starting a 10Gal in the office. sand bubbles?

[agrasyuk]

Things seem to be quite good in my 55 gallon at home. started using seachem products and plants seem to grow really nice so I gave a way a bunch to friend of mine. Didn't ask anything for it, but in return was gifted a simple starter 10 gal topfin kit friend used as stater. So I'm setting it up in office coworkers around are very entertained by idea.

No fish yet, got the aq itself haul one, brought 10lbs of black "sand" substrate this morning. I pre-washed it back home and brought in a ziplock box. As I poured water it seems that some of the sand is clinging to air bubbles . these black bubbles either float or just lightly sit on the bottom . i can pop the ones near the surface and sand will settle , but those on bottom just scatter away. Will the bubbles just collapse by themselves with time?

 

[flitabout]

Just give it a little bit of time and it will get better you can also help it along by (and this is what I do everyday on my dirted) taking a bbq fork and sticking it in a few times to release the trapped air bubbles. in a few days/weeks it should all be out.

 

[Fishguy1111]

That has always happened to me with sand. Nithing to worry about, it should completely go away in about a week.

 

[agrasyuk]

Thanks guys. I guess I'll just wait. Question though, can plants grow or at least survive under that stock topfin hood? It has whooping 6 hi-brightness LEDs underneath...

 

[Fishguy1111]

I have the same kit, and only low light plants have worked.

 

[agrasyuk]

Thank you. Low light is great, at least something .

Tank is running for a week now. The only thing I added is a small amazon sword plant. Several pest snails surfaced (arrived with the untreated sand from "new arrival" tank), I'm squishing any limpets I see, physas I'm not worried about, they look interesting enough for me. Was thinking to get a lone guppy to start the cycle , but brought water test kit instead and good that I did as Apperently things started to cycle by themselves

Ammonia is at 0.25 but nitrites are through the roof! The liquid is even more purple then the 5.0ppm color patch! Dang, that poor guppy would have been in for a sure death. Will give it a week more.

 

[rmiller]

Just keep feeding it a little flake to create ammonia and you should be ready soon enough.

 

[Coyne]

I wonder why your nitrites would be so high. Seems like some squished snails wouldnt be enough to do that.

 

[agrasyuk]

Not sure either. Must be decomposing plant matter that got mixed with the sand. Or does that not release amm?


2 sinking pellets were left to rot on Friday and today after 4 days amm is still at 0.25, nitrite is still of the charts still and nitrate is at 30! So it seems the cycle is almost here. Will keep fishless for rest of the week.

 

[agrasyuk]

And it seems cycle is complete. Nitrite down to 0, amm is slightly green but below .25 , nitrates pushing 40. added lots more plants, 4 large MTS roaming through sand. PWC and fish tommorow, yey!

 

[rmiller]

Looks great.

 

[agrasyuk]

New inhabitants moved in on Friday: blue gourami and 3 Otos. Wow, I love these tiny catfishes, so awesome to watch, not sure if snails being entertained while gettih scrubbed , lol . considered getting a small school for home, but not sure if conpetition with pleco will be good.

No one died over weekend so that's good news. For some reason the mobile app condenses images heavily

 

[hijnx]

You should be able to change the upload quality in the app. I believe it's More>Settings>Posting Options>Attachment Quality

 

[agrasyuk]

Growing slowly. Pair of new leaves on anubias, the big sword bush poking out of the water. Population of MTS exploded.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Are you sure those guys are ottos? They look a little different to me. And a blue gourami gets too big for a 10 gal :/

 

[agrasyuk]

Thats what the label in LFS said , but I would not say I'm 100% sure. As far as size and gouramis, hmmm, I will look it up.

 

[Khuligirl93]

This is what otocinclus catfish look like:

It could be the picture, but yours don't appear to have the dark lateral stripe.
Aquadvisor is a great site to use for checking stock for size requirements and compatibility I believe the blue gourami has a max size of 6 inches.

 

[azmodan]

Have you thought of perhaps getting a honey gourami instead? They are great in a ten gal and very pretty once they color up fully.

 

[Mebbid]

Do you have a blue gourami or a powder blue dwarf gourami? The blue needs a 20g while the powder blue is fine in a 10

 

[agrasyuk]

Thanks for all your comments guys.
As far as Gourami I'm afraid it is the usual blue/3 spot one. I was under impression it will be ok in a 10gal, but now I do see recommendations for bigger tank. Will move him into 55gal at home once its a bit warmer outside.

As far as what I think are ottos they do have dark stripe, but unlike the straight one pictured on khuli's post they have more of a checkerboard patterned one.