New to Plants!

[Tacos377]

I have an old not interesting 10 gallon tank with gravel and fake plants but have been reading up on planted tanks. My tank dimensions are 20 inches wide, 12 inches tall, and 10 inches deep. I know that CO2 is just as important as lights but what lights would work best for me? Substrate? I have an old whisper 10 gallon HOB and a heater already. Any recommended fertilizers out there? Other additives? I think I am going to shoot for a medium light tank.

 

[Rivercats]

I'm not good with lights on a small tank so hopefully someone else will chime in but in a tank that small I'd put in a bag of Eco-complete substrate which as a high CEC, meaning it can absorb nutrients from detris and the water and hold them for plant use. You can either do DIY CO2 or use a liquid carbon like Excel. I run a high light heavily planted 220g tank with uisng only liquid carbon. If you use CO2 or liquid carbon and decide to get alot of plants, even some non-green ones I recommend dry ferts. They are much more economical and you will get a balanced fertilization dosing for your tank.

 

[Tacos377]

Thanks for all your help!!! I will probably just dose with liquid carbon and get some eco complete! Now the only question that remains is lighting...

 

[Mrs.h2012]

I'm not good with lights on a small tank so hopefully someone else will chime in but in a tank that small I'd put in a bag of Eco-complete substrate which as a high CEC, meaning it can absorb nutrients from detris and the water and hold them for plant use. You can either do DIY CO2 or use a liquid carbon like Excel. I run a high light heavily planted 220g tank with uisng only liquid carbon. If you use CO2 or liquid carbon and decide to get alot of plants, even some non-green ones I recommend dry ferts. They are much more economical and you will get a balanced fertilization dosing for your tank.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I just started with plants in my 55g, chose a banana plant to start with. What dry ferts do you recommend? The lady at LFS sent me home with a bottle of API leaf something another.. Can't remember the name... But it's liquid. She said it worked awesome with her banana plant and hers thrived. Just curious to hear other options ESPECIALLY when it saves you money

 

[ownedbycats]

Plants need three things to grow: light, nutrients (fertilizer/ferts), and CO2. You always have at least a little bit of CO2 in your water due to fish respiration and gas exchange at the water's surface. Whether you need to add CO2 or not depends on how high your lighting is. If you have high light, your plants will grow faster, and will need more CO2 and fertilizer to support the faster growth. If your lighting is lower, you need less CO2 and fertilizer because your plants aren't growing as fast. Decide how much light you have, and then you can figure out how much CO2 you need to add. If your lighting is low, you may not need to add any, what is already there may be enough.

 

[Rivercats]

Off the top of my head I believe API Leaf Zone only has potassium and iron in it. So it's a limited fertilizer. A good compliment to that would be using Seachems Comprehensive also.

In tanks with med-high to high light that use CO2 or liquid carbon do best with dry fertilizers dosed daily using either PPS-Pro or El dosing. As stated above if you have a lower light tank with just some low light tolerant plants you don't need extensive dosing using dry ferts. The type of light, CO2/liquid carbon use, and amount of plants in the tank determine if it's best to use a dosing plan with dry ferts.

 

[Tacos377]

Any specific lighting ideas for my tank? (planning on a medium lit set up)

 

[nghsquad05]

I have a question just go along with being new to plants. I have two 55 gallon tanks I am looking to add a type of grass a d plants into I have had both tanks set up for Bout a year. Both are doing great and have had no problems so I don't want to mess that up but I want some good plants growing. In one tank I have about 6 African chiclids and the other I have 2 tiger oscars. Does anyone have any advice that would go good with them or just any advice. I currently just have have regular gravel in the bottom of both the tanks and just regular lights they came with. Should I get chiclid sand to pit on the bottom to help the plants?

 

[Tacos377]

I've heard 10 gallon is tricky because the watts per gallon rule doesn't really apply. One led or some other light of 45 watts of 6500-8000k should be fine, right? Or would 2 23 watt 6500k cfls be better?

 

[Coursair]

If you want to avoid CO2 and regulated Ferts stick to low/medium lighting.

This is an older vid of my 10g with two Mini CFLS
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003QZF7JA/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1338862052&sr=8-1 for light plus liquid Ferts 1x weekly

 

[Coursair]

Sorry to hi-jack the thread, but I just started with plants in my 55g, chose a banana plant to start with. What dry ferts do you recommend? The lady at LFS sent me home with a bottle of API leaf something another.. Can't remember the name... But it's liquid. She said it worked awesome with her banana plant and hers thrived. Just curious to hear other options ESPECIALLY when it saves you money

Please start your own thread, you'll get better responses.