euscsey58

perfect

I am just getting back into fish keeping and I have a 10 gallon Topfin Fascinate aquarium. I went with the tall, smaller footprint (12" x 12") because of real estate space on my desk. I am wanting to put some real plants in tank but I am not sure if the lights that come in the top is sufficient to grow any plants. Even the low light plants might struggle because of the height of the tank. The lights are about 18 inches from the substrate. I don't have the equipment to measure the output. I am looking to see if anyone has used this tank and could weigh in on the thought of introducing live plants.

I tested straight from the tap using the strips and the exact same results.

Thanks for the insight and yes I figured they were selling their products. 🙂 I am planning on adding a piece of driftwood and that is where my initial concern about pH and harness started.

I am trying to start up an aquarium and have been hearing about how water hardness impacts the pH and the ability to affect the pH. I am using the Tetra Easy Strips and using the app they have that reads the strips and the results have been the same. The results show very soft water and Low Alkalinity. The recommendation is to do a 3 gallon water exchange and add 2ml of Tetra AquaSafe Plus and add 10 ml of Tetra Easy Balance Plus for my 10 gallon tank. Before jumping to adding chemicals I checked my city water to see what it had as far as hardness in concerned since I heard it impacted the water parameters. Below is what I found but can't make heads or tails of. Need a little education and direction. Total Alkalinity 87.2 mg/L as CaCo3 Total Hardness 144 mg/L as CaCO3 Langelier Index .2887

Hey Fish Folk. My 10 gallon is a tall as well.. I haven’t set it up yet. Just getting ideas on what I can do.. I hope I don’t run into the same issues with my tank.

Thanks for the information about your setup and more importantly thanks for the encouragement.

If your definition of overwhelmed is sitting at the bottom of the Mariana Trench then we are sitting there together. 🙂 I am getting the same feeling about this group. I am already feeling better. Not confident but better. I have been in other forums but never really felt supported. I felt I was being talked down to sort-of. I don't know. I am just glad I found this group.

Unfortunately I am not home right now so testing isn't possible and with anything aquarium related water parameters govern nearly everything you do. "Water Parameters Rule". 🙂 I have read and watch enough material from Aquarium Co-Op that fact id drummed into my head. I appreciate the input and it has given me options and things to think about once I find out are my parameters are. Like I said at the first, getting off on the right foot is important to me.

Thanks Colu and Fonske for your responses. I am at the planning stage right now. I have the tank and some essentials but won't be setting up my aquarium for a couple of weeks. I do have a heater for my aquarium. Once it is set up I can test the water.. I agree with the idea of starting with just one species. Is there any value starting with a species that hangs around the top over one that patrols the middle? Or is a bottom dweller best.

I am diving into fish keeping and I am starting small. I have a 10 gallon tall tank which will fit on my desk at home. My plan is to use gravel as my substrate and have a piece of driftwood and live plants. I have been watching a reading all the "beginner" topics and there is a lot to take in. Using the Easy Green products I am hoping the live plants work out. I plan to buy a variety to see which works best for my tank water conditions. Since my tank is tall, about 19 inches I would like to pair fish that spend the majority of their time at the top, with those in the middle and something that hangs out at the bottom. I read the article on the "10 Best Top Dwelling" and they all appear to be schooling fish and the recommendation is to by a half dozen. For a 10 gallon tank and wanting to have fish that cover all three regions of the tank, I have to watch the quantity of the fish I have in each. Are there choices for each region of a tank that don't require as large of a schooling group? If you had a 10 gallon tall tank how would you populate your tank. I wish I had a bigger tank but this is what I have to start and I want to be successful. Eventually I want to have a much larger tank but I have to start somewhere. Can you shine a light on a path I could take to achieve my goal?