My first tank! 10g

[marchmaxima]

Originally Posted by Alaris

I'll need a 50w, but I'll keep this 25w as a backup.

And I bought a soap dish because I liked An t-iasg's idea for a betta bed.

Fair enough.... I'd probably do the same. I must also replace my backup which is now my main heater.. lol

[Atl300zx]

rocks look great, i wish i had ones liek that in my creek.

[Alaris]

Here are the 2 rocks we picked out to put into the tank. I washed the sand last night and when I added it to the tank...sandstorm!! So the new filter has had a go. Found a big bag of polyfiber in my craft closet and stuffed the filter basket with it. I came home from work to find it crystal clear! I rinsed the poly and stirred it back up. Not nearly as cloudy as when I first added the sand.

clear.png

I'm going to get a black background. I'm ordering online for the rest of my supplies. Ed got ammonia from Ace last night. I hope to start cycling on Friday. w00t!

I hung my thermometer in the tank to see what the temp is without heat. It's been reading 73F pretty consistently. I still think I should go with a 50W heater.

Originally Posted by Atl300zx

rocks look great, i wish i had ones liek that in my creek.

Here's a pic of Ed looking for rocks (they're under your feet, not in the sky!) Apparently there were too many to choose from.

[SpeedEuphoria]

Lookin good!!

You would be fine with a 25w heater, The 50w heaters say they can raise the temp of 15gallons 18deg F above ambient. And the 25w says the same for up to 8 gallons, so since you have a good ambient of 73 deg F you should be fine as the highest you'll ever need to go is 87-88 deg F for ich treatment which may be a struggle for the heater but everyday use it would be fine.

But depending on what heater you have now, a new Visa Therm sltealth or Jager would be good heaters. Having a backup is always a good idea

[Alaris]

Ok I'm convinced. I'll stay with the 25w for now through the cycle to see how it performs.

[JohnPaul]

Looking good so far! If you get any plants that are heavy root feeders (things like Amazon swords, etc.), you will want to put some root fertilizer tabs in the sand near the plants so that they have the nutrients they need.

You may also want to get a few Malaysian Trumpet Snails (MTS), small little conical snails that burrow into the substrate during the day and usually only come out at night. They are great for sand substrates because they help "stir up" the sand, which prevents anaerobic pockets from forming and releasing toxic gas into the tank. Or, if you don't like the idea of having MTS, then you just need to periodically stir up the deeper layers of the sand yourself by hand (people often use chopsticks for this).

Please keep us posted, everything seems to be progressing well!

[Alaris]

Thank you!

I am liking some java moss and anubias nana petites. I'm looking for a nice tall background plant to go to the left of and behind the large rock on the left. I'm doing low-medium low light. I've been trying to get ideas on plantgeek.net.

The sand is less than 1" deep. I read that this also helps in keeping sand from becoming anaerobic.

[JohnPaul]

Originally Posted by Alaris

I am liking some java moss and anubias nana petites. I'm looking for a nice tall background plant to go to the left of and behind the large rock on the left. I'm doing low-medium low light. I've been trying to get ideas on plantgeek.net.

I would think many of the varieties of vals or crypts would work well. Or, if you wanted a "bushier" but yet still tall look, you could go for some hygro. Or bunches of stem plants like anacharis would also serve the purpose.

The sand is less than 1" deep. I read that this also helps in keeping sand from becoming anaerobic.

Yep, that is very true.

[MichaelsLilGray]

a 25w heater will work hun.... now that im thinking about it.. its the correct size for that tank... it will work quite well. If you want better heating though, get another 25w from ebay or aquabid.com. You can usually get them for under 10 dollars. i bought my 100w on ebay for 8 dollars shipped lol

[fearlessfisch]

That's going to be a very pretty tank! I love the color of the sand you found. I bought pool filter sand in a closed bag, and it was such an ugly rust color in the water that I never used it. Then I bought some sand that looked just like yours in the bag, but now under my lights it looks pure white. Oh well.....white is okay for me.

Yours should look very pretty with the plants and fish in it!