My 10 gallon low tech planted journal!

Hi everyone! Here comes my first journal in a long time...first, a picture from today, when I have finally been able to get it planted;


This tank was actually set up in the second half of April 2022, but it took about two months to cycle due to the large quantity of potting soil in the substrate. Here are some specs for this tank;
Light - Nicrew SkyLed, on 4 hours, off 4 hours, on 4 hours. I will not be turning the lights on long term until tomorrow; I only turned them on long enough today to get a full tank shot. Planting everything really disturbed the substrate, so I want to give the bacteria a chance to process the resulting ammonia before the algae do.
Water changes - 40% a week.
Water parameters - About 9 degrees GH, less than 1 degree KH, PH in the low to mid 6's. The low PH is not bothering the snails...
Filter - A sponge filter with a VERY light flow of bubbles.
Heater - None.
Fish - None yet, but this tank will eventually house a trio of black paradise fishes (they are currently outside).
Plants - Vallisneria "Leopard", Ludwigia "Atlantis", Alternanthera "Super Magenta", Hygrophila difformis, Echinodorus "Pink miracle", Sagittaria subulata "dwarf". I also got some tissue cultured water sprite to serve as a floater until everything else is established, but when it arrived it was doing its best to mimic dead spinach, so there are no floating plants at the moment.

I will try to update this once a week at least...hopefully this tank does as well as the 5 gallon I set up at the break room at work (which, aside from lacking a filter, runs on a very similar set of principles). Thanks

 

The Nicrew Skyled is my favorite light for a 10 gallon. It lights it up perfectly at a great price point.

 

Hi again everyone! As promised, here is a (slightly overdue) picture update;


Everything is growing well EXCEPT for the tissue cultured dwarf sagittaria, which is showing some melting. Might replace it in the next few weeks with something that is not tissue cultured...

The picture does not capture how vibrant this tank really is. The tops of the alternanthera are almost blood red, the new leaves on the pink miracle swords are bright pink, and even the ludwigia has a slight orange hue to it (albeit not as bright as I would like).

 

Hi everyone...here comes a not so pleasant update. Yesterday I discovered thread algae growing on many of my plants...aggravated that I had spent so much time and effort setting this tank up and yet it still got algae, I decided to do some water parameter testing this morning. That is when I discovered a far more serious problem that is probably causing the algae outburst...the tank has ammonia levels of 2-4 ppm! And no nitrate More than three months old and this tank still has not cycled correctly. There is a very real chance the black paradise fish will need to be housed elsewhere over the winter. I think I have learned a lesson from this...50/50 mixtures of potting soil and pool filter sand are too rich for planted aquariums unless you want to wait forever for them to cycle. For now I am going to do a 40% water change this afternoon, add some polyfilter and prime to neutralize the ammonia, and seek out floating plants to absorb the remaining ammonia.

 

Hi everyone! Here's an update...after about two weeks of being aggravated with this uncycled tank and its algae blooms, I tore it down yesterday and started it anew. It doesn't look like much now - a sponge filter, relatively clear water, and a mix of roughly 70% pool filter sand to 30% old potting soil that had once been used for one of my outdoor plants (which hopefully consumed some of the ammonia that plagued the previous incarnation of this tank) - but with time and some luck I hope this will turn out to be a much better planted tank than it was otherwise going to be. I will post a picture Tuesday. Thanks for reading!

 

Hi everyone! Small update...here is the tank as of yesterday;

 

Joshaeus , you may need to raise your light since you were getting algae blooms. https://www.amazon.com/DENPETEC-Lig...et-supplies&sprefix=led+riser,pets,104&sr=1-6

 

Joshaeus , you may need to raise your light since you were getting algae blooms. https://www.amazon.com/DENPETEC-Lighting-Aquarium-Aquatic-Bracket/dp/B08KVT3K73/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2IRE5UADTDJY1&keywords=led+risers+for+aquarium&qid=1660331187&s=pet-supplies&sprefix=led+riser,pets,104&sr=1-6

The tank had several ppm of ammonia, so I would have gotten algae blooms in this tank regardless unless there was absolutely no light in the tank. Ammonia (and uncycled tanks in general) triggers algae like nobody's business.