# 10gal planted tank



## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Hi,

I just started setting up a 10gal planted tank in my basement. This is a planted tank so I decided to go with something a little less barren than my standard pool filter sand. 

Substrate: 15 pounds (1 bag) of Seachem Fluorite Red -- was pretty expensive at my LFS but I'm sure they could use the money. Rinsed it REALLY REALLY WELL per my LFS's instructions and it cleared up pretty fast.

Lighting: The tank's cover has two 10W fluorescent bulbs. I'm guessing this should be 
adequate. I put these lights on a timer to run from 8-6 every day.

Filtration: Some crappy Tetra filter that I found lying around in my basement . I didn't use their cartridges and just cut my own filter pad and shoved it in there. 

Plants:

I took some Pennywort that was getting cleaved in half many times by my cichlids in my 75gal tank and put it in the substrate. I then tied all the spare hornwort fragments to a rock and put that in the substrate.

So now I am waiting for algae to start growing...After that, I plan to add some sort of 
shrimp (Red Cherry Shrimp or Amano Shrimp?) + possibly some low bioload fish.

Given that I plan to have minimal bioload, I assume I should not need to worry about cycling the tank...the plants (assuming I have enough) should be able to filter the waste, correct? Obviously I will test the water to make sure it's safe before adding any inverts.

My thinking is that I will try to get the plants growing nicely first (and also get some algae in the tank) before adding any shrimp.

Picture of the tank thus far:



Thoughts? What should i feed the plants if I have no inverts? Should I add a little bit of fish food to the tank to provide nutrients/waste? Or just let some of the plant matter decompose?

-Zeke


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I would think you should still cycle tank.The plants will not have much BB and shrimp are far more sensative to water conditions than fish from all my reading.
Possibly ,as tank has no fish now cycling fishless,with ammonia is a good option and excellent experiment.Simply raise ammonia to 4ppm and then sit back.
A piece of your mechanical filter pad,or a few of your ceramic rings from your 75 would cycle you very quickly.
I've cycled fishless with food, but it no where near as precise as ammonia(probably not as quick either).I just fed the 1 or 2 pretend fish every day or every other,for a couple weeks before even starting to stock.This is how I set up my 75 reef in which I have only lost fish to jumping out and one flame angel to popeye.


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

If you double or even better triple the amount of plants and feed sparingly for the first month you may be ok bypassing the cycle if the only inhabitants are inverts. I would start with amano shrimp, as they are less expensive if things do go wrong. I have silent cycled a few planted tanks with 0 losses. A 10 g is a sensitive environment, but if you plant it at jungle levels it should be ok. I would hold off on more expensive inverts like RCS until you have observed the amano shrimp for a few weeks. Don't add fish until the typical cycle period has passed, and even then add slowly.


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

I decided to do a fishless cycle just in case. Figured it wouldn't hurt.

I didn't have pure ammonia on hand so I just threw a little flake food in the tank every day for a few days. Today is day 3.

I stole some filter media from my main tank which I think has sped up the cycle considerably.

The readings I'm getting are:

0.5ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, nitrate 0-5ppm

Given that I'm seeing nitrate already, that is a good sign. I guess i'll just keep adding a little flake food (to keep the ammonia supply going) until ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0 and all I have is nitrates.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan? Or should I just stop adding flakes at this point and let the existing ammonia go through the system?

I can see some flake food rotting on the bottom of the tank... After the tank is cycled, should I bother vaccuming it out before adding the shrimp (+other fish if I can decide on something).


What fish would go well with Amano shrimp?

-Zeke


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Keep doing what your doing,till you get the good readings.Then vacumm out any crap and add live ammonia source(shrimps ,what have you!)


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## zwanged (Nov 4, 2012)

Thanks, will do. Readings today look about the same as yesterday. Ammonia 0.5ppm, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0-5ppm.

-Zeke


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