I have a 10 Gallon tank with: 4 Giant Danios, 2 Black Molly's, 5 baby mollies(2 weeks old), 1 swordtail, 1 clown loach, and 1 chinese algae eater. I have had 4 plants for 6 months now (amazon sword and Java fern). I just added a bunch of italian vas and cabomba. It is my little science project. :smoke:

QUESTION: I do a 100% water change and up root every 3-4 weeks and everything is going smoothly, but with all of the new plants, I don't want to do all that work(about 90 minutes). What can I add or do to make my work easier while still maintaining all of my plants and fish? :joint:

Please read this topic Aquarium chemistry 101 . It will tell you about cycling your tank so that you don't have to do 100% water changes. It also sounds like you are way overstocked.

Dont do 100% water changes, it does more harm to your fish than good as fish provide good bactira in the tank and need it to live. Only change about 30%.
Get rid of the chinese algae eater as well, those guys are really agressive and get to about 12", some of mine have taken on and killed cichlids, there nasty but cool.

As for cleaning, buy a Aquarium Vacume, they are the most easy thing to use, you just push it into the gravel and it sucks up all the waste and dead food out of the tank.

thanks for the help guys. Can't get rid of the chinese algae eater, he is the king of the tank. They have all been together for over a year now and none of them are aggressive at all. :smoke:

I was wondering if I could put a soil for the plants under my gravel. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great :joint:

here are the guys

It is possible to use soil in the tank. Go to the link in my sig to find articles on that subject. :joint:

The Giant Danios need more tank space...they get large...Add just regular danios, the larger ones are way to cramped.

Clown Loaches get about a foot long...it can stay in there for a little while but it can't stay in there forever.

The CAE can get a little big and can be very aggressive. I've had them in the past and they can be a pain in the ass sometimes...

As for your question...do a 20% water change every 7-14 days. It keeps the bio filter more healthy. To clean up all the crap at the bottom use a gravel cleaner. It's much more easier.

And for the other...NEVER put any substrate you get from your backyard! It could contain harmful stuff in it and kill off everything in your tank. Buy substrate from a fish store. For healthy growth for the plants buy a little bit of Laterite. It helps


Hope that helps... :drunk: