I figured its about time to start one of these to help keep track of the tank progress as well as getting some advice/pointers about things to work on next.
First I'd like to say thanks to all the folks that post here. I've read so much information on these forums thats has been helpful from the point of cycling the tank all the way to trying to figure out which nutrients to dose the plants with without test kits (still workin' on that one though).
On to the tank. It was set up on our betta's (franklin) 1 year birthday to give him more room and better living than the ol' betta bowl. Set up in Mid-June 06 with a proper cycle using zebra danios.
Tank:
10 Gallon Hex
Satellite 18W Compact Fluorescent w/ 50/50 Daylight bulb at 10K&6.5K
Top Fin 10 Filter
Visi-therm stealth 50W heater
dosing 1ml of flourish every few days
dosing 1ml excel every few days
No CO2
Plantlife:
Water Wysteria
Red Ludwiga
Java Fern
Mondo Grass (I know this isn't truely submersible its coming out soon)
Fish:
Betta
2 Neon Tetras
2 Harlequin Rasboras
3 Zebra Danios
3 Ghost Shrimp
1 Otocinclus catfish
These are my current water parameters after 1 week with no water change...
PH: ~7.8-8.0
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: <5ppm
No KH or GH readings yet with a drop kit.
A few older pics I took back in December when there was only an 8W fluorescent bulb on the tank.
Now some newer pics from yesterday with the new upgraded lighting. Removed several types of plants before the upgrade and trimmed the day before so its a little sparse in there now.
Front:
Left:
Right:
