My 30L journey

Good day, fellow glass box enthusiasts!

I have been in the hobby for almost a year now and have joined TASA months ago, but never made a thread about my tanks except to ask for advice. I enjoy reading about everyone's tanks and seeing the pictures and thought it's my turn to make a thread. Hopefully this will help me keep track of what has happened and as always any tips and advice are very welcome. Beware, long post ahead.

I have a different tank that had Platys and when they starting having lots of fry (over 100!) my LFS owner sold me this tank for R100, to use as a grow out tank. I have since then scaped and rescaped this small tank several times and learned valuable lessons along the way. So using @A new day 's format, and advice. I will try and log my journey so far...

Tank:
It's actually just under 34L, if my math didnt fail me. I've always treated it as 30L though, because of water level, hardscape, gravel and equipment inside the tank. Its also a nice round number for dosing meds and dechlorinater.
Dimensions: 46 x 32 x 23cm

Hardscape:
I started out with Black gravel and white Quartz stone. The plants were cuttings and Java moss from my other tank.

June 2020

I planted the plants only in the gravel but I needed nutrients in the water. After seeing MD Fish Tank's Ikebana Style scape on YouTube, I decided to try this method with plants and added more cuttings.

Sept 2020

I used random bowls and a teacup that I filled with potting soil and capped with gravel. This made gravel vacuuming very easy, since I could just take them out for clean up.

Then got a great deal on driftwood (Second hand, R600 for 5 pieces) and another rescape happened.

November 2020

I also donated all the Platy fry to my LFS, to make home for new inhabitants.

I added new fish and used it as a QT and then I had an Ich outbreak. After 2 weeks of meds, I cleaned the tank thoroughly and replaced the gravel. Most of the plants struggled with the higher temperature, added salt and meds and though I tried to rescue the plants I could, most didnt make it. This gave me the perfect excuse to try new and different plants. Leading to my latest rescape over the weekend.

January 2021

One piece of driftwood and about a cup of potting soil, capped with black gravel.

Stocking:
After the Platys, I got 2 Dark Knight Rams online. I wasnt planning on the tank becoming their permanent home but used it as a QT. One Ram jumped a week later and didnt make it (Think I got 2 males and he was the one that got bullied). I then got a Female Ram and 10 Ember Tetras. They went into quarantine with the Male Ram. He still had 2 weeks of quarantine to go. Mistake! I got the new fish from the same guy and assumed his water parameters would allow me to quarantine them together. One of the new fish must've had Ich and a week later both my Rams were covered in white spots. They died a few days later as well as 2 Tetras. (Lesson learned). Currently the tank is home to the remaining 8 Tetras and I've added Rams horn snails for algae control.

Water source: Dechlorinated, tap water. Cape Town

Filter:
I started with a small corner filter and an air pump, but soon added a small Sunsun canister filter (75L/h) to help with the bioload as the fry grew. Recently, I added a bigger Sunsun Canister filter (180L/h) running with the smaller filter to get it cycled. I also added an airstone since I've removed the corner filter

Temperature:
The heater (50W) is normally set at 24. I increased the temp to 30 while treating Ich but back to normal now. With warmer days the temp hovers around 26. The heater is currently off and the temps dont seems to fluctuate.

Light:
It's a cheapy. Nubios LED clamp light. 8000K. Bright white. Photo period of around 8 hours a day. Longer over weekends.

Products:
Seachem Prime, Paraguard.
Aquarium Salt

Testkits:
I've used Tetra and JBL test strips in the past. Currently I'm using Sera test strips and liquid test for Ammonia.

Food:
I make my own gel fish food (Mostly veggies, suspended in gelatine). I also feed TetraMin flakes as well as small frozen foods as treats (Daphnia and Cyclops).

Plants:
Currently: Anubias Barteri
Amazon swords (Not sure what type)
Heteranthera Zosterifolia (Star grass)
Hygrophila Polysperma
Rotala Rotundifolia
Hydrocotyle Tripartita
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
The Crypts are slowly melting but I'm already seeing new growth.

Fertilizer:
I dont use any ferts. The tank has about a cup of potting soil (baked and sifted), capped with black gravel.

Algae:
Just white fluff on the driftwood but the snails will sort that out. Nothing else at the moment.

PH:
My tap water's PH is around 6.4 and stays the same in the tank. I'm not too concerned about the PH being too low (should I be?), as long as it doesnt change.

Ammonia:
I was under the (wrong) impression that Nitrate and Nitrite levels are indicative of Ammonia levels. So I've only started testing for Ammonia a few months ago. No spikes that I noticed and levels remain at 0.

Nitrites, Nitrates and Water changes.
When I had the Platy fry, I had to do a WC almost every second day to keep levels down. Especially when they got bigger. Now that the tank is no longer over stocked, its only necessary for once a week. I test my water once a week and do a WC accordingly. I usually add a quarter teaspoon of salt to every 10L of water that I change.

Future Stocking Ideas:
I'm trying not to over stock the tank (again) since it's so small, but I would like a couple more Ember Tetras. Some of them seem shy and I think a few more will help them come out of hiding. I also have my eye on Blue dream Shrimp. Just want to make sure about water parameters after cycling the new filter, before making an expensive mistake.

Long one! Thank you for reading, if you've made it all the way down here.

 

love this scape looked really awesome with the wood coming out the tank

 

Hi @Hendrik Bergh.

I love how in detail your post is and your tank is absolutely stunning. With regards to quarantine, I've suffered that same fate a long time ago and to be honest nothing feels worse.


@A new day it seems you're quite the inspiration around here hey.

I would also like to know why you add salt. I thought plants can't tolerate salt

 

Thank you everyone.

@Shabir and @A new day. Regarding the salt. A LFS owner once told me he puts in a handful of salt in with every water change. Even in his tanks at home. He said it helps with gill function and promotes "slimecoat" production. I was never good at science but a "handful" is not a measurement I remember and I wasnt going to kill everything that I had going. So I went on the internet...

Fresh water should be less than 1000 ppm. I add a 1/4 teaspoon to 10L new water. My kitchen scale sometimes weighs that amount of salt as 1 or 2 grams. So heres my attempt at math. I worked on 2g salt to 10L water. This is 200mg/L or 200ppm.

I've been doing it for a while in both tanks and havent seen any negative effects on the plants, fish or snails. It apparently also helps with osmoregulation, and I thought every bit helps to keep them healthy. Please beware. Salt does not dissipate by itself and can only be removed by doing water changes.

When it treated the Ich out break, I added 1 tablespoon to the tank and could see the plants melt after the first week of treatment.

What do you think? Am I wrong in doing this?

 

I dont see the benefits of adding salt to a tank personally. When treating ich without the use of meds, cranking up the heat gradually until around 30 for a week or so always worked for me. This, coupled with extra water changes is my go to method. Granted this is dependent on the temp tolerance of your fish. Most can and will handle the increased temp. Just be sure to add an airstone or increase surface agitation for oxygen exchange.

 

I love all the different versions of the tank.
So cool having so many opportunities to try new things

 

The tank on November last year looked absolutely amazing. And the crypts look so good in the new tank. Well done