Switching my 10-gallon fake planted aquarium to a planted aquarium.

[ouray1]

Hello, Basically I'm shipping off for military purposes soon I won't be home for 5 months. Currently I have a 10-gallon with 5 male guppies fake accessories (plants) I just bought some red root floaters to start off with. I plan to get aqua soil from pet smart as well and switch the fake plants to some actual living plants. The main purpose of me doing this is because I want to start up a self-efficient tank for the most part, so I don't have to exactly rely on my friend or family to take care of my fish and if trimming is needed or maybe small water changes needed d it would be simple enough to do. Is there anything extra I should get for my tank or any extra tips?

[Ninjoma]

Some easy green fertilizer for the plants would help. You could also consider getting an auto feeder, so you don't have to rely on friends or family to feed every day. They could maybe just refill it every once in a while. 

[ouray1]

Thanks g!

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:46 PM, ouray1 said:

Is there anything extra I should get for my tank or any extra tips?

Some sort of a corral for the floating plants would be good. You'd want to keep 40-60% of the surface free from floating plants to keep oxygenation up in the tank.

As far as plants, I would use anubias and mosses in that tank. Slow growing plants like that should be ok and won't grow so crazy as to impact the tank itself.

You'd want to use a soil that doesn't leech ammonia, there's a few, but just keep that in mind when you first add the soil substrate. I use contrasoil.  The other common one is going to be stratum. Brightwell also doesn't leech.

On 5/25/2023 at 10:46 PM, ouray1 said:

The main purpose of me doing this is because I want to start up a self-efficient tank for the most part, so I don't have to exactly rely on my friend or family to take care of my fish and if trimming is needed or maybe small water changes needed d it would be simple enough to do.

I would set a plan for them to at least clean the filter and change the water once a month. Make sure someone knows how or leave directions with pictures and stuff.

Topping off the tank once a week might be beneficial as well, just clarifying use of dechlorinator is key.