my new tank

[nbirdsong]

Hello all. I am brand new to the aquarium world. I have started out with a 10 gallon tank. I used black sand for the substrate. I have a piece of driftwood in there and a few plants. I have 3 Zebra Danios and 1 male Beta to start. I have two 15w bulbs to light it. I am using a variety of food; freeze-dried blood worms, brine shrimp flakes, and just a generic 'formula one' flake food. The two flake food cans are made by Ocean Nutrition. Don't remember who made the bloodworms, they came in a little tic-tac looking container with a card board back for packaging. I also have a malaysian trumpet snail in the tank as well.

ok so, any ideas/advice? what else would recommend adding? I feel that I could put a couple more small fish in without overcrowding. Should I go up to 25w bulbs? should I use different food?

I will try to put up some pics asap!

 

[brant]

I would purchase a test kit I prefer the API master freshwater test kit also I would go to the artical section at the top of the page and read the articals on the nitrogen cycle to give a good understanding on what will be happening in your tank as the cycle starts. As for the wattage of your lights you have plenty for your tank size infact you may want to consider a co2 system you can read about those in the articals to. Oh and don't add any more fish till you get the cycle done. Last but not least if you have questions post em just remember the only stupid question is the one you never ask. good luck.

 

[brant]

Oh and buy the way welcome to AA!

 

[nbirdsong]

I am somewhat aware of the cycle process. What has your experience with it been? Do you add amonia directly to your water, or Place items in to decompose. Also, I have heard about having enough plants in your tank so that is basically 'insant cycles.' That way you wont have to wait for all the bacteria to grow.

Here is a picture of my tank.

 

[PBirdsong]

Your tank is dumb.

 

[Zagz]

Welcome to AA! With fish in the tank do not add ammonia,you will have to do regular water changes to keep the ammonia down while cycling to protect the fish. Plants will help the process alot, I'm not sure how many plants will give you that instant cycle effect though. Don't have any heavily planted tanks.

Your tank is dumb.

8O

 

[PBirdsong]

Look at the names, Zagz.

 

[Zagz]

Cruel cruel joke to play on us LOL. I was wondering if there was something I was missing, hence the ?.

 

[PBirdsong]

Yeah . . . brothers. Sorry, Dude.

The joke was for him though. He laughed.

 

[nbirdsong]

yeah, He is my brother and my roommate, and the one to get me into aquariums...

I chose the Zebras and the Beta because they are supposed to be very hearty fish. I am hoping they will be ok during the cycle. Have you ever done a fishless cycle and what was the process?

Also I did a water test today (less than one week from initial set-up) and the ammonia level was 1.0 ppm. No nirtrites or nitrates yet...

 

[Zagz]

I did a fishless cycle with pure ammonia. Kept the ammonia at 4ppm until I saw nitrites then 2 ppm until nitrates, worked very well for me. Cycled in 13 days with some assistance from seeded media from another tank.

 

[rich311k]

You need to change some water get the ammonia level down. You need some fast growers to help with the cycle. Hornwort and anacharis are good choices.

 

[PBirdsong]

Accidently posted under my brothers login

 

[nbirdsong]

ok, so what I was tyring to say.
I would like to try a water change this weekend. I will do another water test after that. Any ideas on how many fish i can put in this tank? I know that the size of the fish matters but assume that none will be bigger than the Beta

I am thinking of naming my Beta Chuck Norris!!

 

[ringfinger]

I am thinking of naming my Beta Chuck Norris!!

totally awesome

 

[DeathWarp]

In a dark tank like that I would suggest looking into some schooling fish, such as tetras or what not. Cardinal tetras perhaps?

 

[nbirdsong]

Did a water change today (about 40%). I refilled the tank and did a water test about 2 hours later. The results seemed pretty good: Ammonia was 0.40 ppm (down from 1.0), Nitrites were about 0.50 ppm, and nitrates about 7.0.

I was out visiting some lfs today with my brother and made some changes as well. I added more substrate (I only had 10 pounds before and it just wasn't enough, My plants kept floating out of it). I also purchased some more plants, a brighter light, and another large piece of driftwood. I think that is looks a lot better now. I am a big fan of the black sand but it was just too dark before. The brighter lights help out allot. I think that I will have algae by the time my cycle is done and then I can get some small catfish or something.

Any suggestions on a good algae eater for a tank this size?

I will post a new pic asap