Yet another 10 gallon plant build

[Trout11B]

The longer photoperiod tends to encourage algal growth. I believe that plants have normal cycles of "activity" during the day and after a certain point of time they go into sleep mode. My cabomba and ambulia close up at or shortly before the photoperiod.

I like the look of cabomba, would that work in a 10gallon, it seems like it would get pretty big fast.

 

[Trout11B]

No ferts and I'm working on starting a DIY CO2 setup so neither as of yet.

I thought I would have a little time before troubles started to appear, but I guess I need to kick start the other aspects of a planted tank.

 

[Trout11B]

Took out the fake plastic plant. The open space really clears the tank scape out, maybe that'll motivate me to get more plants.



First off I need to get the tank ready for more plants though, I've been reading about DIY CO2 and it seems manageable for a tank my size.

 

[Trout11B]

Forgot to add the picture to the last reply, my bad.

 

[Trout11B]

So, today began my first attempt at a DIY CO2 setup. I used a normal 2 liter bottle, some tubing connecting it to a DIY bubble counter, followed by a check valve, and attached this to an airstone in the tank as a temporary diffuser until I can figure out a better method of diffusion.

It's only been up and running for about 45 minutes, so we'll see how it goes when it starts producing some CO2.

If anyone wanted to comment on the recipe I used: 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of yeast, and filled bottle up 3/4 full of warm water.

I hope this works, I'm pretty excited about it. I'll post some pictures up later.

 

[Trout11B]

So, while I'm sitting here waiting impatiently for the CO2 to develop, wondering if there are leaks in the system, etc. I've given more thought to a future stocking solution for my 10 gallon.

I realize that you're only looking at 8 gallons or so once the substrate is in and what not, which really limits the options available. However, I think I may have found a solution to my situation, and would like some input as to whether or not this might work.

As I continue to add plants, etc. I feel like I can create a fairly suitable habitat for fish. I would like to invest in a small school (4-5) Harlequin Rasboras or other nano Rasbora, as well as a single Dwarf Gourami. I feel like they could handle a tank my size, but would like to hear from actual experience, not from some site telling me I'd be at 74% capacity, etc.

Any help would be appreciated here. Thanks.

 

[Trout11B]

Well exciting news, the CO2 process has begun, albeit slowly. Looking at my homemade drop checker I'm seeing one bubble every 2-3 seconds. Now all I'm worried about is the CO2 actually diffusing into the water.

How's this actually appear in the tank, because I'm not sure if I'm actually diffusing into the tank through the airstone.

Here's some pictures of the simple setup.

 

[Trout11B]

Sitting on my hands with this CO2 contraption. Still not sure if I'm getting enough pressure into the tank.

 

[Trout11B]

So my ludwigia leaves are turning red at the tips. I read that they do this in higher light situations so that's kind of neat.

On the CO2 front I decided I'm just shoving the tube up the filter intake for now until I can find a better way to diffuse the CO2. I'm not sure if my DIY is producing enough pressure to really do well right now.

I'm not sure how clear it is in the picture, but here is a shot of the ludwigia.

 

[Trout11B]

So, I scrapped the first DIY setup for CO2. I rushed into it and it must've been leaking like crazy cause I could not get it going well.

I replaced the 2 liter bottle with a large Gatorade bottle, after seeing it on another thread it made sense. The lids seal better in my opinion, plus its a nice thick bottle, etc. etc. so, pretty much the same idea as before but redid the main bottle, DIY bubble counter and sealed the tubes better.

It's been about forty minutes since I reset and its already pumping bubbles into the tank. I think my next main objective is to figure out a good diffuser setup. Right now I have some bamboo skewers in the end of the tube. They're not making a super seal at the end so a large bubble is coming out, but it might diffuse better given time.

Any suggestions in a good for DIY diffusers would be appreciated. I've seen some examples but none that's working for me well yet. If there's any interest I'll post some pics later, but only if people actually want to see.

Thanks everybody.

 

[FishingMouse]

So, I scrapped the first DIY setup for CO2. I rushed into it and it must've been leaking like crazy cause I could not get it going well.

I replaced the 2 liter bottle with a large Gatorade bottle, after seeing it on another thread it made sense. The lids seal better in my opinion, plus its a nice thick bottle, etc. etc. so, pretty much the same idea as before but redid the main bottle, DIY bubble counter and sealed the tubes better.

It's been about forty minutes since I reset and its already pumping bubbles into the tank. I think my next main objective is to figure out a good diffuser setup. Right now I have some bamboo skewers in the end of the tube. They're not making a super seal at the end so a large bubble is coming out, but it might diffuse better given time.

Any suggestions in a good for DIY diffusers would be appreciated. I've seen some examples but none that's working for me well yet. If there's any interest I'll post some pics later, but only if people actually want to see.

Thanks everybody.

I've heard of others using the chopstick method. I use liquid carbon, so I don't have personal experience.....but maybe you can look it up.

 

[Trout11B]

I've heard of the chopstick as well, but all I had on hand was bamboo skewers which I my mind would work similar but do to their size they won't work. Too many gaps allow big bubbles to escape.

 

[FishingMouse]

There's also a diffuser on amazon that's DIY without the Y lol. I can't remember what it's called, anybody else? It's basically the same thing as DIY, only somebody else made it and I think it's glass.

 

[Billbug68]

I've had success with these before. Easy to find, and made pretty fine bubbles.

http://www.petco.com/product/6126/L...5&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=51515443915

 

[Trout11B]

I've heard people have success with white airstones. I've only tried the blue type.

I hooked up a chopstick this evening and it is definitely diffusing a lot better. The tiny stream of bubbles is pretty neat to watch. I'll monitor the tank to see how the lone barb reacts as well as the ghost shrimp now that CO2 is actually being diffused into the tank.

Thanks for the help everybody. It's appreciated.

 

[FishingMouse]

Glad it worked out! Hope it continues to

 

[Trout11B]

Decided to try some DIY root tabs today since my plants are looking a little pale. They're definitely growing some, but the sword has a leaf that looks like its paling and going transparent.

The ludwigia is getting some red leaves but the upper most leaves are paling pretty bad. Is this a nutrient deficiency or something with the lights?

Anyway, the tabs are ice cubed osmocote. Not the plus kind because they don't sell that around here. I'm excited to see the results of this new experiment.

 

[Trout11B]

Here's an updated tank shot. It's kind of nice to have a progression slide all in one place. Even if it ends up being a little poorly done and haphazard.

 

[Trout11B]

The ludwigia seems to be enjoying itself. The roots it was sending off of the stem seem to be growing larger, I assume this is a good thing. My mind says it maybe a searching for nutrients thing as well, but I'm not sure. The leaves' bottoms are turning a nice red color for the most part. The upper tips began turning pale, like they're bleaching. Not sure what that means.

The sword seems bigger, but its seems like such a slow grower I don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me or what. Except for one leaf that isn't looking as green it looks healthy.

The unknown plant is well...unknown as of yet. It's only been in the tank for a few hours and it hasn't turned black and desinigrated yet.

The ghost shrimp seem to have slowly gone away unfortunately. Maybe the temp was too high. It's sitting at 78.

Anyway, that's all for now.

 

[Trout11B]

Well today marked another small landmark in my planted tank career. I'm seeing some slight pearling on my plants. I believe I may have found a nice diffusion method for the CO2 after all.

It's a combination of different methods. The tube running straight through the hob filter produced too much noise do to bubble size, and the chopstick method wasn't allowing the CO2 to remain in the water column long enough. All things considers I combined these to methods and now I have pearling. Is this a perfect setup, no, but its a start.

Sorry for the cell phone pics.