5.5 Gallon Planted Startup

[aveldina]

Well here we go.. getting myself into trouble again.

This is sitting on my living room floor at the moment. Dan and I decided to combine our love for planted tanks and bettas into a new 5.5 gallon project and brought this home this past weekend. I still need to order a heater and find a spot to set it up before filling/cycling it.

I've seen lots of incredible 5G planted projects here and am still fairly new to keeping planted tanks. I'm curious what many of you are using for a light for your small planted tank. I've looked into the 2x9W coralife and the CurrentUSA 12" light, but they are a bit pricey at the moment. I also have no idea how I'd mount the 9" coralife. The tank will have a screen as I'd like to keep my cat and betta fish separated. I'd like to set up something a bit cheaper for a light and look at upgrading to a CL or Current one a bit later. I saw that the WPG rule doesn't really work for tanks this size, so 18W would be medium-ish? Suggestions?

Currently I'm just using florish comprehensive and excel in my 36G aquarium, it's not high light so that works out fine. I'd love to try CO2 and ordering dry/powder ferts for this tank but I'm completely new to both. I'm assuming you use some kind of test kit to correctly fertilize and set the CO2.. what do you recommend? Is DIY CO2 the only way to go for a tank like this? I would like to try a high light/CO2 combo, but need to get a feel for how much light and how much CO2 I'd need first.
If anyone has any start up advice that would be amazing, Thanks!!!

Edit: I believe I had meant to post this under Freshwater - Planted Tanks as it's not up and running yet, if you're a mod, feel free to move it.

 

[fort384]

I use a great little archaea 27W CF light on my 5 gal. I also use pressurized CO2 (it is split off my cylinder that I have for my 29G).

You can use test kits for fert, or you can use the EI method. It would be pretty easy on a 5gal. Search for "Estimative Index" to get an idea what that entails. If you wanted to go th test route, you really only need to test for Nitrates (N) and Phosphates (P). It is pretty tough to overdose potassium (K).You can check your co2 using a drop checker, or by measuring KH and pH and interpolating on a CO2 chart to see how many ppm CO2 you have.

A DIY CO2 system would work very well too on such a small tank, and would be a small fraction of the cost of a pressurized system.

You also can look at the Flourish line of ferts -- they make a N, P, and K (separate formulas) to compliment the comprehensive line. In such a small tank, the bottles would last a long time. If you order dry ferts for that small of a tank, you will end up with like a 7 year supply (which may be fine...).

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well here we go.. getting myself into trouble again.

This is sitting on my living room floor at the moment. Dan and I decided to combine our love for planted tanks and bettas into a new 5.5 gallon project and brought this home this past weekend. I still need to order a heater and find a spot to set it up before filling/cycling it.

I've seen lots of incredible 5G planted projects here and am still fairly new to keeping planted tanks. I'm curious what many of you are using for a light for your small planted tank. I've looked into the 2x9W coralife and the CurrentUSA 12" light, but they are a bit pricey at the moment. I also have no idea how I'd mount the 9" coralife. The tank will have a screen as I'd like to keep my cat and betta fish separated. I'd like to set up something a bit cheaper for a light and look at upgrading to a CL or Current one a bit later. I saw that the WPG rule doesn't really work for tanks this size, so 18W would be medium-ish? Suggestions?

Currently I'm just using florish comprehensive and excel in my 36G aquarium, it's not high light so that works out fine. I'd love to try CO2 and ordering dry/powder ferts for this tank but I'm completely new to both. I'm assuming you use some kind of test kit to correctly fertilize and set the CO2.. what do you recommend? Is DIY CO2 the only way to go for a tank like this? I would like to try a high light/CO2 combo, but need to get a feel for how much light and how much CO2 I'd need first.
If anyone has any start up advice that would be amazing, Thanks!!!

I don't know much about fertz because I don't use them, so i'll tell you that now .


So i'll just tell you about my 5G setup. I use a custom fixture I made, I use 2x 15W CFL Bulbs (The spiral ones at wal-mart) and that's sitting at medium light right there. Like you said before, wpg really breaks down on smaller tanks, so yeah 30W is medium. If you can find a housing you can make your own fixture aswell, very cheap and very easy. Build the house (unless you have something already) drill a couple holes, connect like 2 wires, then pop them in. Not hard at all.

I run DIY Co2 in my tank, I replace it once a month, or if I notice it is not running. The Co2 has really made an impact on my plants for sure. Once you hit medium you have to have atleast DIY co2.

I try to keep it kind of easy so no fertz for me. I'm sure it would make an insanely noticable difference, but I honestly don't have the time, the money. My tank looks fine as is. (If you want to see my tank click on my 5G planted log in my sig. below.)

My tank is open top, but going to make a simple lay on top lid for it soon. I've been having troubles with fish jumping out. You won't need to mount the light if you have a lid, you can just lay the light on top of it. If you don't have a lid, I put one end on the side of the tank, and the other end is sitting on a small thin piece of wood I measured and laid across the top.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to post again here, or pm me.

 

[aveldina]

I'd like to stick with open top as that seems to work great with our other betta tank. However I'm going to come up with a screen for that tank too, I'm afraid of what will happen when the cat checks out the betta and the betta decides he can take the cat. I'm thinking about trying the CFL bulbs.. maybe come up with some kind of light fixture I can have raised a bit above the tank to make getting the screen on and off easy. I think I might give DIY CO2 a try, maybe move it up to my 36G if it turns out well. Thanks for the info!

I love your 5G tank by the way, great stuff!

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I'd like to stick with open top as that seems to work great with our other betta tank. However I'm going to come up with a screen for that tank too, I'm afraid of what will happen when the cat checks out the betta and the betta decides he can take the cat. I'm thinking about trying the CFL bulbs.. maybe come up with some kind of light fixture I can have raised a bit above the tank to make getting the screen on and off easy. I think I might give DIY CO2 a try, maybe move it up to my 36G if it turns out well. Thanks for the info!

I love your 5G tank by the way, great stuff!

Thanks Always like to here compliments. Haha.

MY DIY system has worked great since I got it. You can jsut go to google and find a good DIY CO2 build. That's where I got mine. My cat could easily get into my 20G tank with tons of fish and a nice 4in shiney gourami it could take aswell. Your cat might be different so I guess I don't know. Better to play it safe then sorry really.

Mounting the light will be fine, it is easy for maintances. CFL are great aswell. Make sure when you buy them, they have some kind of label that says they are like daylight bulbs.

If you want to have medium light and grow medium light plants, I suggest getting 27-32W over that tank. I have 2 ballast in my fixture that I built and put two 15watt CFL 6500K bulbs in it. Plants are loving it.

If you do do medium light, I suggest you will need some kind of Co2, so do the DIY verison. I also suggest if you notice how well it works, make a secound one and put it on your 36G. All plants benefit from Co2 no matter what lighting they have.

 

[Purrbox]

I've got 36 watts over my 5.5 gallon, and I'd probably put it at medium, maybe medium high light. At 18 watts you'd probably only have low light.

 

[aveldina]

Alrighty I'll aim for a wattage in the 30s and check out DIY CO2. I'll take some photos while setting up and once I've got it going.

My cat has been known to sit on top of goldfish tanks and terrorize the fish.. we even caught her sleeping on top of the hood once. Once she's used to the fish she'll leave them alone but for the first little bit she might be trouble.

 

[joy13]

Instead of a lid on one of my 5.5 gallon tank I use a lot of red rooted floaters and salvinia I made a ring out of tubing and use that as a feeding ring. Then I don't have a cat that will want to try to get on top of it either.

I get a lot of natural light through a kitchen window so I use a simple desk lamp as a light with one of those sprial lightbulbs. I haven't hooked it up to CO2 and probably won't because I am having to trim my plants regularly.

The other 5.5 I got a regular incandscent hood with one bulb so I put one of those spiral bulbs in that. It doesn't get as much natural light but it still grows like a jungle.

I use excel on both of the tanks, with minimum of fertilizers.

 

[robott]

The other 5.5 I got a regular incandscent hood with one bulb so I put one of those spiral bulbs in that.

that's exactly what i did. it works pretty well.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Alrighty I'll aim for a wattage in the 30s and check out DIY CO2. I'll take some photos while setting up and once I've got it going.

My cat has been known to sit on top of goldfish tanks and terrorize the fish.. we even caught her sleeping on top of the hood once. Once she's used to the fish she'll leave them alone but for the first little bit she might be trouble.

Seems like you got your plan setup then. Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[joy13]

that's exactly what i did. it works pretty well.

You can say that again I am always trimming that tank. It looks like a jungle in there.