Planted 10g Dsm Build

Bought 3 pots of Monte Carlo, Seachem Flourite, and a rock. I'm going to be doing the DSM (Dry Start Method) for about 4-8 weeks while I piece together my Co2 setup. As of now this is what it looks like.

Here is what it looks like currently. After I get my Co2 setup I’ll be adding some rotala magneta and maybe some other plants.

 

looks good, subscribed to this thread!

 

looks good, subscribed to this thread!

Thanks I might be putting a betta in here...

 

Can't wait to see it grow in! Are you going pressurized or DIY for your CO2?

 

Can't wait to see it grow in! Are you going pressurized or DIY for your CO2?

Pressurized. I’m currently stuck between ordering a gla gro 1 or a co2art regulator. I hear good things about gla but I can’t find a reason to spend 200 bucks on a regulator especially as a high schooler

 

lol I'm 32 years old and can't find a reason to spend 200 bucks on one

I currently use DIY with citric acid for my 20L but think I'll go pressurized in my larger tank soon.

 

lol I'm 32 years old and can't find a reason to spend 200 bucks on one

I currently use DIY with citric acid for my 20L but think I'll go pressurized in my larger tank soon.

Have you heard anything about co2art the only YouTuber I’ve seen back thence is aquarium co-op

lol I'm 32 years old and can't find a reason to spend 200 bucks on one

I currently use DIY with citric acid for my 20L but think I'll go pressurized in my larger tank soon.

I also don’t want to spend 150$ to have a regulator break I think I might go with gla...

 

Looks nice! I'll check back later to see how your Monte Carlo fills in.

 

Thanks I might be putting a betta in here...

oh heck yeah!

 

So I decided to take the hit and buy my co2 setup. The screenshot shows some of the supplies I bought. And i'm buying the GLA GRO 1 regulator and a 5lb co2 cylinder. All of the supplies should be here by the start of next week! Can't wait to install it and update this thread

Co2 Tank: 5 lb CO2 Cylinder - Steel - Recertified | Beverage Elements

Regulator:

 

So I decided to take the hit and buy my co2 setup. The screenshot shows some of the supplies I bought. And i'm buying the GLA GRO 1 regulator and a 5lb co2 cylinder. All of the supplies should be here by the start of next week! Can't wait to install it and update this thread

Co2 Tank: 5 lb CO2 Cylinder - Steel - Recertified | Beverage Elements

Regulator:

holy expensive! I never realized how expensive setups were! good job on taking the plunge, it takes guts lol! can't wait to see it set up!

 

holy expensive! I never realized how expensive setups were! good job on taking the plunge, it takes guts lol! can't wait to see it set up!

Yea it hurt me a lot because i'm only 16. Also i'm gonna stop spending for a month or so then change the substrate from rocks to sand in my 20. Goal is to plant that tank in the future

 

Yea it hurt me a lot because i'm only 16. Also i'm gonna stop spending for a month or so then change the substrate from rocks to sand in my 20. Goal is to plant that tank in the future

what!!! never met another 16 year old on here! me too! my tanks suck up all my money hahah I have 4 going rn it's a struggle hahah. that 20 will look fye

 

what!!! never met another 16 year old on here! me too! my tanks suck up all my money hahah I have 4 going rn it's a struggle hahah. that 20 will look fye

Hopefully I only have 2 for now but will be buying more in the near future. My plan is to breed guppies for a while in the 20 sell some. Then buy another 20 gallon or more and selectively breed them and sell to local stores. They really need female guppies for some odd reason.

Just got the text from usps all the stuff from amazon is delivered. The co2 tank is coming tomorrow and I haven’t gotten a tracking number from GLA yet.

 

Just a tip going forward... for a dsm (any carpets really) you should look into an aquasoil substrate.... Ada Amazonia POWDER, tropica plant substrate POWDER, brightwell florin volcanit XF, controsoil XF...
Note the powder and XF... denotes grain size. For smaller carpeting plants smaller grains are better. The standard size is too often too large for small roots to get a good hold.

Lighting, co2, substrate aren’t places to skimp... but if you can’t afford to do an aquasoil I would do a dirted tank (you can even use the flourite sand to cap the miracle grow organic.

Flourite in and of itself contains no nutrients

 

So I should add something under the fluorite?

 

Or in the future ?

 

So I got home from work and saw my regulator came in the mail. It feels like it’s high quality and was built to last unlike my co2 diffuser I tried to attach the suction cup and it snapped right in half Now I have to wait even longer and buy a different one not made out of glass. Also here are some pictures of all the products.

 

Update so I was painting my bedroom this weekend and I guess when my dad removed the tank from the room he also removed the plastic wrap on it. It was like that for maybe a day and there was a ton of dying but I’ve been able to bring some of it back to life and I’m going to try and save as much as possible. I’ve also reduced lighting so they won’t be as dry.

 

My new diffuser from Nicolg came in today. Way smaller than I thought it was going to be but that’s not a problem since it’s only going in a 10g. I might add water and start injecting co2 tonight! But I’ll have to cut all the dead Monte Carlo and then go from there

 

So I got home from work and saw my regulator came in the mail. It feels like it’s high quality and was built to last unlike my co2 diffuser I tried to attach the suction cup and it snapped right in half Now I have to wait even longer and buy a different one not made out of glass. Also here are some pictures of all the products.

Ha! It’s for this reason alone I don’t use glass diffusers
Looking forward to future updates

Sorry I didn’t see your earlier questions, next time feel free to tag me (don’t always browse through old posts as I use my browser not the app)
For now I would add some root tabs (dry or flooded)

 

Ha! It’s for this reason alone I don’t use glass diffusers
Looking forward to future updates

So I left the plastic wrap of my tank one night and I woke up and most of the mc was dried out. But I kept watering and lowered the light period to prevent it from drying. Do you think I should cut off all the dried mc or leave it in and see if co2 will grow it ?

 

I would leave it for a day or so and see what happens. If completely dried trim away.
(FYI edited above post to include answers to a previous question)

 

I would leave it for a day or so and see what happens. If completely dried trim away.
(FYI edited above post to include answers to a previous question)

I’ll take a picture it’s been a couple of days since t happened.

 

Can you get a bit more close up? Esp of the top corners (both) and middle areas?

 

Can you get a bit more close up? Esp of the top corners (both) and middle areas?

Here you go!

 

I would trim out the discolored areas... even if you decided to flood now, you would still want to trim that prior to flooding. On the bright side, trimming often stimulates growth

 

I agree trim off the dodgy bits they won't come back and it will wAste energy on them

 

I would trim out the discolored areas... even if you decided to flood now, you would still want to trim that prior to flooding. On the bright side, trimming often stimulates growth

Okay thanks I’ll be doing that and flooding it tomorrow when I get my lights in and starting co2. How many bps do you think I should run?

 

Really depends on the tank, assuming you have a drop checker you want to aI'm for a nice lime green. Another way to measure is to check the ph prior to lights and co2 on, then measure afew hours later for a drop of 1.

 

Wow! Once you're through the hard part, this tank is gonna look great!
I'm unlucky (and lucky I suppose) in that I'm too young to work yet (I'm 14), so my parents pay for my tanks. The downside is they limit what I get! I love Monte Carlo, that tank is going to look fantastic.

 

Really depends on the tank, assuming you have a drop checker you want to aI'm for a nice lime green. Another way to measure is to check the ph prior to lights and co2 on, then measure afew hours later for a drop of 1.

I thought I’m supposed to jack it up then slowly move down to 1bps because they aren’t used to being submersed

Wow! Once you're through the hard part, this tank is gonna look great!
I'm unlucky (and lucky I suppose) in that I'm too young to work yet (I'm 14), so my parents pay for my tanks. The downside is they limit what I get! I love Monte Carlo, that tank is going to look fantastic.

Yea sad thing is I spent around 30$ on Monte Carlo and over half of it is ruined. So I’ll be buying more once my lfs restocks.

 

I thought I’m supposed to jack it up then slowly move down to 1bps because they aren’t used to being submersed


Yea sad thing is I spent around 30$ on Monte Carlo and over half of it is ruined. So I’ll be buying more once my lfs restocks.

Got my lights on my tank. Everything I need to begin running co2 is here. But I’m going to wait until tomorrow so I won’t be in a rush to finish everything and hopefully get some more plants. Here’s a picture of my lights installed. You can’t really see how well it’s lit up because of the humidity in the tank.

 

Installed co2. I have it running at about 1-2 bps. Most of my Monte Carlo died when I forgot to cover my tank when I was painting my bedroom so it dried out over night. I’ll be buying some more plants from a local fish keeper. Here’s some of the plants I plan on buying when I figure out if I want to dry does ferts or buy pre-mixed.
15 Stems of Narrow Leaf Ludwiga
5 Stems of Rotala Macranda.
Then I plan on buying some more Monte Carlo some time next week when my lfs restocks.

 

Supposedly my diffuser is too good for my 10 gallon so I might be returning it and buying a new one. Any recommendations for a good diffuser ?

 

I’m returning the diffuser. I didn’t pay 30$ for it to already get cloggged in only 2 days. It’s a piece of . Any recommendations for a different diffuser?

 

Got bored of the way my tank looked. So I decided to do a 70-80% water change. I hadn’t had time to keep up with the maintenance so it had algae everywhere and I don’t even know if my cycle has progressed. The last time I addded ammonia was last Saturday. I cleaned up most of the algae moved plants and now I’m still waiting for my lfs to restock in mc. I might just buy as much as I can just in case. I also bought a food scale so I could mix my dry ferts into a 500mL bottle. They’ll be here on Monday. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of what it looked like with all the algae but it was bad. Here’s a picture of the re-scape. Still deciding on where I want the plants to be.

 

My lfs still didn’t get Monte Carlo in. So I decided to stop waiting for them and drive 30 minutes out to a lfs that had 5 pots of Monte Carlo. I bought all 5 just in case so I wouldn’t have to make an hour drive in the future if some of it died off. I also bought a piece of spider wood I liked. I’ll let it soak for a while then glue some java moss to make it look kind of like a tree. Here are some pictures. The glass is kinda dirty due to a battle with algae I’ve been having. I also plan on mixing my ferts and starting to dose.