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First Planted Tank (10 gallon low-tech)

1K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  PaintedLady83 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm in the process of setting up my first planted tank, a cheap 10gallon I picked up at Walmart, in preparation for eventually moving up to a 75g. I figured I'd give it a shot with a small tank first to see if my black thumb transfers over from non-aquatic plants to aquatic before I spend a bunch of money stocking the 75g.

So far I've just got the hardscaping done and am still deciding on what plants to add. For fish I'm thinking I'll go with some crystal red shrimp and maybe some cardinals, rummy nose tetras, or harlequin rasboras.


I'm using Eco Complete as my substrate. My furry assistant can be seen stage right :icon_bigg


I found some really nice Pagoda rock at my LFS. I'm going for somewhat of an Iwagumi look, and am trying to recreate a canyon of sorts on the right side. The blue towel of course is not a permanent backdrop. Eventually I'll put either a black or white backdrop on the tank.


Left side view


Right side view


Close-up shot of the "canyon"


Tank filled and sitting in its current home. I'll move it once I'm ready to set up the 75g.

Thoughts and comments are welcome :D
 
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#2 ·
Update 5/3/13: So I finally got some plants in my tank yesterday, nothing fancy just some Anubias, Java Fern Windelov, and Wisteria I picked up at the local Petsmart. So far everything seems to be doing okay. I treated with Flourish after planting and will test my water parameters tomorrow.

I figured I'd better get out the good camera (an older Canon EOS Rebel handed down to me from my dad) rather than continuing to use my cell phone for pictures. After figuring out that I should turn off the overhead lights in the dinning room and the flash, and set the camera on my tripod, I think I got some pretty decent shots. I might have to look into finding a macro lens for my camera though.


Full tank shot


Anubias on the right side


Wisteria - looks bit a peeky and was a total pain in the butt to plant (kept dislodging and floating up to the top). Hopefully it will perk up in a day or two.


Another Anubias, on the left side this time


The third Anubias, towards the back of the tank

For some reason I couldn't get a shot of the Java Fern that didn't come out totally blurry.


Silas, my assistant for the day. He was *very* helpful! ;)

I've also got some Mini Christmas Moss and Dwarf Four Leaf Clover on order from Planted Aquariums Central, which hopefully will arrive on Monday. Oh, and I still need to get a background for the tank. I think I might just hit my local Lowes/Home Depot and pick up some window tint.

As always, thoughts and comments are welcome!
 
#9 ·
Update 5/4/13: Checked my water parameters this morning. The amonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all at 0ppm which is good. The pH is rather high though at 8.2. My regular (non-planted) tank that has been running for over a year with a good number of fish is also at 8.2. I checked my water straight out of the tap and it is reading 7.8. I'm not sure if maybe the dechlorinator I'm using is bumping the pH up a bit. The water here in Parker is pretty awful. I'll swing by Petsmart later today and pick up some pH Down.

I added a Narrow Leaf Java Fern last night, and exposed the rhizomes on the Anubias and Java Leaf Windelov as suggested. Haven't seen any new growth yet, but the color on all the plants looks good.

More pics to come once the driftwood and moss has arrived.
 
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