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First Planted, 5 gallons on a budget

35K views 61 replies 19 participants last post by  ArchimedesTheDog 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey folks, just starting with aquariums again after 20 years; I'm on a budget, so am going slow and trying to stay really low tech (by agreement, I spend as much on the tank as my lovely wife does on gardening :)). I got a 5-gallon cheapie tank kit and added A 10W, 5100K fluorescent bulb. Substrate is some basic natural gravel from LFS, no other substrate additives: I was going to get laterite but forgot until after everything was running. After discussing it with the plant guy at LFS, decided to let it ride; we also decided to try using Seachem Flourish Tabs instead of fluid since the doses would be so small and hard to manage. I am using Amquel Plus and NovAqua Plus in the water whenever I do a partial water change.

Plants are three different varieties of Anubia and a Java Fern as basic starter plants. Also have a nice rock (well.. for a rock...) and a piece of Malaysian Driftwood. The big Anubia in the front has a broken off leaf, the LFS guy thought it was just broken in shipping, and I liked how it looked so decided to give it a try.

Curious how people fertilize at this size, and anything I can do to improve the tank. I'd love to get some plants near the top somehow but not sure where to go with it. Thanks for taking a look.

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#2 ·
Off to a great start! I can't tell for sure but make sure you only bury the roots of the anubias and not the rhizome also make sure the java fern has rhizome above the substrate. Rhizominous plants need light on the rhizome.

I think your root tabs are a good idea but you can easily dose other ways. You just have to figure out how much or liquid or dry ferts to add for your tank size. There are online calculators to help. I would suggest going to the fertilizers section here and looking around.
 
#3 ·
Nice start, nice and simple. Since they are low tech plants, I would just get some root tabs or some liquid ferts and just dose every so often. They don't demand much.

I kept some Java Fern and Anubias in a ziplock back on top of my tank, and they still grew with just the ambient room light.
 
#4 ·
Thanks! I think the Anubia rhizomes are above gravel (well, except for that big one in the middle, I'll have to try to work that up), mainly because I couldn't get them into the gravel very well, maybe now I know why; I'll double check at home tonight.

I actually read elsewhere in these forums that the roots of the java fern are supposed to not be buried, that the fern would take care of the roots itself, so last night I unburied the roots and just left it floating on the bottom. I was curious to see if the roots grabbed onto the rock next to the fern, but let me know if I was misunderstanding the instruction on the fern, I can easily re-bury the roots, it has a nice horizontal rhizome that seems in good health so far. I have had a brown thumb with potted plants in the past, so I am fretful about this learning process.

At this size of tank my main concern with fertilizer dosing was over-encouraging algae growth. I'll poke around the fertilizer forum and see what I can learn, it's pretty overwhelming, to be honest!

Is this a good place to ask about an easy floating plant to start with, or is that better to go to the plants subforum? With a small tank and one bulb, I know I don't want to choke the light, but I love the look.
 
#6 ·
I adjusted the clump of big Anubias tonight, trying to get more exposed. Turns out it wasn't three shoots off a single rhizome like I thought, and instead was three shoots with roots, one with a bit of rhizome coming off I think. I really struggled with getting them into the gravel again and some roots are still above the gravel. lesson learned (most of the white is the lower layer of white gravel I have below the tan).

I swear the crab came out of its log, looked at what I was doing, then went back inside to judge me in peace and quiet.

 
#12 · (Edited)
The brown spots are brown algae, and there are brown algae hairs growing off the end of the broken leaf in the foreground. It rubs off with my finger. I'll head to the algae forum to ask for advice.

Tank is still cycling, the Ammonia has dropped to 0 but the Nitrites are still at ~5.0 PPM, I expect them to start dropping soon. I change about a gallon of water every other day. I am using Amquel+ and NovAqua+, I switched to tap water from purified water, the Flourish Tabs are still in the gravel and I am doing ~5 drops of Flourish Excel every 3 days at the moment.

I am considering Water Sprite in the tank to provide some floating greenery, I like the look better than Dwarf Water Lettuce.

 
#13 ·
Thursday night I tested my nitrites and they were about 5 PPM, Ammonia had been down to zero since Monday. I changed a gallon of water, then I left town for a couple days on business. This morning, I am testing Nitrites at zero. I'm very pleased.

My Diatoms/Brown Algae are very prominent, now, though mostly leaving the glass alone. I'm trying to be patient, I know that usually it stabilizes, but it's really unattractive, of course. Now that the bacteria are present I will try to lower light levels for a few days, please let me kniow if that is the wrong approach.

Today I will change 2 gallons of water to try and get some of the detritus out.

Also, I have an unexpected tank denizen.

 
#15 ·
I picked up a Water Sprite and an Otocinclus, today. To say that the Otocinclus started eating diatoms immediately would be an understatement! He spent zero time learning his environment, he sank onto a plant and set to work. I better go get some algae tabs! Not the prettiest fish, they had some expensive panda loaches that were beautiful, but I already like this guy's work ethic.

The mechanical filter medium in my HOB was also pretty sparse and didn't seem effective, so I bought some Fluval foam pads and stuck it in the filter with the other one.
 
#16 ·
The extra filter foam has made a tremendous difference in the water quality, holy cow. And speaking of huge differences, the Oto has been going to town on the tank, I'm worried he will run out of food immediately. I put a frozen pea in there but he has been ignoring it, tomorrow I will try Zucchini and some algae wafers. I read somewhere that the Hikari ones may not be great, so I was going to get Hikari and Tetra and try each.

I haven't seen the ramshorn in a day or so, he was on the back glass when the Oto landed, and he made off into the gravel I think.

 
#18 · (Edited)
Okay, I now have a large number of water quality tests that in total cost about twice what the tank and equipment cost; my wife is trying to figure out what she can add to the garden to make up for it. Water this morning was:
  • Ammonia: 0
  • Nitrite: 0
  • Nitrate: 40ppm
  • pH: >7.6 (man, this API test is useless with such a narrow range)
  • GH: 16 drops/300ppm
  • KH: 8 drops/140ppm
I found a rotting green pea behind the rock, stuck in the roots of the Java Fern; pulling it out largely uprooted the fern, but demonstrated that the fern is rooting at least! Leaves on the Anubias in the back left are yellowing, I have a feeling I will be replacing that one at some point. Lots of beautiful moss at the LFS in ym neighborhood, but kinda scary, looks like a lot of work.

Saw three ramshorns at once last night, only one visible this morning. The algae tab I left had been eaten, not sure if by the oto or the black skirt tetra, but the tetra was picking at the remnants today so I have a suspicion.

Black skirt goes back to the store Saturday. I'm then getting a school of some sort of nano fish -- LFS has a lot of varieties -- and a shrimp.

Tonight is another significant water change -- draining the tank down near the inlet of the filter lets me add about 1 and 3/4 gallons back in to have the water coming out of the filter with a slight drop to create more turbulence. I'm going to add a prefilter over the intake, hoping the Fluval fits the tube.
 
#21 ·
i don't know if your root tabs will do any good for your java fern or your anubias. they both feed from the water column, and not the substrate, so having tabs in the substrate probably won't help a lot. i'd dose flourish comprehensive, it seems to have generally pretty good results.
 
#23 ·
Other than the water tests, I have spent about $95, and that's with the Cyclop-EEZ I got talked into, and all the equipment like gravel vacuum etc that I got rid of years ago.

I did a 2-gallon water change with filtered water from the store tonight to try to improve some of that water condition and put the fluval prefilter on the filter intake. I've seen enough material get sucked into the tube and be caught to feel this may affect water quality, but we'll see how it goes.

I am not sure what to get for livestock, the LFS I like has *lots* of nano fish and shrimp that come and go all the time, there were some really beautiful dark rasbora-looking things last time. I was hoping to get something colorful and small for both. I was originally considering Amano for the shrimp, but the Oto is really taking care of the algae, so I'd like to get a something to pick that prefilter clean.

 
#25 ·
Today, the Black Skirt Tetra left. Thanks, Peter! Best of luck to you!

My wife named him Peter.

Anyhow, today Peter went back to the store, and I brought home two Clown Killies, a group of four Galaxy Microrasborae, and a Cherry Shrimp. I also removed the dying Anubias from the back corner and put a small ball of Java Moss there, tucking it under the driftwood until it takes hold.

The Killies are hanging out at the top of the water so far, like little sharks with fins above the water. I'm a little worried about them, but supposedly they are top dwellers. The Galaxies are hanging out behind the wood as a group, and the Cherry is happily puttering away. Lefty the Oto is as indefatigable as always.

I also dosed a medicine dropper full of regular Flourish before adding the fish.



The window is reflected in the tank, that's the grid thing.
 
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