[cbirk]

Hello everyone, been awhile since I last posted. Unfortunately had to get rid of almost all my tanks and fish due to moving cross country. I do have a question of which I hope the friendly peoples here can help me with.

I would like a tank in my cubical at work, but I want to do it right. I am open to any kind of fish, but the requirement is that it needs to be small. 10g is probably pushing it. Usually this relegates my options to pretty much Betta's but I wanted to see what you guys had to offer in suggestions.

It needs to be mostly self sufficient. Any kind of closed echo system, or at least as much as possible. It needs to be able to survive the occasional 4 day weekend, and not require much upkeep besides adding some water. Is it possible to have a tank this small balanced enough to just be able to add fresh water as it evaporates, rather than doing water changes? I have a lot of electronics at my desk so the less chance to spill water the better.

I am interested in any kind of set up you can think of that you think might be able to work here, fresh or salt, (I realize this is the fresh water section), planter or otherwise, special lights needs, various kinds of filters, whatever.

I understand that there might just not be a healthy tank option, but thought I would ask, Thanks!

 

[beaslbob]

Hello everyone, been awhile since I last posted. Unfortunately had to get rid of almost all my tanks and fish due to moving cross country. I do have a question of which I hope the friendly peoples here can help me with.

I would like a tank in my cubical at work, but I want to do it right. I am open to any kind of fish, but the requirement is that it needs to be small. 10g is probably pushing it. Usually this relegates my options to pretty much Betta's but I wanted to see what you guys had to offer in suggestions.

It needs to be mostly self sufficient. Any kind of closed echo system, or at least as much as possible. It needs to be able to survive the occasional 4 day weekend, and not require much upkeep besides adding some water. Is it possible to have a tank this small balanced enough to just be able to add fresh water as it evaporates, rather than doing water changes? I have a lot of electronics at my desk so the less chance to spill water the better.

I am interested in any kind of set up you can think of that you think might be able to work here, fresh or salt, (I realize this is the fresh water section), planter or otherwise, special lights needs, various kinds of filters, whatever.

I understand that there might just not be a healthy tank option, but thought I would ask, Thanks!

Try one of these:

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/advanced-freshwater-discussion/beaslbob-build-295530/

 

[Agent13]

Try one of these:

http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/advanced-freshwater-discussion/beaslbob-build-295530/

Lets not get carried away with your controversial methods pushing it on every person you have the chance to. I also think this would not be ideal for an office and an eyesore.
There are plenty of smaller tanks on the market that come with small yet effective filters and led lights for streamline desk top look. Or a nice planted tank that I'm sure others can help instruct you in those methods but the proper way.

 

[cbirk]

Yeah I see those, but I always worry about the difference between what a store/company wants to sell you, and what is actually healthy for the fish. Hence asking here!

 

[thekoimaiden]

My suggest would be a fancy shrimp tank. Red cherry shrimp are very hardy and can survive a lot. (If you are willing to do more upkeep there are lots of fancy shrimp varieties.) They are also surprisingly interesting. The key to this tank is going to be the plants, but even then you'll still want to do a water change now and again. Maybe not weekly like a lot of us do, but the smaller the fish/animals generally the more sensitive they are to poor water quality.

 

[pennyls9332]

i have actually had success with what i call and "eco" tank which is just alot alot alot of plants with a sand bottom or floramax (something that is really good with plants and wont need vacuuming) i had mine in a 3g with a neon and some shrimp, but neons are schooling so it wasnt the best decision on my part. fish wise id go with shrimp or anything that eats algae and plant matter so you wont have to feed just supplement theyre diet.

 

[ao]

oooh tiny tanks! but a 10 gallon is huggge for me XD I run 1 gallon - 3 gallon tanks, and I've left them for up to 2 weeks. They generally house a betta.

My method is very simple and comes in a few steps:

First I establish the tank (and not worry about how it looks), it's almost like a cycle... but not really.

It helps to get the hard scape down to something you love. This way you should end up with a good looking tank just by following a few basic planting rules (low plants at the front, high ones at the back)

I usually do this by planting the tank with a variety of plants that I want, then adding a tonnnnne of pond snails, mts and ramshorns. You can use any substrate you want, with perhaps the exception of gravel, in my experience plants just dont love gravel as much My personal preference is one of the black clay/lava rock substrates like ecocomplete/floramax or flourite black.

I then leave the tank running with the light on a timer. A good light is very important for plant growth! I aim for medium to high light with several areas of shade. low light also works great with select low light plants Then over the course of a month or so I feed the snails occasionally like I would feed fish.

You will know when the tank establishes, ammonia nitrite and nitrate readings should be 0, and Ph should be stable, (if you are not getting across the board 0s, you dont have enough fast growing plants XD)

After the tank establishes and comes to a balance I can rearrange the tank and plants, trim and what not to get the desired look and... Stock!

I stop feeding the snails at this stage since I have new fish to feed... you will find that this tank can hold a much higher bioload than the average nano tank...

That's just my method anyway XD

the key to success here is proper lighting and fast growing stem plants



Sent from Petguide.com App

 

[beaslbob]

oooh tiny tanks! but a 10 gallon if huggge for me XD I run 1 gallon - 3 gallon tanks, and I've left them for up to 2 weeks. They generally house a betta.

My method is very simple and comes in a few steps:

First I establish the tank (and not worry about how it looks), it's almost like a cycle... but not really.

It helps to get the hard scape down to something you love. This way you should end up with a good looking tank just by following a few basic planting rules (low plants at the front, high ones at the back)

I usually do this by planting the tank with a variety of plants that I want, then adding a tonnnnne of pond snails, mts and ramshorns. You can use any substrate you want, with perhaps the exception of gravel, in my experience plants just dont love gravel as much My personal preference is one of the black clay/lava rock substrates like ecocomplete/floramax or flourite black.

I then leave the tank running with the light on a timer. A good light is very important for plant growth! I aim for medium to high light with several areas of shade. low light also works great with select low light plants Then over the course of a month or so I feed the snails occasionally like I would feed fish.

You will know when the tank establishes, ammonia nitrite and nitrate readings should be 0, and Ph should be stable, (if you are not getting across the board 0s, you dont have enough fast growing plants XD)

After the tank establishes and comes to a balance I can rearrange the tank and plants, trim and what not to get the desired look and... Stock!

I stop feeding the snails at this stage since I have new fish to feed... you will find that this tank can hold a much higher bioload than the average nano tank...

That's just my method anyway XD

the key to success here is proper lighting and fast growing stem plants



Sent from Petguide.com App

thanks for posting.

There are many ways to establish a balanced planted tank. To me the overriding concern is basically to get the plants growning and in control right from the start. Then do the rest.

Again thanks for posting

and as usual just my humble .02

 

[Hallyx]

Around my place, plant trimming and maintenance is a messy proposition. Time consuming, too. Maybe it's just me.

 

[cbirk]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think I am really liking the shrimp tank idea. I'll post some updates in a bit when I get it worked out. Thanks again!