[eeldude]

Well, I have been out of the hobby of fish keeping for a year or two now, and I have sold all my tanks but my 10 gallon. I decided I was going to start getting into the hobby and again and decided on doing a planted 10 gallon tank with a small school of neon tetras. The tank has been cycling for two days with nothing but eco-gravel/sand in it. Today I went out and bought some plants and a piece of drift wood and try my luck at aquascaping a planted tank.

I spent a total of $36 dollars on plants today to get the tank started.

The plants I got are,

4 bundles of E. tenellus
1 bundle of H. salicifolia
1 bundle of G. spilanthoides
1 ball of java moss

and I also got a small piece of drift wood.

I can't wait for the plants to fill in more and the tank to be finished cycling. The only thing really left to do is to continue to move things until I really like them, buy a aquarium heater, and get a small school of 6-10 neon tetras. (how much do you think I could get away with?)

Crappy sell phone pics,



I will update with better quality images.

This post has been edited by eeldude: 13 February 2011 - 08:43 PM

[Hotspot]

Nice setup there. Before I read about the neons I thought "How great a school of neons would look in that setup" .

greets

Peter

[eeldude]

pics,






I will update pics.

EDIT: I decided I'm going to try to make a java moss carpet. Pics of how I'm trying to achieve this.



I will try to keep this thread updated with pics.

[Morledzep]

looks awesome!! can't wait to see the tetras and the javamoss.

[eeldude]

Thanks, I'm thinking I can get the tetras in about a week or two.. the tank has been cycling for about a week so far. I'll have to start testing the water more frequently to see what my ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are. Also, what Temp should I have the tank at for tetras? I was thinking 75 ish? My tank with no heater is around 70 degrees.

[Morledzep]

it's been ages since i kept tetras.. but they live in a very similar environment to the cichla that i keep. i hardly ever let the temps fall below 80.

[eeldude]

Well, I think I'm going to do a re-scape and do an iwagumi set-up.

[Hotspot]

Temperatures depend on which characin you are going to keep, there are species that like colder water, others like it warmer.
You're ok with 24 to 27 °C/~75 to 81 °F for most of them, but I'll look up the environmental conditions a certain species prefers to be safe.

Peter

[eeldude]

Update!


My tank has a reading of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 0 nitrate (hope this test kit is correct), anyway I went out and bought a good sized school of neon tetras. I was between the cardinals and neons and decided to go with the neons even though the cardinals have nicer coloration, the extra money was spent on extra nice accessories such as a better thermometer and better heater. My planted tank is at a nice constant 75 degrees but that can be changed if needed be, and the tetras are being quarantined in 75 degree water.

[eeldude]

Pics, of what the tank looks like now. I decided to remove the mesh and make it so my moss can spread over a rock or two and up a piece of drift wood. I decided to forget the top of the tank and Now I'm hanging my light from the ceiling. I'm also thinking about de-rimming the top of the tank to give it a clean look.