Questions on lights/plants

[agp]

Hey guys,

Logan's mom got really tired of me asking her question so told me to make a thread here

Anyway, I have fine gravel as my substrate in my 10G tank, and want to have a lightly-planted tank. I have some questions:

1. I'm only going to be planting hardy plants like anubias and java ferns, because I want to spend more time taking care of the fish and myself than the plants, so will 20WPG be sufficient for the tank?

2. What type of bulb do I need? T5, 8, or 12?

3. I need the color temperature to be between 6000K to 10000K, correct?

4. I just learned that you can't have snails if your tank is planted because your plants will be eaten. What can I keep as an algae remover in a 10G?

5. I know that some fish require densely planted microenvironments, will fake plants work if I decide not to go with live plants or will the fishes be able to tell I'm being cheap with them?

Thanks all

Hunter

 

[neilanh]

1) I'm assuming you meant 20Watts of light, not 20WPG. For those plants, 20W would probably do just fine.

2) Bulb type doesn't matter a whole lot in a 10g tank. Deeper tanks it comes into play, but based on your plant selection any of those can work.

3) Anything in the 5000 - 10,000K range will be fine

4) Not completely true. Some snails will eat your plants, others will not. I like nerite snails personally in my planted tank.

5) Yes, fake plants will work for the fish just fine.

 

[mgamer20o0]

1 i assume you mean 2wpg? what i would do is look for a incandescent hood and screw in a couple cfl bulbs in.

2 any can work depends on your fixture.

3 yep

4 where did you learn that?

5 most dont.

 

[agp]

1) Yea I meant 20W total, so 1WPG.

4) The Desacrator's thread talked about how he can't have snails to eat algaes because his tank is planted.

 

[agp]

Hey guys I'm trying to decide if I want real or fake plants. Give me some pros and cons please!

 

[maxima423]

well for me, i know that the money was stopping me from doing real plants
fake plants just are not my type so i am working around rocks and DW for now

 

[Crepe]

Fake plants pro:
Less maintenance
No worries about herbivorous animals
Easily Procured
Easily moved and redone
Con
Very expensive
Grows algae
Looks the same (no growth)
Looks less natural

Real Plants
Pro
Looks great
your tank will look different every week
natural environment
retards algae by sucking up nutrients
Con
Can also be expensive depending on what you get
Limits some of your fish choices
A lot of extra maintenance for high-tech set ups (not so much for java ferns and anubias)
Harder to "rescape"
Plant collecting is addicting

In my opinion there's no reason to not go the real plant route. As for snails: small ramshorn and malaysian trumpet snails won't eat your plants, at least not to a destructive degree. Nerites as well are seldom plant eaters. Snails would rather eat decaying plant matter and scraps than try to bring down a live plant.

 

[agp]

So if I were to go with real plants with low/med light, and no supplements (nutrients, CO2), I can only get things like java ferns, anubias, anacharis, and some microswords?

 

[Crepe]

You'd be good to go with medium light on all those plants. Vallisneria, `water sprite, java moss and some crinums will also work.

Plant Finder - Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants

This tool can help you find your plants.

 

[agp]

20W for my 10G would be okay for mediums?

 

[Crepe]

More. The wpg rule is funky like that (which is why it's pretty wrong). On a 10g 20watts would not be the same as 40watts on a 20g. I would say 30watts.

 

[agp]

I think I've settled on real plants. But when one dies, I will replace it with a fake one.

 

[agp]

Hey guys, here's what I'm thinking as a list of plants I should get, please let me know if it's ok:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/my-first-tank-10g-journal-131247-13.html#post1133032