10g planted help

[ty15906]

I was at the lfs the other day getting supplies and asked the owner about live plants and if I could get away with planting my 10g. I mean, I know that I can, but our water is hard (150-300GH). Well, he said " stay away from planting a 10g". I asked him why and he just said "don't do it". He never gave any reason as to why not to do it. My lighting is 2.6wpg. Will these plants be alright for a newbie to live plants? Anyway, here are the plants I was concidering:

Melon Sword

Dwarf Sagittaria

Anubiasnana

 

[reiverix]

Well 2.6wpg would be condsidered low light for a 10g. However you should have no probs with the sag and anubias. Someone else will have to chime in about the melon sword.

As for the guy at the lfs, he has no idea what he is talking about. There are some real showpiece 10g planted tanks out there. The least he could have done is give you a reason.

 

[Beeker]

My 10 gal. is planted and is fine. I don't know about the Melon Sword. It may be a little big for a 10 gal but I have Anubias Nana and it is fine. My female bettas like to hide in it and rest on the leaves. I also have Anachris and Red Ludwigia but those are kind of tough to plant since they are stem plants and don't stay buried easily. You really have to work at planting them. Maybe some micro sword or crypts? If you would like a grassy look.

 

[SnakeIce]

I have a ten gallon with nothing but plants. I have 3 wpg on it, flourite for substrate and I am doing a fert doseing schedule.

my dwarf sag isn't doing much, doing better than they were in the 20 gallon with the same light over it as I have on the ten now, but still not impressing me with growth.

Mellon sword has the potential to get to big for a 20 gallon tank and if you light the tank for more than 12 hours a day it will try to grow up out of the water.

with a little shade from other plants anubius nana is just about always recomendable.

I would recomend a cryptocoryne instead of the sword. C. wentii, beckettii, willisii are some that I have.

Chain sword(Echinodorus tenellus) is doing great so far for me, better than the dwarf sagg.

Frill plant(Myriophyllum species), Rotala rotundifolia(incorectly called indica), and Hygrophila species are some stem plants that I am finding decent with the light we have.

I have a thread with pictures of my ten gallon. Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

 

[Blinky]

I wonder why someone would say stay away from planting a 10g? It can't be the size, planted nanos/picos are becoming pretty popular; you can create amazing aquascapes in tiny containers, IMHO a 10g is plenty of room to work with.
As long as your lighting is fluorescent (many 10g tanks come with an incandescent hood, which won't provide enough light for plants), there are lots of plants that should be fine, including many Crypts and Anubias.
[Edit]Just wanted to clarify, incandescent hoods can be fitted with spiral compact fluorescents to provide enough light, I meant an incandescent hood with incandescent bulbs [/edit]

 

[WinterWind]

That guy jsut probably thinks that 10 gallons is too small.

Anyways, annubias should be just fine. your 2.6 wpg is quite sufficient to grow medium light plants.

For lower and medium lgith plants that might fit your tank, check out the plant guide at www.plantgeek.net

For a ten gallon, I'd recommend compact sword, annubias, vals, etc. Good luck on your planted 10!

 

[ty15906]

thank you all so much for your words of wisdom. I don't plan on going back to that pet shop anymore. So far, all he has told me is " BS " anyway.

 

[Blinky]

It's unfortunate how many shops there are out there that seem to give out lousy (or no) advice. I hope you can find another store close to home where they're more knowledgeable and helpful; IMO a good LFS/LPS is worth its weight in gold.

 

[ty15906]

unfortunatly it is the closest, at least in walking distance. I have no car, only my wheelchair so the next closest shop is about 3.4 miles away which isn't that far of a roll (in the summer I wheel on average about 15 miles a day for training).