Maybe you guys can help... or maybe its fine?

[Juan-Carlos]

Hello, I'm just getting into planted tanks. And I have a few concerns. I'm setting up a 10g with flourite substrate. I have the 10g's hood with 2 6500k screw in Power compacts 19W ea. so total 38 watts. Now I'm used to really high lighting for reef aquariums wich is what I mainly keep at the moment so It seems really dim compared to my other tanks... I have a 5.5g nano reef with a 175W metal halide right under where the 10g is going heh. is the 38w lighting bad ,ok ,good ,very good?? Filter wise, I was guessing not too much flow was needed so I was considering using either the small palm aquarium hang on filter or a penguin mini or something... but then I read some articles that the least water surface aggitation the better so to loose as little gasses. so what would be recomended I use? I was wanting some short growing plants like riccia, java moss, christmas moss, Gloso, and (dwarf hairgrass and micro swords that i already have growing in an outside pond.) in addition to soe other plants ofcource but will the 38W's of PC's suffice??

Any info tips or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

if you guys want to see some pics of one of my lower light reef aquariums you can check it out at www.jcreef.bravehost.com

Thank you,

-Juan-Carlos Munoz
Miami Florida

[ninoboy]

Are you injecting any CO2? I would say 38watts are enough (even better wiht reflector). I use Whisper hang on filter for my 10gl with CO2 injection. I still get about 30ppm CO2. It's perfectly fine. Any HOT filter 100gph and under is fine as long as you don't use the one with bio wheel.

[Juan-Carlos]

Hi ninoboy, No I wasnt planning on using CO2 would this be a problem?? I've seen various liquid CO2 products in the aquaria magazines do these serve their purpose or are they a waste?

-Juan-Carlos

[morpheus]

Hi There

Your light is sufficient. The plants in a tropical environment are not as demanding as those in a reef setup. For nearly every plant that you are likely to find you have enough light.

CO2 is not necessary and if you don't want to fertilise then I would suggest you avoid it until you have more experience. Make sure that you plant the tank densely from the start to avoid algae problems.

In a non CO2 tank that becomes the limiting factor to growth. However when you add CO2 then your plants use nutrients so fast that you have to fertilise. Then there can be a lot more limiting factors.

I suggest you read more and scour thenet for information. An excellent place to start is www.thekrib.com.

Morpheus

[ninoboy]

:lol: Since you're a reef man, I have a feeling that you'll keep on upgrading your tank one by one until you get CO2 in the end. I also started like you. Tried a low light planted, then I saw some plants were not doing well. Then I added light, then more light, DIY CO2 and in the end pressurized. Also started by avoiding fertilizer and ended up with whole bunch of chemicals in my storage. Planted tank should be considered a drug :lol:

[Juan-Carlos]

Thank you for the tips Morpheus... Going to check out thekrib.com now. Good to know that densly planting will deminish algae growth, that was one of my worries. Would fish be beneficial or detrimental to my setup??

Thank you,

-Juan-Carlos

[Juan-Carlos]

LOL ninoboy, I'm sure i'll get hooked! But I wanted to start off slow and not too pricey as most of my extra income is devoted to my reefs wich are the least bit inexpensive! If all goes well with this tank i'll certainly consider upgrading!

-Juan-Carlos

[Basilisk]

Originally Posted by Juan-Carlos

...But I wanted to start off slow and not too pricey as most of my extra income is devoted to my reefs wich are the least bit inexpensive!...

I don't think DIY CO2 and a bottle of fertiliser for a 10g will add much to the cost, at most 10-12 bucks. It is worth it. Even low-medium low light tanks benefit from a little CO2 (not too much), helps plants to develop better and keep algae at bay. It will also boost your addiction.

[Juan-Carlos]

Hey there basilisk, Well I didnt expect it was going to be soo cheep to dose CO2! I always thought it would be much more expensive. what do I need to buy and where do you recomend I get it??? WOW then I might do CO2.

Thank you,

-Juan-Carlos

[Reagan88]

The Plant Guild has a nice starter kit--$5 for 8' silicon tubing already sealed to a screw cap for a 2 liter soda bottle and a packet of yeast for several batches, maybe kinda expensive to some, but no worries with your silicon sealant not working. Add a Hagen ladder i.e. bubble counter/diffuser. Still pretty cheap, if you're not a die hard DIY'er.

Oh! and don't forget a check valve...You'll be glad you spent the buck when your tank doesn't empy into the yeast mixture (nasty mess) or onto the floor.

[NFish]

You really could use CO2 in that tank with that much light. DIY CO2 is great especially for a 10 gallon tank! Buy a Hagen Plant Gro Natural CO2 system. You can find in online for about $15-$20. I think you will like the diffuser and ease of use. Or you can go completely DIY! But an expensive pressurized system is certainly not needed on a 10 gallon tank!

Have fun with your new tank!!!

[Juan-Carlos]

A quick Question, With the use of that hagen natural system is there no need for the yeast and sugar bottles on the side?? And will that supply sufficient Co2 to grow Riccia well? Also what fertilizers can you guys recomend to me?

An upadte on the tank... Its setup with 2" of Flourite substrate, and the plants in there at the moment are as follow: Dwarf hair grass, micro swords, narow leaf chain sword, A nice wendtii, Dwarf sagitaria, and purpple ruffle plant. Its really looking nice in there already! I'm going to be ordering a nice selection of plants on onday, and thinking about stocking with a school of neons, 3 ottos, a couple dwarf cories, and if I can find some algae eating shrimp a couple aswell.

How does it sound so far? I'm going to get pictures tommorow or Sat. so you guys can see hows its comming along.

Thanks for all the helpfull advise,

-Juan-Carlos

[Juan-Carlos]

Well, I decided to snap some quick pics now :lol: Enjoy!
The tank is still cloudy from the flourite but it should be clear by tommorow. I did set this up last night!

Full tank::

right side:

Left side:


And for those of you who like bettas the tank currently has a gorgeous pure Opaque Halfmoon show betta this little guy cost me over 100 dollars but well worth it In my opinion!


-Juan-Carlos

[ninoboy]

I personally like the coke bottle better than Hagen. I have the Hagen and use it for my 5 gallon. It didn't inject enough CO2 for my 10gl. Here is a link for DIY : http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#1
I use the Hagen ladder as the diffuser in my 10 gl though.

Anyway, that is the most beautiful betta I've seen. Where did you get it from?

[SCMurphy]

Do you have another freshwater aquarium? New aquariums can sometimes have an ammonium spike that could kill your expensive friend. I don't know what to tell you to do if you don't already have an established set up that you can pull some water from. Keep an eye on him for the next two weeks. If he shows signs of distress you are going to have to add a little ammonia remover to the tank water. Do you have a test kit for ammonium?

Ok the scary stuff aside, you picked out an excellent selection of plants. I thought that the tall one on the left might be a terrestrial plant in the first pic but the close up of that side settled that fear.

Just to let you know. The rock is going to be buried under mounds of plants and you won't see it for a long time, so enjoy it while you can.