Need help with several things

[emerald76]

Alright, I've got several questions about my planted nano.
1. My light is way too dim, what does everyone recommend that is cheap? I have Flourite with a river rock cap but I am removing the cap soon I hate it because it is impossible to plant things.
2. I have a huge plant that has exploded in growth all over my tank and is shading out other plants. It is a bushy narrow leafed plant(I can't remember the name, sorry). How do I trim it?
3. I want to add ferts but I am not sure what to do or how to do it. All I have in the tank is a female betta and ghost shrimp.
4. How do I add homemade CO2? I'd like to get a good variety of plants.
5. What plants does everyone recommend? I have the above mentioned plant, baby tears, a sword plant that is doing horribly and I only have because at the store the employee grabbed the wrong plant, and hornwort. The only thing doing well is the big bushy plant. Everything else is doing pretty badly, though the baby tears have grown a little.

 

[fort384]

1. What size is the tank? What is your budget for lighting? Unfortunately, cheap and good don't always go together, but there are some economical effective lighting solutions depending on how small a nano we are talking.

2. Without knowing what kind of plant it is, it is difficult to say how you should trim it. Some plants you can just trim whatever you want, some you may want to divide, etc. Generally though, if you just remove an entire leaf at the plant and trim the stem all the way back it will be fine. If you don't know the id, post a pic and we can help id it for you.

3. Introduction to Fertilizing the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

4. For DIY CO2, search you tube. You can find step by step videos on how to build a DIY system. Check here for more info on injecting CO2 in general: Beginner's Guide to CO2 Injection in the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

5. Sounds like you need to get what you have worked out first, and fix your issues before I would add more. What you can/should add depends widely on whether or not your lighting will support it, whether or not you get your CO2 system running, and whether or not nutrients are balanced in your tank.

Check PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource. They have a great plant guide that can be sorted by lighting requirements, placement, etc. It will help you get some ideas on what you may want to add.

 

[emerald76]

The tank is 5 gallons, filtered and heated with two relatively large pieces of DW stacked on top of each other.
My lighting budget is probably $50. I have been looking on amazon for cheap Finnex Ray2 LEDs.

 

[fort384]

Budget for lighting?

 

[emerald76]

Budget for lighting?

I edited my above post.

 

[fort384]

Archaea LED light fixture 30cm (clamp-on) All white LED [LED-H30W] - $44.99 : Aqua Forest Aquarium, ADA USA, Aqua Design Amano

Otherwise, you could go with some screw in CFLS on a tank that small. You could probably put something together for $20-30.

 

[emerald76]

Archaea LED light fixture 30cm (clamp-on) All white LED [LED-H30W] - $44.99 : Aqua Forest Aquarium, ADA USA, Aqua Design Amano

Otherwise, you could go with some screw in CFLS on a tank that small. You could probably put something together for $20-30.

Will it work on a tank with a rim do you think? I like the look a lot. I have a fixture that I could replace with a new bulb but I love the LEDs and how un-often the bulbs need to be changed.

 

[fort384]

I think it would work on a tank with a rim. You may want to call aqua forest and ask them to make sure, or you could return it if it doesn't fit.

While these LEDs are not super powerful (around half a watt each), they will do ok on a shallow small tank, like a 5 gal.