Okay I have a basic 10 gallon set up right now...black gravel, couple guppies, and some ghost shrimp. I want to make my first swing at live plants. It's got a filter off a 30 gallon on it...so plenty of filtration...keep it around 78-82 degrees, and the water params are good. Lighting is just the 2 small bulb screw in type found on those Perfecto Hoods. I currently have 2 10W fluorescent bulbs in it right now. No aeration, but I can throw one in if needed. What all do I need to set up some low maint. cheap plants? Would switching my substrate from black gravel to Flourite be a good idea? Obviously with my first time I dont want anything that requires hours of attention and lots of know-how. Just wanna convert this into my first planted tank and see how it goes. :1zhelp: I have some guppy grass coming with a shrimp order I placed...so lets work that into the setup. THANKS everyone...
total plant newbie 10g
- Thread starter erk2581
- Start date
You should be fine with black gravel. 
With 2 WPG, you're on the edge of needing co2, I'd say.
With my 2.4ish WPG in my 36 and in my 10, I grow plenty of medium light plants, and I dose Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Excel. Looking to switch to dry ferts at some point, but I'm a n00b to those s I can't help ya there. But with this setup, or with diy co2 instead, there's not a ton of maintenance, and I have more options of what plants to grow.
Some plants I have: amazon swords, ludwigia repens, mayaca fluviatilis, flame moss, anubias nanas, cabomba, marimo balls, pennywort, crypts, and more I can't remember.
Here's a good guide. I'd say you could do anything up to medium light.
With 2 WPG, you're on the edge of needing co2, I'd say.With my 2.4ish WPG in my 36 and in my 10, I grow plenty of medium light plants, and I dose Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Excel. Looking to switch to dry ferts at some point, but I'm a n00b to those s I can't help ya there.
But with this setup, or with diy co2 instead, there's not a ton of maintenance, and I have more options of what plants to grow.Some plants I have: amazon swords, ludwigia repens, mayaca fluviatilis, flame moss, anubias nanas, cabomba, marimo balls, pennywort, crypts, and more I can't remember.
Here's a good guide. I'd say you could do anything up to medium light.
Oh also, I highly recommend you buy plants from people here! Way cheaper than at LFSs, for sure. People like mgamer and customdrum will put together a plant pack for ya if you know in general what you want.
and it is a little overwhelming at first, but totally worth the work, I promise! And I think a little extra work with ferts and co2 is worth if for a nicer variety of plants. I was going to do my 10 gallon just low light, but I got bored with the plant selection pretty fast. Plus I love red plants!
and it is a little overwhelming at first, but totally worth the work, I promise! And I think a little extra work with ferts and co2 is worth if for a nicer variety of plants. I was going to do my 10 gallon just low light, but I got bored with the plant selection pretty fast. Plus I love red plants!
okay thanks to customdrum I have the following on its way:
1 java fern
1 amazon sword
1 crispus
5 crypt lucens plants
5 crypt wendtii plants
1 anubias
and some java moss...all these plants should be fine with my lighting setup right? How do I go about planting these? I know a couple of them need to be tied to rocks/driftwood etc. Should I switch my substrate from gravel to either EcoComplete or Fluorite? If so which one? Thanks everyone!
I have the following on its way:1 java fern
1 amazon sword
1 crispus
5 crypt lucens plants
5 crypt wendtii plants
1 anubias
and some java moss...all these plants should be fine with my lighting setup right? How do I go about planting these? I know a couple of them need to be tied to rocks/driftwood etc. Should I switch my substrate from gravel to either EcoComplete or Fluorite? If so which one? Thanks everyone!
When I first started, I had a 10G with that same hood. Those hoods are not meant to leave on for a sugnificant period of time. The incandescent bulbs create so much heat, by the end of the 8 hour period the temp would reach about 90. It's very bad for that amount of fluctuation for your fish, and that's also very high for healthy plants, who prefer < 80. Best advice I can give you is spend the $30 and get a flourescent hood. it'll give you 1.5 WPG which is perfectly fine for low light plants.
edit:
okay now I jsut re-read your post and you say they're the two small screw in bulbs but you say they're flourescent. I'm very confused. The screw in hoods and bulbs they sell at petco/smart are incandescent. Can you clarify what exactly you're using? Flourescent strip lights don't screw in.
edit:
okay now I jsut re-read your post and you say they're the two small screw in bulbs but you say they're flourescent. I'm very confused. The screw in hoods and bulbs they sell at petco/smart are incandescent. Can you clarify what exactly you're using? Flourescent strip lights don't screw in.
They must be compact flourescents. They didn't used to sell those but I see they do now at the fish stores. If that's they case then you're right the heat shouldn't be an issue.
As for your substrate questions, flourite is nice, but not really needed at all. With the plants you jsut ordered from customdrum, I would just get some good root tabs and call it good. Since you are in the 2wpg range, you would also benefit from some Seachem Excel.
As for your substrate questions, flourite is nice, but not really needed at all. With the plants you jsut ordered from customdrum, I would just get some good root tabs and call it good. Since you are in the 2wpg range, you would also benefit from some Seachem Excel.
Last edited: