Maiden's First Planted 10g Tank

[ir0n_ma1den]

Hi everybody!

I have always wanted to do a planted tank and I am finaly doing it. Today I went out to The Centreville Aquarium and Wal-mart to buy the following things:
*10gallon kit (came w/ aquatech 5-15 gallon filter. not the best but it will work)
* cheap 50w heater
*Nutrafin Co2 kit (I'm not going to use there mix, but am going to use a DIY mix)
*2x 20w flouresent bulbs
* A handy thermometer
*Eco-complete ( it is SO EXPENSIVE at centreville aquarium.. around $30!!)

stuff i bought

where i am placing my tank

placement of the equipment..

both of my tanks

got side tracked here.. welcome to plastic plants galore!!

sorry for the mess but i cant help it

well, that sums up today. A big thanks to John N. over at ACP for all the questions he has answered of mine (and probably more to come) and for selling the plants that I will soon be putting in the tank once they arrive.

 

[Themuleous]

It all sounds good, however I'm concerned about the lighting. That looks like standard room lighting, which I dont think will be very good for plant growth.

Sam

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

You'd be surprised. Over at aquaticplantcentral.com, Many people have done this as a cheap alternative, and they work out great! If you wanted to know these are 2x 20w CF bulbs.

here is a good example:
using 2x 20w CF bubls

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

i need to decide which filter will be best to put on my 10g planted tank. I have picture of the 2 filters

should I use the one on the left or the right.
the one on the left is an aquatech 5-15 gallon filter and has what appears to be a more downward stronger current.
or should i use the one on the right, a top fin 20 gallon filter with what looks like straight current with not as much strength.
I want to try and not agitate the surface to much so the co2 wont disperse but i also want flow so there is no dead zone.

im leaning towards the aqua tech filter.

what about you guys

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

I found some rocks today that I like. I think I am going for that cliff/valley look. The two rocks I found are perfect for that. I also found some drift wood today at my local creek. One of them looks pretty good.
1st rock

2nd rock

driftwood I found

should i put the rocks in there, or put the piece of driftwood in w/ some stones n' pebbles??

 

[lljdma06]

You'd be surprised. Over at aquaticplantcentral.com, Many people have done this as a cheap alternative, and they work out great! If you wanted to know these are 2x 20w CF bulbs.

here is a good example:
using 2x 20w CF bubls

I still don't like them. They don't light evenly and your example thread shows these gaps. There are low-light gaps toward the center. If, however, you make appropriate plant choices for the middle, sticking with lower-light plants, you may succeed. I also don't like the color, looks yellow to me. I often cut corners and have found these lovely office lamps at Office Max for $19 which have a better, cooler light that is closer to the daylight spectrum we want. But they only come in 13W and are really better for a 2.5g or smaller. You will also notice that the poster in that thread later changed to a full fluorescent light fixture in page 3, about 5 months from the initial setup and the tank is 150% better. Just a thought.

It is hard to find a budget solution for a 10g. Many of the nice less-expensive T5 fixtures don't come in a 20 inch size, and the smallest CF I know of is only 18W, insufficient for anything but low-light plants in a 10g. For my 10g in IL, I ended up just either having 2 standard 15W T8 tubes, or I had a 24 inch, 28W T5 fixture which lit the tank quite well, but it still wasn't a high-light tank. More of a moderately lit tank. There wasn't much overhang, however, and the tank was lit very evenly. That fixture, by Coralife, was also pretty inexpensive at around $35.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

I still don't like them. They don't light evenly and your example thread shows these gaps. There are low-light gaps toward the center. If, however, you make appropriate plant choices for the middle, sticking with lower-light plants, you may succeed. I also don't like the color, looks yellow to me. I often cut corners and have found these lovely office lamps at Office Max for $19 which have a better, cooler light that is closer to the daylight spectrum we want. But they only come in 13W and are really better for a 2.5g or smaller. You will also notice that the poster in that thread later changed to a full fluorescent light fixture in page 3, about 5 months from the initial setup and the tank is 150% better. Just a thought.

My thoughts exactly. He also uses low light plants.

Sam

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

Hurray!! finally set up my tank!
The plants look GREAT!(Thanks John N.).
since people here told me to hold off on aquascaping, i just decided to plant them randomly. I think its not too bad for my first job.

Should I start dosing CO2 and EI right away, or can i hold off for a while (because i dont have the measuring spoons yet.)
here are a few pictures, they're not that good

PS how do I trim my plants??

 

[Themuleous]

Def start the CO2, and get it stable at 30ppm. EI could wait a bit a week max, the less the better.

Sam

 

[ir0n_ma1den]

small update and question:

plants seem to be doing well as they are pearling. currently i am dosing half the recommended EI, but will soon be doing the full dose.

Heres my question... some of the leaves on some plants are either dead, dying, pale, or have some weird algae that looks like hair. Should I remove those leaves


thanks

 

[Themuleous]

Dont see why not