Check list on what should be bought

[anitstuk]

Hello Everyone!
My little cousin came to my house the other day and saw my two aquariums. She decided that she wanted something similar so she bought a ten gallon long with the intentions of making it look like a jungle. What should she buy? I already told her to buy some Fluval Stratum and everything needed to cycle the tank.. What else does she need? 

[Lennie]

I would personally not advice a kid to get an active substrate in her first aquarium. Im trying my first aquasoil after years. I would say gravel might be the best bet. Active substrates affect ph and water parameters, generally needs lots of water changes in the first weeks, or maybe RO water use, etc. Def no to me. If you want something more friendly than gravel, maybe dirted bottom topped with clay based substrate, but you should help her setting it up.
 

To ease her job, buy her an okay size of hob or sponge filter for her tank size, and run it in your tank for some time, I would probably run it for a month to be safe, but 2-3 weeks+ may work I guess. That would be the biggest favor for her, likely resulting in insta cycle. 
 

if she wants a jungle look with plants, my number one is elodea. She cant kill it, great fast grower, can both float or be planted, and can help her with water parameters a lot. and I have never seen it melting in new tanks. Maybe I would add other floating plants to that.

Idk about how suitable stem plants can be for a kid, everything can be a hit or miss with water parameters, and fertilizing and stuff will follow.

Maybe she may like something online and you guys can turn it into a project how to make that look with the easiest to care for perspective!

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/29/2023 at 10:07 PM, anitstuk said:

Hello Everyone!
My little cousin came to my house the other day and saw my two aquariums. She decided that she wanted something similar so she bought a ten gallon long with the intentions of making it look like a jungle. What should she buy? I already told her to buy some Fluval Stratum and everything needed to cycle the tank.. What else does she need? 

Watch to the end of this video, I highly recommend a little gift like this.
 

In terms of what would be on my list....

Let's say.... the tank has wood, some anubias, and some hardscape.
1. Toothbrush
2. Thermometer and heater (fluval one is really nice, sticks to the glass and gives you two readings)
3. Towel
4. Bucket
5. Siphon
6. Dechlorinator
7. Good food (something like repashy is a good one because most people would never go out of their way to get it, but has to make sense for the stocking)
8.  Test strips
9.  Filter mods
10.  Aquarium salt, airpump, airstone, tubing, suction cup
11.  QT Trio meds + Kanaplex
12.  A list of videos to check out and a link to the forums if they have any issues or want to start a journal!
13.  Support, guidance, and help with whatever need be. 

Forgot one.... Easy green.

Edited January 30, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[anitstuk]

On 1/30/2023 at 6:26 PM, Lennie said:

I would personally not advice a kid to get an active substrate in her first aquarium. Im trying my first aquasoil after years. I would say gravel might be the best bet. Active substrates affect ph and water parameters, generally needs lots of water changes in the first weeks, or maybe RO water use, etc. Def no to me. If you want something more friendly than gravel, maybe dirted bottom topped with clay based substrate, but you should help her setting it up.
 

To ease her job, buy her an okay size of hob or sponge filter for her tank size, and run it in your tank for some time, I would probably run it for a month to be safe, but 2-3 weeks+ may work I guess. That would be the biggest favor for her, likely resulting in insta cycle. 
 

if she wants a jungle look with plants, my number one is elodea. She cant kill it, great fast grower, can both float or be planted, and can help her with water parameters a lot. and I have never seen it melting in new tanks. Maybe I would add other floating plants to that.

Idk about how suitable stem plants can be for a kid, everything can be a hit or miss with water parameters, and fertilizing and stuff will follow.

Maybe she may like something online and you guys can turn it into a project how to make that look with the easiest to care for perspective!

Okay so I might advice her to get something else than an active substrate like gravel or a dirted bottom like you adviced. As log as she can stay away from the fruity pebble substrate then I'm happy XD. I'll also tell her all about sponge filters. Should be good just in case she gets a beginner fish like a Betta or something like that. I should also be able to give her some of my Java Fern and Water lettuce since I have an abundance of those. Hopefully I can check in every now and then to see that she's not doing anything stupid. 
 

 

 

[Lennie]

On 1/30/2023 at 3:03 PM, anitstuk said:

Okay so I might advice her to get something else than an active substrate like gravel or a dirted bottom like you adviced.

We don't have fluval stuff here. Only neosoil, tropica aquasoil, jbl shrimp soil, etc. I know ADA, Tropica and many others may affect the water parameters, for example I have Tropica rn and they advice to make min 2 water changes in the first month up to %50. Just in case it causes any affect, I wanted to make a warning! Cause some even leach ammonia to the water if I'm not wrong. Again, Idk about fluval one tho.

Maybe using it on the bottom+ sand on the top might be a good idea. As long as she can successfully gravel vac the top of the sand. You may check on MD Fish Tank videos, he always do that. I've never used them in this way tho, but I did dirted bottom tank with JBL Aquabasis in my 29g. It has been working well for a year by now.

On 1/30/2023 at 3:03 PM, anitstuk said:

I should also be able to give her some of my Java Fern and Water lettuce since I have an abundance of those.

sounds great, also will help to more beneficial bacteria and have a fast grower!

I successfully killed my first Java fern btw. Don't blame her if stuff goes wrong. You never know what plants will do in someone elses' tank and water😄 

As long as you cycle the filter in one of  your seasoned tanks and she keeps up with declorinated water changes later on, it is likely to go okay. I feel like the "cycling" is the hardest part to understand and set up for most new people to the hobby.

A betta she falls in love with sounds like a great idea. You may need to teach her about how to feed and not overfeeding for sure 😄

If I were to keep a betta, I would drop a small catappa leaf there too tbf. But that sounds like an extra ofc. Just in case you have some in hand, you may gift her one! Natural way to support health of the fishy.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Lennie

[mynameisnobody]

Personally, I’d advise 30 days of research, solely as a “now you know what you are signing up for.” I’ve advised people before and I always forget something. It’s never over a cup of coffee, it’s always at work when we are on the move, so inevitably my old man brain kicks in and I forget something. It always throws things off when I’ve had to say, “oh yea, one more thing…”

With this in mind, now I take a different approach. The way I’ve experienced it, if you’re not willing to learn about said hobby for a 30 day span, then your hobby will probably be short lived. I believe that it’s easy to be reeled into this hobby, however it’s constant curiosity that keeps us here. Good luck. 

[Schuyler]

On 1/30/2023 at 12:32 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Watch to the end of this video, I highly recommend a little gift like this.
 

In terms of what would be on my list....

 

Oh man, that list you shared hits home. The are so many things that aren't directly aquarium related that I've just started accumulating.

Pipettes, basters, and extra airlines seem like the things that keep coming up for me.

On 1/30/2023 at 6:28 AM, Mynameisnobody said:

The way I’ve experienced it, if you’re not willing to learn about said hobby for a 30 day span, then your hobby will probably be short lived.

Second this. Just look at the number of lightly used tanks on online marketplaces

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/30/2023 at 4:20 AM, Lennie said:

Again, Idk about fluval one tho.

I have corydoras.  My issue was just how easy it was to disturb and move.  Probably works fine for other setups.

You mentioned amazonia and others being non-desireable because they leech. Maybe that is a good thing here!  Give the plants time to do their thing and get settled in, sort of force yourself to cycle the tank a bit longer.

[Lennie]

On 1/30/2023 at 11:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I have corydoras.  My issue was just how easy it was to disturb and move.  Probably works fine for other setups.

I feel you. That's why It believe only pygmys in my new tank if I decide to go with corydoras. They are super gentle. I feel like other corys will be disturbing the scape I'm trying to keep a lot :') my sterbais literally dive into the substrate sometimes in 1/3 size of theirs 🥲 They sometimes shook me. They are always well fed, and they act to be super hungry lol. Either eating, sleeping or breeding. What a life

Planning to create a topic regarding my new crew for this myself. I will tag you when I do, so I can hear about your opinion on pandas too! I don't wanna spam this topic :')

On 1/30/2023 at 11:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

You mentioned amazonia and others being non-desireable because they leech. Maybe that is a good thing here!  Give the plants time to do their thing and get settled in, sort of force yourself to cycle the tank a bit longer.

Yeah maybe! I haven't looked from this perspective 🙂