Need Help with Everything 10 g

[mwillis12]

Hello,
We are starting a 10 g tank. I have always wanted to do this and I am very excited however I have some questions and need some help.
1. How to Cycle?
2. I would like to do a planted aquarium, but not sure where to begin, and I would rather have tall plants then mossy plants.
3. What fish would be good in this tank? (would like more than 1 but know I have to introduce slowly)
4. Can I fill tank with tap water and then do test strips?
Thank you for all your help!

 

[-Mac-]

The advice I was given was get the largest tank you can reasonably afford and place in your home, larger is more stable for us beginners. (They talked me into a 20g )

1. How to cycle can be found here.
2. There are a variety of plants available and substrates to support them, in this I'm going to encourage research here, @ plantedtank.net and plantgeek.net.
3. 10g is small you'll only have a few fish if you want them all happy. Again, the choice is yours and so research is your best friend. Keep in mind Goldfish aren't correct for that tank and if you want more fish then the smaller the better.... Or you could have fish, shrimp and snails, as folks do around here.
4. Around here test strip have the worst rep ever and so, your best friend, which gives great bang for the buck will be the API Master Test Kit for freshwater. It lasts a long time and give a much more accurate reading.

Welcome aboard and I can't stress this enough, read, read , read. You'll find many answers here if you dig just a tiny bit and if someone's there, the chat room is great for direct answers to questions you can't find here.

from one newbie to another,
M

 

[dollabill420]

Guppies, swordtails, danios, i like danios out of that list there playful and excited to eat they move like lightening too lol, theres a lot more you can do that mite help in ur research, big gravel is hard to clean in a small tank too, im not sure if you could use sand with plants, i switched sand to all my tanks and lifes been alot better quik cleaning will make you stick to a weekly schedule if your not as dedicated, hope that helped some good luck

 

[rich311k]

Welcome, read up on the fishless cycling. There are many low light plants to choose from to make a nice planted tank. A school of neons, cardinals or ember tetras look great in a planted tank.