So here I am with a 10G planted tank without any fish in it and I am now simply waiting for the plants to start growing and seeing snail eggs on some of the decor. There's nothing left for me to do right but wait. That's when I usually start thinking. That can be a good or a bad thing.
I'm starting to research some of the fish I want to keep in there in more details. I don't like what I'm reading. Rather, I don't like that I didn't start reading in more details before now. I know I want a Betta, some dwarf cories, and possibly some oto cats or dwarf loaches. As it turns out, two of the four choices on that list will do better on a soft sandy substrate. I wanted Flourite for the plants' benefit but I should have foreseen this before now.
I should have added a layer of sand on top of the Flourite before filling the tank! This is stupid of me! I should have done this research before now. I had considered sand but dismissed it because I thought it was going to be difficult to vacuum. ARRRGH!
Of course it isn't too late to add the sand since there aren't any fish in there yet but that will mean emptying the tank, possibly removing some of the Flourite, and adding sand and refilling the tank, which will become cloudy all over again and I will have to wait another few days more for things to settle before I do anything else. This tank was supposed to be the low maintenance one but its setup certainly isn't turning out to be low maintenance! And of course now that the sandy substrate idea is in my head and that I will always regret not doing it if I don't do it now, I now simply
have to do it.
More to come when the dust settles...
