i have a few other tanks 150g and 55g bother community tanks, bother using fake plants simply because i have been to intiminated by live plants.
but i have a spare 10gallon tank which i was raising a baby clown pleco in for the last few months till he was large enough to add to my 55.
anywho im left with a spare 10gallon tank, i have some live plants in there(no idea what kinds :confused: ) but i wana try and make it a planted tank just to try my hands at it.
anywho any help would be apreciated, the lid is only for 1 flouresent, what watts/k should i have?
thanks in advanced, i wana keep this simple and hopefully develope it overtime.
(thinks about 150g planted discus tank :D )
Captain Hook
12-18-2003, 10:55 PM
You already have the hood and it holds one fluorescent bulb? If so, then you will be limited in terms of watts to what will fit. If it is an 18" bulb you will only be able to use a 15 watt bulb. As for K rating, it's generally recommended to be between 5000 and 6800 K. This isn't a specific guideline, PowerGlo bulbs by Hagen are good and they are 18,000K. I have also heard of plants growing in cool white bulbs, which are like 3000K. Full spectrum bulbs are what you want to look for though, and T8 (thinner) bulbs give more light than T12 (thicker, 1 1/2") ones.
125gJoe
12-19-2003, 6:08 AM
You will need to plant heavily at first to counter an algae outbreak. It works...
Starry
12-19-2003, 9:19 PM
First thing, you need more light. The easiest solution is the 2 x 13W kit from www.ahsupply.com This is one of the most popular places to get PC retro kits. You'll just need to wire some stuff in. Most people can do it themselves, or find someone else if you don't feel comfortable. Easiest solution, and cheap. This amount of light is just about perfect for a 10 gal. Pick bulbs in the 4500-7000K range, I can't remember the exact ones they sell.
What about your filter? Pretty much any will do, but you don't want too much surface agitation if you're adding CO2.
Which brings me to CO2, carbon dioxide gas. This is extremely important. You can have ok growth without it, but when you get sick of sad looking plants and finally do this, you'll wish you did it sooner. You'll see a major improvement in plant growth and health, and less algae hopefully. Here's a recipe http://aquaplants.web1000.com/art1.html
Also see this: http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html
You'll also be happy if you get a good substrate. Seachem's substrates are popular (Flourite, Onyx sand), but expensive. There are other alternatives, do a search in previous posts to find other ones.
Once you have the lights and the substrate, add lots and lots of plants. Cheap ones. Expensive plants are generally harder to grow, so leave these for later. Buy lots of cheap plants. Lots and lots. You don't need to cycle your tank, but you may want to wait about a week before adding fish, and add them slowly. And no plant eaters!
After that, you can think about fertilization. I always recommend buying Seachem's products first (Potassium, Phosphate, Nitrate, Flourish), then switch to cheap, nonconventional methods when you feel more comfortable (ie. potassium chloride, a salt substitute is sold in grocery stores, and fleet enema from drug stores is used for phosphates)
So, to recap, get lights first. A good substrate would be beneficial. If you stick with plain gravel, get root tabs (little disk-shaped fertilizer tabs). As soon as you add plants (lots of them, to beat out the algae as early as possible), add a 2L bottle of CO2. Move into fertilizers ASAP, and you'll be on your way!
PS: OK, I should note that it is possible to grow plants with the 15W bulb you have now, but you may not be happy. It won't require CO2 (though it will be helpful), but you choice of plants will be very limited. You will constantly be tempted to buy pretty plants, and they just won't survive. You'll wish you had gotten the extra light right away.
thank you very much for the help, il probably invest in co2 and lighting. This tank will be very visable in my house, so i want it to look nice. was thinking off only having a few fancy guppies in the tank(only male) probably would end up with over population if i had any females.