10 gallon kiddo tank, 3 questions

[trennamw]

No I'm not putting the kiddo in the tank.

Yes I realize I will be taking care of it.

Question 1: for bulbs I have two 13w cfls (equivalent to 40 watt incandescent) that are 6500k. No reflector. Is this medium or high light?

Question 2: he's four and I want him to guide the project to some degree, without getting into clown puke. Below is the tank in it's current state. He wants to keep the pirate ship AND have it "like a forest". I want something densely planted, low tech, and not a total eyesore. Ideas?

My thought so far is replace the black gravel with ADA aquasoil, and then place a circular dish (thrift store ash tray) with some bluish or even mother of pearl substrate for the ocean and pirate ship. Should keep the gravel from mixing and the plants out of the "water"?

Question 3: what else to consider? the plan is dry start, evolving to low tech, heavily planted tank. Probably using Tom Barr's "excel plus a few dry ferts" method. Occupants will be a betta and an ADF and maybe Otos (the betta in question has lived with Otos). Suggestions for plants or anything I've missed are helpful. I've had a successful low light with a few plants 29 gal, and a 3 gallon moderately planted plus betta, for about 6 months without any issues.


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[Fishperson]

Hi!

I'd say that lighting puts you at around medium light. Certainly enough to give you algae but routine excel dosing could be enough to prevent that.

Your plan sounds good although for a low tech tank Aquasoil is totally overkill. It leeches ammonia which will be a nuisance at best and will extend the time it takes to get it set up, and you won't have many root feeders that need it anyway. Go with Eco complete and buy some root tabs. That would probably be the best option in my opinion. A 20 pound bag should suffice.

Your plan sounds good. For plants I'd go with:

Cryptocoryne species
Ludwigia repens
Staurogyne repens
Java fern
Bacopa caroliniana
Cabomba (furcata would be cool for him, it's purple)
Amazon sword

By the way, the picture didnt show up for me. You might need to allow the AA app access to your photos. It is in the settings.

 

[trennamw]

Thanks! That helps. Especially on the substrate.

I was toying with the idea of a dirted tank, since it's dry start that gives time for the substrate to cycle right?

I forgot to add the photo at all ... Lol.




Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.