Due to all the amazingly beautiful pictures of planted tanks on here and a few other sites, I have decided to try my hand at a small 10gal. planted tank (I plan to make it in to a shrimp tank but my biggest concern is the plants). I want to just start with maybe just two low light mosses and maybe a swords plant. I have no delusions that my tank look anywhere near as good as those I have seen without a lot of time and work. My goal is to make something like this.
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Right now the tank is only on paper. I have been reading guides, I want to set it up right from the start. I am finding some major contradictions in what these guides say. I did get a ton of good advice like to basically keep everything in a bucket for a week with daily water changes before putting it in the tank and to even boil the driftwood.
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A. Keep everything in a bucket ???
Nope. Rinse substrate, set your hardscape and Plant the tank. If you need to disinfect your plants there are ways that may help. I don't worry about snails, so my plants typically go right in.
I don't boil my driftwood as I don't mind tannins. Also I'm getting wood that's already dried out and clean.
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Filtration: This I got. From reading guides I have learned that since I plan to add shrimp later that I must use a sponge cover on the intake regardless of what system I use. Ok, good so far.
Substrate: The two I see most recommendations for are Flourite and Eco-Complete. The biggest complaints I see for Flourite is that you must rinse it like mad because it is very sandy/dirty and that it is very sharp and can hurt plecos. The biggest complaint for Eco-Complete is ph spike. I also saw talk of Onyx sand but saw nothing good or bad about it except it was also very dirty. I have also seen talk of layering substrate but what each layer was, was not stated. Many planted tanks that try to depict a Nature/forest scene have a separation path as well and I see nothing about what to use for those. Here is where my questions start.
1. Since my main plants will be mosses, what is better?
2. Is sand or gravel substrate better for mosses since most the tank will be a carpet of moss?
3. Cleaning, do you still vacuum the gravel with moss? I have seen them use the gravel vacuum as they trim moss to suck up the clipping.
4. Is there a substrate that plants will not grow on for use as a separation path or is this just something done by regular trimming?
I found this as a clever way to keep a separation and I might try it. They said they did this with some acrylic, a hot knife, and some silicon.
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A. I don't do fancy scapes. I have no experience doing separations. There is a lot of info on The Planted Tank forums. TPT was my go to.
I would start out with something simple so you don't get frustrated. Most fancy scapes take a LOT of maintenance. "Trees" aren't easy IMHO.
I don't do a lot of gravel vac in planted tanks.
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Water changes: This I saw a lot of contradictions. One guide said not to do water changes because it hurts the plants but yet another guide and a maintenance video showed them doing a 20% water change. Yet, another guy said he had two HOB and a canister filter on his tank because the cleaner the water is the less you have to do water changes and you do not want to do them for planted tanks...
5. So what is it with water changes? Do you just do them less offten? Smaller % weekly? Not at all???
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A. My club preaches water changes. Smaller tanks esp build up TDS. Shrimp tanks need lower TDS. I change 25-30% once a week. My plants THRIVE with fresh water. I use tap or part tap/part distilled if I need lower PH for my CRS. I run an HOB on one and a Canister on my other 10g. Both work fine. Don't blow your Shrimp or plants around but circulation is good.
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Lighting/Tank/Bubbler: I so not even own the tank yet but it will most likely come with a standard fluorescent light cover.
6. Is a standard fluorescent light good enough for low light mosses or will I need something more?
7. Is a covered or uncovered tank best for planted tanks?
8. Are bubble stones good or bad for planted tanks? I have seen a guide say they are but then see several in planted tanks.
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A. I'm using a standard incandescent hood. Swapped out bulbs for mini screw in fluorescents. I'm using 10watt 6,500K u-shaped bulbs.
I use a fancy LED fixture on my other 10g.
Moss will grow under most lights. They don't like it too hot. I like the look of 6,500K so that's what I use.
I don't use air stones in my tanks. They look too fake to me. If you run CO2 in the future, then you might want an air stone to gas off the excess CO2 at night.
I have covered 10g as well as a rimless uncovered 10 gallon. The open top tank loses water much faster.
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Sorry for the long post and if it seems I am asking a lot of questions but these are the things I need to know before I can buy anything. As I said this tank is only on paper right now and I want to make sure I start out right the first time.
Thank you greatly to any one who helps answer my questions in advance.
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