Hello all, my name is Sherif but you guys can call me Woody.
I bought my first fish tank about two weeks ago, an all glass 10 gallon tank with a canopy, light, a Marineland Bio-Wheel 100 filter, a generic heater and some filter replacements for $30 used. Ehhhh, not a bad deal in my opinion. Plus, it was practically shipped to my door haha. Anyway. I spent a day cleaning it, next day i prepped it for paint, spray painted the back white with Krylon paint. Then i went to the back yard, stumbled over a few over grown shrubs (it was cold and I'm clumsy, dont judge me.) and got to the abandoned pond. I broke the ice apart and picked out a few rocks, took them inside and scrubbed them. Then i soaked them in a hot water/bleach mix for an hour or so then rinsed them. Went to the LFS aka Petco and Petsmart :icon_cry: and got some things i thought i needed including: a big bag of midnight Flora-Max, a syphon gravel vacuum, some airline tubbing, some gravel, test strips (the cheep ones because i have no live stock other than plants atm), tap water conditioner, and a new heater. I set everything up and this is what i ended up with. (First and second image)
While in my Marine Bio class (still in highschool :icon_roll), I ordered some plants. One pot of Dwarf Hairgrass and one pot of Dwarf Baby Tears (is that the same thing as HC and Cuba?) I got the shipment two days later with a little surprise, I revived two pots of Baby Tears. . Took the plants to my room and prepared them while i drained some water out into a bucket witch i put back after i was finished. I made a weak attempt at planting them, i never would have thought it would be that hard... ever. I feel like the BTs was meant to float like Duck Weed. Nonetheless, i did what i had to. (Third and fourth image) A few hours later i made a DIY CO2 system and added it to the tank. I tuned off the filter and added an extra light. It staid like that for the night. How long should i wait before i become concerned if i don't see changes?
Little did i know that was the easy part. Right now i am a little concerned about a few things such as lighting. It light that came with the tank was a 15w 17"... thats all i know about it. It also has the LG logo on it. Everything else is faded. Anyway, some people say WPG isn't important, some say it is. Some say you need CO2, some say you don't. Some say you cant keep Cherry Shrimp with CO2, some say you can. You get the point. But anyway. I will list what im working with, and what my goals are. Ill wait for some experts to school me.
As far as pressurized CO2... Maybe in the future, but i don't want to invest too much not even knowing if my plants are going to survive for a week.
10 Gallon Tank-
Substrate: Flora-Max with some gravel
Filter: MarineLand Penguin 100
Heat: Tetra HT30
As of now:
Plants: Dwarf Baby Tears, Dwarf Hairgrass
Fish: None
Invertebrates: None
CO2: DIY
Lighting: 15 wats
Goals:
Plants: Dwarf Baby Tears, Dwarf Hairgrass
Fish: 10+ Neon Tetras
Invertebrates: 15-30 Cherry Shrimp
CO2: Maybe pressurized
Lighting: Unknown
So, what am i doing wrong, what am i doing right, and what should i do in the near future? Thanks in advance everyone.
-Sherif 'Woody'
I bought my first fish tank about two weeks ago, an all glass 10 gallon tank with a canopy, light, a Marineland Bio-Wheel 100 filter, a generic heater and some filter replacements for $30 used. Ehhhh, not a bad deal in my opinion. Plus, it was practically shipped to my door haha. Anyway. I spent a day cleaning it, next day i prepped it for paint, spray painted the back white with Krylon paint. Then i went to the back yard, stumbled over a few over grown shrubs (it was cold and I'm clumsy, dont judge me.) and got to the abandoned pond. I broke the ice apart and picked out a few rocks, took them inside and scrubbed them. Then i soaked them in a hot water/bleach mix for an hour or so then rinsed them. Went to the LFS aka Petco and Petsmart :icon_cry: and got some things i thought i needed including: a big bag of midnight Flora-Max, a syphon gravel vacuum, some airline tubbing, some gravel, test strips (the cheep ones because i have no live stock other than plants atm), tap water conditioner, and a new heater. I set everything up and this is what i ended up with. (First and second image)
While in my Marine Bio class (still in highschool :icon_roll), I ordered some plants. One pot of Dwarf Hairgrass and one pot of Dwarf Baby Tears (is that the same thing as HC and Cuba?) I got the shipment two days later with a little surprise, I revived two pots of Baby Tears. . Took the plants to my room and prepared them while i drained some water out into a bucket witch i put back after i was finished. I made a weak attempt at planting them, i never would have thought it would be that hard... ever. I feel like the BTs was meant to float like Duck Weed. Nonetheless, i did what i had to. (Third and fourth image) A few hours later i made a DIY CO2 system and added it to the tank. I tuned off the filter and added an extra light. It staid like that for the night. How long should i wait before i become concerned if i don't see changes?
Little did i know that was the easy part. Right now i am a little concerned about a few things such as lighting. It light that came with the tank was a 15w 17"... thats all i know about it. It also has the LG logo on it. Everything else is faded. Anyway, some people say WPG isn't important, some say it is. Some say you need CO2, some say you don't. Some say you cant keep Cherry Shrimp with CO2, some say you can. You get the point. But anyway. I will list what im working with, and what my goals are. Ill wait for some experts to school me.
As far as pressurized CO2... Maybe in the future, but i don't want to invest too much not even knowing if my plants are going to survive for a week.
10 Gallon Tank-
Substrate: Flora-Max with some gravel
Filter: MarineLand Penguin 100
Heat: Tetra HT30
As of now:
Plants: Dwarf Baby Tears, Dwarf Hairgrass
Fish: None
Invertebrates: None
CO2: DIY
Lighting: 15 wats
Goals:
Plants: Dwarf Baby Tears, Dwarf Hairgrass
Fish: 10+ Neon Tetras
Invertebrates: 15-30 Cherry Shrimp
CO2: Maybe pressurized
Lighting: Unknown
So, what am i doing wrong, what am i doing right, and what should i do in the near future? Thanks in advance everyone.
-Sherif 'Woody'