Tmr Is The Day!!! Listing Off What I Need, Check It Please?

ok so I am going to decided tomorrow on the spot if I will be going for 20 gallons or 10. My list of what I need so far just for the cycling process fish stuff I will buy later.

- Tank
-Filter
-Heater
- light
- Substrate (I can’t decide if I should go with gravel or something else)
- Plants (Yay I decided for a planted tank)
- Anubias nana. -Java fern
- Some rocks and wood


The chemicals (I forget the names!)
- for the tap water (dechlorinate)
- safe start?
- fertilizer
- fish food or ammonia


It’s so funny because as I begin to write this I forgot everything. I’m so excited/nervous.

Tbh my biggest fear is going in to the store and them sensing I’m clueless and getting me to buy stuff that I don’t need or I can’t actually manage.

 

Hi, you have good reason to be excited! You will need Prime to take care of chlorine, any heavy metals, etc. You will need API or another brand of liquid test kit to check water parameters. Much more accurate than strips. You can try to get some friends used aquarium filter to use in your new tank, and/ or some cycled tank gravel or decor like lava rock to help your good bacteria to get jump started and shorten your cycle time. You want to make sure this stuff is from a healthy tank though! If you go with ammonia, please make sure it is pure ammonia with no surfactants, or sudsing agents. You cannot usually find pure ammonia at walmart, its sometimes tricky to find easily. Do you already have a top or light fixture for your tank?

Congrats on your tank! Have fun with it. I used gravel and easy to grow plants planted in it. I have a couple I bury root tabs near their roots. But with Anubias you will only need liquid fertilizer for water column feeding. Something like Seachem Flourish.

 

Nice! You might also want to get a net and a siphon. If you plan to get smaller fish then also consider having a pre-filter, though you can just diy it later if needed. Instant cycling products save a lot of time and hassle so I’d go this route. I use fine gravels cause sand can develop anaerbic pockets if you don’t stir them up occasionally, and large gravel traps debris easily. But whatever looks good to you is best.

 

On substrate: I love my black sand. So very easy to keep clean, everything stays on top. And in my humble opinion it looks nicer than gravel too

The bottled bacteria can be hit or miss; some folks swear by it, but all my cycles failed until the one I did without it. That certainly could be user error, though.

 

Hi, you have good reason to be excited! You will need Prime to take care of chlorine, any heavy metals, etc. You will need API or another brand of liquid test kit to check water parameters. Much more accurate than strips. You can try to get some friends used aquarium filter to use in your new tank, and/ or some cycled tank gravel or decor like lava rock to help your good bacteria to get jump started and shorten your cycle time. You want to make sure this stuff is from a healthy tank though! If you go with ammonia, please make sure it is pure ammonia with no surfactants, or sudsing agents. You cannot usually find pure ammonia at walmart, its sometimes tricky to find easily. Do you already have a top or light fixture for your tank?

I don’t have a light fixture/top I’ll get those tomorrow too. I have also ordered my API kit already I’m just waiting for it.

 

Nice! You might also want to get a net and a siphon. If you plan to get smaller fish then also consider having a pre-filter, though you can just diy it later if needed. Instant cycling products save a lot of time and hassle so I’d go this route. I use fine gravels cause sand can develop anaerbic pockets if you don’t stir them up occasionally, and large gravel traps debris easily. But whatever looks good to you is best.

On substrate: I love my black sand. So very easy to keep clean, everything stays on top. And in my humble opinion it looks nicer than gravel too

The bottled bacteria can be hit or miss; some folks swear by it, but all my cycles failed until the one I did without it. That certainly could be user error, though.

If I do go for gravel I probably will do a fine gravel. Oh yeah I will add a net and siphon to my list. Also what is a pre filter?

I have seen the Black sand, but I am worried about the cleaning because some people say it harder to clean. Vs you say it’s pretty clean.

 

A pre-filter is a sponge cylinder you put on the end of your filter intake, so that you catch big stuff before it even goes into the filter proper. It also serves to keep really small fish safe, since they don't get stuck to it like they can with the normal intake.

Sand is a pain in the neck to clean *before* it goes in the tank, but once it's in there, it's really easy, because nothing can slip down into it like it can with gravel. At least, that's been my (short) experience.

 

Maybe more types of plants? Here's a list Common Aquarium Plants

 

Maybe I read too fast but I didn't see a thermometer on the list. Definitely need one, stay away from the stick on kind as they are not as accurate.

As mentioned above sand is a pain in the butt to clean before you add it into the aquarium but afterwards it looks way better in my opinion. 4$ for a 50lb bag of play sand goes a very long way. I wouldn't worry about gas pockets forming in sand unless it is left undisturbed for a long period of time and usually won't be a problem if your sand bed isn't very deep. Take a chopstick and run that guy through the sand bed once a month and you wouldnt have to worry about that problem.

I would steer clear of a 10 gallon and go for a 20 long unless you just want a Betta and some snails. 20 will give you so many more stocking options and give your fish a happier home.

Java Fern is very slow growing and won't impact your water quality very much. Fast growing plants like hornwart and swords will help soak those nitrates and give your fish a happy little hideaway. If you get swords go for some root tabs and they should do great. I just free float my hornwart and my guys go crazy for it and not to mention is pretty dang cheap. Might make a little mess at first so make sure to put a sponge over your filter intake or it will clog it up.

 

I vote for the 20.

You can buy a hinged glass top for $25 from Amazon, a Beamworks 6500 led light for $40. These 2 things will make you more successful with your plants.

Get pure ammonia from a hardware store, no additives (scent, detergent, nothing). Dose your tank to 2ppm ammonia. Test every 2-3 days.

When ammonia goes down, dose back to 2ppm.

Once your ammonia goes down, you’ll start seeing nitrites. Keep dosing ammonia to 2ppm until your cycle concerts it to 0 in 24 hours.

I recommend TetraSafeStart + poured in the back of your filter at the same time as you do the initial dose of ammonia.

Raise heat to 82-84 during this process to speed it up.

So you want your thermometer to be adjustable.