Intro
Hello and thanks for visiting my Super Newb 10G thread. This thread will contain the documentation for what I hope turns out top be a successful 10G low tech planted tank build.
I had a few nice freshwater aquariums years ago but did not have the time to care for them so I sold all the equipment. A year ago my wife and I decided to buy an aquarium for cichlids. A year later I have 3 cichlid tanks and a fourth 10G that was given to me for free that will be the home for the fauna in this build.
I have a general love of science which is what draws me to aquariums. I enjoy the technical side of aquariums and I struggle with the aesthetics piece of the puzzle so we will see how this turns out. I have 0 artistic ability and that's what planted tanks are really is works of art.
I like to re-purpose things so I am always open to diy ideas. One example is I have two dead hob filters, they died in less than 6 months. I am filling one with lava rock and plumbing my canister output to the hob and running the water through lava rock for additional bio filtration. The lava rock is rock I have recycled from a landscape and boiled until the water boiled clean.
I plan to convert my 55G that currently holds Labidochromis sp. "Hongis" into a planted tank for my Altolamprologus calvus. If anyone is interested I have one Red Top Hongi I would trade for plants.
Materials
20 x 10 x 12 10G aquarium
Dirt from a wooded are near Lake Shelbyville in Illinois.
Black Diamond for the cap
Bacto-Surge sponge filter (this is probably a little big for a 10G but I am going to try to incorporate it some how into the design or hide it behind some taller plans)
Clamp on light fixture
23 Watt 5000k daylight cfl
Dead wood from Lake Shelbyville area
Possible piece of granite - small
Home made 2x4 stand. I made on for my 55 that I am going to enclose and finish when I take it down for plant setup. Will do the same here but finish first. I may build on to the 55 stand since where it is being moved to I would have the room for both next to one another.
Our water is hard here. I am going to get a quality report this week. Its very hard I know. My established aquariums never drop below 8.5 ph and kh and gh hover around 200. I need to test the water after its been standing because I do have limestone rocks I gathered from a quarry in those tanks to buffer the numbers for my cichlids.
Zoological Fauna
Red Cherry Shrimp
Blue velvet shrimp
Snails?? Those burrowing snails that I need to look up the name for.
Botanical Flora
Java fern
Java moss
Anubias (Recommendations?)
Some type of grass for low tech (suggestions?)
Unknown plant that my buddy has that just grows like the dickens in gravel and standard cheap kit light should do well here. When I get some I will upload pics and maybe get an identification on them
I would like to incorporate some local aquatic plants. If anyone has suggestions for this and where (Illinois) I can harvest some that would be great.
I will be prepping my soil, substrate, and wood today. Pics will follow. Thanks for reading and suggestions.