shock how soon you run out of available tank volume when you are creating a good stocking plan!

When planning multiple groups of shoaling tetras another factor to try to work into the approach is to think about how the colors and looks will go or not go together both from a color similarity and from a conrast standpoint. For instance, a range of colors that are next to each other in the color spectrum (say, yellow to orange to red) can be a good effect.

Yet another thing to be starting to think about at this stage, perhaps with searches over in the hardware secton, would be the functionality and comparisons of external cannister filters, since the filter is really the central piece of hardware of the hobby and makes the biggest difference in the day to day success of your operation.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jmiller]

Since I've been redoing the "neon girl's" 10 gallon I'm starting to pay more attention to the tank's look and how my changes effect it's overall appearance as well as the fishes well being. I was amazed when I first took out that octopus thing and replaced it with the rocks. The change in the fishes behavior was instant. I can't wait till the wood finishes soaking to see what effect it will have.

While thinking of a larger tank I've had a rough idea in my head how I think it should look but now with opening up the possibility of more depth the two distinct areas I was planning now could possibly be three or four. Lots more things to think about. Me and neon girl will probably go to the LFS some time this weekend to pickup some more decorations for the Betta tank so I'll get to check out a 40 breeder up close and get a better idea of the size. That will help with the planning.

I've been giving a lot of thought about the colors of the new tank. While having to factor in the fishes needs first it still has to be pleasing to the eye. With the sand, natural colored gravel, rock and wood more emphasis will be on the fish which is the look I'm going for. The ones I've chosen should have a good color contrast, yellow, black, silver & orange. But I do see the possibility of it getting to busy looking in large shoals.

The filter is where I'm going to need the most help. Being new to the hobby my only experience is with the basic HOB filter and I'm going to have to rely on the experiences of others to guide me.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi John, I'm a member of the International Aquatic Gardener's Association and every year we have a little tank contest and the results can be seen up on the web. You might google up some of that stuff. I always find inspiration in some of the beautiful tanks that get pictured there. In many ways its the "extreme" in the "looks" direction as opposed to more practical matters. WD

 

[jmiller]

Thanks, I'll do that. I spent a little time searching through the forum at lunch today about filters. Now my head hurts.

 

[waterdrop]

I use an Eheim Pro. Its an awesome piece of machinery. WD

 

[jmiller]

I just checked and the wood looks like it might be ready by this weekend.

 

[waterdrop]

Sounds good! WD

 

[jmiller]

Tonight's readings:
HR PH 8.0
ammonia 1.0 / WTH?
nitrite 0
nitrate 10.0

So I did a 75% WC, a thorough gravel vac and I'll start testing everyday. My new filter should be here on Wednesday. The driftwood was ready so I went ahead and put it in since I had the water way down. It still needs a few more plants.

And here is both tanks.

 

[waterdrop]

 

[jmiller]

Filter showed up today! This is what I've done:

I took both filters out of the AquaTech 5-15 and cut them to fit the AC20. Are they in the right posistion & how long should I leave them in there?

Oh yea and ammonia is back down to .25, WC and gravel vac scheduled for tomorrow.