Aquatic gardener wannabe: 10g : Some general Q's

[jennfier]

Currently cycling (3 days) a tank for fry (fishless cycle) and want it to be my 1st planted tank. I've got the following:

10g Long, Penguin 100 HOB, Seachem Onyx 7lb (got paint strainer to remove dust), 2x20w straight Lights of America daylight screw-in bulbs, Seachem Flourish, airstone, mulm.

Q:
1. Substrate: Read on rexgrigg.com that I need a thin layer of peat moss under Onyx. I can only find 'enriched' peat moss at Home Depot. That means they have miracle gro and a bunch of other stuff in it - (possibly toxic to fry or aquatic plants ?). Is that safe ? Is peat moss a highly preferred item or can I skip it ? I'm going to go with low-mid light plants, basically beginner plants.

2. If I go ahead and plant right now, will it disrupt the cycling process for the fry ?

3. Is there anything else I need in the way of equipment, chemicals ? Do I need gH and kH test kits for this size tank ?

4. I have a 20g High with 1x19w regular fluorescent tube. Very bad lighting. I've looked at Home Depot but not found any daylight bulb that would improve the lighting much (tested out a 5000k 15w -that's the highest wattage bulb they have but it looked as dim as my 1x19w regular). Is my best option to retrofit the hood with a kit from ahsupply ? Again, I just want low-mid light plants -- low ambitions.

Thanks

[Hound]

Ok, as for question 1 the onyx substrate should be fine by itself though it may be a little thin with only 7 pounds of it. You probably should have 1.5 to 2 inches of substrate. I know some people go with more.

Two, it shouldn't completly disrupt your cycle, but if you have a lot of plants it can slow it down a good margin. I'd suggest seeding the filter using media from your 40g if practical. Another option would be to set up a simple sponge filter in your 40g and transfering it to your 10g when you add fry.

Three, yes having both Gh and Kh test on hand may be useful. I wouldn't say they are critical, but for $5 it won't hurt to have them onhand. You may want to have some flourish excell on hand also. When you first start the tank being planted you may find that algae growth may outpace your plant growth early on. Excell should help keep algae down while providing extra co2 for your plants. If you are planning on having a high tech tank with injected co2 down the line you'll want to omit the airstone.

Four IMHO the 5000k 15 watt bulbs from home depot / walmart / lowes seem kinda dismal. I can't remember how tall a 20g high tank is, but that lighting won't cut it. You can probably find an acceptable CF strip light that will sit over your tank. If you have glass tops over that tank I would probably look into making a wooden box to sit on top and go with an ahsupply kit myself. I think a 1x36 kit would be enough for low to mid light plants.

[phanmc]

1. Peat moss isn't necessary, a thin layer of mulm will do the same thing.

2. Plants do the same thing as your biological filter, it consumes nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) thus removing it. The only thing plants may do is remove the nitrates so you don't get a reading for your fishless cycle. If you plant heavily enough with fast growing plants, you will not need to cycle your tank, as the plants will be able to handle all of your biological filtration needs. Fast growing low to medium light plants are hornwort, anacharis, hygros (wisteria, polysperma, etc), water sprite, and brazilian pennywort just to name some.

3. An airstone is unnecessary, pretty much only good for looks if you like the bubbles. Plants will supply plenty of O2 for the tank. You have Flourish which covers the micro nutrients, may want to consider macro nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, potassium) which Seachem also sells. CO2 would benefit your tank even with a low light setup, though it's not critical to have, Flourish Excel is an alternative to CO2. Test kits are always goof to have handy, and will be important if you ever want to upgrade to CO2.

4. You will need to retrofit the hood. Fluorescent bulb wattage is restricted by the size of the bulb, you won't find a higher wattage than 15w for a 19' bulb. AHSupply is the best option for lighting a cheaper option is to buy a incandescent dual screw-in socket and use the screw-ins like your 10g tank.