15L build, 10g shrimp grow out, 55g Walstad

Going to make my 55g into a planted tank hopefully. Wanted to do a trial run in a 10g I had. Got some API first layer stuff from petsmart, some plant boost, and 30LED Marineland light.

Fish wise I either want to do bosemani and cardinal/neon tetras. And plant wise I want to do mostly low light.

I want to do a walstad tank, but using plant soil in a fish tank freaks me out a bit, and the gas pockets that can form freak me out even more.

Plants so far are :
Anubias
Hornwort
Ludwigia
Dwarf hair grass
Amazon Swordx7
Argentinian Swordx4
Micro Sword
Guppy Grass
Frogbit
Water lettuce
Duckweed
Java Moss
Rotala indica
Water wisteria
Melon Swordx2
*Tiger Lotus bulb
Onion
Aponogeton
2 sprouted tiger lotus bulbs
Anacharis


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So again, no idea what Im doing really, winging it and learning as I go. Might even just drain the 10 and do a walstad. Feel free to give me any advice, please please please hahaa Having a really hard time finding information I can understand.

Cardinal/Neon Tetras all the way!!!! Those tanks are beautiful!

If you manage to find some Rummynose Tetras, you'd like em too, because they swim around in REALLY tight groups!

ohh those guys do stick together! Looking at neon tetras tonight they werent even remotely schooling. Think if I do a school Im gonna try and find some pearl gourami, forgot how pretty those ones are.

I have come across another sort of speedbump. Thinking of the driftwood I want to put in the 55 eventually I forgot that its got an acrylic top, cut outs and all. So probably no big one centerpiece

If you do plan on putting Rummynose Tetras, please let me know where you got em! The only place I've been able to find them was at the B&I Pet Center, in Tacoma. They're almost worth the trip. They also sell Neon Tetras for like 50 cents per fish, which is a great deal, even compared to Petsmart's $1 deal they have from time to time.

I actually found them in farmland for 6$ a fish after I picked up the plants from ya! They JUST ended the 5 for 5$ at petco, my 55 has a couple days before I can put fish in again. The only other cheapest ones ive found are 1.50$ at farmland.

Do they have a better selection than the stuff over here? I might just go over there instead of seattle this thursday.

Oh man... yeah, Farmland, way overpriced for rummynose, they're like $1.99 at B&I, but I s'pose Farmland will have todo for now. hehe...

B&I has a good selection, although, I've never been to the stores in Seattle. . . hehe

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Still murky, but ive already noticed the plants are growing!

After watching some videos on youtube Im gonna skip the trial run on the 10 and just go for it. Worst thing thats gonna happen is it cycles again.

Tried to find Miracle gro Organic mix just driving by some other local places but was a no-go. Gonna hit up home depot, lowes, walmart, ace, and some other places. Walmart had some miracle gro 20lb bags for 4$ but not the one I was looking for and need to check the local craft/arts stores for the red clay balls. Not gonna soak the soil for a week or two, just gonna throw it in there. Saving all the water from the tank and going to use most of the already existing gravel, just add more black gravel to break up the river rock.

Safeway usually carries the Miracle Gro Organic in their floral section, that's where I got mine. As for clay, I hear Amaco Mexican Red Clay works: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
I got my clay at Aquatic Jungles: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Running around today I completely forgot about the red clay. think Im just gonna get an iron suppliment as most of my plants have pretty good roots.

Found the Miracle Gro Organic Mix 10$ for 32qts.
Bought new gravel at Petco, 40lbs brown mix for 26$
Got some new plants as well, micro sword and mongo grass(?)
Also picked up a little betta I wanted a month ago, 1" peach vieltail female betta.

Gonna do a half water change on the 55 again today, tank is still in the light green 1.0 zone. Save half the water and use the exsting kinda crap gravel to line the sides and to build a little bank in the back.

The 10g is clearing up nicely and all the plants are growing. The new betta is attacking all the leaves, but enjoying her new tank all the while!

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That mondo grass...return it. They sell that stuff as an aquatic plant, but it's not a true aquatic plant and well end up dying after a couple months better get your money's worth back! Eeep!!!

Beautiful Betta!! Squee!!!

Also, the green and white leaf plant in the front right is a terrestrial plant. I learned that the hard way about 2 weeks ago

id suggest the addition of a good solid glass lid. in their native habitat, bettas frequently jump from puddle to puddle, so long term i think u may be asking for trouble with no lid. plus the evaporation rate will really get cut down with a lid . online is the cheapest ive found, GL to ya. great tank in the making. dont forget also that many of the GSAS guys are plant lovers, probably get a lot of stuff u need a lot cheaper then a LFS or the web. and with plants shipping is cheap

Really? Bloody hell. Ive been trying to find it too. Thanks

Glass lid is a really good idea, ill return my stupid plants and put it towards a lid, already caught her stuck in the water lettuce. Is there an online type place for GSAS?

they have an airstone forum type deal but its very.... well outdated to say the least. (tech wise) just google greater seattle aquarium society. they meet down near ballard/fremont area (just 3miles or so from the bremerton ferry terminal) off the top of my head the following people are active members, fishloveron, betty, flo77, seattle aquarist. all are members here and often post stuff. im sure a cpl messages or a few hours for them to read this and youll be in the right direction in no time

PS: i only reccomend a glass lid because they look neat on planted tanks. very clean and streamlined. just be cautious of cats... the lids just wont support em
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Anthraxx, what a cute cat! Looks just like our 20 year old cat, ZsaZsa!
Anywho, Lars On, yeah definitely take those plants back and avoid them like the plague! LOL

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yeah poke hes a Maine coon (mostly) adorable little guy but man he tests me constantly.. i hate how smart he is

Our little Zsazsa is clever too, and she has trained us to be her human servants. Oddly enough, she doesn't care for the fish, but she does like to sleep on the sofa, right next to the aquarium. Possibly more for the warmth, than the fish. Hahahaha

lars on wrote:Going to make my 55g into a planted tank hopefully. Wanted to do a trial run in a 10g I had. Got some API first layer stuff from petsmart, some plant boost, and 30LED Marineland light.

Fish wise I either want to do bosemani and cardinal/neon tetras. And plant wise I want to do mostly low light.

I want to do a walstad tank, but using plant soil in a fish tank freaks me out a bit, and the gas pockets that can form freak me out even more.

Plants so far are :
Anubias
Hornwort
Ludwigia
Amazon Sword
and some other things I dont know the name of


So again, no idea what Im doing really, winging it and learning as I go. Might even just drain the 10 and do a walstad. Feel free to give me any advice, please please please hahaa Having a really hard time finding information I can understand.

I think you have a good start here. I would defiantly get a top if your going to put fish in as suggested. I think most of the plants you have will grow under this light. If you get browning of the leaves you could try a product called flourish EXCEL. Otherwise once a week water changes to replenish trace minerals should do okay.

Definitely get a lid to keep the betta from jumping! We had one jump out once and he was never the same after that.

Keep us updated on your 55g. I'm sloooooowly setting mine up to be a planted tank also and I'm curious to see how you do yours.

Im actually dosing the 10g with flourish excel Some sites are saing the leaves melting at first is a normal thing.

Ive never had a FW fish jump out of my tanks without lids, only my little percula clownfish, 40$ down the drain. But the 10 will definately get a lid. The 55 ad an acrylic slot top with a glass cover.

So I waited until dad went to bed then started gutting the tank. Left the black gravel to line around the soil on the bottom. Left one of my tubs full of tank water. Gonna put the new gravel on top, hopefully I have enough, if not ill mix in some old black. Refilling the tank is gonna be a royal pain as the only faucet I can hook the python up to is the outside hose.

Taking pics as I go!

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Tank is almost half full. Im convinced my sister hid the remote, so im stuck watching Pawn star reruns and prosti-vac commercials on loop for the past two hours.

Filling up home depot buckets and putting them into the black bin, that then sucks it back into the tank. Got sick of scooping water by hand into the bucket.
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The dog is convinved anything filled with water contains fish, she concentrates so hard!
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LOL!! I love how you stayed up till like 2 in the morning to work on your tank(s)! That's some dedication right there! I always get so excited when working on a tank =P Keep it up, Lars On!

Correct-a-mundo on the melting. My big amazon sword did a lot of melting at first but now has new growth. It just has to adapt to the new parameters.

Two in the morning? Kudos! I was up till 5am when I set up my walstad, I applaud your efficiency

Ahh good to know! I haven't put any of my plants in tere yet, just the hornwort floating around. But even it has new growth.

I ended up not even filling the entire tank, just over the output. The magnum isn't blowing the gravel around like sand yet, and I only put like 1" of gravel on top of the soil. Want to put the main focal driftwood and rocks on the hilly deal. Finally got the whole living room cleaned up at about 4:30! Haha tanks a little murky but the ammonia is holdin good at 1.0 still, gonna do a small water change tonight and see if that helps.

As much as I dislike farmland fish I'm gonna take a small break from work in a couple mins and see if the little calico swordtail male is still for sale, been a LONG time since I've seen a male swordtail for sale around here. Hopefully he'll be chill with the female betta until the 55s done

oh man, I dont think Ive ever seen a calico swordtail before! Must take pictures if you end up buying him!

Keep up with the updates, and pics! I love watching tanks developing!

Got my swordtail! Although the Koi Angelfish was so tempting, but no room for a guy that big in the 10. After 5mins of disappointed looking that the calico guy wasnt there he popped his head out from behind a rock! Poor guy was hiding from the other swords 3x his size. Was all mopey in the tank and car. Just put him in the tank and the betta already hates him.

Also after about 5 days I think of cloudiness in the 10 it is CRYSTAL clear today! And thanks fo all the watter lettuce PokeSephiroth, tiny betta is having a ball, think half the surface is covered already! lol

55g has gotten murkier if anything, gonna test ammonia again in a second. Need to find some big amazon swords. And need to figure out if my fluval 104 works, get me some plants!

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Already butthurt she has to share.

Awww he looks so cute! Heh, that betta is going to learn that sharing is caring. lol. Lookin' great Lars On!
I'm sure your betta won't mind sharing the water lettuce, hahaha!! Plus, that stuff grows and multiplies FAST (along with the frogbit!) You'll want to make sure that they don't block all the light for the rest of your plants, that was something I noticed when the water lettuce and frogbit started to overcrowd the surface in my 10 gallon shrimp tank

Woohoo for crystal clear water!

OOH OOH...also, let me know if you'd like some red ramshorn snails. I have some that I don't mind giving away they're gentle on my plants, never ate any of the leaves, so I'm sure they'll do well in your tank as well!

They hitchhiked with the plants that Pbmax sold/gave me (he's actually the one that gave me the first batch of dwarf water lettuce and frogbit! Now I'm passing them onto you. LOL)

Lars on, the GSAS has a big auction coming up in April. It's open to everyone; you don't need to be a member to buy. I've seen some amazing plants go for very good prices, including swords. There is usually a big variety of common and uncommon plants.

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Still murky, but ive already noticed the plants are growing!

If you still have the receipt, the marineland LED isn't adequate for growth imho.
You should exchange it for the 24" 2x t5's at petsmart or petco that you got it from.

Betty wrote:Lars on, the GSAS has a big auction coming up in April. It's open to everyone; you don't need to be a member to buy. I've seen some amazing plants go for very good prices, including swords. There is usually a big variety of common and uncommon plants.

I might have to take the day off work, pokesephiroth is gonna pick me up some stuff if he goes. But Ill try and go to this one regardless, these plants are addicting!

BillHN wrote:

lars on wrote:big picture
tiny picture

Still murky, but ive already noticed the plants are growing!

If you still have the receipt, the marineland LED isn't adequate for growth imho.
You should exchange it for the 24" 2x t5's at petsmart or petco that you got it from.

Im buying another one online, found the one I have online for 20$ cheaper. Ordering a light for my 55g too. Ive actually noticed a huge growth in some of my plants, my ludwigia ATLEAST an inch.

The frogbit ya gave e Pokesephiroth, almost as green as the biggest one!
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Melon sword, looked really cool, hopefully its full aquatic
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First plants in the 55. Magnum is blowing the Water lettuce around like mad, look like drowning jellyfish.
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And finally, bought the swordtail a girlfriend!
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So cool! I'm really surprised that the frogbit has gotten so green, so fast! Really great job, Lars On!!

theChad wrote:Also, the green and white leaf plant in the front right is a terrestrial plant. I learned that the hard way about 2 weeks ago

As that is a terrestrial plant you could take it and pot it up somehow so that the top of the plant remains out of the water...so up near the top of the tank, roots in water, plant in air. Like those riparium plants...that would look nice I think. Just have fun with all the stuff you can do.

Too much work for one little plant, it would probably dry up from the light. Those out of tank waterfalls with plant do look awesome though.

The new center piece! Big mopani, hopefully it will fit in the tank! D;

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And in car/comparison. Suckers 13lbs
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T'was fun running around with you from petstore to petstore! LOL. quite the adventurous day we had! That driftwood looks amazeballs.

Hope it fits in your acrylic tank w/o having to cut it up! *fingers crossed*

Whoa dude 13lbs that's a lot
I bet that piece cost you an arm & leg lol

Is always fun fish nerdin out! Glad we went to farmland or I wouldnt have found my driftwood! Hoping I dont have to cut it, did you have any idea what the farmland lady was going on about? I dont thing she caught our whole conversation lol goin on about bowing the tank?

Hahha side just about!! Just shy of 70$ D; was to perfect to pass up!

Waiting for dad to go to bed so i can try and cram it in there

Yeah, no clue...she's cool though, lol. Man, today was fun! And that guy with his "overstocked 55 gallon tank" . . . lololol, oh man, too good. ;-)

Yes, take pics! Actually wait... you're not going to let it leach out first? Not that it's a bad thing if you don't... but that mopani wood is going to make your water, all tea colored (not bad for the fish, but other fish keepers don't like not-clear water. I personally love the tea colored water. lol)

some people like to dip their mopani driftwood (or any driftwood, really) and let the tannins leach out as much as possible. I've had my mopani wood for over a year now, and it still makes my water a light-tea color whenever I do water changes. LOL!!

I was just WAITING for him to say arowana. Hahaha

I was going to, damn tannins but I do not have the patience for it, I don't think I have any bins big enough either actually. I have a piece in the 10 I've had for 4 years I think, it never turned our water brown but I think drsfostersmith pre soaked em.

On another note! Ordered my 30 red cherry shrimp from pbmaxx, excited for those to get shipped out wed/thurs!

SWEET!!! Red Cherry Shrimp, woot woot!!

You planted tank people are a BAD INFLUENCE.

Bwahahaha, may we influence you more and more!!!

Now you've gotten the shrimp bug, you'll get hooked on shrimp as well!!! =P

Horrible enabling and I freakin LOVE IT hahahah

Heres the beast in the 55! Very very narrow fit, almost over flowed the tank, plants going back in soon

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envy. That looks great, can't wait to see the plants in there! I can totally picture that tank full of neon tetras, a nice school of them. Mmmmm

You two certainly don't lack enthusiasm. Keep the photos coming!

pbmax, We're just really happy that there's someone local to geek around with Hahahaha!! Say, will you be at the Swap next Saturday?

Lars On, oh yeah, I forgot to mention, if you ever get any "fuzzy" white stuff on your mopani wood, that's okay. Your fish will gobble it up, and then the fuzzy white stuff will just go away on its own . . . somewhat unsightly at first, but it goes away after a while.

PokeSephiroth wrote:Say, will you be at the Swap next Saturday?

Nah; I don't like to actually go anywhere or do anything If my weekends aren't booked with family stuff there's a ton of stuff I need to do apart from that. Aquaria, unfortunately, takes a distant back seat. Plus my cars are either large or fast - mileage sux, so it's a lot of $$ to drive up north. And my wife isn't terribly pleased with the amount of time I spend on my tanks as is. If I were to go hang with the fish nerds for a chunk of time on the weekend I might make her cry (and that's not a good thing). I'm sure I could come up with at least 10 more excuses! Regardless, have fun there - I'm sure there'll be tons of good stuff.

Eeep! Yes, definitely spend time with the family hehehe. Well then, looks like I'll be meeting new people and unfamiliar faces at the Swap! Somewhat nervous, at first, because I have no idea who is who, kinda like introducing a new dwarf gourami in the community tank LOL

Lars On: You awake yeeeet? That tank isn't going to finish up by itself