10 Gallon Planted Tank: The Journal

[Dyjital]

I am doing this as a semi-journal of how the tank is going, the progress, what I learn etc. Hopefully somebody somewhere can gleen some information from this thread.




After pissing me off with extremely high ammonia levels I gutted my 10gallon tank and decided to make a dedicated planted tank.

It was a rather standard looking tank, similar to this but minus the decorations:


Cleaned out and added potting soil. (Miracle Grow: Organic) saw NOTHING of fertilizers etc in the mix. Straight peat, decomposted poo and a couple other things that you would find in the ground.


Hard to tell but I sloped it from front up to the back:


Added plants:


Aerial view: Tall growing stuff in the back, shorter stuff in the front.


Had a heck of a time putting water in it, I found that taking my hand and opening it up, palm down with fingers spread apart about 2" above water level and pouring on the back of my hand worked well to diffuse the impact of the water hitting the gravel and stirring crap up.



It's a work in progress. I have the filter running and it's starting to clear a little.....

Plants in the tank:
Amazon Sword (tall on right side)
Micro sword (in center line of tank, running left to right)
Cryptocoryne (in front of tank, running the width)
Egeria Densa: is in the back of the tank in middle
Hygrophila Polysperma: in the back of the tank, one plant on each corner.

Extra stats:
18w lighting
Penguin 200B Filter (200gph in a 10g tank)
Aqueon 50w heater (enough for 20gal's of water)

The amazon sword will out grow the tank but provide hopefully some really nice cover on the top. If I need to later I can make a raised light bar for this tank if plants decide to grow out of the tank. That would be nice.


Almost 24 hours later:

I picked up some cheap filter pad from Marineland "Rite-Size" bonded filter pad. 312^2" for like $6. I'll toss a row of that in the filter to help with the capture.

[Nathan]

Sometimes that planted tank itch just has to be scratched.

I usually place a wide, shallow, glass bowl in the bottom of the tank when filling so as not to disturb gravel and planting media. It works pretty well, especially when using a soil sublayer.

A little water clarifier will help clear things up.

[Gerry]

good luck with it, planted tanks look great when they work

[the grouch]

good luck with it dyj

[Dyjital]

Sometimes that planted tank itch just has to be scratched.

I usually place a wide, shallow, glass bowl in the bottom of the tank when filling so as not to disturb gravel and planting media. It works pretty well, especially when using a soil sublayer.

A little water clarifier will help clear things up.

Didn't think of that

I used some water clarifier and I think I may have to use another dose tomorrow. It's clearing up but it just looks like there's a bacteria bloom. Which I highly doubt.

[Paul]

Tanks with new substrates are always hazy when you fill them up. It should settle or take 2-3 water changes to get clear water. It's just super fine suspended particles out of the soil.

[Dyjital]

Woke up this morning to brown water in the tank.

[Nathan]

Also fairly normal when using a soil sublayer.

[Dyjital]

I did a 50% water change a couple of minutes ago. I took the opportunity to do a light vac on about 1/2 of the bottom to pick up some of the small particles that were sitting on the rocks. Seems to have helped a little with the water clarity.

I failed to mention that I did not use all new water on the tank. I used 1/2 of the water that was in there when the ammonia level was high. I figured that I might as well since there won't be any fish in there for a while and it won't hurt.

Current levels:
Temp: 78*
ph: 6.6
Ammonia: 1ppm
NitrAte: 5ppm
Nitrite: No sense checking... (or so I see)

Going to leave it alone for a couple of days. I will toss up a photo once everything settles, water clears and we start to show some plant growth.


Appreciate all the help so far.

[altaaffe]

As said by everybody else, normal signs in the early stages.

If it was particularly bad , I used to run an internal filter packed with cheap floss to capture the particles but they do settle down relatively quickly.

[Dyjital]

48 hours later here are the stats:

Side shot of the tank:


I have done 3 x 30% water changes today to help clear up the water in the tank. It was still really really REALLY tan in color to the point you couldn't really see through from one side to the other.

I tossed in some blood fin Tetras (4) to get the tank up and running. (they were a cheap fish on sale at the Co-Pet store.) Yeah I know I swore them off.... where else can I buy a fish that is cheap to cycle a tank? LFS is like $5 min.

So... with all that said and done here's a little video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCVMezWvlHg

Ammonia: 2ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
ph: 6.4

At every water change I use the net to scoop up anything and everything that's been disturbed. It's slowly getting the tank clean of the larger debris that I stirred up when I did m first addition of water.

[Dyjital]

Just keeping with the updates on the tank.

Today: Day #3 of tank being setup.
I did: 3x30-40% water changes. Did a light vac on the bottom during those changes to help get the loose debris off the bottom.

Water is darn clear now.


You can see my little 2" tetras swimming around in that photo. The have taken over the entire water column. Bottom, mid and top.

It's a little washed out from the light in the tank but from where I sit right now at the table on the laptop it's near crystal clear. I can see a very faint tinge of color to the water but its a heck of a lot better than when it started.


Ammonia: 1ppm
ph: 6.6 (slowly increasing as the ammonia levels drop) YES!!!

On my second water change of the day I was sucking water through with my mouth through the osmosis vac and got a nice mouthful as I wasn't paying attention. Tasted just fine.

Bloodfin Tetras are doing really well. They are looking very, very, very, happy.

I pulled one of the filter pads out of the back of the HOB today. I took the stuffing out and tossed the hard piece. It was a POS and was coming apart. I left the stuffing in the back of the filter as a pre-filter for the one that was in good shape. Still have my crushed coral in the back though to keep ph stable.

The quickest growing plant in the tank has sprouted and I'm hoping that it takes hold and runs like I want it to. A couple of them have grown about 2-3" already and that's exciting.

[Dyjital]

Now on day 5.

Tannins are the biggest issue right now. I can do 3-4 50% water changes a day and when I come back in the morning the water is a tea color.

Still on the fence if i like the look or if I want to pursue clearing the water up.


It's slowly starting to go down with the water changes and bioload. All 4 of the bloodfin Tetras are still alive and actively patrolling the tank like sharks.



I don't think I'll keep doing water changes. I'm going to let this tank go and see how dark it gets. I'm not going to do 3x50% water changes a day just to keep it clear.
I have read that adding carbon can clean it along with something called I think it's Purigen. It's rechargeable so that may be the best option.

I am still having amazing growth in this tank wit the plants so far. I have about 3" of new growth on the Egeria Densa and the hygrophilia is starting to show signs of waking up from the transplant.


Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm (they have never went up)
ph: 7.0
NitrAtes: (didn't bother checking)

Placed an order for some Purigen. $11 for 100ml that they claim is enough to treat 100 gallons for 6 months. So.. I should be good with 10 gallons for... almost ever? (5 years?) Then I can recharge it with a 50/50 mix of bleach/water, soak for 24 hours, rinse and re-use.

[Dyjital]

Even with ammonia dropping right now I cannot get any reading on the nitr"i"tes. It's always been at zero.

Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
ph: 7
NitrAtes: 0ppm

only thing that has really changed that I have noticed is the ammonia has went down. Also......

My nitrAtes have dropped to ZERO. Any explanation other than plants being the culprit?

The only thing I can think is that the ammonia conversion that is producing the nitrites is happening but the nitrites are instantly being converted to nitrAtes and the plants are instantly using those.

Thoughts?

[JohnL]

I think your probably on the right track. It's a fairly small tank so It's probably going to take a while for the nitrates to show up.