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Quag's 10 Gallon Standard

7K views 47 replies 8 participants last post by  Quagulator 
#1 ·
It was time for me to scratch my itch and run CO2 again, so I broke out my collection of miscellaneous aquarium goods and pieced together enough to determine I could set up a standard 10 gallon tank with minimal extra expenses.

Tank: Brand new 10 standard gallon 20"L x 10"W x 12"T - actual water volume 35L measured by exact weight during initial fill + top off.
Filter: Eheim 2213 with Fluval intake skimmer.
CO2: RedSea Paintball CO2 Kit into an Ista inline reactor - Will target 1.1 - 1.3 drop in pH.
Lighting: DIY hood with 2 x 23 watt compact fluorescent bulbs mounted horizontally. I am planning to add some LED's mostly for some blue's and red's + whatever extra PAR that will give me.
Source Water: RO water with 55% weekly water changes. 35ppm Ca (Ca Gluconate + CaSO4 + CaCl2), 12.5ppm Mg, 1.0 dKH based off 19.5L. pH is still settling out / calibration was not the greatest on my pH pen = 7.3 degassed but it's likely 7.1 or so from previous experience. I will target 6.0 from CO2 to start.
Fertilizer: 10ppm NO3, 3ppm PO4, 15ppm K front loaded based off 35L - Will likely mix up some micros with the latest recipe and dose 3x weekly at 1/2 strength.

Current plants:

Crypt Flamingo
Crypt lutea 'Hobbit'
Rotala macrandra
Rotala Wallichii
Mermaid Weed
Ludwigia glandulosa
Ludwigia Super Red Mini
Ludwigia ovalis
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Hygro Poly Sunset (on the chopping block)

Future Flora Wishes:

Cabomba pulcherrima 'Purple'
Cabomba furcata red 'Red'

Stocking "Plan":

Chili rasboras x 10 or 15
Oto cats x 3 or 4
Amano Shrimp x 4
Neo shrimp colony (most likely yellow or blue rhili / carbon rhili, not sure yet)

As to substrate, I went with something completely new to me that I've always wanted to try, just never had "the right" tank to try it on. Lawn Top-Dressing Soil + Calcined Montmorillonite Clay + Sand capped with coal slag. I used a mix to achieve a physical structure of my liking. 3/4" - 1.0" of soil capped with an equal amount of coal slag.

Empty tank:



Here is the soil after initial wetting with a sprinkle of NPK + micros 12 month slow release formula:



Still lots of lumps / wood, so I strained + soaked in a pail and skimmed off the surface floaties:



Added the Calcined Montmorillonite Clay to give it's CEC a pre-charge, left out in the sun to begin mineralization:



Back into the pail for another soak:



I repeated this 3 or 4 times, soaking and then baking in the sun, removing any large material I could find during each step.

Finished product with sand added to reach the structure I liked, and dumped into the tank:





Spread out evenly:



Moved away from the visible edges of the tank:



Capped with coal slag:



RO water checks out as good:



Filling the tank VERY slowly:



Initial planting, the bubbles on the front glass are from a water change I performed just before taking this photo:



Filter + Reactor setup:




Tank has been running for 4 weeks now, none of which the CO2 was running. Ammonia was present at 0.25ppm pre-water change, so not as much as I had expected. I will monitor this before getting into livestock, I haven't been testing for 2 weeks now. I'm planning on getting the plants thriving and a good routine down before buying animals for this tank. Hopefully it will keep me occupied while I save up / plan for the main display tank :grin2:

That's all for now, CO2 is up and running, initial plants are looking good / pearling, a few more weeks and I should get an idea of how this tank will play out!
 
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#36 ·
I recently moved and found a new job that is home office based, so I furnished a home office for myself, and couldn't help but stare
at an empty 55 gallon I had. This hardware is for that tank for now.

I don't think I'll ever want to run a 6' high tech tank in the near future, but a larger 4' tank would be manageable. I'm going to use this 55 gallon with standard black trim as a building block to gain all the hardware needed to run a 4' tank. Eventually I would like a rimless tank 48" x 20" x 20" or a custom rimless tank 48"L x 24"W x 20" / 22" tall, but those are pricey. So, by using this "free" 55 gallon to gain all the equipment needed for a 4' tank, the sticker price won't hurt as much when I'm ready to upgrade to a larger fancier tank! :nerd:

I can use this time to cut my teeth again with an active substrate, gain more experience with a high light larger tank etc. etc. all while building up assets I can further use in the future, all while enjoying the plants, shrimp and fish!

I've been using a low quality regulator atop a paintball CO2 for my entire aquaria career, this is my first time with a "real" CO2 system, super exciting for me!

I've always slung 5 gallon pails for water changes, now I'll have a dedicated RO water change system setup in the basement with a feed line directly to the tank, super exciting for me!

I've always used inert substrates (except for a brief stint with a 10 gallon tank in University where I used Fluval Stratum incorrectly), now I'll have a larger tank with a nice quality active substrate, super exciting for me!

I've always kept my tanks away from popular areas of the house, either stuffed away in my bedroom when I lived with my folks, or in my basement / spare rooms in my own house, now I'll have a tank front and center to me every single day, super exciting!

As you can see I'm really looking forward to setting up this tank. I'm planning on having the exact plants, shrimp, fish, equipment, tank, stand etc. etc. that I've always wanted. But, I'm going to take my time, read into journals on here (I've already started that), make notes, plan things out correctly, and not rush straight into this. :grin2:
 
#37 ·
That's a LOT of super excited!!

I am excited for you too.

My tank is also in what was intended as a home office. Now it's just a relax and watch the tank room.

I do think there is something to having it where it is easily observable. There is extra motivation to keep everything in top notch condition, plus you get to enjoy it more.

Keep the updates coming!
 
#38 ·
RO was installed last night, I wasn't planning on fully setting it up but once I cut into my water supply I guess there was no turning back now!

I bypassed the DI cartridge at the end, and I flushed out the sediment filter and carbon filter until it ran clear and then flushed a little more to be safe, hooked up the line to the RO membrane and the pressure gauge read 85 PSI, which is above what the unit is rated for. I dialed back my supply line valve to just under 80 PSI to be on the very top end of my units operating pressure. I had access to a free booster pump if needed which I figured I would have to use, my house turns 151 years old this year LOL! I guess I did a decent job when I replumbed the entire house.

It's installed and drained under my sink, but the production line is ran through my basement 20 feet or so on a mostly downward slope to where I will be storing the water. There was no convenient place for the drain line in the basement. Next step is to rinse out the storage totes and install my auto shut off's float valve and make a full batch.

RO water was at 19ppm of TDS, not perfect but I hope it will get a little better as it breaks in... is that a thing? Incoming TDS at the tap is over 500ppm, so 96.2% effective.



Little 10 gallon is getting full, the pic below was as of last week, it's completely full of plant mass at the moment. No idea how many shrimp are still alive. I see no buried females but I haven't ran across a dead carcass ever since counting 7 of the 9 I received.

I also decided to paint the stand for the 55 gallon to better match my house. I hope to tackle the sanding and priming tonight. Eventually I'll put doors on the stand, but sometimes I like looking at all the equipment under there so long as I have it staged well ;)

 
#39 ·
RO water was at 19ppm of TDS, not perfect but I hope it will get a little better as it breaks in... is that a thing? Incoming TDS at the tap is over 500ppm, so 96.2% effective.









Nice update!

I'm wondering if there is any particular reason you decided to not put an extra filter inline instead of bypassing the DI filter housing. I belive that by doing so, you'll be able to get your TDS down to under 5. I run the same Spectrapure system with the first filter a sediment filter and the remaining filters as carbon blocks. I also run an additional RO filter which gives me about twice the output with half the waste water. I do this for the obvious reason of saving a ton of water but mostly because I presently lack any room for a holding tank and change a minimum of 55 gallons weekly. With this setup, running a booster at 90psi, I have an input TDS of 420 with an output of 1-2 TDS and make 10 gallons of RO an hour. BTW, it is strongly recommended to have a break-in period of 2 hours after putting in new filters.




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#44 ·
Progress made with the equipment setup, medium / large order of plants has been placed, 50 gallons of RO water has been stored, auto shut off kit worked well.

I still need to source some nicer intakes / outputs for the canister filters - Likely glassware whenever my LFS has them in stock again, I raided my storage cabinet and came up with just enough random filter parts to make this work for now.
I'm going with my reactor from my previous tank for now, eventually I'll build a nicer one with by-passing to allow for easier maintenance.
Stand has been painted taking inspiration from ADA style stands - Door fronts are next when I can get to them.
Tubing has been run up through the wall from the basement where I'm storing the water.
I added an 0.5 micron carbon filter to the RO unit - I'm now just over 10ppm of TDS output - 550ppm tapwater input.
I also picked up a kicker for the bottom substrate layer ;)

The 10 gallon is properly full of plant mass now - I'm going to begin Excel dosing again (CO2 ran out on that tank + thread algae is taking a strong hold again) to try and take out as much algae as I can prior to planting the new tank. Hopefully within a week I'll be ready for the first fill!













 
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