The Planted Tank Forum banner

Getting back into tank keeping! (10gal corys and shrimp)

23K views 135 replies 17 participants last post by  geisterwald 
#1 · (Edited)
I've had a couple planted tanks before, but this is my first in a few years, since moving out of my parents' house.

I bought this 10gal from some college bro last summer for like $10 (with filter, gravel, food, conditioner (the latter 2 items had broken containers, so they don't really count, but), a pretty darn good deal), it smelled pretty nasty and is full of ugly fake plants... there's a (presumably) dead snail stuck to the side... yeah you get the idea.

I haven't touched the tank since I got it--just too busy with school, health issues, etc. But I recently got the idea to finally start a tank, and I'm going for it.

Here's what I'm planning (EDITED 8/14/16):

hardware:
  • 10 gal tank
  • Lid with stock fluorescent light (15w, should grow anything I plan on keeping)
  • Topfin 10gal power filter AND/OR
  • [STRIKE]Tetra Whisper 10i (x2?? I snagged 2 from someone selling a bunch of tank stuff they never wanted in the first place, who knows) (gonna use chopped up sponge as media)[/STRIKE] (Edit: just went with the one Top Fin, waaay too much flow for my floaters and unattached süßwassertang otherwise)
  • Hydor "Theo" 100W heater

substrate:
[STRIKE]Miracle-gro organic choice potting mix (probably like 2in)[/STRIKE] Whitney Farms organic planting soil (about 1in) capped with pool filter sand (like 1in, maybe 1.5)

hardscape:

  • [STRIKE]
  • Not much, but maybe a small piece of wood (a branchy thing, I think). [/STRIKE] (Edit: no wood at the moment, probably never)
  • [STRIKE]Maybe [/STRIKE]some rock [STRIKE](shale or similar?)[/STRIKE] (Edit: 3 pieces of granite, 3 (turned 2) pieces of basalt)

fauna:
  • Cories - pygmy, habrosus, or hastatus depending on what I can find - x 5-7
  • Shrimp [STRIKE](most likely RCS)[/STRIKE] (Edit: still neocaridina for sure, hopefully yellows but maybe blue) x ???? maybe like 5 to start but hopefully I can breed them. I want at least 10
  • Also toying with the idea of a bamboo shrimp
  • If I get bored, maybe neon tetras (black neons? or some small rasboras might be cool...I'd love neon greens) x 6 or so

flora:
  • ????
  • I want moss...
  • Maybe a sword? Or a crypt
  • Probably some anubias
  • Definitely some stems in the back, I did well with bacopa previously
Edit:
  • No moss at the moment, süßwassertang though
  • 1x Crypt undulata
  • 2x Anubias barteria var. nana
  • Bacopa, water wisteria
  • Also some dwarf water lettuce

Bump: Not much to post now, supplies are coming in the mail and I haven't even started cleaning the tank out yet (I need a bucket! all my fish stuff is at my parents' house across the country and I guess they need it to take care of my tank, assuming they are taking care of my tank lol)... I'm kind-of scared to, afraid there might be dead fish in the substrate or something. Will update once I touch it.

However, I secured this absolutely sick desk to put the tank on, for just $10!!! I haven't picked it up yet, but here's a picture from the seller:


It's basically exactly what I wanted, it's 6ft long and I think 20in wide... Don't know how high, I'd guess maybe 2.5-3ft from the picture?
 
See less See more
1
#36 ·
Ack! The stocking full of fish food may have been a mistake; I just went to turn off my tank's lights and it was covered in what looked like saprolegnia fungus. I pulled it and tossed it. I'll probably continue with liquified fish food... Hopefully this doesn't make for problems in the future :(

Bump: Ammonia is at about 1ppm now. Haven't tested nitrite or nitrate yet today.
 
#37 ·
Ammonia still hovering around 0.5-1ppm, nitrite now somewhere between 0 and 0.25ppm, nitrate still 0. Fed the tank a little more. Some of my plants are still melting and I'm trying not to worry it too much, but I did notice a cute little sprout coming off a bacopa stalk (even though the top part of the stem is about ready to fall off, lol)! There were a few more like that, too, but none quite as cute.
 

Attachments

#39 ·
I should be asleep, but I'm excited! I was just looking at the Facebook page of this very new LFS, and while backreading, I saw that they got some habrosus cories in! I thought I was going to have to settle for pygmaeus but if the habrosus are still there, and look healthy (er, and are as cheap/cheaper, lol), I'll probably get them instead... I like the pygmies but they're soooo small I didn't even realize what 1 inch catfish looked like until I saw them... Habrosus are a little bigger and I think act more like the larger cories than the pygmies, which is what I wanted. ...Now I feel kind-of bad for favoring the habrosus, lol. Maybe I'll end up getting both and no rasboras.
 
#40 ·
Ammonia now decidedly at 0.5ppm (I think before it was at 1 or somewhere in-between, what I have now is so distinctly 0.5 (I mean, according to the chart) that I'm no longer confused), nitrIte at either 2 or 5ppm (talk about colors I can't tell the difference between! I think 5 is supposed to be slightly darker? I'm pretty sure it's at 2 anyways because a overnight jump from 0.5 to 5, while not impossible, would be kind-of ridiculous... doesn't really matter anyways, I'm happy with either and it should fall to zero in the next days). Haven't bothered to test nitrAte yet, not really concerned since there's still a nitrIte spike happening.

Bump: Cycling a tank feels like magic to me every time, though... Thank you, bacteria!

Bump: Oh, and my crypt is growing and the dwarf water lettuce is starting to reproduce! Multiple bacopa stems are putting out those tiny little sprouts on top and are generally perking up. My wisteria in the middle is looking really nice and most, if not all of the other wisteria stems are putting out new leaves, too! I'm such a proud plant parent... (Sorry for the second bump, I keep thinking of things to say)
 
#48 ·
Yeah, they do, but shrimp won't necessarily (and I want lots of shrimp)! I think I'll get enough color with my shrimp and rasboras (if I have them). Thanks for the thought though!

And thanks! I'm really proud of my rocks, lol, even if they are tiny and overpriced...

Bump:
Just an FYI, you should not be breathing chlorine for a prolonged period of time! My brother treated a large amount of water with bleach, took a nap...ended up in the hospital with nasal and respiratory burns.
Be safe out there!!
Yeah for sure! Thanks for the concern. It was manageable with the window open and fan on, and it was only one night (and not a ton of bleach to begin with), but still not the safest thing I've ever done, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it, lol. I didn't feel amazing the next morning, but not terrible either and I'm fine as far as I can tell.
 
#50 ·
Well, I just tugged on it out of curiosity and it's rooted well enough that it resists a lot when I pull on it. I figure it'll be OK, if a little slower growing than the rest. Never had bacopa root that quickly in just sand... Plants really like dirt, huh.

Nitrites have stayed over 5ppm for the past couple days and I'm getting tired of tannin-stained water; I'm gonna do a PWC to lower nitrite as per user Diana's suggestion (not here, but elsewhere) to encourage growth of nitrite-processing bacteria and to get out loose wood chips before my plants are grown out too much to do that easily. Will of course dose liquified fish food after.
 
#53 ·
Well, I messed up. Not massively, but still.

A couple days ago I got tired of manually grinding fish flakes to minuscule pieces every time I needed to feed the tank (I don't have a designated grinder for this and don't care to buy one, so it's not the quickest process), so I added some to a jar with water and shook it until they broke down as small as I could get them. My thought was that the flakes would rot in the jar, producing ammonia, and I could just dose the water - no mess, no hassle (and yeah I know I could just buy some ammonia but I have so many fish flakes, I am never going to use this many, and these in particular are probably stale anyways). BUT, not wanting to stink up my room with an open jar of fish flakes, and I guess scared of what would happen if I left it to rot closed (mold? deadly anaerobic bacteria?), after making this concoction, I put it in the fridge. For the past day or two, I've been dosing my tank with the water.

Today, when I tested ammonia and nitrites in my tank, I noticed that ammonia had hit rock bottom (nitrites, despite the water change--which did help a little with tannins--are still off the charts). Thinking that I just hadn't used enough of the water, and that maybe I could more accurately dose knowing the approximate concentration of ammonia in the fish flake water, I decided to test that--and did. As the test developed and showed 0ppm ammonia, I realized my mistake: Putting the stuff in the fridge slowed (or halted) decomposition. Duh. That's the entire point of refrigeration.

So I added more flake to the jar, broke it all up and fed the tank with some of the particles instead of just the water. I'll test tomorrow (or maybe even before I go to sleep tonight, I don't know if there will be a change that soon, but) to make sure that worked, but I'm pretty sure it's going to, lol. Whoops.
 
#54 ·
Something's weird... Ammonia is still reading 0 ppm? I've tested probably five times over the past two days and I haven't gotten a positive reading yet. I dosed fish food from the fridged solution yesterday, and after that didn't do anything (I'd guess I tested 4 or 5 hours after, and then again ~20 hours after) I mixed some new, dry flake with tank water and dumped that in. Tested probably half an hour after, then two? hours after, then ~8? hours after and nothing! Is it possible my test kit broke literally overnight? Could high levels of dissolved solids be interfering with my readings (I saw a post about that...? but I've fed tanks with fish food before without this happening)? Are my bacteria just THAT hungry? I've been feeding the tank a LOT...

Nitrites, of course, are still off the charts. I'm gonna do a late night PWC and feed the tank again (maybe a -bunch- this time). I'll test it in the morning. God, this is annoying. I just wish I knew what was up!

(Oh, and I also ordered a TDS meter and KH/GH tests. I figure if I'm going to be busting big $$$ on shrimp (well, not as much as I could but still) I might as well not kill them. Also checked the copper levels reported by my water company, which should be fine... Only like .03ppm.)
 
#55 ·
Oookay, did my water change... It knocked the nitrite down to about 2ppm (NOW I can tell the difference between 2 and 5, lol). During the process, my second anubias broke free of its string (which rotted ridiculously quickly)--its sibling did the same earlier this week, so I re-secured both of them with rubber bands. I'm gonna re-attach later with super glue, probably, as the rubber band situation doesn't look super fish-safe (there's a gap between the band and the rock that I don't like the look of). I also let the rest of my süßwassertang free, having freed the little pouch between the centerpiece rocks earlier this week. I've decided to just let it grow where it will. Surprise, the string attaching that to the rock was rotted too. Really wonder what kind of supernatural rotting powers this string has, because most accounts I've read of people using string to attach anubias to rock has it rotting a month+ later, not in two weeks... Finally, I added a prefilter (AquaClear foam with a hole cut in the center) in anticipation of shrimp (that I won't actually be adding until a while after I get my fish, probably, but whatever). I was going to wait to do that, but I've already got most of the larger dirt particles out of the tank with water changes, and I figure more biofiltration capacity can't hurt.

Bump: Oh, and I fed the tank a lot. If there's no ammonia reading come morning, I'm pretty sure the problem's with the test (or the particulates). I may yet buy a bottle of ammonia, lol.
 

Attachments

#57 ·
Ok, ok, ok, my test kit isn't broken. I don't know what was going on with the flake but I picked up some pure ammonia (an ENTIRE GALLON was all I could find, for $5... I'm set for life, I guess). It's 3%, which works out about perfectly that 1ml ~ 1ppm in my ten gallon (really like 1.3, but my tank is filled a little less than it could be, so). I tested the kit first with some ammonia mixed in distilled water, which registered (I can't even tell what the reading is, I think it might be off the charts, but it doesn't matter really). I tested the tank after dosing ~1ml--the syringe I'm using is HUGE so it's hard to be precise that small--and, sure enough, 1ppm. Cool. I also bought some super glue gel at the hardware store and stuck my anubias to the center rocks. Back on track, yay. Oh, and nitrites are still around 2ppm I think... Maybe 5? Who knows. Anyways, it's OK.

Unrelated, I don't think I've ever used ammonia for anything, but the smell is very, very familiar. Chemistry class? Maybe. Deja vu from a chemical is a trip, lol.
 

Attachments

#58 ·
Ha, I figured out where I remembered the ammonia smell from... Bleaching my hair, lol. I guess most hair bleaches contain ammonia persulfate, so maybe that's why? Or maybe they're just similar smells.

Anyways, my cycle is hanging in there. The bacteria are suffering a little I think with high nitrite levels, as I can't really get them down very well. I'll probably do a water change tomorrow; too tired now. In more interesting news, all my dwarf water lettuce is growing steadily! I have one big piece in particular that's going hog wild; it recently let down a big, furry root and has a bunch of little leaves. All the other dwarf water lettuce, though, while growing, keeps getting stuck in little nooks and crannies, on the heater wire, the filter, thermometer... I might make a tubing corral soon.

All my other plants are doing pretty well too. The ones in the middle/back seem to be doing best, probably because the sand is thinner there and I presume they're getting at least a little more light. Nothing's really suffering, though, which is cool.
 

Attachments

#60 ·
Yeah, I know it's not very heavily planted; my budget doesn't really allow for very many more plants, lol--though I did see some cheap hornwort at a LFS that I'm considering. I'm a college student, and not a rich one at that. I've done fine before with a tank about this planted, though, provided it was fully cycled, and I don't have an issue with waiting for this tank to cycle fully. I figure once my stems get even larger (and they are getting there), I'll just replant trimmings.
 
#61 · (Edited)
Cheap fast growing floaters will really speed up your tank's ability to deal with ammonia. Just keep an eye as most of them also drop dead leaves and roots on the floor, which needs a bit of management, or a large snail population. Before you can have algae, you need algae spores and before they can develop into algae they need ammonia or become nitrate deprived and fail to develop (they can not absorb nitrate till fully formed). So, when your tank is not able to cope with the initial ammonia levels, you are laying the groundwork for an algae outbreak a little bit further down the line. A solid initial planting goes a long way in preventing this.

Using ammonia is the fastest way to cycle a tank without fish, not necessarily the best.
There are some people saying they have used ammonia and had no problems with algae. Or that algae have predetermined growth cues ( a little harder without adequate supply of key nutrients).

So to some extent I have to add the caveat that is is mostly my impression, there are so many variables, how many plants did they have in their tanks, what temperature were they running? How much surface agitation, how much light?

I just prefer to plant a tank and leave it alone for about two months, things grow, things die, but there is a gradual ramp of appropriate bacteria. I switch my tank lights on at 6 in the morning and off about 10pm, I only have the thinnest sliver of algae on white rocks directly under the lights. That tank has been up since November last year.
 
#62 ·
My TDS meter, KH and GH tests came today. KH is 2, GH is also 2 out of the tap, KH is 4, GH is 3 in the tank (one of my rocks is doing this maybe? or something in the dirt? I don't know but if it's only 2 degrees higher after almost 3 weeks running I'm not super concerned. I'll keep an eye on it anyways). I guess I need a GH booster before I can get shrimp :'(... At least I'm starting low instead of high, though.
 
#64 ·
Made an executive decision (possibly temporary but sounding like a good idea) - If I find some nice blue shrimp (or go with the ones from the LFS which are more than I want to pay but I mean they're pretty good quality) and decide I want a fish besides the cories (which I'm leaning towards now, I don't know how far off it's going to be, as I want to get the cories first, and then the shrimp probably at least a month later, and then any other fish), I'm going to get Microdevario kubotai. If I go with yellow shrimp, I'm getting Boraras brigittae, Boraras maculatus, or something else tiny and red/orange (assuming I can find them). I'd also like orange neos if I could find them, so if that happens, maybe black neons? Not sure. Kinda worried about them eating too many babies, too. Oranges and CPDs would look really nice... Hmm.

Also, oooooooh my god I just found out about Microrasbora erythromicron... god they are so beautiful. That's the stuff of dreams right there. I've never seen them in a store, or even heard of them though until now so I bet they're hard to find / $$$$. Someday maybe.
 
#65 ·
It is always best to start with the best stock you can find, even if it costs a bit more.
A turd will only take so much polishing.

It is not too hard to stratify a tank to protect small inhabitants. Oak leaves on the ground is a very natural looking way of giving cover from prying eyes from above. Or a nice flat rock lifted a tiny bit off the substrate by lying ona few other rocks, like a table with short legs. Bunches of java moss are good too.
 
#66 ·
Yeah, for sure. I wasn't going to go with lower quality shrimp if I didn't get the ones at the LFS; I'd be buying comparable shrimp online, just hopefully cheaper :icon_lol:. All the fish at the LFS I'm looking at look really healthy too.

That's good advice about hiding spots, thanks! I was planning on getting some moss eventually anyways, so I might well go with that.
 
#67 ·
Hello again, it's been a while since I updated... I just did a -massive- water change, like 75% and I was able to get nitrites down to like 2ppm. They're seriously out of control. The good news is, though, that my nitrates are at 40ppm. So maybe the nitrite spike will end soon? I also have diatoms growing on my rocks... My white granite isn't looking so pristine anymore, lol.

The plants are growing steadily; one of the anubias put out a new leaf, and the dwarf water lettuce continues to explode. Bacopa and wisteria are growing more slowly, but still well. My detritus worm population has gone down significantly since I last posted; I think they're running out of food.

I'm rethinking Corydoras pygmaeus after all... I'm starting to think the bottom of the tank will be busy enough with the shrimp, so getting a cory like habrosus that stays more consistently on the bottom might just make things crowded... Plus, the LFS stocks pygmies, so I might well go with them.
 
#69 ·
My tank is about cycled, I think! Nitrites were hanging out at 2ppm since I did that big water change, and I just tested and they're at 0 (or -very- close, I thought I detected the tiniest hint of purple but not nearly enough to be .25ppm). Ammonia is hitting 0 (or almost 0) after about 12 hours (I've been dosing to 1ppm twice a day as per user Diana's suggestion for a planted tank) . I'm gonna let it run at least until Sunday afternoon... Into next week if I can be that patient, lol. I'm gonna start by stocking just 5 cories (pygmies probably) and bump it up to 10 or 11 after a couple weeks or a month. Then I'll get shrimp eventually, then maybe some micro fish. I'm excited!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top