Rockwood blog

I've been meaning to get started on a blog about my fish tank. Oh how life keeps you busy. So when I'm tired and/or stressed I watch my tank.

It has been approx. 3 months now since I purchased a Top Fin 10gal starter tank from Petsmart. I've been looking at them for a while at my local pet store. I have a medical scare around that time and I guess that is when I decided to purchase my tank as relaxing hobby to say the least. Unlike as a kid with "Daddy, I want a fish!" and money spent then having fish die because your little snot nosed self and parents didn't know how to take care of aquatic life,  I took my time to research fish and plants. During this time I was buying equipment piece by piece with tip money from the lobby bar at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. Now I was ready to get started.

Included with tank when purchased: Aqueon 10 power filter and an Incandescent Hood by All Glass.
Things I bought for tank: Tubular bulbs for hood, Hydor 50watt heater, small substrate gravel and thermometer.

Things I did to set up my tank:

1. I tested the seal of the tank by filling it with water first to check for leaks.
2. Bought my gravel and washed it thoroughly. Small substrate like the size of BBs or peas. No fancy colors. Just a natural look.
3. Next thing on my list was decor. While I get supplies from Petsmart, I went to a local fish store that was been operating for decades here called the Aquadome. They had an impressive amount of rock, live rock, driftwood and such. Still on a budget I went with a couple pieces of driftwood, a crater rock and petrified wood. I soaked the driftwood for a couple weeks so as to extract any particles that tends to turn your water brown before placing in tank. After that was done, I arranged my decor in my substrate. Also, I forgot to add, is that I picked up a blue self adhesive background around this time. Fairly simple to put on. Wipe back of tank with a soap damp paper towel (this activates the background stickiness), apply back and smooth out bubbles with a credit card or squeegee. Trim edges with sharp knife and Viola!

4. Added water, turned on filter and lights. Then stared, mainly to figure out how I wanted to proceed.

Petrified Wood (aka water slide)

driftwood & crater rock

crater rock close up

filter above petrified wood make said water slide

Around this time I decided I wanted live plants. the tubular bulbs I got for lighting did not have the requirements needed for plants. So I went to Walmart and got 2 6500K CFL bulbs (Those curly fluorescent lights that used less wattage than regular light bulbs). At this time I also purchased plant food, fish food and water conditioner from Petsmart. Then I had to wait for more money to continue.

Starting out in the fish keeping hobby is the most expensive part. So I will take this time to rant about the people I read about online. From what I have read, most people hate the idea of a 10 gal tank. Saying it easier to keep a larger tank and one should start out with a 55 gal. I call Bullshit! While I agree in terms of the actual upkeep is easier because the more water means the parameters of your required levels of conditioning hard change drastically. But starting out I don't want to drop $200 for a tank, not including additional gear, then decide is may not be for me. A 10 gal is simple but needs attention. Granted you are limited in how many fish you can get but I see it as a training tool to get me in the habit of taking care of an aquarium. Beginners are impatient and the constant attention of a smaller tank keeps them busy.

As I got a little money I went back to Aquadome. I would go in at other times to look around to help research what I wanted to do with my tank. This time I was actually going to buy something. I started with 2 of 3 different crypts (don't ask me to name them fully, so hard to pronounce/spell for me), some anacharis and a banana plant (called that because of the green banana shaped tubers). I treated the water like I would for fish. To help the plants along I use Aqueon Plant Food. I have no beef with this product. I think it works well. I have used this product in small but frequent doses instead of a weekly big dose.  There have been a couple failures with some plants. A couple of crypts curled in on themselves and the leaves detached. I have removed these. The anacharis to my surprise was a bust. At first new buds formed but started to wilt and lose color. I also removed these...except one. Formed from a new growth I watched as this to detached itself from the main plant. I left it floating around the tank. I still looks fine but no new growth except a root when it got caught on another plant. 

banana plant

crypts

banana, crypts & anacharis

After a couple more weeks I made the jump to fish. I know some people hate the idea of cycling with fish but as a beginner it is the easiest way. I went to Aquadome and talked about my ideas for a starting hardy fish. I was originally thinking of cherry barbs or harlequin rasboras. Zebra Danio were suggested. Being new i would hear that Danios are the hardiest fish you can find but their look is tend to be unappreciated. I went with 3 Danios. I must admit I have grown to love them. They are very personable and energetic. 

I modified different variables during the first month after the introduction of fish. Keeping close eye on water quality, fish, filter and plants. The fish did pace the glass a bit. At the same time they were playful. The filter is above the petrified wood and forms a water slide of sorts.  They would slowly swim to the top of the rock then follow the current and shoot out the bottom. At times I found them swimming against the current up the rock. I will say at first I had trouble finding out the sex of my fish. Sometimes they had a belly, sometimes not. I finally figured out they were females. After about a month I noticed algae was forming. as much of a nuisance algae is, I saw it as a healthy tank. 

zebra danio

Now the plants I had issue with, as mentioned before. But the banana plant is amazing. It formed a white root above the tubers and in a couple days is over 2in long and strong enough to lift the plant off the gravel. Then a new lily formed. About an inch high and the lily was the same in diameter. Soon another roots and another lily. This one twice as high and twice as wide. The plant had 2 small lilies when I trimmed then so the plants energy would be focused on the new growth. It worked. The thirst was even higher and about 3in in diameter. I was excited to see the fourth stalk shoot up far past the other lilies. This one on the other hand didn't open till it hit the water's surface. It just kept growing and growing. At about 2ft the lily opened.  Then a fifth one grew. Not as long but opened sooner. I cut the fourth one about this time because is formed a whole in the lily. The other plants, crypts, are slow growing but growth is visible. To date the two bigger ones have grown 4 leaves with new ones still coming in. As of 10/28 I added two new crypts (tall wavy grass blade ones) to fill in some gaps in the decor.

A bit cloudy, fighting bacterial bloom as mentioned later in blog

On 10/3, the time my tank formed algae, I went back to Aquadome to get more tankmates. I wanted to slowly introduce fish  so my filter won't get over loaded. I wanted to add a couple more Zebra Danios and an algae eater. I originally wanted shrimp, Amano or red cherry, but I wanted to use caution concerning invertebrates since I am new to fish keeping. But the staff at Aquadome said they don't actually eat algae. But various website (i.e. The Shrimp Farm) suggest otherwise. I still want shrimp but looks like that is for a future project. So this trip I brought home 2 Danios and 1 Bushynose Pleco. The sales clerk said introducing 3 wouldn't harm my tank but soon after I had an issue with bacterial bloom. Maybe this was attributed to introduction 3 fish at once or not but I will not do so in the future.

Bushynose Pleco hanging out under Banana lily

Now on the subject of the bloom. My water was cloudy with a white tinge. I tried Seachem Clarity which didn't seem to work. Not saying it's a bad product but other factors where involved. (Seachem Neutral Regulator did help my pH though) I hadn't paid close enough attention to my filter. I finally noticed the water was overflowing the reservoir past the filter media. I was using the Aqueon 10 filter that came with the startup kit but now I see that it was lacking in my needs. I changed cartridges a couple times and the water flow backed up over the side of the reservoir again in less than a week. At this time I invested in AquaClear 20 and my bloom issue was greatly reduced. I have reduced my feeding of fish at the same time and added salt to the mix. This also helped my fish because they for white spots on the fins. It was not Ich but a bacterial thing that I figure was contributed to my recent water situation. My water currently is back to being clear and my fish are doing fine. I would like to add I had some kind of white hair algae but found one post that suggested getting  paint brush to clear it off my driftwood and sure enough it work. I used a paint brush to dust (so to speak) any decor of debris and the top of my heater from  green algae.

towards the end of the bloom menace

Now a month later I am looking to finish off my tank with a new addition. I keep hearing the 1" per gallon on most forums. I understand this rule of thumb but everybody regurgitates it like they are the only experts on fish. Now it is a basic guide line. I say it like that because I currently have 5 Danios and 1 Pleco. My Danios have grown so much but there still seems to be room in my tank for 3-4 small fish. I don't want to overload my tank and still taking my time with deciding what I should get. The owner of Aquadome suggest cherry barbs. They stay fairly small and would make great tankmates for Danios. Plus they are one of the hardy fish I was originally looking at. 

Again, looking at my tank and it looks like I can easily add 4 to complete my 10 gal planted tank. That is where I am at currently and welcome suggestion but please...PLEASE...don't spill forth general advice that I have read over and over again. Constructive advice would be grateful. Things like companions for my Danios other than barbs. 1-2  solo or paired fish that would add to the look of my tank and tips for future tanks.