Setting up a 10 gallon tropical planted? Thoughts

[Tropical]

I consider myself a fish newbie, I have a 20 long tropical with 4 platy and a female bolivian ram. The only live plant is a brand new anubias. I saw a neat 10 gallon planted journal thread and was inspired to go clean up my old 10 gal sitting in my basement with about 2 inches of water and some hideous, multicolored neon gravel.

I'm seroiusly considering succumbing to MTS and setting it up this summer after school lets out (as in, the DAY school lets out, ). I'd probably de-rim it.

The only thing is the price. As a 14 year old, I don't have a job. My budget would be $150. I already have a tank, heater and filter.

How much would low-mid lights cost, as well as substrate, plants, and everything else?

 

[mfdrookie516]

You can do a lot with an incandescent hood using cfl's. That gives you low end medium light IME

 

[Tropical]

cfl's? Can you clarify that a litte? Sorry, I'm pretty slow when it comes to lighting. :s

 

[Tropical]

Haha, it was actually your 10g rimless that got me interested. Did you just pull off the rims, or was there a method?

 

[adadkins1]

CFL is Compact Flourescent; I am currently running a 5.5 gallon planted aquarium and I have 2.6 watts per gallon. I have two bunches of green cabomba, and I love it. It grows very fast and is easily propogated. For a ten gallon you could probably use 2x13 watt cfl bulbs and grow most low to moderate light plants. You don't have to go to a fish store to buy the bulbs though. They are half the price at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Just make sure you get one that is between 5,000 and 7,000k.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah its the spiral bulbs that are just a self ballasted fluorescent spiral tube. It's just a matter of taking off the trim. I have no idea how it plays out in the long run though. I just saw an article on Marconis's low light dirt build and decided to try it. I have 5 empty 10g's laying around though.

 

[Tropical]

Just fould the low light thread and looked through it for the artical. Looks simple enough, I'd be worried about moving it around and (hopefully) taking it to college with me in a few years.

Thanks for the tip about not getting the lights at a fish store.

Any thoughts on stocking? I think some rcs and a betta would be ok. Maybe a pair of shell dweller cichlids or kirbs? Or some killifish?

 

[Tropical]

Back to lights: Would 2 of these in a regular 10 gallon hood work?

EcoSmart 14-Watt (60W) Daylight CFL Light Bulbs (4-Pack) - ES5M814450K at The Home Depot

It's 14 watt, 5000K.

 

[Rokuzachi]

For about $50 you can pick up glass hood and a 2' single t5HO fixture that will give you 2.4wpg, the hardware to suspend it if you're able would be about $5. Comes with the right bulb too. I'd be wary of incandescent hoods sporting compact flourescent bulbs - I used a hood like that with 2x8w 2U screw in CFLs and it sky rocketed my tank's temp in a matter of hours from the heat because of how close the bulbs were, wasn't much I could do to change it either.

What filter have you got for it? If you're looking to snag another, I'd recommend an Aquaclear Mini-20, should cost you 22-26$ but it's a great HOB. The Fluval U2 is also pretty spiffy.

Eco Complete or fluorite gravel usually run you 25-35$ a bag depending on where you get it from. For plants, I paid $2 for Anacharis, Wisteria and Moneywort bunches. Pygmy chain sword was $6 and had enough developed runners to plant 3 or 4 separately.

Just for comparison, this is my current 10g planted setup and how much it cost - I wasted a fair amount of money though making poor choices.

Tank + Aqueon + hood lame-o kit- $40
Glass hood - $16
T5HO strip & Hardware - $45
Aquaclear Mini-20 - $23
Bag of black fluorite - $27
Plants (3 bushes of anacharis, 2 wisteria, a chain sword, 3 anubias, hornwort, java moss wad) - $30

If you were to clone my setup - not saying you should, just as an example, you'd be spending about $120 if we leave out the stuff you already have and don't go for extras like another filter.

 

[Tropical]

Wow, thanks for that breakdown. I will definately look into that filter. The $120 is pretty reasuring. I don't really have a place to suspend the light. Is there a cheap clamp on type that would work?

 

[Rokuzachi]

A Hagen Glo might work for you, it'd more but provide the same wattage. If you wanted to have an open-topped tank, you could offset the cost of it by not having a glass hood. I just have the glass hood because I've got some jumpy fish in there. I had trouble finding a made-for-aquarium single T5HO, especially at a good price, which is why I picked up that Sunlight Supplies one and suspended it.

 

[siva]

Too small for killifish. Well at least for Gardneri killifish..the only ones I have experience with. They get too big and ideally should be in groups of 5..2 males to 3 or more females. I wish I could keep a male betta that wouldn't eat shrimp

 

[strokinbyeu]

CFL is Compact Flourescent; I am currently running a 5.5 gallon planted aquarium and I have 2.6 watts per gallon. I have two bunches of green cabomba, and I love it. It grows very fast and is easily propogated. For a ten gallon you could probably use 2x13 watt cfl bulbs and grow most low to moderate light plants. You don't have to go to a fish store to buy the bulbs though. They are half the price at Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Just make sure you get one that is between 5,000 and 7,000k.

yep walmart has them also, just make sure you get the ones that arent as big around or you mite have to take the clear sheild off to get them in the hood