swifty

Mine is the one on the left.

Anyway, I know this isn't ideal and look to upgrade it soon hopefully (when I have enough money and make up my mind about which tank) but for now he's living okay in his current tank.

I got that tank without the UGF or the hood. It was the bare 2 gallon tank and the plastic top. I was thinking of going to petsmart and asking if I could just buy the hood for lighting, but I'm not sure they would do that. Right now he has a crypt wendtii and anubias nana in there, with regular cheap white gravel from petsmart. I've been doing 100% water changes weekly for the 2 weeks since I got the plants, using water that's been sitting for 2+ days and treating it with Prime.

I know without plants 100% WC would be fine once or twice a week with no plants, but I have 2 live plants in there. I've read that 100% changes aren't good for plants, and how constantly moving a crypt plant will damage it, and with some small tanks with plants its best to change water once every couple of months and a lot of other things.

My question is, how does this apply to a tank of my size with my setup (unheated/unfiltered/no lighting)? Should I leave it alone and trust the plants to keep it clean and do 10-50% changes weekly, or none at all? Or should I just keep doing the 100%? I'm lost.

chickadee

Nope he should be getting the standard 50% water change every day period. That is for planted or unplanted tanks that are not cycled with a cycled filter and this one is not. You risk poisoning him in his own ammonia output otherwise. It is not the other things in the water that will bother him as much but the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will kill him without the water changes and 50% will be fine. But you will need a filter in whatever tank you get or you will be doing the 50% water changes on into eternity or until you do not any longer have any fish. If you do 100% water changes it is bad not only for the plants but for the fish. They can stay in the tank with a 50% change and just stay out of the way while you do the water change and it does not disturb them but to do the 100% is hard on them and you risk hurting them every time you move them. Just do the 50% every day and get a sponge filter or something to put in there and hook it to an airpump and let it start to cycle and in a few weeks you will have a cycled tank and when you get a bigger tank you can transfer the sponge filter to it and it will be cycled too while the filter in the bigger tank is seeded from the sponge filter. It will also add oxygen to the water and make the plants and the fish happier. You will need a sponge filter, air pump, airline tubing and an air contol device and a check valve. You should be able to find all those things at any major LFS or online at any of the major stores but if you need links to any of them let us know.

Rose

Shawnie

if you bought just the lighting with the hood, thats more money than buying a 10 gallon tank and rose's advice is always what id rely on for all fish