My 10 gallon, from nothing to planted

[SpeedEuphoria]

Hey everyone I figure I will share my tank setup with everyone. I've been learning alot and trying to work with what I have. I would do many things differently if I could start over. I already have MTS so I'm planning for a 20 gallon long in the future. I started with very basic stuff, been changing it up.

Tank:
10 Gallon glass kit(didnt know any better at the time), came with a cheap tetra whisper filter and hood with 15w light. Also got a Jager 50w heater. Couple cheap thermometers. Regular aquarium gravel.

Fish: 6 Guppy's, 3female, 2 Male, 1 fry 1week old. 2 Ghost Shrimp.

Plants:1 large Java Fern,couple small growths. 1 large Crypt, couple small growths(not sure I think it may be red or bronze

Cryptocoryne wendtii?) I also have a couple artificial plants and large Log decoration.

Future plans:
I'm in the process of getting some Java Moss and ~30 RCS Cherry Shrimp from a great member on here. I plan to get a better quality 15w bulb in awhile, hopefully the plants will grow out nice and I can remove all of the fake decorations. I also would like to replace the large log decoration with driftwood/rocks/small clay pot. I'm trying to have an easy setup so no CO2 or ferts will be used.

I apologize these pics suck, my camera sucks and the glass is dirty. These are from 2 months ago before I added the plants and new fish, basically the very beginning pics. I will be adding new and better pics here shortly.

Oh yeah notice the brown stuff, its still present just not quite as bad.

Thanks for looking

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

OK had some time so heres the current pics. Again this camera sucks, I took lots of pics and these were the best. I will borrow a diff camera in the future.

Update: The last 2 Ghost Shrimp turned white and died. I've gotten some Java Moss now, and the small plants are getting larger(slowly). Still waiting on more Java Moss and a quantity of RCS Cherry Shrimp from a great member on here, thanks again. So its stock 15w light, no ferts, no root tabs, no co2, regular gravel, very simple setup. The one fry is doing great and is large enough to survive now w/o hiding, I also have at least 7 new(this week) surviving fry that are currently hiding out in the new Java Moss.

Stil plan to remove all the fake plants, I prob would right now but am waiting to get the RCS. Basically I want to give them the most cover possible at 1st till I see if the guppy's want to eat the young, also hopefully my plants will grow out more also. I will prob have to remove some hiding spots and maybe Java Moss here in the future as the Guppy population starts to grow, again I'm waiting to see how the RCS do before I make major changes.
Front:

Right:

Left:

 

[Zagz]

It's coming along nicely. Keep updating with pics as you go along.

 

[new2betas]

Looking nice, speed....the guppies are very pretty!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

OK I know its not much to most(bluue gravel and all) but it is evolving.

I removed all of the artificial plants and added a small rock in the corner,put moss on it. I ended up taking all of my guppies that I had back to the LFS. I recieved a new package today from a great member on here(Thanks again Neilan!)

It contained: Plants,fish+shrimp
1 large red crypt and a smaller part. 1 smaller dark green crypt. A bunch of Java Moss.

~20+ RCS. Most are juvenile I think I spotted 3 with yellowish color on the back which I'm pretty sure means pregnant.

9 Endler's Livebearers. 1 larger male and 2smaller females. The others are very young(not yet sexable, well by me anyway).


So I had an exciting day, I'm sure everyone was stressed from shipping but after my tank settled from planting things and I went to dinner, I came home and turned on the light and everyone seemed to be doing just fine. They seemed to gain a little color and were very active.

I have a better camera now to take pics, I figured I would wait a week or so to take pics, heck the crypts will prob melt also. SO anyway be on the lookout for some new/better pics.

Thanks again Neilan

 

[Purrbox]

~20+ RCS. Most are juvenile I think I spotted 3 with yellowish color on the back which I'm pretty sure means pregnant.

Shrimp technically can't get pregnant, since they don't carry fertilized eggs inside. The term for what you are probably seeing is "Saddled" and is actually the shrimp's ovaries becoming visible due to filling with eggs ready to be fertilized. Once the female shrimp mates, the eggs pass out of the shrimp through sperm packet and to the swimmerettes where she carries them until they hatch. While she carries the eggs, she's refered to as being "Berried" since she carries the fertilized eggs on the outside.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Looks like its coming along great. Keep it going man.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I did a cheap DIY upgrade on the lighting today since the power went out for 3hrs. Now I have 2x 20w pigtail 6500K bulbs over my 10G. The plants look more colorful with the new lighting, my old light looked more pink, these are more green. The reflector is not great so I figured 40w would make it work. I may have to scale back the lighting but due to the lack of a good reflector, I'm not sure if I'll have to. So for now going to start at 8hrs and move up. Heres some quick pics from a better camera. I'll have to get used to it and this lighting and see if I can get some good pics.

I'll give it a week or 2 then take some new pics and see how the plants like it. Also I have some driftwood soaking, its large so not sure if I'm going to use it yet or not.

I'm still looking into, reading up on ferts in general and how to use/what they do. Then also reading about use with shrimp. Its still confusing to me so far. I found a place to get cheap dry ferts(well I think?) and from what I gather I can measure it out then add a measured amount of water with it, then dose using mls.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Hey I noticed today some tiny air bubbles under crypt leaves, they would randomly float to the surface. I also noticed the Java moss in the middle had a bunch of tiny water bubbles on it. I stuck my hand in the tank to squish a couple tiny snails I saw, my hand was covered with tiny bubbles. Is this pearling?? I havent done a PWC in a couple days so I think it is, if so then I'm glad I redid the lighting.

Also would one of you experts recommend me a good background tall/skinny plant that I could try in my tank. I think Purrbox mentioned some kind of Java Fern but I dont remember. I know I can get Wisteria or watersprite(same thing?) at the LFS, but they dont have much else.

 

[Purrbox]

It definately sounds like you're getting some pearling. Congrats!

The plant I recommended was probably Needle Leaf Java Fern. It's something that you would probably have the best chance of obtaining from other hobbists. Since you've upped your lighting, you might want to look at Dwarf Sag or Narrow Leaf Sag. Some of the smaller Vals could be nice too if you're not dosing Flourish Excel.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Thanks again Purrbox, I'll look into those plants.

Now on this slight pearling, I think some of it may be due to my crappy waterflow from my cheap HOB filter. I think it makes sence to me that if the water is not moving much then its easier for the pearling to occur, does this make any sence?

Well I changed everything now, added a huge peice of driftwood(basically too big for this tank), then moved all the plants around. I think it looks OK but I'm sure the plants did not like the move.

OH BTW how come no one told me about ODNO, I would have done that in a heart beat! Oh well you learn something new everyday but I will keep it in mind. I would have preffered to do that on this tank/hood but now my hood is a little "modified", so now I'll just try to improve the reflector.

Also I'm looking into some ferts, I think I'll start w/ potassium and some root tabs. But them I read that good water movement is better for a tank w/ no CO2. SO that has me thinking about doing DIY CO2 or getting a Aqua Clear HOB filter, seems the CO2 may be cheaper short term. Heck I dont know, I'll give it another month or 2 and see how it goes.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well heres the final product of my lighting upgrade so far. I really want some U-shaped bulbs but I only find 1 20w in a daylight kelvin. Then I found another on a different forum that has been running 2700K U shaped bulbs and everything is growing fin, pearling and they said its noticably brighter then the spiral bulbs, so I guess I may pic some up to try in the future to see if it works..

Anyway I used a 440x plastic cup to make the reflectors, I covered it with aluminum reflective tape. So far seems to work good.

I'm trying to get a couple more plants, but its going to be a tight fit with this large driftwood I have in here now. Not sure if I will take it out or just cram everything in.

I also was left thinking about something to keep my RCS and Endler population down in the future. I was thinking of 2 ADF's, then I saw someone else that had a Betta in there 10G to control population. I may try that in the future.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Ok heres a couple new pics of the driftwood, I moved stuff around so the crypts are not too happy at the moment. I'm getting some new plants later this week, dwarf sag, tropic sunset, and wisteria to fill in the tank. I still have diatoms and the tank is dirty for pics.

So my photo skills suck and have been playing around trying to get the color o look right, I think it looks kinda OK in the last pics above, just a little dark. Dont laugh to much at the pics, I can deff see how a tripod would be nice to have.

Shrimp climbing on filter inlet

I hope one day I will figure out how to take better pics. Notice how some pics look like I have a black background, well I dont have one, the camera just does that. I think if I took more pics I could figure it out, I'll wait till I get new plants and clean the tank good and try to adjust some of the things as I think the light mess with it al little also.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

OK I made some progress, and these are the best pics I have for now. Much better for the most part, I dont feel ashamed to post these. The other ones are very poor, I moved pics in my album so some pics links got broken(can a mod let me edit the old post real quick?, no big deal)

 

[new2betas]

Love the pics, SpeedEuphoria!! That is a great piece of wood, by the way! Love it!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I only have the "crappy" camera but still wanted to update with the newer plants, so here goes.

Also since I'm a noob, I thought it was strange that the new stem plants started growing roots from high up on them and go into the gravel(you can see it in the 2nd and 3rd pics on the wisteria, the "Tropic Sunset" is also doing it). is this normal? Or should I cut the bottoms off and replant? Or cut the tops off? I'm confused, lol

 

[Atl300zx]

leave them as is

 

[Tifta]

Looking good! very nice plants

 

[melosu58]

Looking very nice.

 

[harmy4993]

looks good