Bare bones 10 gal planted - questions

[pjsmetana]

... (1) I found an old HOB filter I had, so I'm going to use that instead of the sponge.

(2)I thought I read in the planted tank sticky that sand is good?!? Is it just a special plant sand that I would need or you just disagree with sand all together?

...(3) I definatly have to go get a heater though.

(4)I would love to get some small oto cat's or shimp. Which is better do you think? I've always wanted shrimp but I know nothing about them. Are they hard to care for? I am really leaning toward some guppies too though. I think they are pretty. They should get along well right?

(5)If I get good natural light from the window and I leave the light in the hood off most times and have my shrimp/catfish cleaning crew do you think I'll still have a bad algae problem?
(6)The window is facing east and gets a decent amount of morning sun. If I do leave it there. What plants would you suggest for that?

(7) Can I put the plants in there before the waters fully cycled? Or does the cycling effect them too?

...

1) Old HOB is perfect for planted and a few guppies/shrimp. Guppies breed fast, and it may overstock the tank eventually. Just pay attention to that.
2)Sand is OK... any plant that grows in gravel grows in sand too. I've had better luck with cheap pea gravel.
3)Heater? Why? Does your office temp ever get below 68F? If not then you don't even need one.
4)Cats and Shrimp are fine with anything that does not eat them. Guppies are herbivores and too small, so your safe. Guppies can tend to eat a lot of plants though. I would try a few different plants and see what works and roll with that.
5)Algae with natural light will happen fast... side note, you cant leave the hood off with shrimp, they are really good jumpers.
6)Again, plants are cheap, try a few, roll with what works.
7)I always add plants pre-cycle. They are always fine. In fact, most plants will grow fine on just tap water... even without dechlorinator. Nitrate levels out of the tap can vary though... if they are below 10ppm then its pretty much useless to your plants.

 

[Sab_Fan]

regarding #7 above, I agree, there is no reason to worry about cycling before adding plants . . . if anything, plants help remove ammonia and nitrates from the water . . . but it is a good idea to wash and quarantine plants before adding to a tank, as plants can often carry parasites

 

[Lissaspence]

Heres some pics of what I've got so far. I haven't moved the tank yet. I'm going to go get my fish and shrimp this week hopfully.

There are a couple more different plants I want to get. The LFS didn't have a good selection of forground plants. I want to get a mossy looking something for the front of the tank and I plan on putting in a small piece of drifwood too. I have a bunch in my garage that I collected, I just have to prepare them.

 

[Burto]

That's looking pretty damn nice. I'm hoping to set up a small tank with sand and cryptocorynes soon too. Wish I had as big a selection as what you have in your tank available locally. But I'll probably add some regular and dwarf chain Amazon swords too.

 

[Lissaspence]

Thanks

 

[ian8834]

I like it...looking good!

 

[Sab_Fan]

looking good . . . obviously lots of natural light; I hear conflicting opinions about natural light and algae promotion, but it looks like you can use it to your advantage here . . . just be sure to have a couple algae eaters on hand

 

[m1ste2tea]

nice setup! looks like someone washed their sand well as the water isnt cloudy at all.

root tabs are a good idea, break them up into quarter pieces and stick them deep into the sand right next to each plant.

Invest in a nice magnetic glass cleaner as algae might grow on the outside mirror fast and block light that is meant for your plants.

Otos are a good idea

seachem's flourish excell, you can get a good deal on ebay

If you decide to deviate from the window's natural light, I'd recommend you go to home depot or lowes and get a "natural daylight T8 fluorescent bulb, which is between 4000k and 6700k (should be printed on the bulb). take your old light hood and cover the reflector with mylar wrapping paper from a dollar store, its high reflectivity will help you get more from your bulb.

avoid water suspended plant fertilizers

Im looking forward to pictures of your progress

 

[Lissaspence]

nice setup!
root tabs are a good idea, break them up into quarter pieces and stick them deep into the sand right next to each plant.

Invest in a nice magnetic glass cleaner as algae might grow on the outside mirror fast and block light that is meant for your plants.

Otos are a good idea

seachem's flourish excell, you can get a good deal on ebay

If you decide to deviate from the window's natural light, I'd recommend you go to home depot or lowes and get a "natural daylight T8 fluorescent bulb, which is between 4000k and 6700k (should be printed on the bulb). take your old light hood and cover the reflector with mylar wrapping paper from a dollar store, its high reflectivity will help you get more from your bulb.

avoid water suspended plant fertilizers

Im looking forward to pictures of your progress

Thanks! I did stick some root tabs in there. I just followed the directions on the package though and tried to put them evenly through out the bottom. Next time I'll try putting them next to the plants. That sounds like it makes a little more sense then placing them randomly.

I already have a magnatic algae scrapper and I do plan to get an otocinclus cat. I'm think I'm just going to get one though since space is limited and I want to get some cherry shrimp also. The plan after browsing the LFS is to get 1 oto (although I didn't see any at the LFS so I'm going to have to search around for them), maybe 5 or so cherry shrimp, 3 or 4 guppies and 3 or 4 cardinal tetras ( i think that's what they are called, the ones with the red noses and black and white stripped tails).

I already have a bulb in there as well. It's a T8 and it's K rated for 4,200. Someone else had suggested the same thing. I don't want it on too much though since it's in front of the window. So I have it on a timer to come on for 4 hours in the afternoon since that window is facing east. I can always change things if the plants aren't responding well or if I start getting too much algae.

Thanks everyone for your nice comments! I can't wait to get the fish/shrimp in there! I have some family coming up to visit next week from Arkansas so I think I'm going to wait for them to get here and take my nephews with me to the LFS. My LFS has some really cool display tanks and I think they will like it. I'll post some more pics once I get every one in there.

 

[Lissaspence]

Oh yea, I almost forgot. I saw some Borneo suckers/chinese hillstream loach at my LFS. I've never seen anything like them before. They are really cool looking, they look like mini sting rays. From what i can find online about them they only get to be 2in and are good algae eaters too so i'm consitering substituting them in for the oto cat. Does anyone have any experience with these? Do you think that would work ok?