HelplessNewbie Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 (edited) Hi everyone, glad to be part of this supportive group! Me and my family are new to the hobby. Here is an attempt to chronicle our adventures in learning! Our 10g: - start date: May 31, 2023 (~6 weeks) - fish-in cycling (because we didn't know any better, and still waiting on first cycle) - gravel with plants, fertilizing with ACO Easy Green and Easy Root tabs - Animals: 1 lone surviving green neon tetra female, 1 blue metallic guppy male, 1 XL amano shrimp, 2 otocinclus, 2 bolivian ram, 10m black bar endlers, 4m blue panda guppy, 5 longfin zebra danio - Plants: windelov java feen, java fern, anubias congensis, multiple anubias nana/nana petite, rotala rotundifolia, guppy grass, dwarf saggitaria, hydrocotyle tripartita - Dead: 9 green neon tetra; Windelov java fern (almost completely died, but recovered!), Monte Carlo, dwarf sagittaria, moneywort, 1 red female betta, 1 gold mystery snail - 1 diy mini pump filter with nylon pot scrubbers, with optional co2 line for alternative means of diffusion - 1 nano sponge filter - 1 medium sponge filter - 1 TopFin heater that came with the starter pack - custom greenhouse panel lid with Hygger COB LED submersible light to replace TopFin hood and built-in light - diseases encountered: ich, probably columnaris, fungus; see https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/33278-cant-find-2-of-10-green-neon-tetras-in-tank/ - home automated light control, leak detection and mitigation Edited September 19 by HelplessNewbie added links to my related posts; updated lid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 diy mini pump filter with nylon pot scrubbers, this outflows into a spare water change bulb/hand pump with optional air line fed for alternative means of co2 diffusion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted July 21, 2023 Share Posted July 21, 2023 Hi @HelplessNewbie Dying plants happeneds to every one, especially when your starting off with planted tanks. Java Fern, Dwarf Sag, Cryptacoryne, Swords, and Anubias are all great beginner plants. One thing to keep in mind is that almost all plants (especially cryptacorynes) are going to look like they are dying when you first get them. Its called plant melt. Plants will melt back when you first get them because when the plant farms grew them, the leaves are typically grown out of water. In this case the plant is esentially shedding its old leaves for fully aquatic leaves. Best you can do is cut back on the stems completley and continue to give them the adequate nutrients. Plants like anubias and java fern in my experiance dont tend to melt back for some reason. Whereas plants like cryptacorynes will always melt back. When you see a new plant starting to die - you can immeidtaley cut off its stem to speed up the melting process. It will grow back with even more lushes leaves. Another plant tip: Plants with rhizomes (anubias, java fern, bucephalandra) and other free floating plants, feed from the water column. These guys will benefit from the use of easy green (which you said you already use, so great!) Its important to know when planting plants with rhizomes not to burry the rhizome in the substrate. You can instead glue it to decor or just plant the roots. For plants like amazon swords, cryptacorynes, vallisneria, and dwarf sag they feed from their roots. They wont care for liquad firtilizer but instead enjoy root tabs, like easy root tabs from aquarium coop. (which you also use so great!) Sorry to hear about all those sick fish. Seems like a lot of illnesses in such a short period of time. Perhaps it could have been the source for these fish, maybe the store you buy from just dont supply healthy fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 21, 2023 Author Share Posted July 21, 2023 @FrozenFins, it seems this tank is our guinea pig. We had read about diseases, quarantine, melt, lighting, water column vs root feeder, emersed vs submersed, etc; but nothing could prepare us for how we would feel once we saw all these things happening! I am relieved to know I have your and others' experience to count on, especially when at times we couldn't help ourselves from interfering and possibly making things worse. The ability to recognize when intervention is required in this particular hobby, will have to be honed with time and patience, I guess! Thanks for commenting, and happy hobby-ing! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 22, 2023 Author Share Posted July 22, 2023 I think "Terry", our green neon tetra, is a female... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 26, 2023 Author Share Posted July 26, 2023 I wonder if we are officially "cycled"? Last water change was 7 days ago. Latest photo of the tank, with newly added Hygger COB LED submersible light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 28, 2023 Author Share Posted July 28, 2023 On 7/26/2023 at 4:39 PM, HelplessNewbie said: I wonder if we are officially "cycled"? Last water change was 7 days ago. Latest photo of the tank, with newly added Hygger COB LED submersible light. https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/33842-is-my-10g-cycled/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted August 6, 2023 Author Share Posted August 6, 2023 Added more plants after reverse respiration: 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicki Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 Tank looks great with all your new plants! And good job cleaning them before you put them in, too - you’re way better at this new tank business than I’ve been. The only thing I’d offer is to remember that making changes in your system - whether it’s adding fish or plants, or taking them away - is going to change the way your system balances itself. I’d wait awhile before you make anymore big changes and watch your numbers till they level out. 🙂 (please, keep in mind I’m totally new at this myself, I can’t really add detail to my suggestion, and it’s probably something you already knew anyway, but maybe someone else would read this and need to know. Also, someone with way more experience may come along and say I’m wrong. I’m OK with that and welcome the correction! ) My question was, how much work was the reverse respiration? And how much hydrogen peroxide did you have to use? I’m working up to a large plant purchase for my tank and am considering doing the same thing… but I’m curious! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted August 6, 2023 Author Share Posted August 6, 2023 (edited) On 8/6/2023 at 1:13 PM, Vicki said: I’d wait awhile before you make anymore big changes and watch your numbers till they level out Yes, please keep repeating this to me! *shrugs shoulders, as nearly-teen daughter ("fish police") looks disapprovingly at all the changes being introduced* On 8/6/2023 at 1:13 PM, Vicki said: how much work was the reverse respiration? We used 12 bottles of 1 litre seltzer water (reverse respiration does not use hydrogen peroxide) in a large tote that I had previously checked for water tightness. We weighed down the plants with lingerie laundry bag, mesh, colanders, a pillowcase with heavy things on top. After placing the lid askew and covering loosely with heavy blanket, we left them overnight (~16 hours). When I woke up, we soaked them in plain water for 30 mins to 1 hr, then rinsed under running water. I missed the tip to just use zip bags, to save on space and seltzer water. I will do that next time. Hopefully, the plants bounce back! Edited August 6, 2023 by HelplessNewbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted August 6, 2023 Share Posted August 6, 2023 Welcome to the hobby. Your learning curve is very typical and you’re doing a lot of really good things based on some sound research. Your tank does appear cycled. If you add some easy green and 2 hours later check your strip. Then check the strip the next day. If you see your nitrates fall overnight I’d say you’re cycled. The next step is maturing the tank. This is not only building up nitrifying bacteria but also other useful biofilms that will help your tank bounce back from changes that occur such as local water municipalities changing their mix as the seasons change, over zealous feeding, or adding more fish. I look back fondly at my sons sponge Bob tank. Have fun and welcome to our community! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted August 16, 2023 Author Share Posted August 16, 2023 As expected, a lot of the plants melted back, including the 2 types of fern. Only time will tell if the ferns grow back. We apparently overdid the Reverse Respiration soak on the guppy grass and hornwort. We only have a few strands left of those. We also took some plants to populate a 3rd tank. So, the tank looks bare. Sad photo to follow later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted August 17, 2023 Author Share Posted August 17, 2023 We added some potted anacharis, which underwent reverse respiration soak for 1.5 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted August 30, 2023 Author Share Posted August 30, 2023 Tried out a panda guppy in this tank. Size-wise, largest to smallest: betta, metallic blue guppy, panda guppy, neon green tetra. However, the betta kept stalking and attacking it. It was so scared it tried to burrow into the gravel. So, we rescued it and put it into our teenager's tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 4, 2023 Author Share Posted September 4, 2023 (edited) Success in quieting the ACO battery powered air pump! Otherwise, it sounds like a small airplane everytime one steps into the room. left: before changes, right: after stuffing into large glass vase with polyfill and sealing the top with tape It's not pretty but it works. Edited September 4, 2023 by HelplessNewbie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 On 9/4/2023 at 4:38 PM, HelplessNewbie said: Success in quieting the ACO battery powered air pump! Otherwise, it sounds like a small airplane everytime one steps into the room. This is a fun one, might be useful too. I can also see how having a rubber mat to insulate between the glass and the stand would help as well. On 8/17/2023 at 10:21 AM, HelplessNewbie said: We added some potted anacharis, which underwent reverse respiration soak for 1.5 hours. The little pots you have for the plants. Are those filled with sand or what media? (Sidenote: I'ma need to hear the tale of whoever discovered that T-Rex! 🙂 ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 6, 2023 Author Share Posted September 6, 2023 (edited) On 9/6/2023 at 10:17 AM, nabokovfan87 said: The little pots you have for the plants. Are those filled with sand or what media? Those are filled with wood pellets with a little triple phosphate fertilizer and a smidge of ground pyrite, topped with coarse sand. We had some good progress with that type of substrate in our planted 20g, so we continued to use it in the tiny pots. Yes, it was from Mark's Shrimp Tanks video you oinked that we learned how to quiet our air pumps. That was one of the most practical tips I have encountered so far. The only difference is we stuffed our jar/vase with polyfill. The poster above the tank was about Barnum Brown (Mr Bones") who discovered first documented remains of T-Rex. You can tell my kid is really into dinosaurs! Edited September 6, 2023 by HelplessNewbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted September 6, 2023 Share Posted September 6, 2023 On 9/6/2023 at 7:51 AM, HelplessNewbie said: You can tell my kid is really into dinosaurs! There's a movie on Netflix called the dig. Maybe he's a future paleontologist! Very cool. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 New lid, courtesy of hubby, and cob led light (with blue leds covered) is now lighting the tank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 11, 2023 Author Share Posted September 11, 2023 We are quarantining some longfin zebra danio. Looking forward to adding them to this tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted September 11, 2023 Author Share Posted September 11, 2023 More plants: hornwort and heteranthera zosterifolia floating, ludwigia repens and anubias nana. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted May 3 Author Share Posted May 3 Tank front and side views yesterday. Very little done to the tank. It is recovering from hair algae and minor bba, which is why the lighting time was reduced, and some areas shaded. This is the family's oldest tank, with our oldest wet pet Terry, the green neon tetra, at 10 months. This is the only tank with rotala rotundifolia and Windelov java fern still growing. I like how the anubias nana petite took to growing inside the clam shell to which I glued it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 Tank photo today Tha anubias congensis on the rear left has nutrient deficiency. Will step up the application of Easy Green fertilizer. Small areas with black sand (BDBS) in a tray have been added for the Bolivian ram. The tank now has reached 1 year since completing its cycling! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Cc @Chick-In-Of-TheSea look at how beautiful. Congratulations on 1 year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted June 25 Author Share Posted June 25 On 6/25/2024 at 11:17 AM, nabokovfan87 said: Congratulations on 1 year! Thank you! The kids and I enjoy it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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