8 gallon 1st planted aquarium

[SnowDay]

Hey everyone! I have to move from a 1300 sq ft house to a 850 sq ft house. So it only made sense to downsize the ol' aquarium as well I have a 20 gallon set up right now, only a few real plants but I added them years after the tank was started. The fish in the 20 gallon will go in my new 8.7 gallon bow front! Maybe someone could tell me if it's too many fish for an 8 gallon. 5-7 guppies (they keep having babies) 1 nerite snail, 1 African dwarf frog, 6 amano shrimp, and unfortunately I might have to bring my scissor tail rasbora. I say unfortunately because those fish are definitely way to big for that, but he's about 4 years old now, started with 5 and he's the last one. Id rather put him in the 8 gallon then try and bring him to the pet store or give him to a stranger.

I actually started the 8 gallon on Apr 23

Apr 23 Day 1
After test filling the new aquarium in the bath tub for leaks, it was time to start planting! I went a little dumb on the plants lol.
-marsilea hirsuta
-hydroctyle tripartita
-Staurogyne repens
-bucephalandra pygmaea 'bukit kelam'
-bucephalandra kedegang
-anubias barteri var. nana
-cryptocoryne wedntii 'mi oya'
-hottonia palustris
-alternanthera reineckii 'pink'
-bacopa Caroliniana
-red root floater



I actually didn't add the floaters or S repens until a few days later. For my filter I have a Oase biocompact 50, heater is a fluval p25, light is a Nicrew sky led + 18-24", I'm using fluval stratum for my aqua soil, and I will be dosing tropica premium nutrion

 

[SimpleMan]

Very well done!

 

[StarGirl]

I guess it depends on how chill the scissor is. I would get rid of the female guppies in that size tank though. Keeping water params in check will be the biggest thing to keep up on.

 

[SnowDay]

I guess it depends on how chill the scissor is. I would get rid of the female guppies in that size tank though. Keeping water params in check will be the biggest thing to keep up on.

Do you mean so they don't keep having babies? Lol

 

[StarGirl]

Do you mean so they don't keep having babies? Lol

Yeah....too small for 100 guppies.....because they wont stop.....lol

 

[SnowDay]

Day 2-4 were pretty borin. Just tested water and did water changes. On day 5 when I did the nitrite test I actually got a reading of .25! And the following day I was already seeing nitrate. On day 7 I had 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and 20 nitrate.
From day 1-7 I dosed the recommended amount of seachem stability. I really think that along with all the plants and aqua soil really boosted my cycle. I did a big water change that day and ever since then I've had 0 ammonia and nitrite and around 5-10 nitrate. But I still don't believe my tank is actually cycled enough for fish. It's probably just the plants soaking up the ammonia that leached from the aqua soil. Anyways I purchased some fritz aquatics fishless fuel (pure ammonia) and I will be dosing with that to see how long it takes for the filter to deal with it. Here are some photos of the tank progressing from day 1 to day 10

 

[StarGirl]

Anyways I purchased some fritz aquatics fishless fuel (pure ammonia) and I will be dosing with that to see how long it takes for the filter to deal with it.

Good plan. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[SnowDay]

Little update for the journal! The passed week I have got myself a new light and filter. Neither of them needed to be changed, I just have an addiction now


I had to do my 1st trimming session (day 15) the hydro tripartita and the alternanthera reineckii are growing like crazy!


This new filter I got may be my new favorite filter for nano tanks. That is until they make a canister filter with a gph suitable for tanks under 10 gallons lol.


My only issue with this filter is that the dirty water enters the media basket right near the middle which seems a bit weird, it should go bottom up or top down. But as you can see I customized the media, it only came with 1 big sponge. If anyone is reading this, maybe I could have some opinions on how I should stack the filter media, because as I mentioned before water enters near the middle of the media basket and kind of gets swirled all throughout. Maybe I should put more biomedia under the sponge? It has a built in surface skimmer, it was $20 CAD, It's rated for 80gph and it has adjustable flow! It has some bad reviews on Amazon and I'm baffled as to why.

Here's a current photo of the aquarium! Little bit of algae but nothing to crazy, yet lol.

 

[SnowDay]

I didn't like how the job filters was pushing my floating plants under the surface. So I came up with this little thing!
It wasn't fully my idea, I'm sure other people have seen similar concepts. But I don't think I've seen anyone do this! Though I'd share

 

[Flyfisha]

I am going to suggest the HOB filter has the media/ foam to high for my preference. I like to have ALL media below the height of the over flow.

See how the water fall is at one height and there is a second outlet that has the uplift tube crossing it. When the media blocks up the water goes out the second water fall , that’s when it’s really time to rinse the media as it’s been left a bit too long . The way that filter has the unused media above both water falls it will likely flood over the side or back when blocked.

All I am suggesting is cutting 1/2 inch off the black sponge that appears to be slightly too high.


Note the height of the sheet of sponge that is in the place a cartridge would have been . When the sponge on the right becomes blocked water flows over the top . Potentially it can flow over the second water fall on the left.

Look the height is ok the way it is but as the black sponge that’s above the water level is not helping you might as well trim it down?

See how it is over time. You may need to spray paint it black to keep light off the media in order to limit algae ?

 

[SnowDay]

Flyfisha I appreciate all the feedback! The reason it's so high was actually so the water couldn't bypass the sponge in anyway. But I never thought of the clogging aspect and all that so I do appreciate that very much! And oh jeez I never thought about algae growing in the filter cause it's see through... I'm sure the people who made it didn't think of that either xD. But honestly I got this filter on sale I really spent like $17 on it($20 reg) so I figured it was worth a shot even if it sucks! I was thinking of having just a small sponge in the middle. So the order from bottom to top would go biomedia, sponge, floss, biomedia. Reason being the water would have to pass through the sponge to reach the bottom anyway and more room for bacteria! What are your opinions there just curious?

 

[Flyfisha]

I use floss in box filters.
. I believe it will clog up the fastest of all your media.
I would not use it at all in a hang on back myself, but only time will tell if you fine it inconvenient ?

Floss is very good at removing fines from the water ( small solids) but it blocks up quickly which will lead to slow flow and potentially an overflow or just no flow.
I have ceramic media in mesh bags that make it convenient to rinse and return.

My main cleaning routine is rinsing the pre filter. Yes you can buy pre filters . Avoid the fine sponge at get a course sponge so you can go many weeks without rinsing.
If you make one from a block of sponge using a red hot wire to burn a hole make the overall size as big as you can stand. They can look ugly . They actually increase the surface area available for bacteria as well as limit the gunk going into the filter.

See how it goes with the floss, if it’s not working delete it altogether.

 

[SnowDay]

Flyfisha I actually have a 20 gallon tank that's been running for about 4 years now. I've used floss in it the whole time but it does clog up rather fast. But boy does it make the water clear! I've never ever had any cloudy water issues for any reason. So I guess it's just weather I want to be constantly cleaning the filter weekly or bi weekly. I never considered not using it haha. It's been a staple for me for so long! But as for the stacking of the media, apart from the floss you think that would be a good idea having some bio media under the sponge aswell? And actually I just thought of something. If I ditched the floss I could fit that much more bio media. That might be a better idea

 

[ruud]

Not to disturb this thread too much; I run filters, including HOBs, without any filter media. The HOBs do have plants in them; great for cultivating buces, for instance.

But sometimes, I add some floss in if the water gets a little cloudy due to clay particles.
Instead of placing it as a layer, forcing all water to pass, I place it vertically, so water passes by, but particles still get trapped in the floss. This way, the water flow isn't obstructed and I can even remove/replace the floss really quickly in a HOB.

Just an idea.