planted 10 gallon journy

[aquatic-Bizkut]

ok i have made like a billion threads and well i have got very possitive help from everyone.... i really apreciate you guys and all that you do...... its like a online family and im proud to be a part of it

ok well i have a 10 gallon, lined with about 1 inch of gravel for now, will possibly get some fertalizer, subastrate, or switch to sand....
i have a 20 gallon top fin filter, and a top fin 100 watt heater hooked up and running

on my hood i have a incandescent light hood, but i have two household florescent 20 watt bulbs hooked in, and its bright!! that is 4 WPG, but i have been told since they have 6500K and are not aquarium bulbs that i only have around 2 WPG i still dont know for sure.... but hopefully it will grow my plants

i have 8 plants as of right now in the tank

i have a amazon baby sword,
a potted plant of some kind of sword
and a money wort
honey wort
a mix of other plants
and some microsword grass
(all the plants should be hardy except for the microsword becuase they all came from the fish store i work at, but the microsword which i bought off of ebay and at our store we use only one big light bulb that hardly gives any light..... doesnt even grow java fern that well..)

i plan on getting a java fern and a few more plants.... this tank is meant for my puffers (dwarf puffers ) which i have one right now-female the male died (RIP)
i will be getting a male and another female so three puffers in the 10 gallon total.... i have a piece of driftwood (fake decoration) more like plastic wood shapped log to provide hiding.... it was housing 7 large snails and lots of little snails for a day while i set up there small breeding tank, they will be needed for puffer food.... but one problem (they ate alot of my plants!! hehe)

well here are some picks comments welcome and i will update every other day or so.... or when something changes..... i hope my bio-spira will arrive soon i paied 15$ for just the shipping alone, suposed to be 2 days, its been about 7 days....

i will send a complaint if it doesnt come tomorow, becuase already one puffer has died waiting for it......!!

enough talk here are some picks to start out the journal...... comments, questions and answers welcome becuase i will have lots of questions....

 

[jollysue]

Looking good!

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

thank you there jolly thanks for your help and support!!.... man i want to see your tanks! if you have some!....hehee

 

[jollysue]

Yes, I have some. I can't find my USB cord for my camera

I can't figure it out. I may have to buy another.

I have a 40 usg Sea Clear with an adult Orange and juvie Blue Oranda and a comon goldie (the remaining of my first attempt.)

An Eclipse 12 has been a quarantine tank for new fish, but I'm working it into a community. Right now it has 6 otos, 3 Sparkling Gourami juvies and a Gold Honey, and 12 diamond Head neon tetras. I want to put in some pygmy cories. I can do low light in here. I put some branches from my Amazon Sword in. It is my Tahitian beach.

A 20 usg has four hi-fin serpae tetra that went on a kamakazi warpath in the big tank and damaged, maimed, and crippled themselves and others. I will attempt to make a tank with them and some other tetras, but I may let them heal up and exchange them at the lfs. There are 3 juvie Orange Bushynose (BN) quarantined with them. This tank doesn't have sufficiant light to plant.

I have a 10 usg that will become the quarantine/hospital.

But the real work in progress is a 100usg/5 ft tank with 250 watts of t5 light. It is also a community with about 7 varieties of tetras schooling, 3 clown loaches chewing any snail that dares come near, 5 cories, 3 otos, and a cocktoo colony. The fish in quarantine are headed for the big tank for the most part.

There are lots of caves and driftwood, bubble screens. The plants are finally getting where I can start taking out the artificial plants soon.

I used an eco substrate with the black Tahitian sand and flourite from my forty when I set up the big one. It has 2 Emperor 400s and two 300 heaters.

I need a 12 step program.

Thanks for asking and sorry for the marathon.

 

[blackfinshark_3]

very nice tank, i have a planted 10g too.

and i also have that planted that is behind that peace of wood to the right. but i ahve no clue what its called, do u know?

i sure would love to know since im also awaiting a trio of dp's.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

it is called hornwort, i went on plantgeeks.net and researched it up..... its easy to take care of too so that is a bonus, its almost already grown out of the water.......

and jolly man i cant wait to see your tanks! your gettin me sooooooooooo excited..... hustle up will ya!

 

[jollysue]

Is the hornwart the one that looks like a baby fir tree?

The big tank is only 2 or 3 months old. It's got a long way to go. I didn't plant and landscape it. Just climb on a stool and start moving things around. Then my otos and some cories go into hiding for a few weeks, and the cockatoos have to start all over again settling on a new home. The only ones who seem to enjoy my redecorating are the clown loaches who come out and play, investgate everything and dance around in their clown loach ballet.

I'm really just getting started with plants that make a dent in a 100 gallon. My main concern has been to see the fish happy and comfortable and to build my stock.

It has gotten to the point that I have to take care moving stuff around. It's like is the god coming with food or a hurricane?

Well what's next for your project? How are the water parameters?

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

well there are still snails in my tank 7-10 baby sails, i will let them chill in there until my puffers arrive........then its munch munchtime...

well what is next? i have to wait till my bio-spira cames, wich hopefully will be today, i will call home while at work to see if it arrived, if so i will be bringing home 2 puffers, lots of plants, and some fish for my other tank......

then i shall take pickeys!

 

[jollysue]

pickeys???

You lost your new puffer? I've had coordination problems waiting for deliveries and lost fish from it. My fault for being impatient.

Later. really tired.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

get some sleep

yeah well i brought home some plants and a red tailed shark today, (shark goes into my semi-aggressive tank) well i was thinking that my package came.....and it didnt.......stupid ba$tards i paied them a extra 15$ for it to come in 2 days, it has been over 5...... i have already filed a complaint but i am filing another, now i have to watch my shark and my puffer and make sure they are gonna be ok together.....

 

[jollysue]

Do you have an extra filter running in an established tank? They can be used to seed a new tank. I am assuming that the bio-spiro is bacteria? I just followed and participated in a thread on setting up a quaratine tank and have been advised by other long time fish keepers, that a quarantine or hospital tank can be set up for immediate use that way. They have advised to always keep an extra filter running in order to be able to set up a tank immediately. Everything in a well established tank is covered in good bacteria and can be used to set up a tank immediately. Stocking must still be done gradually to give the tank time to balance, but that is true of an established tank.

Packages shipped UPS or FedEx can be tracked. Get the tracking # from the supply house. If it is an online order it is especially easy to follow the tracking. They can be tracked on line. Maybe it was delivered to the wrong address? That has happened to me. I always track all of my orders, because it has happened so often. The tracking will say where it is in its journey and when delivery is expected and happened. The USP tracking is a little more problematic.

If you paid for 2 day shipping, then something has happened, and it should be tracked. Call the supplier ASP.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

ok update, i just bought three more plants

-Java fern
-some kind of very talll green thicker grass
-chiliata

these pretty good plants???

i also bought a red tailed shark

still no word from bio-spira...... damnit

edit: i posted picks, but soon realized they didnt work so i am reposting them tomorow i will get better ones....

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

oh and question sorry to post again

but what if my plants get tooo big since its only a ten gallon im worried about them touching my heater.... i have 11 plants in there right now.....

is it ok if i plant them by the heater or what happens if they do touch??

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

man well now i sound like a idiot becuase i have made like 20 posts in a row, but i need help and fast..... where is jolly!!??

thanks for your help, now i have a real frewshwater liquid test kit, although it took me about a hour to test just two of my tanks, but well the readings were umm.. well not good

20 gal
ph-8.0
nitrite- 5.0
nitrate- 6.0
amonia- about .85

25 gal
ph- 8.0
nitrate- 1.0
nitrite- 0.25
amonia-0.25

as i added a new fish in my 25 gallon..... it is doing pretty good im just worried about my 20 gallon..... i will do some water changes and frequent too...... anything else i should add, and how much salt should i add, and how frequent?

and i have about a inch of gravel in my 10 gallon planted, should i get more, get sand, becuase i have some potted plants (2) and they wont stay all the way down, becuase mostly i dont have enough gravel to cover most of their pots, so they kind of huvver about the gravel..... what should i do??

 

[jollysue]

Hey, aquatic-Bizkut,

I've gotten behind on my sleep and not been very useful.

Lots of guessing is going to go on here:

Plants will probably not try to hug the heater. They will grow away from it if it is too hot. The caviat is if there is strong current pushing them toward the heater or the plantings are so close they can't avoid the heater.

If the plants touch a hot heater for long they will get burned I think.

I use a dip stick, remember?

Your readings look unbalanced and high to me, esp in the 20g.

I am really out of my depth with controlling the water conditions. I take my water in to be tested occasionally. My fish seem healthy and ravenous. I do weekly water changes with water conditioners and recommended additives. I have driftwood and plants as much to help the water conditions as anything. A big tank is more forgiving. I know nothing about using salt which is my bad. And I tend to overfeed--a very bad bad. )

It's time to post in the appropriate forums I think. Try to get a pro to mentor you on these things. Someone who is mature, has been fish keeping for a loooong time. With lots of experience that doesn't sing a one note song but has lots of tricks in his/her bag.

The plants in pots are alright. My Amazon fluorished floating around in a pot until I got it planted. They can be weighted down with little metal weights. There are things sold specifically for that, but I keep picturing little stainless steel dowels.