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Okay so I'm finally going to be picking up my ten gallon tank in the upcoming month. I think I got everything but I'm not completely sure, but this is what my current plan is!
Tank:
Will be a Tetra 10 Gallon Starter Pack.
Filter:
Aquaclear 30 (maybe 20). Will probably check start pack hood to see if the filter fits in back, if not will be going with a standard 10 gallon tank, and figuring it out from there.
Lights:
If hood fits with filter, going to be replacing Incandescent bulbs with CFL, if it doesn't, between a Catalina Aquarium 20 inch 1x36 Watt Power Compact Aquarium Hood, or a AquaticLife dual T5 fixture, though I'm fairly certain that the 36 watt CFL from Catalina Aquariums will probably be enough to grow most if not all of the plants I want to grow-correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still a newbie.
Substrate:
Eco Complete Black Coarse
Plants-updated:
Fissidens Fontanus
Christmas Moss
Willow Moss
Anubias nana petite
hydrocotyle tripartita-Thank you for the suggestion theericafish!
CO2:
Excel, though if I can get away with it, none.
Inhabitants:
Tiger Shrimp
Out of Tap Water Parameters-used test strips:
7.6 pH
120 ppm kH
200 ppm GH
Nitrate: less then 20ppm
Nitrite: between 0-1ppm
Out of House Water Softener (big system downstairs runs to kitchen sink):
between 6.8-7.2 pH
40 ppm kH
25 ppm gH
Nitrate/Nitrite the same as out of tap
Is the water coming out of the water softener going to be good enough for Tiger Shrimp? Mix it with R.O? Remineralize R.O? I heard that there's a risk having Anubias with shrimp, is that true?
Layout Plan (will upload sketch later on):
Inspiration photo:
I want to try and create a miniature forest in a standard 10 gallon tank, 20" x 10" x 12". In order to create more depth, I'm going to have the creek, made from a mixture of sand and grey gravel, start slightly off center on the left side of the tank start straight, and curve to the right, and then disappearing behind a "hill" on the right side of the tank. The left side of the tank will be a bit flatter then the right side of the tank, though towards the edges and back of the tank, the substrate will be slightly sloped, following the curvature of the creek.
On the flatter areas I'm going to try to create a carpet of H.C, with a few Anubias nana Petite along the side of the creek bed. Aside from the H.C. and Anubias nana Petite, the rest of the plants are going to be a mixture of Mosses. For trees I'll be using Driftwood from along Lake Michigan-boiled, and trying to attach a mixture of Fissidens Fontanus and Christmas Moss on different pieces to create a variation of trees. Some smaller pieces of driftwood, if I can find them, will be on the forest floor, with willow moss attached. The LFS had some great small rocks that I hope to use in my tank, and maybe with some luck, I'll be able to attach some moss to them!
I really loved a display tank at my LFS where a piece of driftwood was laid across a gap with moss on it, with a shrimp sitting on it picking at the moss, so one piece will be laid across the creek as well. It won't be nearly as dense as the photo, but I'm going to try and mimic some of it.
If anyone knows of some relatively low-light plants that don't grow very tall and would fit a forest themed tank, please share away!
Are egg-crates the way to go to create hills? I don't want to have to use TOO much substrate. The creek will probably be only about 1 inch of sand, the sides 2 inches, and about 3 inches for the "hill". Is 2 inches going to be enough for H.C.?
Well that's all I got for now. I'm hoping by using mostly mosses, it will make it an easier first tank. We have a variety in our 40gallon, but it isn't exactly an Aquascaped tank.
Tank:
Will be a Tetra 10 Gallon Starter Pack.
Filter:
Aquaclear 30 (maybe 20). Will probably check start pack hood to see if the filter fits in back, if not will be going with a standard 10 gallon tank, and figuring it out from there.
Lights:
If hood fits with filter, going to be replacing Incandescent bulbs with CFL, if it doesn't, between a Catalina Aquarium 20 inch 1x36 Watt Power Compact Aquarium Hood, or a AquaticLife dual T5 fixture, though I'm fairly certain that the 36 watt CFL from Catalina Aquariums will probably be enough to grow most if not all of the plants I want to grow-correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still a newbie.
Substrate:
Eco Complete Black Coarse
Plants-updated:
Fissidens Fontanus
Christmas Moss
Willow Moss
Anubias nana petite
hydrocotyle tripartita-Thank you for the suggestion theericafish!
CO2:
Excel, though if I can get away with it, none.
Inhabitants:
Tiger Shrimp
Out of Tap Water Parameters-used test strips:
7.6 pH
120 ppm kH
200 ppm GH
Nitrate: less then 20ppm
Nitrite: between 0-1ppm
Out of House Water Softener (big system downstairs runs to kitchen sink):
between 6.8-7.2 pH
40 ppm kH
25 ppm gH
Nitrate/Nitrite the same as out of tap
Is the water coming out of the water softener going to be good enough for Tiger Shrimp? Mix it with R.O? Remineralize R.O? I heard that there's a risk having Anubias with shrimp, is that true?
Layout Plan (will upload sketch later on):
Inspiration photo:

I want to try and create a miniature forest in a standard 10 gallon tank, 20" x 10" x 12". In order to create more depth, I'm going to have the creek, made from a mixture of sand and grey gravel, start slightly off center on the left side of the tank start straight, and curve to the right, and then disappearing behind a "hill" on the right side of the tank. The left side of the tank will be a bit flatter then the right side of the tank, though towards the edges and back of the tank, the substrate will be slightly sloped, following the curvature of the creek.
On the flatter areas I'm going to try to create a carpet of H.C, with a few Anubias nana Petite along the side of the creek bed. Aside from the H.C. and Anubias nana Petite, the rest of the plants are going to be a mixture of Mosses. For trees I'll be using Driftwood from along Lake Michigan-boiled, and trying to attach a mixture of Fissidens Fontanus and Christmas Moss on different pieces to create a variation of trees. Some smaller pieces of driftwood, if I can find them, will be on the forest floor, with willow moss attached. The LFS had some great small rocks that I hope to use in my tank, and maybe with some luck, I'll be able to attach some moss to them!
I really loved a display tank at my LFS where a piece of driftwood was laid across a gap with moss on it, with a shrimp sitting on it picking at the moss, so one piece will be laid across the creek as well. It won't be nearly as dense as the photo, but I'm going to try and mimic some of it.
If anyone knows of some relatively low-light plants that don't grow very tall and would fit a forest themed tank, please share away!
Are egg-crates the way to go to create hills? I don't want to have to use TOO much substrate. The creek will probably be only about 1 inch of sand, the sides 2 inches, and about 3 inches for the "hill". Is 2 inches going to be enough for H.C.?
Well that's all I got for now. I'm hoping by using mostly mosses, it will make it an easier first tank. We have a variety in our 40gallon, but it isn't exactly an Aquascaped tank.