My new 10g tank

[silentdan]

Here is my 10 gal tank.  I'm making it a planted tank with dwarf baby tears, broad leaf ludwigia and java ferns.  So far everything looks good, with new growth being more than what has died off.  I'm using 2x 13w daylight CFL bulbs in my hood and a DIY CO2 system.  I'm fertilizing with API leaf zone.  The lights are on a timer for 12 hours on.  The CO2 is from a 1L bottle with sugar and yeast.

Now it is getting time to put some fish in it.  I'm going to get some neon tetras, but I'm also looking for some cleaning crew.  Right now, the debate is between otos and shrimp.  What are peoples opinions on what would be more efficient at cleaning algae?

Thanks.

[Sharbuckle]

What a great start! Looks awesome

I think shrimp are a way cooler looking cleaning crew.

[exv152]

I'd recommend both otos and amano shrimp.

[sas]

Looking awesome!
How long has your tank been up and running?
Just a suggestion make sure your tank is cycled before adding fish.
Also before adding a cleanup crew you need something for them
to actually cleanup or eat.
Hope that is useful.
And by the way welcome to the OVAS forum.

[charlie]

Hey Dan, nice to see the tank up & running, good start.
They are a few things I would suggest -
keep checking the KH ( carbonate hardness) of the water -  I`m not sure the origins of your rock, but some rocks can increase the KH of the water  which will raise the PH of your water.

I would suggest you significantly increase your plant mass , as it is it is very low & given the lights there is a higher risk of algae issues ,Vallisneria nana or  corkscrew vallisneria would be a great addition in the background.
dwarf sagittaria in front is also another good starter plant, cryptocoryne species is also another great starter plant & comes in several colours & types
http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plant-list-a-z.aspx
Regards

[Dan]

I also like the Octo/Shrimp combo when it comes to cleaning crew...toss in a few Nerite Snails (which can't reproduce in FW) and you should have a solid crew. La Niche has some...

[Shawn84]

I would hold off on the clean up crew till you start to see a good amount of algae build up. Oto is good but can be tricky to keep alive cause of feeding issues. Shrimp are much easier and once they produce make great additional food for your fish.

[silentdan]

Thanks for all of the helpful responses.

I have had the tank running for the past 2 weeks.  There only seems to be a tiny amount of algae on the plants, so I will wait to add any cleanup crew.

I will keep testing the water quality.  I can go get more plants on Saturday when I do the water change.

Thanks again.

[fischkopp]

Hi there and welcome to OVAS!

Adding to what others said: I would limit the lights to 8 hour, any longer is pushing it and puts algae at an advantage. You should also increase your CO2 reactor to a 2L pop or better 1gal juice bottle. That will help to get more CO2 longer, and even works better if you run two bottles in parallel on alternate cycles.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress!

[silentdan]

My tank has survived another week.  Things seem to be looking good, with everything growing.  My ludwigia seems to be doing the best of all, with many new shoots and leaves.  It just seems a bit confused, with roots growing out wherever they can.  :p

I've added in some new plants:  vallisneria nana, dwarf sagittaria, cryptocoryne undulata, and what I think is ludwigia glandulosa.  (It wasn't labelled at Al's and for $1 looked interesting enough.)  I've cut back on the lights to 8 hours and have modified my CO2 system to be able to splice in additional bottles.  There has been slight algae growth on two of the rocks, but none on the glass.  I think the rocks are limestone as they have shells inside them.  One is quartz.

I've tested the water several times, and the results have been stable.  Prior to changing the water on Saturday, the pH was approximately 7.5, ammonia at 0.25ppm, nitrite at 1ppm, and nitrate at 0.  The GH and KH averaged out at 6 each.  On Sunday I repeated the tests with the differences being the nitrite level at 0.5ppm and the GH and KH of 5 each.  For comparison, my tap water has a pH of approximately 8.4, with a GH and KH of 3 each.

Thanks.

[Got Fish?]

Looks awesome dan.

[missavgp]

I assume you are fishless cycling. Are you using ammonia to feed the bacteria? I ask cause that ammonia and nitrite level seems low for how long your tank has been running based on my experiences with fishless.

[sas]

Tank is looking great!
A background would help hide wires etc., and make your plants pop.
For your cycle, you could always check and see if there are any other
hobbyists in you vicinity and  ask if they could give you some grungy
filter material. It usually is a replace old with new deal.

[silentdan]

No, I have not been adding any ammonia to feed the bacteria so far.  I'll look at the hardware stores to see if they have any bottles of it.

[charlie]

Hey Dan, can you check your tap water KH & PH( take a fair volume of sample water) when it comes out of the tap- note the parameters - leave the sample out in it`s container with an airstone & recheck the PH & KH 24 hrs or so after & again note the findings, compare the before & after for changes.
Errol

[missavgp]

They have Old Country at home hardware. It has no additives so it's good for cycling

[silentdan]

I've picked up the ammonia from the hardware store and added a few drops of it. I'll slowly get the levels up. Testing tonight showed that it was up at 1ppm.

Are the snails that come with the plants considered to be good things, or pests? The ones in my tank have dark conical shells. I've counted 5 at once and removed what looked like a bunch of eggs.

[silentdan]

The tank looks about the same from last week, so I didn't take any pictures.

The biofilter seems to be progressing along.  It can process the ammonia down in approximately 24 hours.  The nitrite levels are sky high.  The water turns dark purple within moments of me adding the test solution.  The nitrate levels are slowly rising, so it shouldn't be too long before the bacteria can process the nitrite quickly.

My tap water had a pH of 8.4, with a gH and KH of 3.  After 24 hours with an airstone, the pH had dropped quite far (I want to say 7, in all the records I have been taking, this seems to be the one I missed).

[missavgp]

Cool, your tank should be cycled soon then, another week maybe for it to be stable. watch out for a PH crash though. I found when I started getting really high nitrite readings, my PH would bottom out at less than 6. It's the only time I use PH up so that I don't start losing bacteria to the low PH and slow the completion of the cycle.

[exv152]

I wouldn't worry too much about the pH in a fishless cylce. The only time low ph becomes an issue for beneficial bacteria is when it reaches like 4.5, which is unusual.  I have some fish I keep at 5.8/5.9 ph with no risk to the beneficial bacteria.