Welcome to TPT!!! I'm new here too, and am also setting up my first tank, so I can't be of much help there... But I'll be subscribing to and following this thread to see what kind of answers you get. Good luck!
First tank ever: going planted. Hello from the SF Bay Area
Hi everyone!
First let me introduce myself. I live in San Jose, CA and this is my first tank.
I have extremely limited experience with fish and aquariums in general. My first fish was 3 neon tetras in a container that was less than .35 gallon. They survived for about a month surprisingly. One died from stealing all the food from the other two and the rest died from being in the sun. That was when I was six years old.I then got a betta fish freshman year of high school. The betta lived for about a year and died because of neglect.
One day I was browsing around to look for ideas on a vivarium for my snake. I somehow ended up in theplantedtank.com. I was instantly hooked and browsed around the forums. I was inspired to PROPERLY care for fish.
I still sometimes get a pang of guilt everytime I think about those fish I had in the past.
So a year later at the age of 21 I finally got a tank. I have the small essentials like Prime, water tester etc. I'm pretty sure the tank is cycled and I've been trying to find the sweet spot between how much or how little to feed... I've been doing water changes every 3 days and testing before every water change.
Current tank:
1. 15 gallons
2. Aquaclear 30: 2 sponges and biomax ceramic rings
3. Cheap led hood
4. Subwassertang and Java Moss
5. Heater
Current residents:
1. 2 Panda Corydoras
2. 2 Streba (Sterbai?) Corydoras
I'm not sure how I want to stock these tanks. I might keep the Corydoras, might not. I'm thinking about going with Rosy Red Minnows or Guppies.
I am thinking about giving up one species of Corydora because I don't think a 15 gallon can support 2 shoals of both. I plan on raising guppies and red rosy minnows along with the corycats unless you all believe this is serious over stocking then I will definitely reconsider.
I plan on making this a low tech but medium lights. No CO2 as I don't feel comfortable using it and I don't have the immediate funds for an investment. I do plan on using Flourish Excel in exchange of CO2.
So far I ordered:
1. 2 bags of Eco Complete
2. Finnex Fugeray 24"
3. Flourish Excel
4. 5 inch gravel cleaner. I had a bigger one but I don't really like it.
5. Gel caps with osmocote plus in it. I'm not really sure if I need this. I read I need this for carpeting plants like glosso or dwarf baby tears
The scary part for me are the plant choices. I want my tank to be heavily planted. I don't know anything about aquatic plants and I've been looking at the plant package deals on aquabid. Sounds really ignorant but do stem plants have roots? Do you just bury them in the eco complete and that's it?
There is one package deal I really like and they consist of these plants:
1. Alternanthera reineckii
2. Cabomba caroliniana
3. Ceratophyllum demersum
4. Hemianthus micranthemoides
5. Hygrophila difformis
6. Limnophila indica
7. Ludwigia Peruensis
8. Ludwigia repens
9. Myriophyllum
10. Rotala Nanjenshan
I also want to add glosso or dwarf baby tears for partial carpeting.
They look pretty good but I don't know... Please feel free to give me any information or suggestions. I've been trying to read all the threads but it's a lot to take in. Anyways I hope you all can come along with me on this journey of building a tank.
Here's the picture of the 15 gallon tank
![]()
First let me introduce myself. I live in San Jose, CA and this is my first tank.
I have extremely limited experience with fish and aquariums in general. My first fish was 3 neon tetras in a container that was less than .35 gallon. They survived for about a month surprisingly. One died from stealing all the food from the other two and the rest died from being in the sun. That was when I was six years old.I then got a betta fish freshman year of high school. The betta lived for about a year and died because of neglect.
One day I was browsing around to look for ideas on a vivarium for my snake. I somehow ended up in theplantedtank.com. I was instantly hooked and browsed around the forums. I was inspired to PROPERLY care for fish.
I still sometimes get a pang of guilt everytime I think about those fish I had in the past.
So a year later at the age of 21 I finally got a tank. I have the small essentials like Prime, water tester etc. I'm pretty sure the tank is cycled and I've been trying to find the sweet spot between how much or how little to feed... I've been doing water changes every 3 days and testing before every water change.
Current tank:
1. 15 gallons
2. Aquaclear 30: 2 sponges and biomax ceramic rings
3. Cheap led hood
4. Subwassertang and Java Moss
5. Heater
Current residents:
1. 2 Panda Corydoras
2. 2 Streba (Sterbai?) Corydoras
I'm not sure how I want to stock these tanks. I might keep the Corydoras, might not. I'm thinking about going with Rosy Red Minnows or Guppies.
I am thinking about giving up one species of Corydora because I don't think a 15 gallon can support 2 shoals of both. I plan on raising guppies and red rosy minnows along with the corycats unless you all believe this is serious over stocking then I will definitely reconsider.
I plan on making this a low tech but medium lights. No CO2 as I don't feel comfortable using it and I don't have the immediate funds for an investment. I do plan on using Flourish Excel in exchange of CO2.
So far I ordered:
1. 2 bags of Eco Complete
2. Finnex Fugeray 24"
3. Flourish Excel
4. 5 inch gravel cleaner. I had a bigger one but I don't really like it.
5. Gel caps with osmocote plus in it. I'm not really sure if I need this. I read I need this for carpeting plants like glosso or dwarf baby tears
The scary part for me are the plant choices. I want my tank to be heavily planted. I don't know anything about aquatic plants and I've been looking at the plant package deals on aquabid. Sounds really ignorant but do stem plants have roots? Do you just bury them in the eco complete and that's it?
There is one package deal I really like and they consist of these plants:
1. Alternanthera reineckii
2. Cabomba caroliniana
3. Ceratophyllum demersum
4. Hemianthus micranthemoides
5. Hygrophila difformis
6. Limnophila indica
7. Ludwigia Peruensis
8. Ludwigia repens
9. Myriophyllum
10. Rotala Nanjenshan
I also want to add glosso or dwarf baby tears for partial carpeting.
They look pretty good but I don't know... Please feel free to give me any information or suggestions. I've been trying to read all the threads but it's a lot to take in. Anyways I hope you all can come along with me on this journey of building a tank.
Here's the picture of the 15 gallon tank
1 - 20 of 43 Posts
Hi Hopps and welcome to TPT.
I am about an hour away from you at 94598, straight down 280/680.
It is a drive, but if you want to check some 7 planted tanks, pick some plants and fish (all free), and talk then you are welcome at my home and I will do my best to give you a crash intro. Feel free to bring a friend or two and some dog treats
.
PM if interested.
v3
I am about an hour away from you at 94598, straight down 280/680.
It is a drive, but if you want to check some 7 planted tanks, pick some plants and fish (all free), and talk then you are welcome at my home and I will do my best to give you a crash intro. Feel free to bring a friend or two and some dog treats
.PM if interested.
v3
Thanks! There's so much information to soak in, in the forums... I better get started on the readings haha!
Yeah I would love to invest in CO2 but I don't have the money right now. Starting school in the fall... I took your advice and went on craigslist. I'm definitely keeping an eye out for the stuff you mentioned.
So do you think the plants will do ok without the CO2 set up and just the Flourish Excel? And do you think the lighting is sufficient? I might not even do the carpeting plants
Man I stay glued to the forums for hours sometimes just trying to read everything... Very addicting indeed
Hi there! Too bad you're not closer. I live about 1.5 hours awayHi Hopps and welcome to TPT.
I am about an hour away from you at 94598, straight down 280/680.
It is a drive, but if you want to check some 7 planted tanks, pick some plants and fish (all free), and talk then you are welcome at my home and I will do my best to give you a crash intro. Feel free to bring a friend or two and some dog treats
PM if interested.
v3
I saw your tanks and wow they are GORGEOUS. I definitely like the extremely heavily planted look (which is what I'm going for). Hopefully my tank turns out half as good as yours!!
Drive faster
Takes me ~50 mins from Los Altos one way with no traffic.
Do check RAOKs on TPT: you might get lucky.
v3
Takes me ~50 mins from Los Altos one way with no traffic.
Do check RAOKs on TPT: you might get lucky.
v3
RAOKs?Drive faster
Takes me ~50 mins from Los Altos one way with no traffic.
Do check RAOKs on TPT: you might get lucky.
v3
That's crazy you can get to Los Altos in 50 minutes! I've been up to Walnut Creek going at about 80 mph and it took almost an hour twenty!
Thanks for the welcome! I'm super stoked about the light
Yeah I was reading into the DIY CO2. I think I'll see how the Excel and root tabs go first. I'm super scared about gassing all my fish and waking up to them dead with the CO2.
So how many root tabs do I put in the substrate?
I really enjoy doing water changes and I have no idea why. How often should I do water changes with a heavily planted tank? I plan on having corycats, otos and minnows
3
Lights and Eco Complete came in
Ok so the Finnex Fugeray and Eco Complete came in today! So I took out all the corydoras and dumped the Eco Complete in there. Right now I'm waiting for the tank to settle down...
Is this cloudiness normal in Eco Complete? It's gotten better since I did a 50% water change right after I changed it.
Also my Aquaclear is running with a prefilter. After I added the Eco Complete. it randomly makes a loud buzzing sound for a few seconds and goes back to being normal. What's wrong with it?
Fugeray 24":
![]()
![]()
The Cloudy Fish Tank:
![]()
Ok so the Finnex Fugeray and Eco Complete came in today! So I took out all the corydoras and dumped the Eco Complete in there. Right now I'm waiting for the tank to settle down...
Is this cloudiness normal in Eco Complete? It's gotten better since I did a 50% water change right after I changed it.
Also my Aquaclear is running with a prefilter. After I added the Eco Complete. it randomly makes a loud buzzing sound for a few seconds and goes back to being normal. What's wrong with it?
Fugeray 24":
The Cloudy Fish Tank:
5
The Secret Corydoras Meeting
We have made progress in the cloudy tank! The tank is a little cloudy (as you can see in the picture) but I'm sure that will subside. I think one of the bags were a bad batch because it had a nasty smell but it seems fine now. Now I have another bag of Eco Complete coming in courtesy of Amazon. I guess this is an excuse to start up another tank but dirted and capped with Eco Complete? :icon_bigg
We went from this:
![]()
To this:
![]()
The cory cats are finally back in their tank and their behavior really changed. They just seem calmer and happier. They're not really sitting in the corners anymore, they're just out and about relaxed. I guess the dark substrate isn't reflecting all the light back into their faces or something.
Wow Eco Complete is a gorgeous substrate! I love how it looks and I'm sure it will look much better when the tank clears up!
And of course the Finnex Fugeray is AWESOME. Sleek, chic and very very bright. Hopefully my plants will do well with this light.
Next step are the plants. I bought a 55 stem plant package on Aquabid. They will be shipped on Wednesday/Thursday so hopefully I'll get them on Thursday/Friday. I also have Osmocote+ capsule root tab things coming in sometime this week.
The stem package consists of these plants:
1. Alternanthera reineckii
2. Cabomba caroliniana
3. Ceratophyllum demersum
4. Hemianthus micranthemoides
5. Hygrophila difformis
6. Limnophila indica
7. Ludwigia Peruensis
8. Ludwigia repens
9. Myriophyllum
10. Rotala Nanjenshan
Now time for the pictures of the residents of this tank (so far). They consist of:
2 Panda Corys
2 Streb'as (sterbai?) Corys
I have some health concerns. One of them is really pale and I have no idea why. The pale one swims normally, eats normally and his barbels even grew back (they were missing when I got them). Is he ill?
Do any of the corys seem too thin to you guys? I feed them 2 Hikari sinking wafers 5 times a day. Is that too little? I also drop in a quarter of an algae wafer although they only nibble on that.
Anyways the fun part. Pictures!
The Panda Cory Duo:
![]()
The Streba's Cory Duo: Are they called Streba, Sterbai or Streba's? They seem to have many different names.
![]()
Secret Cory Cat Meeting:
They were all sitting there and when I pointed the camera they all scattered. I think they're plotting something?
![]()
We have made progress in the cloudy tank! The tank is a little cloudy (as you can see in the picture) but I'm sure that will subside. I think one of the bags were a bad batch because it had a nasty smell but it seems fine now. Now I have another bag of Eco Complete coming in courtesy of Amazon. I guess this is an excuse to start up another tank but dirted and capped with Eco Complete? :icon_bigg
We went from this:
To this:
The cory cats are finally back in their tank and their behavior really changed. They just seem calmer and happier. They're not really sitting in the corners anymore, they're just out and about relaxed. I guess the dark substrate isn't reflecting all the light back into their faces or something.
Wow Eco Complete is a gorgeous substrate! I love how it looks and I'm sure it will look much better when the tank clears up!
And of course the Finnex Fugeray is AWESOME. Sleek, chic and very very bright. Hopefully my plants will do well with this light.
Next step are the plants. I bought a 55 stem plant package on Aquabid. They will be shipped on Wednesday/Thursday so hopefully I'll get them on Thursday/Friday. I also have Osmocote+ capsule root tab things coming in sometime this week.
The stem package consists of these plants:
1. Alternanthera reineckii
2. Cabomba caroliniana
3. Ceratophyllum demersum
4. Hemianthus micranthemoides
5. Hygrophila difformis
6. Limnophila indica
7. Ludwigia Peruensis
8. Ludwigia repens
9. Myriophyllum
10. Rotala Nanjenshan
Now time for the pictures of the residents of this tank (so far). They consist of:
2 Panda Corys
2 Streb'as (sterbai?) Corys
I have some health concerns. One of them is really pale and I have no idea why. The pale one swims normally, eats normally and his barbels even grew back (they were missing when I got them). Is he ill?
Do any of the corys seem too thin to you guys? I feed them 2 Hikari sinking wafers 5 times a day. Is that too little? I also drop in a quarter of an algae wafer although they only nibble on that.
Anyways the fun part. Pictures!
The Panda Cory Duo:
The Streba's Cory Duo: Are they called Streba, Sterbai or Streba's? They seem to have many different names.
Secret Cory Cat Meeting:
They were all sitting there and when I pointed the camera they all scattered. I think they're plotting something?
2
Emergency Planting
Well the plants were supposed to arrive on Saturday and my planting tongs and scissors were supposed to arrive on Friday. The timing got thrown off. My brother threw a package at me and it contained all my plants. So with no time to think about where to put the plants and no tongs I had to plant with my hands. Broke a lot of stems and all that fun stuff. I only like how the left side of the tank turned out. I'm uprooting all over again on Friday when the proper materials get here. I want a full planted look, so I'm guessing I have to buy a lot more plants..
But I literally have no idea what I'm doing. I'm glad I bought the variety of plants to see what I like and don't like. I have a lot of planning to do. So far it looks like this. It looks pretty bad and it looks like I need to buy A LOT more plants to go for the look I want... I like the left side but that doesn't really say much.
![]()
I'm looking to make a very very heavily planted look like this: Any suggestions on what plants to buy? The plants in that tank seem to be very large plants and I don't think they would really fit in my tank? But maybe I'm wrong. Augh I'm in for a lot of heart and headache
![]()
Well the plants were supposed to arrive on Saturday and my planting tongs and scissors were supposed to arrive on Friday. The timing got thrown off. My brother threw a package at me and it contained all my plants. So with no time to think about where to put the plants and no tongs I had to plant with my hands. Broke a lot of stems and all that fun stuff. I only like how the left side of the tank turned out. I'm uprooting all over again on Friday when the proper materials get here. I want a full planted look, so I'm guessing I have to buy a lot more plants..
But I literally have no idea what I'm doing. I'm glad I bought the variety of plants to see what I like and don't like. I have a lot of planning to do. So far it looks like this. It looks pretty bad and it looks like I need to buy A LOT more plants to go for the look I want... I like the left side but that doesn't really say much.
I'm looking to make a very very heavily planted look like this: Any suggestions on what plants to buy? The plants in that tank seem to be very large plants and I don't think they would really fit in my tank? But maybe I'm wrong. Augh I'm in for a lot of heart and headache
1 - 20 of 43 Posts
