My Little Tanks Planted Project

Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
5,274
1
0
New Orleans, LA
After seeing Teeds 30 cube, I got a bit excited about doing a few planted tanks again, but on a smaller scale and low tech low light. No more CO2 and all that mess for me. Too much to deal with for my short attention span.

In addition to Teeds tank, I've seen so many little 10 gallon gems that make me drool over how awesome they are. You guys do such a great job and I want to be able to do that stuff too.

So, this is what I have to work with:

Tank Set 1

I have a metal stand that holds a 29 and an 20L. I have just resealed the 20L, so it's perfect for what I want to do.

These tanks are for my office, so I really want them to stand out.

Tank Set 2

I have two 5 gallon tanks that I just resealed. They are going to go in my bedroom on my nightstands. I'm going to frame them the same and make them into the lamps for my room. Still haven't figured this all out, but that's the general idea.

Same kind of thing. I want these two little gems to stand out.

Most likely I want to do some blue tiger shrimp in these or something like that.

Tank Set 3

I have 8 total 10 gallon tanks on a rack in my garage. Three of them are unoccupied right now, so they are going to get the treatment as well.


With all these sets of tanks, I want to do the immersed growth "dry" method like Teeds did.

I have Eco-Complete/natural gravel mix enough for all the tanks.

I also have a few pieces of driftwood.

What I need from you are suggestions for plants, fish, inverts, rocks, etc. for each group. Pick one, pick them all, but tell me your ideas.

If I choose your idea or part of it, I'll be sure to make mention of that when i post the pics.

Remember LOW LIGHT, LOW TECH!
 
if you have good enough lighting i would suggest a nice small plant that could cover the floor and some taller stem plants. dont really have any specifics in mind but i do like hygro corymbosa. im picturing a jungle-ish kinda mesh of plants and drift wood.
 
Nolapete said:
Tank Set 1

I have a metal stand that holds a 29 and an 20L. I have just resealed the 20L, so it's perfect for what I want to do.

These tanks are for my office, so I really want them to stand out.



What I need from you are suggestions for plants, fish, inverts, rocks, etc. for each group. Pick one, pick them all, but tell me your ideas.

Remember LOW LIGHT, LOW TECH!
Click to expand...

Okay... I chose this one because I used to have a 20 long (low light/low tech), and currently have a 29 (recently upgraded, was ll/lt for a year or so).

For the 29 g, I was using a coralife 28" dual 18w t5. It's a little over a watt per gallon, and I grew the hell out of vals, crypts, java ferns/moss, wisteria, anubias and a bunch of different stem plants at different times. And this set-up was pretty easily balanced algae-wise with photoperiod. I have DPs in mine which might not be the best choice for an office setting. This size tank offers a lot of opportunities! I like: a large school of panda cories, a large school of rummy-nose tetras, and maybe a gourami?

The 20 long: I used the same light which was around 1.8 wpg. The tank was a little over stocked and when I got lazy with water changes I would have algae problems. There is a 24" version of the coralife light that I would recommend. This tank will have a bit more intensity at the bottom because of the height, so You'll be able to grow a pretty good variety of lower light plants. My list would look largely like the one above, but you could also probably do dwarf sag. Remember that some crypts will get to the top of the tank, as will java ferns. Wisteria is kind of a pain because at this tank height, you will end up having to trim it weekly... at least. Crypts/vals and java ferns can go a loooong way in this tank. I still have a plan in the back of my head to set this tank back up with maybe 12 threadfin rainbows.

I never used ferts or co2 on either of these tanks.

Hehe, you asked... :thm:
 
Well, I currently have a low tech planted 20 gallon high, not a long, but my setup would do just as well in a long, if not better.

My tank is so low tech that I'm not even sure what kind of lighting it is, it's just the flourescent that came with the kit. ;) However, my amazon swords, frogbit and egeria densa are growing like crazy. I have 9 red phantom tetras, but in a long you might be able to add a few more. The lighting is very subdued, with a black background and a smaller chunky piece of driftwood for a centerpiece. To bring out the color of the phantoms, the substrate should be a darker shade. These fish are sometimes touted as being delicate to keep, but I do nothing to the water except add prime. Once they color up, they're very beautiful.

IMO, long aquariums practically yell "schooling fish!" In fact, that's probably the one thing I'd do over, is get a 20g long instead of a high. If tetras don't appeal- how about CPDs? I don't have any experience with low light Asian aquatic plants, but java fern seems to be a good choice.

Again, this is just my complete lack of experience talking, but I always figured that the easy, low light variety of aquatic plants are actually the underwater version of weeds and would probably need trimmed or thinned on a regular basis. Not sure if that would fit into your low-tech plan or not, lol.

I've never used ferts or CO2 either.
 
Specifics about the lighting you have/want would help narrow down some plants for you.

With my 30 gallon I originally had the stock lighting which was only 20 watts. I kept anubias, java fern, crypts, vals, wisteria, pennywort (floating), and another hygro species (name escapes me). Not a whole lot of growth but everything stayed alive. I got to the point where the java fern was producing babies and the vals were sending out runners pretty constantly.

I occasionally dosed excel and the comprehensive flourish but it was on no set schedule.

If you plan on going with more light than that, you have a wider selection.
 
For a fish suggestion- I have some lamepeyes in my planted 10. A good sized school is really cool, and stand out well from the plants. Pretty easy fish, mine will eat anything, and seem pretty hardy.
 
Sounds great NorthcoastGirl.

I've done the high tech high light planted tanks before. I had the CO2 with a Rex Grigg regulator and 10# aluminum cylinder, dosed dry ferts, and so on.

I'm not new to planted tanks. I just was so impressed with Teeds results that I want to emulate it.

I love pencilfish, gobies, gudgeons, rasboras, and a bunch of other fish, so I'm not too worried about stocking fish wise.

I'm more looking for plants that will do well with an immersed approach like Teeds did.
 
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