Small Planted Tank

[Alshain]

A coworker gave me a 20" 10 gallon tank and I was thinking of doing something similar to Lonewolf's wonderfull black painted tank. I'm wondering what kind of light fixture would be good. I'd like to not break the bank on this little tank but I want something the plants will thrive in preferably with a moonlight LED. Any suggestions

PS. What about this one?

This link

 

[fish_4_all]

40 watts, actually 54 watts equivelant, over a 10 gallon would give you more than enough. I have an 80 watt NO flourescent over 2 10 gallon tanks and the plants do great. I also have a small problem with algae that won't go away regardless of what I do to the nutrients. I also know that at the higher lighting of the CF, you will have to stay on your toes to maintain proper nutrient levels or have a good algae tank. Get as much advice as you can on here before starting such a high light tank, you will be much better off. That is unless you like a great challenge, then best of luck

 

[Purrbox]

Might want to check out this site. They've got refurbished Satelite Fixtures in addition to new ones. Great way to save a little cash since you're already looking into one of these fixtures. Keep in mind that smaller tanks like yours need more light to hit the various light levels. I'm using Wizard~Of~Ozz's article to estimate the amount of light needed for your tank.

1. Use the 1x40 Watt fixture as is and you'll have a medium low light tank. This is because the 50/50 bulb included with the fixture effectively halves the amount of usable light.

2. Use the 1x40 Watt fixture, replace with a daylight bulb and you'll have approximately high light. This will grow most anything that you would want.

3. Use the 2x40 Watt fixture, replace the actinic bulb with a 50/50 bulb and you'll have a very high light tank and should be able to grow most anything you want.

I wouldn't recommed using the 2x40 Watt fixture with two daylight bulbs, as it will be extremely difficult to keep up with the nutrient uptake of the plants. With options 2 & 3 you would definately need to have CO2 in place.

 

[Jchillin]

*I modified your link Alshain*

Low-light tanks (under 2wpg) can be successful. I like Purrboxs' suggestion of #2. You can get a lot of mileage out of it. I believe I have proof of that.

 

[fish_4_all]

Go for it! It should be awesome and get some awesome growth.

Have fun with it and have a lot of patience, you will need it but it will be well worth while.

I also like purrboxs' #2 and that will be my choice when I upgrade to CF for my 10 gallon tanks.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Did it come with a hood at all? If so, you can use the existing hood and either replace the bulbs (with screw in CF bulbs) or get a retrofit kit from

• http://www.ahsupply.com[/link].
  
  If you don't have a hood...then take the suggestions above! Just giving my 2 cents.

 

[czcz]

If you go retrofit, the 36w CF from AHSupply is good and many grow nice low glosso carpets with it. I have the 40w Satellite and an AH supply kit, and am convinced AHSupply has the much better reflector, fwiw, and suspect the AHSupply kit gives out more light despite lower wattage.

Either will require CO2 and dosing, of course.

 

[Alshain]

No it does not have a hood. Its just a tank and some substrate that doesn't look very good anyway. As for the Algae, I intend for this to be a plant tank more than a fish tank. I will probably add a few ottos and maybe some smaller tetras like silver tips or neons. Its such a small tank, it won't hold much anyway.

I'll probably use the #2 suggestion above and Eco-Complete subtrate (I want the black anyway). Thanks for all the help

I feel the onset of MTS now...

So continuing with the topic, what kind of filtration or aggitations should I consider? Again, nothing too pricey. I did read the stickies to find out I don't want carbon but for such a small tank should I use a small HOB or an internal filter? If I need CO2 I will probably start one of the coke bottle DIY projects.

 

[JustOneMore20]

HOB filters are great, inexpensive, and easy to clean. I have an Aquaclear Mini 20 on my 10g. You could get the AC 30 if you want more surface movement. I keep 2 sponges in mine. The great thing about the ACs is that you can rinse one sponge a month in old tank water and then move them around...you don't have to buy new filter material...unless you need some carbon after medicating.

 

[Purrbox]

Since you're planning on injecting CO2 you will want to minimize surface agitation. The Aquaclears are still a good choice though.

 

[Alshain]

Well I went to petsmart to look for the AC20 and instead I found a sale on aquariums. So I came home with a larger tank. I'm still going to use the great info in this thread, but its no longer a "small" planted tank. I think I'm going to go ahead and paint the 10 gallon (for practice if anything else) and use it as a quarantine tank instead.