Hello im a new guy here but ive been lurking around the forum for a while haha but decided to show off my tank. its nothing too fancy but the total cost of the entire think was about $80 to $90.

I have a freshwater bow front nano tank (aqua one Panorama 45- dimensions 45x17x23 cm ) with A Tom aquariums Mini Canister Filter, Fluval M100 Heater, Pool Filter Sand, artificial drift wood decor, one artificial plant, and one live plant that i got from my garden. (I have no idea what kind of plant it is Lol). so far im just taking care of 7 Guppy fry that my brother had in his VERY hostile tank(21 total but the rest got sucked up by the filter or eaten before i could take them), the fry are about three months old now. I also have one platy that doubled in size since i got it, and recently picked up 5 Ghost shrimp. Every thing seems to be going well. My tank parameters are pretty good

ph- 7.4-7.8

Ammonia-just about 0

Nitrates-10ppm

nitrites-0

Since my nitrates are starting to rise, im thinking about adding another plant inside.

Heres what it looks like on top of my desk.









Top View


Side View


Fishies




Platy with ghost shrimp


More Fish pics






Then got lucky with the Shrimp perched on the plant shot haha


Tell me what you guys think about my first and low budget tank.
Did i do pretty good for a 15 year old with no job to fund this hobby?
If you have any questions or want to see more pictures just ask.
And

Good job! Nice looking tank. Sounds like you are on the right track. Another plant will probably be good. This on plants; not all plants are meant to be in aquariums. There are land, bog/marsh and water plants(dig fancy names?)Your tank looks bright and clean, try true aqua plants; hornwort,anacharis, java moss etc. They will probably due more for your water. Nothing wrong with plant from garden, but may not be up to speed with water plant. I started "fishing" at your age, 32 years later I like to show off or put a little more effort into my tanks also. KEEP IT UP !

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Thanks haha. At first i was just seeing if a plant would be able to survive in my tank. So far it has grown at least 9 inches since i put it in a month ago so i think its doing okay. This plant actually is supposed to live in water but it can also be exposed to air and still thrive. I chose it from my moms garden for this reason because I don't know if there is enough co2 in my tank for aquarium specific plants, like you mentioned. My mom also said that the plant is some kind of medicine and it proved to be true when my platy had ick (i didn't know what disease it was at the time) so i just threw it in the pond with these plants before my fry would get sick. a few weeks later, i thought that it would be dead because it was very sick but it survived so i brought it back in the tank.

I'm thinking about getting a co2 diffuser but i know little about how they work and need to do more research on it. Anyone have any advice on them?

Looks pretty good. Could always use more plants though, lol (fully planted tank? add more plants). To make sure you get true aquatics, you might want to buy from other people on here. Several people sell plants on here, and they usually give better deals than any store. Are you using some kind of ferts? Root tabs are easy to use and may make quite a difference for certain plants.

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FWIW

With a "planted" cycle it is very common and (with organics in say the substrate) expected to have an initial nitrate spike. But no or low ammonia/nitrIte spikes.

The plants consume ammonia directly in preference over nitrates. So no ammonia but a nitrate spike.

Then as the aerobic bacteria builds up, the plants run out of ammonia and get thier nitrogen from nitrates. So after some time (3 or so weeks) nitrates finally drop down.


Worried about plants doing well.-- normal.

Surprised they grew many inches. Also normal.

looks like you're on your way.


my .02

No im not using any fertilizers, and the plant has been in there for about a month or two. after a week when i first put it in, every thing was zero. but now the nitrates are gradually rising. does decaying plant matter increase nitrates? if so i will have to look inside my ornament.

It could along with any decaying matter.

What happens is there may be some source of both ammonia and nitrates for things other then the livestock. As the plants consume the ammonia they don't consume any nitrates. So you get an initial nitrate spike as opposed to the dangerous ammonia spikes.

So if you have low or no ammonia but some initial nitrates that is fine.

Just let things mature out and as aerobic bacteria builds up they will consume the ammonia and the plants will consume the nitrates.

Which is a very safe and healthy environment especially for a cycling system.

Further, down the road say something goes bump in the night. Over feeding, fish death, whatever. The plants will again start consuming ammonia preventing the dangerous spikes that can crash the entire system.

So not only is the system healthy and safe, it is also stable and very forgiving of operator error.

my .02

You're probably going through a cycle, quite normal. Just keep nitrates fairly low, and don't worry about it.

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Lead me not to temptation...I can find my own way there, thank you