10 gallon hard water planted tank journal

Hi everyone! I just set up my 10 gallon tank and have decided it is time to start a journal about it. Here are the specs;
Tank: A standard 10 gallon, 20 by 10 by 12 inches. The water has 1/2 tsp marine salt added per 4 liters, so it is borderline brackish; I also added 1/8th tsp baking soda per 4 liters.
Substrate: Turface. I put about 22 cups of turface in for substrate; I purchased turface that was 1/16-1/8th inch in size. It's dustier than I expected, so the tank currently looks like a dust bowl...I should have probably rinsed it.
Filter: Currently a 160 GPH sunsun internal filter...however, unlike the similar 80 GPH filters on my 5 gallon tanks, this one does not seem to be doing a great job of dissolving CO2 from the yeast reactor. I may replace this with a different internal powerhead/filter if I cannot get it to dissolve CO2 properly.
CO2: As the above implies, this tank will have a yeast reactor (with 1/4th tsp yeast).
Lights: None until the tank is cycled; when it is cycled and the plants are added, two 1,120 lumen, 4000k LED bulbs.
Heater: Likely none. If a heater is used, 50 watt.
Plants: TBD. I want red plants for sure.
Fauna: I added some malaysian trumpet snails from Azure's tank (which I tore down completely today), but the intended fish for this tank are probably Sheepshead minnows (Cyprinodon variegatus).

Anyhow, here is the tank as of a few minutes ago...something of a dustbowl at the moment (but then again, is that too unusual for me?);


I hope this tank becomes my best looking tank in a few months...anyhow, thanks for looking

 

Hi everyone! Not a huge update, but the dust settled...literally. I believe the filter sponge caught most or all of the dust, as disturbing the turface released bubbles but not much of any additional dust. Here is the tank now that it is at least slightly presentable;




Thanks for looking

EDIT: Hi everyone! Another little update. I inserted the output of a yeast reactor (with .925 ml of yeast) into the bottom of this filter early this morning. I did a PH drop test to ascertain how high CO2 levels were...I took a cup of water from the tank, did a PH test, and then let that sample aerate for about an hour and checked the PH again. The result? The starting PH was exactly 7; after the aerating session, it had rose to 8.1...definitely a hard water tank. That also confirms that the filter IS diffusing CO2 into this tank effectively, and that I apparently do not need as much yeast to run a high tech tank as I thought I did...

 

Hi everyone! The tank looks very similar to what it looked like a week ago, so I will not bother posting a picture; however, some things have changed. Here are the highlights;
- The tank now has a nitrite reading in addition to a nitrate reading...clearly, feeding the tank 1/8th tsp of pellets daily is producing more ammonia than the filter was ready to handle. I am torn as to whether I should tone the feeding down or whether I should keep feeding this much until the bacteria catch up (thoughts?)
- I am considering dosing considerably less CO2 to this tank...about 1/6th to 1/4th the amount than I was planning. My thought is that this would allow me to keep a single yeast reactor going for four weeks, enhancing stability in the tank even if CO2 levels are somewhat lower.
- At least one of the trumpet snails I added when the tank was set up is still alive.

 

Hi everyone! Here's an (inconsequential) picture update;



I reduced how much I am feeding the tank for the time being, inasmuch as there are no fish to eat the fish food I am adding as an ammonia source, and nitrites are (as of Friday right before the weekly water change) now zero. If that is still the case next week, I will get plants and perhaps snails for the tank and turn the lights on.

 

Hi everyone! Update time. I decided to test KH and TDS of this tank today. The KH was a perfectly reasonable 5 degrees; however, the TDS was a whopping 1,435 ppm . Since I am not so sure I want sheepshead minnows in this tank anymore, I think I am going to spend the next few weeks reducing the TDS before I start adding plants, as I suspect that a TDS that high is going to be extremely stressful for many plants.

 

Hi everyone! Here's an update...I am now VERY confused about what, precisely, I want to do with this 10 gallon. I am so confused that it's dizzying...I am really thinking about tearing the tank down and giving myself a week or two to decide what I want to do with this tank before setting it up again. I will keep you guys posted about what I decide to do...if I do tear the tank down, I will likely need to start a new journal.

 

I love how you always start with hi everyone! Choose the best for your fish tank! gl

 

Hi everyone! I got 12 brown ramshorn snails in the mail and added them to the tank Thursday the 16th. Here is the tank as of a few minutes ago;


I am debating whether I have enough extra money to plant the tank this month...I may wait until early next month before adding the plants. This also gives me sufficient time to do something else...namely, add my new filter;


This giant, powered sponge filter will make the tank safe for any fry born within it while not compromising my ability to add CO2 to this tank. It will probably also allow for a more robust biofilter than the current filter, as not only do the sponges have far more surface area than the current filter but I could include still more filter media (biological or otherwise) in the tubing.

EDIT: I just placed the new filter in the tank after putting the media from the old tank into the tubing behind the sponges. The sponges are so large that the filter barely fits in the tank (one sponge is squished somewhat on the front glass, the other is somewhat squished on the back glass); as a result, the pump itself is about halfway between the front and back, and this has resulted in an even, circular flow throughout the tank (as evidenced by the debris I kicked up in the process of installing it). This gave me an idea...maybe I could discourage cyano (which thrives in stagnant environments) in my 5 gallon persian killifish tank by simply moving the filter towards the middle of the tank?

 

Hi everyone! I just purchased some plants for this tank online...they should arrive this upcoming week. I purchased;

- 3 bunches Ludwigia palustris (background)
- 3 bunches Proserpinaca palustris (background, flanking the ludwigia on both sides)
- 3 pots helanthium quadricostatus (actually an H. bolivianum variant) (foreground/carpet)
- 2 Cryptocoryne wendtii 'red' (foreground, sides of tank...not sure this tank is large enough to have a midground)

In addition, the seller offers a free plant per every 3 purchased, so I should get an additional bunch/pot each of the ludwigia, proserpinaca, and helanthium. Let's hope they do well in my tank

 

Hi everyone! Minor update time. The seller accidentally sent me a 210 GPH pump instead of the 130 GPH pump I ordered, and the flow was so high that the snails were actively hiding behind the filer to avoid it. I thus baffled the filter output this morning with some pillow stuffing...that seems to have reduced the flow, so let's hope the snails start roaming the whole tank again.

 

Just found this thread, and I’m glad I did. I can’t wait to see the tank when it’s completed!

 

Just found this thread, and I’m glad I did. I can’t wait to see the tank when it’s completed!

Thanks! I sure hope it lives up to your (and my) expectations.

 

Hi everyone...somewhat concerning news today. As of last night, most of my ramshorn snails in this tank are lying on their sides, barely moving unless disturbed...I have no clue what is wrong. The tank has a measurable nitrate level and has not had a nitrite reading in about a month (which would be surprising if the tank was suffering an ammonia spike); the tank does have a relatively low PH and KH (low 6's and less than 1 respectively), but I would not expect that to kill ramshorns nearly this quickly (a little over a week after they arrived), especially since I am dosing a significant amount of epsom salt and Nilo CG GH booster (1/8th tsp and 1/2 tsp respectively) weekly with the water change and there is little evidence of shell damage on the ramshorns.

 

Hi everyone! Long time no post. This tank is doing well, but I decided to take it in a very different direction from what the title says...namely, I am now going to be making it a SOFT-water planted tank, thus exploiting (rather than fighting against) my very soft (and clearly not snail friendly) tap water. I really want to keep wild bettas, so I am going to use DI water to bring the TDS of the new water down to 2 ppm; all fertilizers will be added over the course of the week so as to keep the TDS more manageable.

In other news, the plants arrived a week after they had been shipped (I blame covid personally) and the proserpinaca and the helanthium were quite dead; thankfully the seller had no problem giving me a refund for the whole order. The Ludwigia palustris in the same order arrived damaged, but I was able to salvage the healthier portions and put them in this tank; the Crypts arrived in the best shape but were placed in my other tanks instead. I also added cuttings of my plants from my other tanks to try to fill the tank out, and purchased some dwarf sag and java moss from buce plants (which arrived on time, due to me using fedex 2 day shipping) to fill out the tank further...will have to post a picture later (sadly, the L. palustris is showing no signs of turning red, even though the L. ovalis and L. repens neighboring it are).

 

Seems like it’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for the tank! I’m also sorry to hear about the plants, but it does sound like you were able to salvage something.

I’m assuming the snails are no longer with us?

 

Seems like it’s been quite a rollercoaster ride for the tank! I’m also sorry to hear about the plants, but it does sound like you were able to salvage something.

I’m assuming the snails are no longer with us?

Yeah, the snails are deceased I tried adding some pond snails from my QT tank (which has similar water parameters, but does not use CO2 and thus has a PH in the low 7's), but they have likewise vanished. Clearly, a PH in the low 6's is very hostile to snails...I ultimately decided it would be smarter to work with - not against - my tap water with this tank, which is very soft (TDS is about 50 ppm after prime is added, GH about 1, KH zero).

 

Yeah, the snails are deceased I tried adding some pond snails from my QT tank (which has similar water parameters, but does not use CO2 and thus has a PH in the low 7's), but they have likewise vanished. Clearly, a PH in the low 6's is very hostile to snails...I ultimately decided it would be smarter to work with - not against - my tap water with this tank, which is very soft (TDS is about 50 ppm after prime is added, GH about 1, KH zero).

Wow... That's super soft. Seems like it's water made for Discus

 

Hi everyone! Update today. I did a 16 liter water change a few minutes ago with DI water, with 2 ppm TDS; the water in the tank is not as soft as one would expect from this because I also added a portion of a solution of DI water, epsom salt, plantex CSM+B, and calcium chloride. Here is my dosing regime I have decided on;

Over Friday, Sunday, Tuesday;
- .45 ml KNO3 (9.91 ppm NO3, 6.25 ppm potassium, 11.29 ppm tds)
- .3 ml KH2PO4 (6.18 ppm PO4, 2.5 ppm potassium, 1.89 ppm tds)
- .45 ml KHCO3 (5.11 ppm potassium, .37 degrees KH, 6.43 ppm tds,
powdered potassium bicarbonate is about 1.04 gm/ml, DO NOT mix with other ferts)

Over Saturday, Monday, Wednesday;
- .9 ml epsom salt (2.38 ppm magnesium, .54 degrees GH, 8.46 ppm TDS)
- .1 ml Plantex (.146 ppm iron, .79 ppm TDS)
- .625 ml calcium chloride dihydrate flakes (5.83 ppm calcium, 21.4 ppm tds)

In other news, algae has appeared in this tank...some kind of brown, stringy algae, perhaps diatoms. Unsurprisingly, it is exclusively on the Ludwigia palustris I received in the mail damaged, so it will likely be tossed and replaced by another plant.

EDIT: I did some tests on my tank and discovered that the TDS is considerably higher than I anticipated...I had mixed the calcium chloride with the epsom salt/plantex mixture, and it appears they reacted to create a white powder that is difficult to dose correctly and/or adds more TDS than any of the components by themselves (I have tested all of my fertilizers in DI water outside the tank to gauge how much TDS they add).

 

Hi everyone! Picture update;



The plants are growing reasonably well; however, I am currently fighting a diatom infestation, as well as an infestation of some kind of green hair-like algae (both of which are growing on the leaves). I have been stopping the filter, spot dosing excel on the afflicted areas, and waiting 20 minutes before turning the filter on again. This appears to be helping, but I may need to perform a week long tank blackout at some point. I am going to guess this algae resulted from me trying to change the tank parameters after the tank was already established, stressing out plants and nitrifying bacteria alike.

In other news, I have decided to dose all my ferts except for the KNO3 and KH2PO4 with the water change, so I have been developing a salt mix to dose with WC water before the water change (the plantex reacts with several of the ferts when concentrated enough, so I will still need to dose it separately). My first fert mix consisted of 1/8th tsp each epsom salt, calcium chloride dihydrate flakes, and potassium bicarbonate per 16 liters; however, when I went to test this mixture this morning on 16 liters of my tap water, I discovered that (A) it shot the TDS of the water up about 88 ppm (more than I would like), and (B) - more concerningly - it sent the KH up by 3 degrees - much higher than I would like for a softwater tank. Thus, I created a new softwater mix consisting of - per 16 liters new water - 1/8th tsp (.625 ml) of the calcium chloride dihydrate, .45 ml epsom salt, and only .15 ml epsom salt. This mixture is much more successful - it adds about 2 degrees GH to 16 liters of water while adding only about 55 ppm TDS and less than 1 degree KH. I am most pleased how this turned out...

 

Hello everyone...I opted to tear this tank down. I just was not satisfied with how it was doing and want to start fresh. I will start a new journal when I restart it, but for now I will be figuring out my vision for what I want this tank to become (the lack of which resulted in this tank's demise). Thanks for following along

 

Hello everyone...I opted to tear this tank down. I just was not satisfied with how it was doing and want to start fresh. I will start a new journal when I restart it, but for now I will be figuring out my vision for what I want this tank to become (the lack of which resulted in this tank's demise). Thanks for following along

Sorry to hear about this but looking forward to the next part of this journey!

 

Hello everyone...I opted to tear this tank down. I just was not satisfied with how it was doing and want to start fresh. I will start a new journal when I restart it, but for now I will be figuring out my vision for what I want this tank to become (the lack of which resulted in this tank's demise). Thanks for following along

It was looking nice imo. Better than my attempts at planted anything. I just end up with moss and algae everywhere.