# Ta-da! My 10 gallon NPT!!! <3



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

FINALLY, IT'S HERE!!! 

After weeks of preparation (I had to custom build a shelf-bridge to go over my two stands!), late nights of research (via this forum XP) and a plethora of pretty pennies, I have finally put together my first NPT! 

I started setting it up by rinsing out the tank and sifting the organic miracle gro soil this morning at 10 am and I just plugged in the filter and dumped in the shrimp to start the cycling at 11 pm. About 12 hours of work, but totally worth it! 

There's a bit of dirt still floating about, but hopefully that will settle~ 

The tiki hut is a washed out donation but really great addition, I believe...
Hopefully it'll provide a bit more cover for the Harlequin Rasbora school or couple of ADF's I plan to add after it cycles? :roll:

The plants are:

Anubias Nana - Mountain Top
Mini Umbrella Plant- Side of Tiki Hut
Mini Java Fern- Slightly Underneath Filter
White Ribbon- Background
(Hopefully I can get some Java Moss to start working on a carpet! :mrgreen: )

I added 3 jumbo shrimp to begin the shrimp-in cycle, and I'm currently waiting for a new heater and the API Freshwater Master Kit to arrive from Ebay! 

To mark the special event (and to try and add a little variety to the occaison), I bought some Hikari frozen brine shrimp for Bo! I cut a cube in half, and although Bo didn't seem too keen about them, he was soon gobbling them up like a little shark! It was really cool to watch~ 

Now the new tank is happily humming away, and I'm really happy and excited to see how it all comes together! Thank you so much to everyone who's posts, input, and well wishes have empowered me to take this big step. You guys are awesome and :yourock:

Comments, opinions and advice on the set up and cycling would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Have a great day everyone!

Sincerely, 
Caii and Bo


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Update: Woke up this morning and the water was cloudier than Stephen King's Fog! @[email protected]

I took the three shrimp out and put the filter back on it's highest setting, and thus far everything's still cloudy.... what did I do wrong? Is this normal? Should I do a water change? 

Thank you for your input if you leave any!


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I think that's normal. Since it hasn't really began to cycle, I would do a 50% water change.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

MattsBettas said:


> I think that's normal. Since it hasn't really began to cycle, I would do a 50% water change.


Thank you! Should I put the shrimp back in? Or just one of the shrimp? They're pretty big... ^^;


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

hmm you said npt. so soil based tank.

you need more plants for a npt. ideally 70% ground cover of stem plants. you cannot do a shrimp in cycle as shrimps are highly sensitive to any traces of ammonia nitrites and nitrates...
i would recommend to drain the tank, then add more plants.
the variegated dracenea sp you have in the back are not true aquatice plants. if you can find a way to position them so that their leaves are completely out of the water you can benefit from them.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

aokashi said:


> hmm you said npt. so soil based tank.
> 
> you need more plants for a npt. ideally 70% ground cover of stem plants. you cannot do a shrimp in cycle as shrimps are highly sensitive to any traces of ammonia nitrites and nitrates...
> i would recommend to drain the tank, then add more plants.
> the variegated dracenea sp you have in the back are not true aquatice plants. if you can find a way to position them so that their leaves are completely out of the water you can benefit from them.


No worries Aokashi- by "shrimp in cycle" I meant the raw shrimp method! I went to the store and bought 3 dead jumbo shrimp :3
I wouldn't buy a live shrimp since they kind of scare me... ^///^;
So, since they're raw, dead shrimp... should I put them back in?

Ack! I spent all of my money on plants yesterday... and now they're not even aquatic?! PetSmart is a scam.. ;_;

What if I left them in there, aokashi? I'm going to add more plants later on (amazon swords and java moss), but considering I've no more money... that may take a bit. I'm going to do a 50% water change in a few minutes.

Thank you for your reply!


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

leave out the shrimp. with an NPTyou shouldnt seed the cycle it at all. all the nutrients is already in the soil. for $3 i believe you can get a bunch of anacharis/elodeafor your tank. they are great nutrients suckers...
Ican also send you some fast growing stem plants for the price of shipping.

you really need these plants to take care of the nutrients that is comin from the soil.

java moss, java fern and anubias are slow grower and there fore isnt much use as an ammonia sink.

frankly I'm mortified of dead stuff...  I'll be sticking to my live shrimps XD


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

aokashi said:


> leave out the shrimp. with an NPTyou shouldnt seed the cycle it at all. all the nutrients is already in the soil. for $3 i believe you can get a bunch of anacharis/elodeafor your tank. they are great nutrients suckers...
> Ican also send you some fast growing stem plants for the price of shipping.
> 
> you really need these plants to take care of the nutrients that is comin from the soil.
> ...


Where can I get said plants for $3? 
And if I may ask, what kind of plants do you have? If I could buy from you I would like to ^_^
I'm taking back the white ribbon plants for a refund! 

Lol! I'm pretty good with "dead" things~ I mean, I would prefer something alive, but when it comes to shrimp, they're scarier alive! XD


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

i have some kind of stem plant with really long leaves. :O
Usually it's $3.50 for first class and $6.50 for priority.

petco usually sells loose stems for $3!


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

aokashi said:


> i have some kind of stem plant with really long leaves. :O
> Usually it's $3.50 for first class and $6.50 for priority.
> 
> petco usually sells loose stems for $3!


Thanks for the advice! Also, would you happen to have pictures of the plants? That would be very helpful...
XD


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Lol! here's a pic.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Wow! That's really nice! 
What kind of light does it require?
If it's a lower-light plant, I'd love to buy some from you! ^^

UPDATE: I returned the White Ribbon plants for a full refund (yay!) and I'm meeting with someone later on today who's willing to give me some Jungle Val, Hornwort, and aquatic plant fertilizer for $10!


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Nice , I think you will have enough then


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

aokashi said:


> Nice , I think you will have enough then


Really? o.o
Haha, we'll see! Hopefully I won't inadvertantly kill everything! ^^;


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Oh it's a dead shrimp?


----------



## Catie79 (Jan 22, 2012)

Careful with the shrimp, I did that in a 10 gallon with half of one jumbo shrimp and my ammonia went through the roof! I don't recommend it these days, since I got the ammonia so high it probably killed the darn bacteria, anyway. If it's a heavily planted NPT, I wouldn't bother with the shrimp.


----------



## repru04 (Jan 23, 2012)

Aokashi, I love those cori's.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

MattsBettas said:


> Oh it's a dead shrimp?


Yep- I took them out after the first morning's water came out really cloudy and everything, but they're dead, fermenting shrimp sitting in a plastic bag next to the tank until I can decide what to do with them! XD

I wouldn't sacrifice a poor little shrimp (no matter how scary they are) for my attempts to cycle a tank! (Or would I? :twisted

Haha, nope, I wouldn't.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Catie79 said:


> Careful with the shrimp, I did that in a 10 gallon with half of one jumbo shrimp and my ammonia went through the roof! I don't recommend it these days, since I got the ammonia so high it probably killed the darn bacteria, anyway. If it's a heavily planted NPT, I wouldn't bother with the shrimp.


Since I'm awaiting my API freshwater master test kit to come from Ebay, I took the shrimp out just in case~


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

*Update!*

Da-da-da-DAAAAAA!!!

Behold the updated tank!

Really, all I did was return the white ribbon plants and replace them with Jungle Val and floating Hornwort... XD

Much better plant selection, ja? What do you think? ^^


----------



## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

yep  I recommend you to cut the hornwort in half and plant moar! 
oh and is that an anubias I see atthe front? make sure you take the rhizome out of the gravel!!!


----------



## Fishybitty (Dec 29, 2012)

Caii said:


> Ack! I spent all of my money on plants yesterday... and now they're not even aquatic?! PetSmart is a scam.. ;_;


 
If you are talking about the tube plants, you have to be very careful. The tubes say "semi aquatic" and some say "small live plant"

 
Sorry about the misbuy!


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

aokashi said:


> yep  I recommend you to cut the hornwort in half and plant moar!
> oh and is that an anubias I see atthe front? make sure you take the rhizome out of the gravel!!!


Non non! The anubias is on the mountain top; that's a mini umbrella plant that I hope starts growing ^^

And yes, I'm hoping to get more plants! XD


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Fishybitty said:


> If you are talking about the tube plants, you have to be very careful. The tubes say "semi aquatic" and some say "small live plant"
> 
> 
> Sorry about the misbuy!


Thanks! Luckily though they gave me a full refund... and I bought some Girl Scout cookies... with that refund... ^//////^


----------



## Noobalva (Jan 20, 2013)

Woot! It looks awesome Caii...nice job. :-D


----------



## Tabbie82 (Jan 24, 2013)

Whoa! Bo has an awesome new home! I am so happy for him! I bet he loves all that extra room. I love seeing these updates about how he is doing. Great job, Caii.


----------



## Caii (Jan 17, 2013)

Tabbie82 said:


> Whoa! Bo has an awesome new home! I am so happy for him! I bet he loves all that extra room. I love seeing these updates about how he is doing. Great job, Caii.


Thank you Tabbie! <3
He's not in there yet (the tank has yet to cycle completely), and I've added a few more plants, but I hope that he'll love and enjoy it ^^

Thank you for the words of encouragement!


----------

