Do i need an airstone???

[OscarCichlid]

I just set up another 10 gallon tank. It has a bio-wheel 125 filter, sand substrate, and some large rocks. I am planning on putting driftwood, and live plants. The fish that will be going in the tank are 4 Sparkling/Croaking Gouramis, 2 Cory cats, a Few Neons, and a few Ottos. Will i need an airstone in my tank, or will the Filter provide enough oxygen??

 

[drobbins27]

I tihnk your filter will provide enough surface agitation, also, not having an airstone will be better for your live plants because less C02 is escaping

 

[OscarCichlid]

You seem to know alot, what should i feed the plants??? and is 30 watt lights enough??

 

[drobbins27]

what should i feed the plants

Well, there are a couple options. Adding peat under the substrae gives the roots something to cling to. There is some kind of substrate which constantly feeds plants nutrients. I think the best option tho would be to go to your LFS abd buy some plant fertilizer. My Westeria has grown many inches in the last 4 months thanks to the fertilizer

is 30 watt lights enough

For a 10g? Of course, thats amazing lighting, it even opens the opportunity of some new, beautiful, exotic plants which require alot of lighting.

Hope this helps.

 

[OscarCichlid]

Thanks alot drobbins...

 

[scott1000]

To get good plant growth you should seriously look into buying some good substrate. I highly recommend the use of eco-complete or flourite. For a 10 gallon tank it's not horribly expensive to add this.

Also, because you do have a good amount of light (is it a power compact???) I would recommend setting up a DIY CO2 injection. This will really help out your plants a LOT!

Be careful about the liquid plant fertilizers because if you get one that adds phosophates you could very quickly end up with massive algae problems. It's often recommended to start a planted tank off with a few "tank busting" plants that will grow very quickly in order to outgrow the algae. Some recommendations would be westeria, amazon sword, hornwort, moneywort. Just to name a few, but really anything that is labeled as "easy" to grow and low light (not that you have low light, but because it'll grow quick).

 

[Bol]

OC,

I think you shouldn't need an airstone.

There are three popular choices for "plant substrates" that I can think of:

1) Mix Laterite with the substrate of your choice (sand or gravel). Can be messy, and Laterite needs to be replaced occasionally. Also, from what I've learned, can be very messy upon introduction. (The small box should be enough for your tank -- probably twice, if I remember correctly -- and would cost about $8 US).

2) Use Seachem's Flourite exclusively as a substrate. Very popular with plant enthusiasts, and lasts much longer than Laterite. I hear it takes a lot of initial rinsing, though. Generally a brick-ish color. (cost for your tank would be about $18 US).

3) Use Eco-Complete exclusively as a substrate. Seems to have about as high a standing as Flourite among enthusiasts, but it's a newer product. Comes in a bag, like Flourite, sand, or gravel, but Eco-Complete is packed in water. No rinsing, just add to the tank. Eco-Complete is black. (Cost for your tank would be about $24 US).

Of course, you may find that plain old sand, with maybe a few root tabs if you have heavy root plants, will work just fine.


About the light, though, I'm going to have to say to be cautious, as I think you'll find that you may not really have "3 wpg" in the sense that people talk about as lighting levels.

Others may disagree, and I could be wrong, but I think the "watts per gallon" rule of thumb doesn't seem to work very well for very small tanks, possibly partially because the short bulbs act more like a point source rather than a line source.

Just as an example, I know for certain that my taller 46g bowfront tank with 60W of light is much, much "higher light" than my shorter 10 gallon with 15W, just by watching plants thrive in one, and die in the other. (under pretty much identical conditions, except for the lighting and tank dimensions).

What I'm trying to say is you may find that, even though technically you have 3wpg, you may not have good results with "high-light" plants.

That's not to say that you shouldn't look into a CO2 system, and/or a product called Flourish Excel by Seachem. Both will provide carbon for your plants, and can be used simultaneously if preferred.

 

[BigSteve]

The bio-wheel 125 (Penguin I assume) will provide enough aeration for a 10 gal.
I have the same filter on a 15 gal., and only use an airstone because I have no
live plants, and my stocking limit is pretty well maxed out.

 

[noelberg]

A biowheel 125 in a 10 g tank will make for a lot of surface movement - I'm surprised how much of a beast it is in my 20 g tank. A bubble stone with gouramis would make for too much water movement, but I also think that this filter will also mess with their mojo. Anabantoids like calmer surface water. I would probably stick with just cories, neons, and otos, and that's even too much. It's entirely too easy to overstock a 10 gallon tank. You could have 10 neons, or 4 cories, or 5 otos. Neons are schooling and like groups of 6 or more, cories and otos like company and are best in groups of 3-4. For the tank you proposed, I would go with a 20 g tank.

Good luck