Need some suggestions for plants and light for 10 gallon setup

I have recently bought a 10 gallon all glass aquarium with a powerhead spongefilter and 6 kg gravel stones. I am thinking of keeping just a betta inside this tank and need some ideas for plants which are low maintainence and do not require a lot of fertilizers. I am currently cycling this tank. My aquarium lid has bulb holder for light fixture. However right now i have placed a single water submersible light in it . I need some real cheap options for light so i can do a very simple planted tank with a betta. Sorry for such a long query

If by bulb holder you mean one or two sockets for screw-in bulbs, that will work very well. The CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs, the spiral ones, are what you want, in a 6500K spectrum. This is important. GE make these, and I belive Phillips too, so you can get them at home improvement type stores. As for wattage...if you have two sockets, then two 9w CFL bulbs will be fine (I don't think they come lower than 9w). If just one socket, then a 13w or a 20w (not sure of these wattages, but I wouldn't go over 20w). These wattages are the CFL watts, not the "equivalent to" wattages. A 9w for instance is equivalent to the former 40w incandescent bulb. Here's a photo of the GE 40w, in 6500K. The lower wattage look just the same.

As for plants, floating are appreciated by Betta, so I would look at Water Sprite, Water Lettuce, Amazon Frogbit. Water Sprite is the best. All of these will produce daughter plants regularly, and you can thin these out at water changes once they get going. Lower plants that are easy are Java Fern, Java Moss; these do not get buried in the gravel, but attached to chunks of wood or rock.

Byron.

Thanks for the reply Byron. I would definitely look up and search for all these plants in my lfs. If I am not able to find them then what plants could serve as alternatives of these?
Plus how long should i wait after my cycle to introduce plants in my setup.

MayankRyan said:

Thanks for the reply Byron. I would definitely look up and search for all these plants in my lfs. If I am not able to find them then what plants could serve as alternatives of these?
Plus how long should i wait after my cycle to introduce plants in my setup.

Click to expand...

"Floating" plants are few, though some of the stem plants can be used floating only, and very effectively. Try to find the true floaters, as they will be most useful.

I always plant my tanks from day one, and that is all the "cycling" I ever do. If you are adding some form of pure ammonia, I would wait until it is gone.

Byron said:

"Floating" plants are few, though some of the stem plants can be used floating only, and very effectively. Try to find the true floaters, as they will be most useful.

I always plant my tanks from day one, and that is all the "cycling" I ever do. If you are adding some form of pure ammonia, I would wait until it is gone.

Click to expand...

Thnx for your advice byron. Just bought some java moss and water lettuce and have stopped adding flakes to the tank. I made a carpet from java moss nd the lettuce are just floating on water surface. Have added a 27 watt CFL as lighting.
A few more questions though
Do I need to reduce the current flow of my filter?
Plus do they need more light or would they be fine in this light?
Thnx for ur replies mate

MayankRyan said:

Thnx for your advice byron. Just bought some java moss and water lettuce and have stopped adding flakes to the tank. I made a carpet from java moss nd the lettuce are just floating on water surface. Have added a 27 watt CFL as lighting.
A few more questions though
Do I need to reduce the current flow of my filter?
Plus do they need more light or would they be fine in this light?
Thnx for ur replies mate

Click to expand...

You're welcome.

The light, presumably a CFL bulb, 27w...is it just one bulb? Meaning, does your fixture have one socket, or two? And is the Kelvin 6500K or something else?

Water Lettuce is lovely once it establishes itself. It will then easily spread to cover the surface, which is fine, as the Java Moss is low light requiring. I ask about the light because you can burn floating plants. I'll go into this more when you respond.

Byron.

Byron said:

You're welcome.

The light, presumably a CFL bulb, 27w...is it just one bulb? Meaning, does your fixture have one socket, or two? And is the Kelvin 6500K or something else?

Water Lettuce is lovely once it establishes itself. It will then easily spread to cover the surface, which is fine, as the Java Moss is low light requiring. I ask about the light because you can burn floating plants. I'll go into this more when you respond.

Byron.

Click to expand...

The. Cfl is 27 watt spiral with 6500k spectrum. My hood has single fixture for bulb. And my water lettuce is burning like hell right now.

Currently have fixed some airtube to keep it away from the light and this is how it looks right now.let me know If I need to do something to avoid burning them to death

I don't see burning evidence, but the slightly yellowish edges are more likely either nutrients or getting settled, or both. Plants do not like being moved to a new environment (different parameters, etc from where they were).

But I would get a lower wattage bulb, a 20w CFL would be sufficient. I have two 9w (= 18w) over my 10g and it is perfect.

On nutrients, you might need a comprehensive fertilizer. I use and recommend Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium. Look for exactly this long name, as they make several products under the "Flourish" label. This comprehensive is what you want; you use very, very little, a few drops (whatever the directions say) once a week, the day following the water change. So the smallest sized bottle will last you months and months.

Anubias & Crypts - both are low light. I highly recommend Java Fern over Java Moss unless you want to be trimming that moss growth on a *weekly* basis. That stuff over-grows like mad I just pulled over a fistful this weekend and hand filtered the rest of the strands it of the Java Fern. Let's just say when I picked some up in the beginning - in hindsight, mistakes were made.

I, too, recommend Flourish - I have a moderately planted tank w/ Java Fern, <shudder> Java Moss, Anubias, Crypts, and Amazon Swords (not recommended for a 10gal. - they're a high-growing plant & I have a 35gal.). Excel, also by SeaChem, is good as well.

I just switched to 6500K LEDs for the power and heat savings - recommend if you can pull off the hood for your tank.

Update after a 3 month or so. All the floaters have died and the java moss left is just a few strands only.Even after dosing just the right amount of ferts every week I just couldnt get them to grow.
Have just brought 4.5 pounds of Ada amazonia from ebay. Could anyone suggest me some decent plants that wont die and grow like weed .