Plant recommendations

[Imsyu]

Gonna get a finnex 9 low iron tank soon from aquavibrant with their clip on led light and was wondering what were some good plants for this tank, will be a RCS tank

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Just checked out that tank.. The "clip on" light is a 26w CFL bulb. The LED is actually the Finnex Ray 2 fixture. Which light are you going with?

 

[Imsyu]

was gonna do the clip on light unless i need to convert to a LED then i will

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well depends on the plants you want to keep. The clip on CFL light is good for low to medium plants on that 9g. The Finnex Ray 2 would be capable of high light plants. The latter, you'll need to supplement co2.

 

[Imsyu]

I was going to do some foreground plants so the led will be used I have a pressurized co2 sgstem for my main tank but I think just liquid o2 for this smaller tank

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What kind of foreground plant? Will this tank be next to the main tank? What co2 system are you using? Maybe you can add a manifold to run two co2 lines?

The Finnex Ray 2 will carpet even to the most difficult foreground carpets such as HC, UG, DHG, and Glosso... given you satisfy the other needs of ferts and adequate substrate.

 

[Imsyu]

glosso as foreground and it will be next to my main tank on a desk like two feet away so I could use a manifold and I have a pressurized system I have ferts and root tabs from my main tank j will be using

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You should go with the Finnex Ray 2 option then. Otherwise the glosso can get leggy in lower light. BTW, I almost bought a similar schruber Wright rimless but that bevel on the front glass and the slightly less than perfect alignment of glass edges was a deal breaker. I'm not sure if the quality is inconsistent, but that's what I recall reading when I was researching a while back. I ended up getting a GLA 6g rimless with a Finnex Ray 2 and had excellent results. But GLA is currently sold out at the moment. Consider the high clarity rimless tanks from Aqua Top on www.truaqua.com. I recently bought a 2g cube to test the quality and I'm very impressed to say the least. Quality is on par with ADA for a lower price point. I believe I saw a 9g as well... you can then buy the Finnex Ray 2 separately if you choose this route. Just wanted to present more options before you decide on the purchase.

The links to my builds (6g and 2g rimless) are in my signature, if you're interested to check it out.

 

[Imsyu]

thanks for the help, ill go with the 11 gallon from tru aqua and get a seperate filter/lighting besides glosso im not sure what other plant would be good in a shrimp nano tank

just seems the finnex 2 is shy of 3 inches for the truaqua rimless they are 14 inches and the finnex start at 16 inches

 

[Imsyu]

well the finnex dual 7k is 16 only while the 10k starts at 12

 

[Imsyu]

thinking of using driftwood from here, thoughts?

Driftwood,sale,malaysian driftwood, cholla,

 

[Imsyu]

also sorry for the 50 questions, what are some good substrates for foregroundingplants etc? i have gravel in my main tank so my dwarf baby tears grow a little slow

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

The TruAqua 8.6g is 11.81" long. Although the Finnex Ray 2 double daylight is 16" long, the LED strip underneath the aluminum housing is 10.5" long. The docking legs are adjustable, you'll just have the fixture stick out the sides a bit.

What type of shrimp do you want to keep? And is this build a "planted tank" first with shrimp secondary? Or is your primary plan to keep and breed shrimp as the main goal and plants as secondary?

The cholla driftwood is great for shrimp. It lowers ph and gives shrimp a place to breed.

Substrate... UP Aqua shrimp sand has been getting A LOT of buzz lately in the shrimp forums. Looks like Aqua Soil without the spike in ammonia. Also doesn't disintegrate as easy as Fluval shrimp stratum. However, you can go with ADA AS, Fluval Shrimp Stratum, or Eco Complete as my suggestions if the UP Aqua shrimp sand doesn't appeal to you.

 

[Imsyu]

i think its a primary planted tank with shrimp but i will breed them as well, i went and ordered the 12 inch finnex 2 so it should fit over the tank better or should i have gone with the 16

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well the 12" Finnex Ray 2 is half actinic, which is an intense blue light that is meant for saltwater. I think you should get the 16" or any other light that has a kelvin rating between 6500K to 10,000K.

The reason why I asked about whether the planted or shrimp aspect takes precedence is because shrimp do not do so well in high co2 environments. They generally need lower pH, lower kh/gh, and lower TDS. But this also depends on the species of shrimp as some or more sensitive to those conditions. The "Neo" as in Neocaridina species of shrimp, such as Red Cherry, Yellow, or Rili, are more hardy so those would be your best bet if you want to go 'high-tech' in terms of a planted tank setup. If you want to breed the shrimp, you should aim for a low TDS below 200 too. The UP Aqua Shrimp Sand, Fluval Shrimp Stratum and ADA AS have buffering capabilities to help lower the pH as well. Adding in an indian almond leaf along with that cholla wood are also great at conditioning the water to a lower ph.

 

[Imsyu]

yeah i plan to breed RCS or something similiar, ill be getting a cholla wood with the moss on it, and a matt of glosso but not sure what other plants to get