The Planted Tank Forum banner

Low tech community 10 gallon

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  hestersu 
#1 ·
Hey all! Great forum! I'm back into fish keeping after a 40 year hiatus. I figure I'm a noob again. Things have sure changed!

While cleaning out a rent house, I found a 10 gallon tank. It had a heater, some kind of gravel and a few rocks. I tossed the gravel and rocks and cleaned up the tank and heater. I'm not sure the heater works so it's in my spare parts bin.

I bought an Aqueon Pro heater and an Aqueon quietflow 10 filter, some new gravel and a few plants and started cycling. Whatever gravel I bought was terrible. I should have known better but was determined to make the best of it. I used Seachem Prime and Stability to get started. The plants are Anachris, Lotus, Anubias, Java Fern and one that I'm not sure about ( has large curly leaves). The lighting is a USA Current LED Satellite with a Dual Ramp timer. Lighting is 12 hours a day.

After 3 to 4 weeks of cycling and testing, I bought 2 white mollies. They did wonderful. After another 4 weeks, I bought 6 Harlequin Rasbora and a Clown Loach. I had an outbreak of Malaysian snails. The Loach went to work. I added 2 Otocinclus a week later. One Oto died for unknown reasons after a week. Everyone else seems healthy and active.

I couldn't stand the gravel so I took it out and replaced with 2-3mm gravel from Petco. Cleaned and boiled it. Removed the plants and cleaned everything out and put in the new.

The tank is pretty stable. I have had a small problem with an ammonia / nitrite spike but it appears to be leveling off. I've been doing 20% water changes every other day. I'm feeding Tetra flake food for everyone with peas every Saturday. They get bloodworms a couple of times a week. The Loach gets a wafer ever few days.

I added a Tetra Whisper 10 air pump and air stone and that has really cleared my water and added just a little more movement to the water. The fish seem to like it.

I'm still learning about ferts. I'm adding API Leaf Zone every week and I put API Root tabs in when I put in the new gravel. I put API CO2 Booster in daily (1ml). Seachem Prime and Stability are still used as needed.

I'm on a well for my water but I do pick up 5 gallons of RO water from my LFS when I go to town.

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed. I have a Phosphate issue right now. 10 ppm is the reading. I've removed every leaf or stem that appeared unhealthy. I have a few leaves that have black spots which could be the dreaded BBA. I'd like to get the phosphate reading down. My well water is 0 so whatever it is is in the tank.

I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for reading!
 
See less See more
#3 ·
I agree with you. So far, he seems calm and happy. He has his own "cave" (a Zoo Med log) that he spends a lot of time in. He will need a new home though. I may trade him back to the LFS if I can. If not, I will need a bigger tank for him. Oh darn - another fish tank. :red_mouth.

I walked in last night to check on everyone before I went to bed. The loach, the mollies and 3 of the HR were all in the log together. Just hanging out.

Bump: Current picture of the community tank.
 

Attachments

#5 ·
I think the curly leafed plant is one of the Aponogetons, but I am not sure.
Anubias is generally grown tied to a rock or driftwood. If you planted it in the gravel make sure that only the roots are buried. The stem (sort of might look like a root) should stay above the substrate.
 
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