NTS: 10 Gallon Planted Need Direction...

[Phoxly]

Went down to a tropical fish store and got myself my first ever fish tank.

10 Gallon Tank
10 lbs of Sand (Rinsed it! Woo!)
2x Java Fern
1x Unknown Sword Leafy thing
1x Viney thing with tiny leafs.

1x Betta Fish

The pet store said I should add my water treatment, bacteria, plants (they came with about a gallon of water) and the guy at the shop said I should get a SSS or Sturdy Starter Swimmer to produce waste and get my Nitrites/Nitrates/Ammonia up (well, down eventually). I mentioned to him that I wanted to have a nice little Betta community tank with a couple Oto's, maybe a snail or two, and a school of tetras. He told me to get a sturdy fish like a Beta and put it in the tank after 48 hours of it running with the filter on, and I should be good to go til my tank stabilizes.

Here is where it gets tricky. My tank looks really empty with just the plants it has, no decorations, and my lonely betta who isn't sure if he likes the cup or the new fish tank I didn't know much about cycling until I already bought the betta and after the fact I did research and realized I am kind of in over my head as far as setting up a balanced ecosystem in my tank..

TLDR (too long, didn't read); I don't know what to get for my tank next.

More plants?
What kind of light fixture should I get?
Do I keep the glass cover with the filter hole cut in it, or buy a 40$ hood?
Is sand good, or bad? Should I put some rocks over the sand?

What kind of bottom dwellers, cleaners, socialites should I fill the tank with?


Tank Dimensions: 20x12x15 (or something like that)

Edit: I don't have my air pump + tubing + stone installed yet since the Betta doesnt really need it, but.. Do the plants? I left the store without tubing, but I can't believe I didn't think of this before lol.

 

[thominil]

I wouldn't worry about getting plants right now. The air pump is up to you, with proper surface agitation from your HOB filter you should be fine, the plants don't need oxygen, they produce it. Right now, I would go grab yourself a liquid test kit such as the API Freshwater Master Test Kit and test you amonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Be ready to do some water changes if you have visible signs of amonia or nitrite. Don't add any additives except dechlorinator or prime at this stage as they will only further pollute the tank. Welcome to AA, and I hope I helped!

 

[Phoxly]

Thanks for the feedback, is Sand okay for plants? I currently have about 3/4 an inch of sand across the bottom and I was thinking of adding another small bag just to have the extra plant support (the amazon has serious rootage).

 

[mellawson]

Your tank looks really nice. If you think it looks bare try a dark background it helped with mine.

 

[rusilja]

Hey, nice looking tank.

I'm not an expert but I would consider to get rid of the air pump (no more noise and less money giveaway) and plant it a bit more.Put a little piece of driftwood (if you are going to keep fish under ph 7, so ph will be bit lower duo the wood, or if you'll keep chichlids then u should put rocks. But for your tank I would recommend to put a piece of driftwood and plant it all around the wood for a nice effect.

Let it form the roots for a week or so, then you can buy some fish if you like.

And in most cases (what I read) is sand a very good substrate

 

[Phoxly]

Thanks! The water wasn't as cloudy and was really clear looking this morning, and the betta made a TON of bubble nest along the wall the Aquaclear 20 filter blows down (its on the low setting) so he seems happy.

I don't really want the air pump, and I plan to buy atleast 2 more amazon leafs (since the betta just can't get enough of it lol)

Thanks for the positive feedback

And the reason my substrate looks kinda crappy is Petsmart was out of white sand, so I bought black sand and didn't really mix the two well. Would it be alright to get some river rock type gravel and put it on top of the sand??

I may buy a Aquatis 20" hood as a resort to the crappy glass hood I have now (and I will have better lighting than the lamp next to it)

 

[logansmomma1228]

Welcome to AA! I am glad to hear that your betta is doing good in the tank so far. I would wait to get more fish though until it cycles through and is more established, especially if you are getting otos because sometimes they are picky eaters and they like the algae from the tank. Plus you want to keep your waste levels as low as possible and adding more fish is adding more bioload. I am not sure on the air stone thing; I think if you have enough plants your tank will be oxygenated (is that even a word? lol) enough but that is just what I would assume. Good luck and I hope Mr. Betta makes it through the cycle !

 

[mommytron]

i wouldn't get rid of the glass hood if i were you. mine came with one of the black plastic hoods, then i broke it, so we bought a glass cover to replace it. i think the glass looks SO much better, and, it gives you the opportunity to upgrade your lighting if you ever decide to do so. IMO, glass tops look much cleaner.

as far as your stocking, if you get a school of tetras (8-10 for them to school) plus some otos plus the betta, it will be way overstocked. i'm not sure what's the best tank mates for bettas, but anything without flowing fins. a group of otos would work, but you're best off waiting for your tank to be more established as their main diet is algae.

Welcome to AA! i like the mixture of the two sand colors, i think it looks really cool!

 

[Phoxly]

What kind of light fixtures can I get? Would I just place it on top of the glass? o__O

 

[TCool]

You don't need the air pump if you have surface agitation. In fact, as far as I know, the only reason an air pump will add oxygen to your tank is from the surface agitation the bubbles cause when they rise to the surface. I've been without an air pump/stone on my 55 gallon for probably 4 months or so now with no problems at all.

Since your tank is not cycled what I would do is add a tiny bit of salt (assuming Bettas aren't incredibly sensitive to salt). I would do this because after your ammonia starts to go down your nitrites will spike. Your fish will most likely already be weakened by living with high ammonia, and then have to deal with nitrites.

Nitrites are absorbed through the fishes gills and causes some chemical changes in the blood. This causes the blood not to absorb oxygen, so basically your fish can suffocate regardless of how much oxygen they are exposed to simply because the blood can no longer carry it. Adding a small amount of salt (~.1%) helps to keep the nitrites from being absorbed into your fishes blood.

It's not a fool proof thing, and maybe your fish would be fine without it, but it's such an easy thing to do, so why not? My suggestion: Add about 1.5 tablespoons (total) of aquarium salt (NOT table salt-I hear that is really bad for the fish) and that should be enough protection for however high your nitrites get. But, like I said, this isn't fool proof so it isn't a replacement for a cycled tank, just comes in handy when your in a situation like this.

Anywho, add the salt and do water changes until the tank is cycled. Readd the salt when you do a water change tho. So, if you do a 50% change add .75 tablespoon (I think that is 3 teaspoons) when you're done.

 

[mommytron]

What kind of light fixtures can I get? Would I just place it on top of the glass? o__O

yup! like most hoods come with a single fluorescent tube fixture, and cannot accommodate anything bigger. whereas the glass tops, you can place a two tube fixture on top or T5HO lighting if you ever wanted to. the black plastic tops do not accommodate anything but the light fixture it comes with.

 

[thominil]

The hoods allow better o2 exchange than glass tops do. If you get a PC or T5 HO light, I say do away with the glass top/hood anyways as it looks cleaner and you don't run the risk of shattering the glass top.

 

[mommytron]

I'd be so nervous hovering a light fixture over a completely open tank! what if something happened and it fell in???? ihave a toddler, 2 cats, and 2 ferrets running around so I would always need a top anyway and wouldn't want to risk it why do plastic hoods allow better oxygen exchange? because it doesn't form as tight a seal (cuz their lighter)? just curious. should I worry about that?

 

[thominil]

Yes and there are bigger gaps between the door and light on the hoods as well as more space between the equipment and edge of the hood/top. That is a perfectly good excuse for using a hood/top on a tank, I just prefer an open tank.

 

[Phoxly]

I bought a hood today since the light was 39.99 and the hood was 34.99 =/ the hood was just the exact same light, with a plastic part around it. My tank looks alot better now but I decided to go to a different petsmart and realized I got jipped on the plants I bought =( I am taking them back tomorrow, the java "ferns" are so tiny compared to the ones I saw at this other petsmart, and my amazon sword was a light yellowish-white when I got it, not a deep green, and my moneywart was just pitiful.

Its kinda discouraged me for a planted tank honestly. I definitely don't want another amazon spear for a 14" tall tank, I'll stick with 3 grass things and some moneywarts for now... low maintenance?

Since my tank is now going to be just a 2 or 3 way divided betta tank with MAYBE a few snails/oto's should I even worry about going planted..? So confused with plants after this.

 

[mommytron]

did you buy the plants in the plastic tubes? I've heard most of them aren't even aquatic plants and the ones that are are terrible. you should find a good lfs to buy plants from or buy them online. severum mama and HN1 have some gorgeous plants they sell on here in the classifieds forum and I've heard nothing but good things about them.

 

[Phoxly]

My LFS has so many plants, but I don't know which ones are low enough maintenance I won't be paying more attention to them than I will the fish. =( I've heard Java Moss, and Java Fern are the main way to go for sure, but I don't know if I need fertilizer, if I can just mix some in with my water changes, or if it has to be complicated.

Since my tank is going to be a 3 way divided with the bettas I thought if I went fake plants I could make each divided section 'themed' with different colors, but I also don't mind the natural look of planted. Even a 'zen' style with planted would just rock but I don't want to have a huge hassle with the plants =(

If I had 3 dividers in a 10 gallon thats 3.3 gallons per betta, and if I planted it I could probably get away with a few bottom feeders (1-2 in each section)

 

[mommytron]

anubias and wendtii are both low-light and low-maintenance. i just got some myself. sounds like you need to do some plant research!!
here .... PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource this is a decent place to start
Excellent List of Low Light Plants i like this place as well

 

[Phoxly]

They all look the same to me. Its like learning another language o__o I only know like 5 plant types I will do more research but I am more interested in the ecosystem it creates for my fish.

 

[rusilja]

They all look the same to me. Its like learning another language o__o I only know like 5 plant types I will do more research but I am more interested in the ecosystem it creates for my fish.

Well, I have more types in my tank than I can count xD

I just go to my LFS and take some goodlooking plants that would fit my tank, some die others grow very well. That's the way I earn epxirience.