[MasterMerlin]

Hello all,

Well I have a 10 gallon tank that I am planning on setting up this weekend to house a few of my problem fish. I currently have a 75 G tank that I am learning the fine art of "keeping plants alive" and my angle fish keep pulling my plants out. So thus the new 10 G tank for them and a couple of mollies.

So here is the question I pose, what are some suggestions for a 10 G tank. I have ordered black flourite sand for the substrate. I don't really want to go overboard with the plants since I am setting this up because of the angle's behavior with my other plants. I was thinking something along the lines of something in a clay pot. In my mind the clay should standout against the black substrate. For the time being the light will be a stock light that came with the tank, sorry I'm unsure of the wattage it was a used tank. The light will be replaced later because the wifey wants this tank in the bedroom with the LED moon lights.

I have done a lot of reading here as I am very new to the planted side of the aquarium. I have looked at the El Natural forums and considered that as an alternative. I definitely don't want to use the pressurized CO2 due to the cost. I just got the wifey convinced to let me to that on the 75 G and I'm sure she won't go for it on another tank right now, and really I don't want to either.

So after all of that rambling I am open to suggestions as to how to set this tank up.

Thanks in advance,

John

 

[El Exorcisto]

Go with home brew yeast reactor CO2. In a 10 gallon it's perfect, and relatively inexpensive. Get some 26 watt compact fluorescent spiral bulbs for the incandescent hood it probably has and you're on your way. I'm going to start EI dosing my 10 gallon in a couple days as I just set it up with plants this afternoon and gave the rooted plants each a bit of plant spike to get their roots feeding again. After about 3 hours under 104 watts of 3100K(approx) and healthy CO2 levels the eriocaulon and little stem plants are already pearling.

 

[St3v3]

I have a 65watt CF over my 10 gal and it grows everything.... though you'd really want good pressurized CO2 if you added that much light. I'd stay in the 40 watt range if you're going with DIY.

 

[El Exorcisto]

Why pressurize the CO2 with that much light if my plants are already supersaturating the water with O2? It just seems like a waste of money to put pressurized CO2 on a 10 gallon tank unless you already have the materials to do it laying around. Keeping consistently high levels in my 55 gallon would be difficult without pressurized, but I think a reactor for a ten gallon is sufficient.

 

[MasterMerlin]

I've seen others on here mention the compact florescent lights. Is this the generic light you can pickup at Walmart or Lowes?

 

[El Exorcisto]

Yep, Walmart sells GE and Lowes sells Sylvania. If you can get the daylight variety, do it. The light is much nicer, the standard spectrum is very yellow.

 

[MasterMerlin]

Update

The tank setup so far includes about 1" of topsoil with a few handfuls of peat moss mixed in. This was topped with black flourite sand, about half of the 15 pound bad. Since the fine size of the sand I didn't try to rinse it and just placed it on top of the topsoil. I purchased two 60 W CF 6500K lamps for the stock hood and put on a new Tetra HOB filter. I took a piece of drift wood that was attached to a piece of slate and tied a piece of water sprite to it as well as another plant (not sure of the name, it's long and cylindrical with thin leaves that grow in a circle). I also had to cut two piece of the driftwood off due to the hight to fit in the 10G aquarium. I tied the two pieces I cut off together and placed two more of the unknown plants on it. Due to not being soaked, they are floating now.

I will post some pictures once the water settles down. The two angles have kept it stirred up since yesterday when I put them in.