10 gallon planted tank - Picture journal

Clone54

DAY 1
I've never kept a picture journal of my fish tanks because they have never really had many live plants that grow and evolve over time.

I converted my tank last night to this setup. I tried to be creative with the rock/sand substrate but I think it looks a little generic due to the size limitations and honestly I don't know what other design would have made much sense. Either way I was going for high contrast between planted areas and desert area.

To do list:
-Carefully remove some sand because I think I added too much at the start.
-Smooth out gravel to sand transition to make it look more natural
-Set-up my new lighting fixture which involves getting a glass top cut to keep the cats from dunking their paws into the open lid
-Finally I'll plant the tank once I make a final decision on what plants I'm going to go with. I have an idea but I'll also take suggestions from anyone.

Pictures (better pictures still to come at a later step once I'm not too lazy to get my tripod out and use it. Also if you click I think you can get larger sizes)

IMG_2844 by krebstar4000, on Flickr

IMG_2845 by krebstar4000, on Flickr

rjwwrx

I like the concept, looking forward to udpated pics. Good luck with everything

lorax84

You are more ambitious than I am. I really like the look, but I have always had trouble keeping the two substrates separate. The only thing I would suggest is that you not put any plants that send out runners too close to the sand/gravel transition. If you do everytime you pull a runner you are going to kick up a ton of sand.

Clone54

Yeah I've just accepted that this won't last forever. I move frequently (every 12-18 months) anyway so I figured it would get all mixed then and I'll have a chance to rebuild something different.

I didn't consider the root factor. Good point I'll take that into account when I get rolling

lorax84

I doubt you were thinking of putting vallisneria in there, but that is the worst plant when it comes to runners. They can be a problem with certain cryps as well. I had vallisneria shoot a runner almost 6 inches under some driftwood and come out the other side.

Clone54

It was a busy holiday and I've only gotten around to plant this tank today. So, almost a month later but I'll call this day 1 of the planted phase.

I have Crypt Parva in the back left. Two Anubias Nana tied to the driftwood. Dward baby tears in the front. Also a bunch of Duckweed floating around the top

On the to-do list:
-Observe Duckweed to see if it's blocking too much light for the baby tears and thin it out a bit if it is
-Pick out some fancy guppies to get some fish going
-Decide if i want to add some sort of background to the tank
-Let the plants grow in and get ready for some cherry shrimp


Day 1 planted by krebstar4000, on Flickr

lorax84

Duck weed can end up blocking to much light. THe anubais will like it being there, the baby tears will hate it.

Clone54

I had it to shade the Anubias...I'll just have to keep it thin...

Mikey1973

Awesome on this.. I thought about this today and could not find a thread where someone did a rock/sand substrate. I am thinking about doing this as well, but a little different. I want some sand so my Marbled Raphael Catfish can have a place to do his thing.

Clone54

It is still going strong. My rabbit snails just had eggs hatch (i think they came from eggs) but I have a few of those babies crawling around and they leave my plants alone for the most part.

Just plan on taking a lot of time filling your tank up with water both the first time and each time you do a water change (by a lot I mean 5 or 10 minutes longer than normal). Normally what I'll do is have water sitting out for a couple days so I don't have to mess around with adding anything to the tap water then I'll pour the water into a tall pitcher (similar to what I normally use to make juice or something in the summer time) something that makes pouring really easy...I'll then pour it into the tank but 'catch' the water right on the surface with my free hand otherwise the sand will go everywhere along with the rocks if I'm not careful.

When I clean the surface of the sand (not a water change) I need to replace about a half gallon of water I'll just open the top of my filter and pour it onto the intake side that way it helps break the fall of the water and it doesn't come crashing down in the tank.

Good luck