Trying Freshwater Again

[Tank2379]

Well I've been out of the Freshwater hobby for awhile since taking up Saltwater about 4 years back or so.

I am looking to get another Freshwater Tank going. I have a spare 10G tank and would like to to make it a Planted Tank, can you guys give me some advice on filtration and what type of Subtrate to go with and also Plants and inverts if possilbe that would help me get going?

Let me know

Thanks
Frankie

[fishfanatic]

Originally Posted by Tank2379

Well I've been out of the Freshwater hobby for awhile since taking up Saltwater about 4 years back or so.

I am looking to get another Freshwater Tank going. I have a spare 10G tank and would like to to make it a Planted Tank, can you guys give me some advice on filtration and what type of Subtrate to go with and also Plants and inverts if possilbe that would help me get going?

Let me know

Thanks
Frankie

As far as filteration many people will recommend the aqua clear filters, I personalty have never used one.
You have a bunch of options for substrate depending on how much money you want to spend. If you want to get some really nice substrate then aqua soil is a good choice. If you are looking to save some money then pool filter sand if an option, root tabs may be necessary to grow some plants that are heavy root feeder.
The kind of plants you get will greatly depend on the lighting and fertilization you have. Do you want to get into co2 and ferts?
What kind of lights do you have/ looking to get?

[Tank2379]

Originally Posted by fishfanatic

As far as filteration many people will recommend the aqua clear filters, I personalty have never used one.
You have a bunch of options for substrate depending on how much money you want to spend. If you want to get some really nice substrate then aqua soil is a good choice. If you are looking to save some money then pool filter sand if an option, root tabs may be necessary to grow some plants that are heavy root feeder.
The kind of plants you get will greatly depend on the lighting and fertilization you have. Do you want to get into co2 and ferts?
What kind of lights do you have/ looking to get?

For lighting I was thinking about LED's from Marineland should be sufficent enough to grow Planets or Ecoxotic Stunner Stripes might also work. But I am not sure if that will work really just my guess since Coral need more lighting than freshwater plants.


I would like to run a small C02 setup to get things going for plant growth.

[fishfanatic]

IMO I would not get the marineland LED. I had the reef capable version and it barley grew plants. I would recommend some T5-HO lights.

[Tank2379]

How Many Bulbs would be good for T-5's on a 10G? I might even thik about doing a 20G Long

[fishfanatic]

Originally Posted by Tank2379

How Many Bulbs would be good for T-5's on a 10G? I might even thik about doing a 20G Long

I am not very good as far as light levels go but I think a 2 bulb T5-HO fixture would put you at medium high light. (If I were you I would wait for someone else to chime in and conferm that.) Also you will want bulbs of about 6500K (closets to the suns light).
A small co2 system as in DIY?

[jetajockey]

T5ho's are way too much on a 10g. When factoring in light intensity, use the height of the fixture/tank first and foremost. I'd go with CFL's personally.

[fishfanatic]

Originally Posted by jetajockey

T5ho's are way too much on a 10g. When factoring in light intensity, use the height of the fixture/tank first and foremost. I'd go with CFL's personally.

See what I mean