[bucknastey]

Ok i have posted before on the planted tank before. about a light for my 30 gallon tank.

But i grabbed my ten gallon tank out of the basement for a planted ten gallon breeder for my cherry barbs... But i want this kinda low tech and on a budget. i Need some input and how make my plants lush, and green.
And i wanna go for a jungle look with little to no wood in the tank.

(btw i have no idea what kinda plants this are bc they came in a assorted pot, guess the LFS had no idea what they were too.) And was waiting for input before i got more plants to put in so i know it is bear. at the moment

lights are junkie 2x15 watts reg old lights...(any way to keep this for a small budget)

and a small ten gallon filter that came with the tank over 2 years ago. and i knew i was gonna set this up so i put a new filter in it and stuck it in my main 30 gallon tank to get some BB's. and when i had this tank running before that filter did the job.

The SUb is just a mix of sand and stone about a inch and a half deep.

 

[kamikazi]

Does it use screw in bulbs? If so change them out for screw in 6500K CFLs I'd get 13 or 23 watts. Not sure which would be best if you want to keep it low tech....I know at some point as you go smaller the watts per gallon rule breaks down. But I think its under 10....if that is the case go with two 13 watt bulbs.

Stick with low light plants, java moss (good for fry) java fern, crypts, anubias, among others.

Java Fern and Anubias can be planted in substrate, just be sure not to bury the Rhizome.

 

[kamikazi]

as far as the plants you got, it looks like you got one crypt on the far left, front
and two crypts on the right (hard to tell what the plant is in the back right corner though)

The one in the middle looks like it might be a sword of some type I dunno about the other one to the left of it.

 

[bucknastey]

I have been looking all around my house for java moss. but no one haves moss. or ferns.. am i gonna have to get these off lines???

Yes thy are screw in bulbs. so i will look into the CFLs. and i prob go with 13 watts bc there two and that should put it around 2wpg im hoping.

And the plants sec from the left are also behind the one on the left. the one in the middle and right look almost the same but the one to the right are more stems to them

 

[kamikazi]

I have been looking all around my house for java moss. but no one haves moss. or ferns.. am i gonna have to get these off lines???

Yes thy are screw in bulbs. so i will look into the CFLs. and i prob go with 13 watts bc there two and that should put it around 2wpg im hoping.

And the plants sec from the left are also behind the one on the left. the one in the middle and right look almost the same but the one to the right are more stems to them

If you can get better pics of the plants I can't ID maybe that will help or perhaps someone else will know. I always think a tank full of crypts looks cool!

Yeh, i'd go with 13watts, Sylvania makes 6500K, 13 watt bulbs I think you can get a two pack at lowes.

As far as the java moss and fern, you could just not use those and go with the low light plants you can get your hands on.

 

[bucknastey]

I will take a pic with a DC when i get up tomorrow. all i got is a phone and as you can see it sucks at pictures.

So if i go with java what would i have to upgrade?

 

[kamikazi]

no, java fern and java moss is low light.

 

[bucknastey]

oh got you know lol.

 

[Jadelin]

I use two 9 watt compact flourescents in my 10 gallon tank and it's working well for low light. I assume your bulbs would be in horizontal, though, so you may want to get the a little bit higher wattage (11-13) because less light goes into the tank when they're in that position (mine are in desk lamps, so they're shining vertically into the tank).

I agree with kamikazi on the plants; one on the left and two on the right look like crypts. One in the middle looks like a sword, but possibly something else (its leaves are pointier than most swords I've seen). The one to the left of the middle looks like a Dracaena, which is actually not aquatic. But you could plant it in a pot and keep it as a houseplant. If you could get closer pictures of each plant we'd be able to tell what they are better.

Oh, and the Swap n Shop on this forum is a great resource for buying plants.

 

[piffy]

Swords are heavy feeders, so you might want to pick up some root tabs to put in your substrate. The crypts would appreciate it too.

And I think this is just a preference thing, but I'd get rid of that multi-colored gravel Doesn't match plants too well.

You're off to a good start!

 

[bucknastey]

Thank you piffy,

I will stop and pick up some root tabs and see how that works out. But as i get them ill prob just get a bag of organic soil and do a inch of dirt. and then a inch of sand then i will have no rocks and i would believe from what i read the roots will take better to the dirt then the sand.

 

[Newman]

give it a few months and this will turn into what you wan. especially those swords - they should grow out nicely with root tabs.
also get a male barb for those females?

 

[bucknastey]

i got one dark red man in there to four females he is a pimp..lol and of the 2 females are nice fat// or big boned lol

 

[bucknastey]

Ok i did my 50% water change this morning, and snaped two pics for you guys to help me out

this is the left side...

Right side::

also i noticed the plastic oh my hood melting this morning.... so i need to get a new hood before i do a dirt trans....bummer

 

[kamikazi]

hood is melting?? what is your lighting

 

[Jadelin]

In the first picture the one on the bottom left is a crypt (Cryptocoryne), and the one above it and to the left still look like Dracaena (non-aquatic and should be removed). In the second picture the one on the left is definitely a sword, and the other two look like crypts.

 

[bucknastey]

when i get home i will pull them out and just throw them out..and idk there just 15 watts on both sides and the one side it melted the hood above the light and the alum. ref. its a perfect square