newby looking for opinions and advice

[rickcpurcell]

I just started the hobby in September when my step daughter got a beta and a 1gal tank from her grandma for her birthday. We divided we wanted a bigger tank and went with a 10gal with 4 Guaramis, 6 Tetras, 2 Chinese Algae Eaters, a Bronze Cory, and 10 Ghost Shrimp. After QUICKLY realizing how bad i screwed up (and killing almost everything in the tank) I started googling info on aquariums. I found almost every question I had led me to this site. So now we have a 55 gal (info on tank in my profile) and are really getting addicted to our new found hobby. I want to thank everyone on here as even though i didn't directly ask you the questions, and you obviously weren't replying to me, this site has gotten me to the point i have a healthy happy community tank. Please let me know what you think of my set up, and give me any advice you may have that may let me know if I'm screwing up again and not yet realizing it! Lol

 

[CharlieKlein]

I just started the hobby in September when my step daughter got a beta and a 1gal tank from her grandma for her birthday. We divided we wanted a bigger tank and went with a 10gal with 4 Guaramis, 6 Tetras, 2 Chinese Algae Eaters, a Bronze Cory, and 10 Ghost Shrimp. After QUICKLY realizing how bad i screwed up (and killing almost everything in the tank) I started googling info on aquariums. I found almost every question I had led me to this site. So now we have a 55 gal (info on tank in my profile) and are really getting addicted to our new found hobby. I want to thank everyone on here as even though i didn't directly ask you the questions, and you obviously weren't replying to me, this site has gotten me to the point i have a healthy happy community tank. Please let me know what you think of my set up, and give me any advice you may have that may let me know if I'm screwing up again and not yet realizing it! Lol

From what I see in your profile, your need to add 3-5 more bronze Cory's and then you have room for Mabye 12 cardinal tetras

 

[rickcpurcell]

Wow! I didn't realize my tank could hand that much more. I stocked it based on the inch potter gal of surface area and thought I was about maxed out.

 

[Rivercats]

What type of plants do you have? I noticed your doing potassium but you need to get something like Seachems Flourish Comprehensive as your not dosing any micro nutrients.

You do need to increase your cory's to a shoal of at least 6 as they do much better and feel more secure in groups.

 

[rickcpurcell]

I'm not good with plant names I still have most of the packaging and will add them in the profile later, but for the sake of quickness here are some pics. I started adding the potassium when i was having problems with the leaves going clear and falling off. Seems to have cured it. The taller "tree" looking ones are getting brown on the end of the leaves though and the leaves are starting to curl. Any ideas?

 

[CharlieKlein]

Well using he inch of fish your at like 30 inches. But that rule isn't accurate

 

[rickcpurcell]

What type of plants do you have? I noticed your doing potassium but you need to get something like Seachems Flourish Comprehensive as your not dosing any micro nutrients.

You do need to increase your cory's to a shoal of at least 6 as they do much better and feel more secure in groups.

The "tree" looking ones I'm referring to are in the last pic

 

[rickcpurcell]

Well using he inch of fish your at like 30 inches. But that rule isn't accurate

Huh, I did the math wrong then. should I worry about the angels eating the cardinals? I've heard both ways on that one.

 

[CharlieKlein]

I wouldn't think so, to be sure you could get bigger schoolers like rainbowfish(tons of different kinds)

 

[rickcpurcell]

I wouldn't think so, to be sure you could get bigger schoolers like rainbowfish(tons of different kinds)

Cool, thank you!

 

[CharlieKlein]

No problem! Do you or anyone else have any idea wahat plant is in pic number 2?

 

[rickcpurcell]

No problem! Do you or anyone else have any idea wahat plant is in pic number 2?

Anubias Nana

 

[Rivercats]

In the first picture you appear to have anubia and have the rhizome planted in the substrate. Anubias are most used for attaching to driftwood but when planted in the substrate you only want to plant the white roots, not the long rhizome. The rhizome is the part that has roots growing off the bottom of it and leaves growing off the top of it. Your tree plant is wisteria. I did notice some of your stem plants are planted in groups. These need to be removed and each stem planted individually with its leaves almost but not quite touching the leaves of the stems around it. This allows for light and water circulation to get to the bottom of the stems.

With your size tank it would be cheaper to get dry ferts and use them. A $20 package of micro and macro nutrients would last way over a year and that would give you a complete balance of all the ferts your plants would need. I also suggest using liquid carbon daily to increase plant growth and photosynthesis.

Here is the fert package I recommend... Micro & Macro | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

I also recommend these dosing bottles as it makes dosing very easy... Fertilizer Dispenser | 1000 mL (32 oz) | Green Leaf Aquariums

Here is a good thread about dosing PPS-Pro with dry ferts. You only need to read the original post not all the ones that follow... Newbie Guide to PPS-Pro - PPS Analysis and Feedback - Aquatic Plant Central

If you get small young angels you won't have any trouble keeping cardinals. I have 12 adult angels and a school of 20 cardinals and 25 rummynose tetras.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Wow! I didn't realize my tank could hand that much more. I stocked it based on the inch potter gal of surface area and thought I was about maxed out.

As said before that rule is pretty much garbage. Think of it this way... Say you have a 10g tank. Going along with the 1 inch per gallon rule you could have 1 10 inch fish and that be it... BUT you would never want to do this of course! That would be like confining a 6 foot person to a twin bed sized container until they die. They would have next to no wiggle room! The fact you realized your mistake and corrected it is a good thing, you will get lots of advice here!

 

[rickcpurcell]

In the first picture you appear to have anubia and have the rhizome planted in the substrate. Anubias are most used for attaching to driftwood but when planted in the substrate you only want to plant the white roots, not the long rhizome. The rhizome is the part that has roots growing off the bottom of it and leaves growing off the top of it. Your tree plant is wisteria. I did notice some of your stem plants are planted in groups. These need to be removed and each stem planted individually with its leaves almost but not quite touching the leaves of the stems around it. This allows for light and water circulation to get to the bottom of the stems.

With your size tank it would be cheaper to get dry ferts and use them. A $20 package of micro and macro nutrients would last way over a year and that would give you a complete balance of all the ferts your plants would need. I also suggest using liquid carbon daily to increase plant growth and photosynthesis.

Here is the fert package I recommend... Micro & Macro | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

I also recommend these dosing bottles as it makes dosing very easy... Fertilizer Dispenser | 1000 mL (32 oz) | Green Leaf Aquariums

Here is a good thread about dosing PPS-Pro with dry ferts. You only need to read the original post not all the ones that follow... Newbie Guide to PPS-Pro - PPS Analysis and Feedback - Aquatic Plant Central

If you get small young angels you won't have any trouble keeping cardinals. I have 12 adult angels and a school of 20 cardinals and 25 rummynose tetras.

55 gal tank. Which plants are you referring to as the stem plants? You can just use a pic number for simplicity. Also, do you think my lighting is ok? I was thinking about switching the colormax out with another 6700k

 

[rickcpurcell]

As said before that rule is pretty much garbage. Think of it this way... Say you have a 10g tank. Going along with the 1 inch per gallon rule you could have 1 10 inch fish and that be it... BUT you would never want to do this of course! That would be like confining a 6 foot person to a twin bed sized container until they die. They would have next to no wiggle room! The fact you realized your mistake and corrected it is a good thing, you will get lots of advice here!

Lol! Yeah I understand the "rule" is just a reference number. I'm just not sure what are signs to watch for to know when I'm pushing the limits on stocking yet. So, I've been playing it safe this time around and under stocking until I better understand how to tell if I'm getting close to over stocking

 

[Mrs.h2012]

Lol! Yeah I understand the "rule" is just a reference number. I'm just not sure what are signs to watch for to know when I'm pushing the limits on stocking yet. So, I've been playing it safe this time around and under stocking until I better understand how to tell if I'm getting close to over stocking

Had anyone mentioned aqadvisor.com
To you yet? It's a good guideline to know when your getting near full stockig level. You chose your tank size and filter(s) you have on your tank.

 

[rickcpurcell]

Had anyone mentioned aqadvisor.com
To you yet? It's a good guideline to know when your getting near full stockig level. You chose your tank size and filter(s) you have on your tank.

No, hadn't heard of it until now. Thank you. Also, is there a testable way of telling for yourself? Spikes in nitrate levels as an example.

 

[Mrs.h2012]

No, hadn't heard of it until now. Thank you. Also, is there a testable way of telling for yourself? Spikes in nitrate levels as an example.

Do you have a liquid test kit yet? If not, you need one. API master test kit is recommended and used by many here. Also do you know about cycling?

 

[rickcpurcell]

Do you have a liquid test kit yet? If not, you need one. API master test kit is recommended and used by many here. Also do you know about cycling?

Yes i have an API liquid kit that will test ammonia, ph, nitrite, and nitrate. Learned cycling the hard way (screw it up, then consult google and forums to figure out how to fix it, lol). My nitrate levels are still high (80ppm) and I'm currently working to slowly bring them back down via water changes siphoning the substrate. About 15% once a week. I'm worried about over doing it though if i go twice a week as the nitrates were at 160ppm at the end of the cycle and don't want to change the nitrate levels too quick and risk killing three fish. Am I looking at this correctly? Or should I be more aggressive with the water changes?