My Little Tanks Planted Project

I have a 38G with about 42 watts. That's low light. I have Tiger Lotus, Hygro Compact, Vallisnerias, Anubias, Cryptocorynes and Java Fern growing well in my conditions. No CO2, No Ferts.

If you want them to stand out, I think hardscape helps alot. My favorite type of design is having a bunch of rocks and driftwood coming out of them. (Refer to my sig, if you don't get what I'm saying) with pieces of plants covering the holes of the rocks.

HC should grow well under emmersed growth. There is also a plant nicknamed "UG" that a lot of people are starting to use for planted tanks. I'm having a hard time findiing the scientific name for it.
 
an idea for the night stand shrimp tanks. given the low demands of aquatic mosses they are the first thing that comes to mind. creative selection & placement of hard scape materials (rock,driftwood) carpeted with moss make for a elegant focul point. adding a couple java ferns to break up the soft lines of the moss covered hardscape & a white or black sand substrate. you have yourself a low light, low maintanence shrimp friendly habitat that's really going to make the color of the shrimp stand out.
although the moss will do fine & grow in very low light it will grow slow. that being said liberal amounts of moss wil need to be used in the initial planting to offset the slow growth.
just a thought, good luck
 
That's great input everyone!!! I put some of the Eco-Complete/natural gravel mix in the two 5 gallons and they look great.

I cleaned one of the 10 gallons that I got for free and never had done anything with. Filthy and caked with hard water deposits. It's a lot better than what it was, but I'm going to have to hit it with undiluted vinegar to get all that yuck off of there. I'm not up for smelling like a salad tonight, so that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Started draining the other 2 10 gallons then I got sidetracked with some new fish I bought.
 
Here's a few pics. Washed some of the Eco-Complete/Natural gravel mix and started working on some of the tanks.

29
20L
10
5
5

I did another 10 in the garage that the pair of small G. brasiliensis. Put some large pebbles all over the bottom then put the Eco-Complete/Natural gravel mix like mortar between them.

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When I go to Lowe's, I always come up with new ideas for stuff or ways to make existing ideas better or combine two or more ideas. Today was no different.

Was looking at the spiral cfl bulbs thinking I could wire up some little canopies for all my smaller tanks. Walked away without any bulbs and just put the thought aside and went to get the parts I needed for the big tank.

While in electrical looking for the switch I needed, I found a little plug in bulb socket and a light went on. :P

I bought four of them, a 4 pack of the 100 watt equivalent (23 watt or something) 6500K daylight cfl bulbs, and two new power strips. I figure it cost me around $25 altogether and this will light two tanks.

The neat thing about this idea is that I can now also plug the heater in inside the canopy and I can do the same for tanks with powerheads since there's 4 outlets free.

I'll take a pic when I get home.

I'm going to build some light boxes with wood I have. I'll make some cheesy aluminum foil reflectors with a hole that the screw part of the bulb can go through so they'll be self mounting. I'll fold the foil about 4-5 times to make it sturdy though.
 
Too many good ideas running around in that mind of yours. NO way is anybody going to be able to keep up, you are the project juggler.
 
Cheesy Light 101

I need need to work on the reflector some more, but using my liner folding technique I created a cheesy one. Guess not too cheesy since if it is flush against the counter there's only a small ring of light around the edge about 1/2" wide. Not too shabby.

Power strip, two plug in sockets, two bulbs, and a piece of aluminum foil will run you right at $10. Not bad for the equivalent of 2 100 watt bulbs 23 watts each of 6500K daylight.

I'll leave it to the math/science geeks to figure out how many wpg, lumens, etc. over a 10 gallon tank that is. Or how two of these over a 20L or 29 might work.

On with the show err assembly! Oh, BTW, IT IS REALLY BRIGHT!

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Just need to build a light box and make it all fit over a 10 gallon tank. Probably about $4-$5 of wood and nails to build.

I may just line the light box with aluminum foil. Would be easier. Sure, I know, there's better reflectors out there, but last I checked they cost about what this entire retrofit kit costs.
 
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