Help a newbie plant a 10G

Chip82

Chip82

AC Members
Dec 9, 2009
67
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Chicago Il
Hi I am new to aquarium keeping and was looking for some suggestions on planting my 10g tank. I have a small piece of driftwood in the tank now with some fake plants, I really like the look of the drift wood and would like to get more along with some medium sized rocks. also i would like to use cherry shrimp down the line if possible. Other then that i am open to any suggestions.
What plants are good for beginners?
Will gravel be enough or do i need sand/dirt?
Will i need fertilizer or co2? or is that getting ahead of myself?

Tank- 10G
light-20" florescent 19Watt 60hz
fish - 3 guppies
gravel- black gravel from LPS

my PH levels are around 7.6.- 8
my tank is not totaly cycled yet I am just looking to get some Ideas/advice to plan for plants!
 
Java Moss, Java Fern & Amazon Swords would be my suggestions to you. You can fertilize with Flourish Excel and Flourish Trace and your Swords would like some root tabs. Your gravel will be fine and these plants will do well at that light level. :D
 
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Java Moss and Java Ferns would be good for that setup, plant root tabs would be a good fertilizer and co2 isnt necessarely required but you can make a DIY system if you would like. Gravel is fine, sand or dirt would actually be worse. Cherry shrimp are fine as long as you dont have any fish that would eat them.
 
I just got some red cherry shrimp for my newbie 10gal planted and they are GREAT! Some newly planted tanks have slight algae problems on the plant leaves themselves and within a day the shrimp took care of the problem and it has yet to come back, and they are fun to watch. I would definitely go for the shrimp! Though I might wait a bit until the tank is more established before adding them.
 
Wouldn't an amazon sword be far too large for a 10g? The java moss and java ferns are good. Just don't bury the fern in the substrate.
 
what about a smaller sword, like a radican or melon sword? From what I understand, they would be just as hardy, and not grow so massive.

Also, Italian Val will add some height, without getting really thick. Saggitarius is what I started with, and it survives many of my blunders.
 
By the way, where in Chicago are you? I'm in the N.W. burbs.
 
I would also suggest most any of the sp. of Anubias. It's an awesome plant, and generally bullet proof!
 
sounds like your off to a good start, as far as plants there are many low light plants available. the ones mentioned in the above posts would all work well and as others have allready mentioned your going to need to add some ferts. a planted tank can be as complicated as you want to make it. most important thing is to enjoy it!
 
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