Bringing a 10 gal back to life

[10_Gallons]

The last of my old fish died during the summer (one from fungus () and the other was a betta who actually lived quite long) and since then I've neglected my tank. The water level's at nearly 1/2 of what it used to be, the plants are a bit yellow looking, and there's a large mass of algae on the left side.

Anyway.. I have a couple of questions. First of all, I'm not sure what to put in it. Any suggestions? I'm going to take a month or so just to get the water level back up, get the filter running, clean the gravel, bring the plants back a bit, etc. A school of neons might be nice but they tend to disappear. I'd like to either go with an interesting group of fish or a couple of nice looking larger fish that would do well in a small tank.

I'm also not sure what to do with a potted crypt that I have. It's looking OK but it's small. Should I just leave it in the pot? Should I take it out? Won't the plant just be stunted and then eventually run out of nutrients in the pot? I may just end up buying new plants for that side of the tank.

Also.. someone told me about quiet sunken filters that would be fine in a 10 gallon. What does everyone here recommond? I've always had the "standard" aquaclear mini (for up to 20 gallon), but I'd like something quieter if possible since it's in my room. Normally it's pretty good but there is some noise and I have to keep the water level very high and I have to crank it up to full to keep it from making noises.

 

[wetmanNY]

I would "start over." Besides the plants, you want to save some 'clean gunk' siphoned off the undisturbed gravel, and the very topmost half-inch of gravel, scraped up with a flat-sided deli container and kept in a bucket, just barely wet, for the hour or two you're setting up again. The "clean gunk" will have a founder population of plankton that keep your water clear and help keep your system balanced. Keep your rocks etc wet too.

There are some pointers about "starting over" at www.skepticalaquarist.com that could be handy. Look in the SetUp folder.

Since you have plants, mix about a quarter to half Flourite into your gravel. It will make a difference.

I like sturdy simple h.o.t. filters. But a little splish-splash bedroom noise never made me wet my bed!

Let your plants do a lot of the filtering, and look into new compact fluorescent lighting to add to your standard reflector. You can place one of the new lights just behind your long reflector. Plant growth will be hugely improved.

 

[BBN]

I would start over too. Clean it good. New gravel, palnts and all.

 

[10_Gallons]

The thing is.. my plants are actually pretty well established. I've got some kind of grass growing on the left side which covers maybe 1/6 of the bottom of the tank pretty uniformly and took months to grow in. I also have another plant that's quite large and looks good. I wouldn't mind cleaning it all and adding some better substrate especially (darker gravel and fluorite), but I don't want to give that up.

I built my own custom hood before. It uses a CF bulb and makes a HUGE difference over the lighting that I had before (basically, the plants actually grow now, whereas before it was a matter of prolonging their decline).

Any ideas about what I could do to improve plant growth if I don't want to disturb the substrate? What about new fish?


By the way... I also tried one of those pop bottle CO2 injection systems (with yeast) once, but I got bubbles for maybe two hours. I think my room's too cold and the yeast was probably old as well.

 

[10_Gallons]

What about tiger barbs in a 10 gal? The species guide here says minimum 10 gallons, and I currently have no other fish. Would I be able to keep 3-4? How quickly should I add them? What kind of conditions do they require?

What about other fish with them? I know that they don't do well with slower fish with flowing fins, but would I have room for anything? Maybe bottom feeders like dwarf corydoras?

Edit: did some work on my aquarium today.. the filter's going and the water's almost up to a good height again.