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OzysPleb

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 24, 2013
Messages
2
Location
Alabama
What's up folks?

I've been lurking here for about a year now; learned a lot from ya'll about taking care of my little buddy, Ozymandias. He's a mostly blue veil-tail, with lots of red in the fins and a slight greenish tint from time to time. I named him after the poem because he' too vain for his own good; always flaring for the sake of flaring! I call him Ozzy for short. He was pretty shy when I brought him home back in February, but he's developed quite the personality since then. He follows my hand when I clean his tank or feed him, and he flares at my antique mantle clock when it goes off each hour. Weird fish.

Anyway, he started off in a one gallon bowl. I gave him a little heater, and was religious about water changes. He seemed happy, always building bubble nests around the heater and flaring at his reflection. But last week I got some extra Christmas money, and figured I'd reward him for putting up with me for so long :brows:.

Enter the ten gallon, planted, community tank I'm working on right now. Right now it's just him, an anubias, some hairgrass, and some mystery plant that the LFS informed me was a java fern (maybe a lace variety, definitely not a "normal" java). I plan on adding...something.:ermm:

That's where you guys come in. I very little about keeping planted tanks, and have no firm idea about what I want to put in there with Ozzy. I'm currently researching nitrogen cycles, CO2 systems, and fish compatibility like crazy, and I figure it's time I sought advice. I tend to be very detail oriented, and suffer sometimes from "analysis paralysis," so be prepared for some pretty ridiculous and long winded queries.

Thank's in advance for putting up with me. I look forwards to becoming acquainted with everybody!
 
Welcome and merry christmas!

First off, let's get your tank cycled! Having your buddy in ammonia for as little time as possible is the goal here. I'd suggest getting your hands on some cycled filter media from somebody that already has beneficial bacteria established on it. Get a good hefty chunk of reticulated foam or biomedia and jam it in your filter. Instantly cycled tank. (your local pet store may furnish you with established filter media for a small fee) Also (but not as a replacement to the previous) you can add something like Tetra Safestart to the tank to help it establish.

Taking care of plants isn't too tough. It's a pain in the rear end, but it's not tough. If you aren't using co2 all you really need is half decent lighting and a bottle of Seachem Fluorish Excel. It's a liquid carbon source for the plants. Dose it regularly (careful not to overdose!) and it'll help your plants along.

By the way you may know this already but you don't plant Java fern in the substrate. You have to tie it to a rock or wood so the roots are free in the water. Same goes for Anubias, which is another great beginner plant you should get your hands on. Same goes for Crypt wendti (you bury the roots on that).

Also, if you plan on having a lot of planted plants, consider a planted substrate like fluorite. I forget who makes it. It's a clay substrate. Good for roots.

Cryptocoryne_wendtii_2.jpg

Crypt Wendtii

anubias-2.jpg

Anubias
 
Thanks, and hello! Java fern is now unburied:whistle:; I had loosely wedged under the gravel to keep it from drifting around, just like I saw it in the fish store where it came from. Oh well...

The anubias is loosely attached to a piece of driftwood, it came with a small bud, which I'm hoping with flower sometime next week? Forgot to mention I also have a marimo ball.

I think I have plenty of "good cooties" from his old tank. I introduced a tiny bit of gravel from the old homeplace, along with a splash of tank water. I don't know what my hood lamp is rated at, but I dose with API CO2 booster and run the lights about 10-12 hours a day. Also have a small heater and filter. Water temp is around 74 degrees, ph is slightly acidic (6, I believe). Don't have an ammonia kit yet.

Again, thanks!
 
Thanks, and hello! Java fern is now unburied:whistle:; I had loosely wedged under the gravel to keep it from drifting around, just like I saw it in the fish store where it came from. Oh well...

The anubias is loosely attached to a piece of driftwood, it came with a small bud, which I'm hoping with flower sometime next week? Forgot to mention I also have a marimo ball.

I think I have plenty of "good cooties" from his old tank. I introduced a tiny bit of gravel from the old homeplace, along with a splash of tank water. I don't know what my hood lamp is rated at, but I dose with API CO2 booster and run the lights about 10-12 hours a day. Also have a small heater and filter. Water temp is around 74 degrees, ph is slightly acidic (6, I believe). Don't have an ammonia kit yet.

Again, thanks!

If his old setup was unfiltered and unaerated, you would have had no good bacteria in it. You need to source some filter media. Not gravel, that has been in a filtered aquarium for a couple of months.

Water has almost no bacteria in it. Reusing old water does no good. You should be running your lights a couple of hours less. You'll get algae otherwise.
 
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