So I've decided it's time for a planted aquarium. My current setup is completely artificial and slowly wearing me thin for various reasons. I've watched my clown pleco bounce along the gravel and I just feel terrible for the aquarium I've provided him. I've spent some time looking into what I need, can afford, and looks interesting to try, and what I'm looking for is a bit of advice on what I'm attempting. What I have is as follows:
Equipment:
10g 20x10x12 tank
2x10w 6500k fluorescent bulbs
5-15 powerfilter
5-15 50w tetra heater
Inhabitants:
Veiltail betta
Otocinclus
Clown Pleco
African Dwarf Frog
They all seem to be doing quite well in there among an array of plants and oranments. As far as an artificial tank goes, it's great. What I'm looking to do is add the following:
Amazon sword, dwarf sagittaria, and dwarf baby tears
My design would include 5-6 rocks of various sizes that I need to go out and find and clean. All seems well but where I'm hung up is on substrate. I'm operating on a bit of a budget so I would prefer to just use some sort of beach sand or something a bit more fine. I was wondering if it would work well just to buy a smaller bag of substrate to layer on the bottom and then pile some smaller grain/fine sand on top, or even just mix it all together and make one mixed layer.
What I'm trying to accomplish at the start is just a lightly planted aquascape that won't be in need of a DIY co2 system and countless additives to keep everything alive and growing and provide that clean, bright, lively aquarium look for my inhabitants, all while keeping costs as low as possible.
The only other thing I was wondering about was cycling. My current tank is approaching a month in and I haven't had anything spike except a noticeable increase in nitrites. When I do go to make this new aquascape, should I move my friends to the 3g I have and expect to keep them there for a few weeks or is there a way I could create this tank and maybe just use the original water to seed the new tank to reduce the cycling time?
Tell me what yall think!
Justin
Equipment:
10g 20x10x12 tank
2x10w 6500k fluorescent bulbs
5-15 powerfilter
5-15 50w tetra heater
Inhabitants:
Veiltail betta
Otocinclus
Clown Pleco
African Dwarf Frog
They all seem to be doing quite well in there among an array of plants and oranments. As far as an artificial tank goes, it's great. What I'm looking to do is add the following:
Amazon sword, dwarf sagittaria, and dwarf baby tears
My design would include 5-6 rocks of various sizes that I need to go out and find and clean. All seems well but where I'm hung up is on substrate. I'm operating on a bit of a budget so I would prefer to just use some sort of beach sand or something a bit more fine. I was wondering if it would work well just to buy a smaller bag of substrate to layer on the bottom and then pile some smaller grain/fine sand on top, or even just mix it all together and make one mixed layer.
What I'm trying to accomplish at the start is just a lightly planted aquascape that won't be in need of a DIY co2 system and countless additives to keep everything alive and growing and provide that clean, bright, lively aquarium look for my inhabitants, all while keeping costs as low as possible.
The only other thing I was wondering about was cycling. My current tank is approaching a month in and I haven't had anything spike except a noticeable increase in nitrites. When I do go to make this new aquascape, should I move my friends to the 3g I have and expect to keep them there for a few weeks or is there a way I could create this tank and maybe just use the original water to seed the new tank to reduce the cycling time?
Tell me what yall think!
Justin
