5 & 10g Journal: 8/18/12 PICTURES! and a question! (!56k)

[Karackle]

5g Tank Specs

Equipment
5.5g AGA Tank
Desk lamp with 1 CFL bulb
DIY plexiglass canopy
Azoo Red Sea Nano filter
Air stone

Flora
XMas moss
Java moss
Anubias
Hygrophila (2 sp.)

Fauna
1 male betta

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10g Tank Specs

Equipment
10g AGA tank
Perfect-A-Lite fluorescent Hood w/ Marineland "Natural Daylight" 18" 15w T8 bulb
$11 Wally World Aquatech Filter (with my own media, not the cartridge)
Bubble wall

Flora
Cryptocoryne undulata
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Java Fern
Anubias

Fauna
7 Beckford's Pencilfish
1 Celestial Pearl Danio
4 Otocinclus cats
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First Post:

Well I thought I would start a new thread for this tank, even though it is technically the same tank I used for my guppy/endler breeding project, it is no longer a breeding tank, so I feel it deserves its own thread.

Well I made the bone-head mistake of doing my errands at places that close late on sundays before hitting the pet store so I ended up rounding out some of the supplies for this tank @ wal-mart. This basically just means I bought a crappy filter but it was only $11 so i'll just replace it when it breaks in a few weeks. I had extra filter media from when I had to buy a new AC for my 30g but kept the old, seeded, media in it so I used that instead of the filter "Cartridge" it came with. I had black aquarium gravel so for now that is what I am using. I know that inert gravel isn't the best, but I'm on a budget, I had it and it's worked ok in my 5g in the past. the substrate isn't as deep as I'd like so if they have eco-complete when I head out to collect the rest of the things I need I may grab a bag and mix it in. I'll also be adding fert tabs to the substrate.

At the moment the tank is not planted but it has lots of plants floating in it. I used a piece of seeded filter pad from my 30g tank and the plants are from that tank so that should aid in the silent cycle.

The tank is home to 3 WCMMs, 3 male endler's livebearers and 1 male guppy, oh and 3 or so RCS.

Some pictures:

The filter:


Filter media:


I didn't have a mesh bag, but had some old filter pad POCKETS (on the R above) so I put the ceramic pellets in there for the time being:


Seeded filter pad from 30g (YUM! ):


Filled filter:


My awesome temporary lighting consists of 2 lamps from a 5 lamp gooseneck floor lamp :


And the tank as it looks now (well almost, I added tinfoil to the top so that WCMM wouldn't jump out):


So I'm off to buy some rocks and/or wood to attach the moss to, need a lid & light or hood for the tank and some fert tabs. As with all of my tanks, this will be a low light, low tech tank.

Stay tuned for updates and a tank that is well, 'scaped

[lauraleellbp]

Way to DIY it! lol

Ya need a hardscape.

And what light fixture are you going to end up with?

[Karackle]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Way to DIY it! lol

thank ya, thank ya!

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Ya need a hardscape.

Hahaha yes I know, I'll be on the hunt for some this evening

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

And what light fixture are you going to end up with?

Well probably I'll eventually go with a standard 10g flourescent fixture but as cheap as that is (relatively speaking for this hobby that is) it may have to wait until the next paycheck (next week) for the next week or 2 I may just go with a desk lamp with a CFL bulb. I would just keep that permanently, but it won't light the tank evenly and getting into 2 CFLs is getting to be too much light for this looow light lovin' gal!

[Karackle]

well no new pictures yet, the boy and I were feeling under the weather, mostly due to lack of sleep sunday night (he was at the giant's game and didn't get home til 1:30am... i'm not sure why I was still up when he got home...mild insomnia attack i guess so I was busy unpacking some of the last boxes) so by the time i got home from doing errands last night and we'd eaten the chicken soup I brought home we were both pretty much ready to call it a night.

sigh.

BUT I did get a nice piece of DW for the tank while I was out that I soaked overnight so that it would sink, i scrubbed it this morning and popped it in the tank. I'll deal with tannins via water changes, it's only a 10g tank after all so water changes are pretty simple.

I'll try to get pics of the tank with the DW tonight and post them later or tomorrow. I'm going to try to get this guy planted tonight if I can too so I don't lose my plants, they only last so long floating.

Unfortunately, I totally forgot to go to HD for a piece of plexi to put over top of the tank until my next paycheck (next week) when i can afford a hood or glass canopy & strip light. Normally I'd just leave it open top and not worry, but I hear WCMMs are jumpers, so I'm trying to keep them in the tank In the mean time I've jerry rigged something that will let the light through, I've got the canopy from the 5g across the center the wrong way with some saran wrap running across the long way, i needed the center "bridge" so the saran didn't "stick" directly to the water. The goose neck floor lamp will also continue to be the light for the next week - week and a half. It's messy and ugly, but it should do the trick very temporarily.

Ok that's all for now....pics later or tomorrow.

[sewingalot]

Hahaha, Saran Wrap and Aluminum Foil. Are you baking or planting a tank? Just joking, Kara. I got to hand it to you for the ingenuity you have. You need to update your signature to uncross off your 10 gallon now.

[Karackle]

Originally Posted by sewingalot

Hahaha, Saran Wrap and Aluminum Foil. Are you baking or planting a tank? Just joking, Kara. I got to hand it to you for the ingenuity you have. You need to update your signature to uncross off your 10 gallon now.

Hahahaha well I have been in the mood to bake some cookies so maybe my brain is getting confused and befuddled

Thanks, seriously lacking funds but the desire to have a tank seem to foster ingenuity i guess I'm REALLY frustrated that I can't find any of my desk lamps though is it possible I threw them all out before the move?! Anyway, next week I'll be able to afford a real cover and light for this tank. I needed some new clothes and winter boots so I went on a bit of a shopping spree this weekend which cut into my tank funds I threw out (well donated actually) a LOT of clothes before the move though and my feet were getting wet in my sneakers so I actually did need those new things, and shoot if winter boots aren't expensive!

And you're right, I do need to update my sig!

[sewingalot]

ROFL! Know wonder you have baking supplies on your fish tank. MMMM, cookies and hot cocoa. Great job on the donation of clothes, I am happy to hear you are helping out others.

You could always saw the goose next down or raise the tank to meet the light.

With wet sneakers, you'll have wet feet. That is my wisdom for today.

[Matty]

Keep with it, there are some really cheap alternatives for lighting!

[Karackle]

Originally Posted by sewingalot

ROFL! Know wonder you have baking supplies on your fish tank. MMMM, cookies and hot cocoa. Great job on the donation of clothes, I am happy to hear you are helping out others.

You could always saw the goose next down or raise the tank to meet the light.

Hahaha that probably IS why I thought to use baking supplies! I can't wait until we have couches that I can curl up on with cocoa! We do have 1 easy chair....how to distract the boy so I can claim it as my own.......

I could saw it down, but I really will be getting new lighting next paycheck, so i think this will work for now.

Originally Posted by sewingalot

With wet sneakers, you'll have wet feet. That is my wisdom for today.

ROFL wonderful wisdom, thank you!

Originally Posted by Matty

Keep with it, there are some really cheap alternatives for lighting!

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll take any suggestions you can offer! We need new couches eventually so the more $ i can save on setting up the tank, the better, though a hood for a 10g prob won't break the bank once I get paid again, but if I could go cheaper, that would be good too!

Ugh...i hate bills and costs that come with a new house, I just want $ for my hobby darnit!

[Moody636]

For lighting one of your cheapest bets might be to use the stock walmart hood with spiral CFLs. I'm running 2x20 watts right now with great results, but that would probably be too much light for what you're looking at.

I wound up painting the bottom of the hood white and superglued a halved beer can to use for reflectors/heat shields.

[angelicodin]

Remember if you are going to add wood that you boil it in water to remove the tannins. If you don't you'll end up with murky water for a vary long time ;p

[Karackle]

Originally Posted by Moody636

For lighting one of your cheapest bets might be to use the stock walmart hood with spiral CFLs. I'm running 2x20 watts right now with great results, but that would probably be too much light for what you're looking at.

I wound up painting the bottom of the hood white and superglued a halved beer can to use for reflectors/heat shields.

Hmm yeah I thought about doing this but was worried that it would give me too much light...this is a dumb Q probably but are there lower wattage spiral CFL options?

Originally Posted by angelicodin

Remember if you are going to add wood that you boil it in water to remove the tannins. If you don't you'll end up with murky water for a vary long time ;p

Oh, yeah, I don't do that I'll just do water changes and I find adding charcoal helps too. I did this on my 20g and it wasn't so bad, had "blackwater" conditions for a little while, but the fish don't mind it. And with a 10, water changes are so quick, I'd rather get just get the wood in there.....you could call it me being lazy

[non_compliance]

Originally Posted by Moody636

For lighting one of your cheapest bets might be to use the stock walmart hood with spiral CFLs. I'm running 2x20 watts right now with great results, but that would probably be too much light for what you're looking at.

I wound up painting the bottom of the hood white and superglued a halved beer can to use for reflectors/heat shields.

Hmmm... I like this idea. I will do it. Thanks!

[daijoubu]

Originally Posted by Karackle

Hmm yeah I thought about doing this but was worried that it would give me too much light...this is a dumb Q probably but are there lower wattage spiral CFL options?

There are. I'm using a pair of 13W 6500k spiral CFLs made by Phillips in my 10g.

I was going to link to the US home depot, but apparently they don't carry as many CFLs as Canada.

[Karackle]

Originally Posted by daijoubu

There are. I'm using a pair of 13W 6500k spiral CFLs made by Phillips in my 10g.

I was going to link to the US home depot, but apparently they don't carry as many CFLs as Canada.

Cool thanks! You know now that I think of it, 13w sounds familiar, I think that's what I usually get...that's the 60w equivalent i think?

Still, would that make yours a high light tank? I'm looking for low light, medium at the most