Whats your thoughts on 5 gallon?

[adadkins1]

You can do DIY CO2 if you want, but I am not sure of exactly what lighting level 13W CFL is on a 5.5g. I would warn you that the Cabomba will likely be very hard to take care of, but hopefully you will have success with it. I would say to not worry about the CO2, until you find a definite answer.

Excited to see some pictures.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Why is the cabomba hard to take care of??? And it's not going in this tank, I shouldn't of put it on that list it's going in my other tank!

 

[adadkins1]

Oh, I see. Cabomba is just really a pain IMO, it does not grow well unless you have strong lighting and they really need ferts and CO2. The Cabomba you mentioned is actually one of the pickier types. Maybe you will have better success with the stuff than I did.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

So here's the tank on my desk, and the light bulbs that I bought! The tank is very cloudy and is still cloudy! Thanks to the fluorite!

 

[adadkins1]

Excellent light bulbs, may I ask what you used for substrate?

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Sachem flourite, for the planted aquarium!

 

[adadkins1]

Ahhh, I love dirt substrates. I have 2 dirt tanks and they show the best growth considering the amount of lighting.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Awesome great, also I was able to get a tiger lotus plant.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Still very cloudy. I also got some pond snails for the future pea puffers, and some duckweed!

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Still cloudy this morning, but the plants are all in! What can I do to get rid of the cloudiness???

 

[adadkins1]

You could do a couple of water changes. I used Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Soil and it is mainly peat/sphagum moss so I didn't have too much clouding. I would say that if you have your filter on and do several PWC's it should start to clear up in a day or two.

 

[Reygan2]

Can you mix the flourite with gravel or sand? I'm building a 10g and would love live plants. I'm also going to add plants to my 5g betta tank so I'm following along...

 

[adadkins1]

You can layer it: have about 1-2 inches of flourite or other nutrient rich substrate with a 1 inch "cap" of sand or gravel. That way the plants get nutrients, but you have gravel on top to minimize the dirt mess.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

It's starting to clear up even more. How long can my plants be floating without any problems???

 

[adadkins1]

What kinds of plants do you have? If they are stem plants, then they could float forever. If it is rosette plants, they will need to be planted in the next week or so.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Looks good right but then I started messing with it, trying to plant the plants. So now doing a big water change to get the dirt ou.

 

[adadkins1]

Do a couple 50% PWC's. After the dirt is well saturated, you won't have as cloudy water.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Ok thanks for your help!

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

I did some water changes, very cloudy water. Is the dirt in sachem flourite supposed to be this dirty. I planted my plants and the dirt is layering on the plant leaves. Is this normal???

 

[adadkins1]

Did you wet the dirt before planting the plants and filling the tank? If not you will see more clouding than usual. I had some cloudiness in my dirt tanks upon setup, but nothing to this extent.