Im setting up a new tank, just a 10 gallon mainly for the purpose of keeping some feeder guppies on hand to feed a Frog Fish. I thought I would see if I could slap together a half decent planted tank, since they look much better, and give the future fry I hoping for, some place to kinda hide till they are big enough to hold their own. Got a few questions though...
1. How good is SeaChems Flourite for substrate in a planted tank?
I can get this for about half the price of the ADA product line. Since I am not setting up a show tank, Im trying to keep the budget fairly low for this tank although I might try to do something a little more serious later down the road.
2. Will a 65 watt "plant bulb" in a reflector 8 inches off the surface work on plants or am I going to need to break down and get a serious light set up?
Again I am not going for a show tank so mediocre growth will work for me. I just detest the cheesy looking fake plants(they aint cheap $ wise either!) and think hardier live ones would be better looking and more beneficial.
3. What are some good hardy plants for a tank this size?
Im living in the US now as I moved from Japan last year and I need some suggestions for plants that I can easiily pick up here at a LFS in the US. I have had and like things like Java Moss, Wendith and Water Sprite.
Once again I am moving if a few weeks and dont want to get too serious about this right now this moment but I would like to put a "bare bones" system together for the short term and keep it simple until I can get permenantly situated at which point I would like to do something maybe a bit more serious. It would be nice to have a decent foundation to work from.
I would appreciate any advice or suggestion from those far more knowledgable in this area than I.
A #1 I'm sure Seachems Flourite is a great product, it's reather expensive, but you get what you pay for.
A #2 with 6.5 WPG (watts per gallon) I'm sure that would be fine, but, with that much light I can see an algae problem, If I were you I'd get either a lower light, or get a CO2 kit.
A #3 There are many, many different kinds of plants that I could recommended, and I think it would be pointless to recommended, I'm going to recommend listening to some one else for plants in a small aquarium.
Hope it helped,
Tyler
What part of Japan did you live in?
i second FBG, with that much light you are going to need co2. i use flourite in my tank and the plants do well. i also dose with potassium, iron, and trace elements once a week.
jay Glad to hear that you're getting FRESH! LOL
If you are going through this for the purpose of growing your own feeders I would suggest getting Endlers Livebearers (available by mail from ERU at a reasonable price) as they multiply just like Guppies but are much less likely to be eaten by their parents.
As for plants, I love Java moss, and a houseplant called Pathos, you just put a slip into your tank and it grows a beautiful web of roots that fry like to hide in. Last but not least, if you go to the local Wal-Mart's fish department and look on the hanging racks you will find Aponogetin bulbs(not sure on the spelling), they are a dry tuber that you just drop into your tank and in a couple of weeks they grow, you usually end up with 4-6 bulbs per pack and in my experience 3/4 of them grow, not bad for under $5.00! I usually end up with 2 or 3 different types in the package, some put off plantlets and others have emergent flower stalks, really cool plants!
All of the plants I mentioned have low light requirements in general, but as the guys have said lighting shouldn't be an issue, I'd suggest some of the smaller algae eaters to go in there just in case of serious algae growth.