1.5 gallon planted question

[chris127]

Hey i have a 1.5 gallon tank that my sister never used. Its just a plain hexagonal acrylic tank . Since it has a regular light socket, can i take the original light out and put a 14W twisty bulb in it? i wanna put some good sand and small high-light plants in it and maybe 3 cherry shrimp. if all this worked out, would i need a tiny filter?

Thanks
Chris

 

[chris127]

the light fixture says Aquatank Model 202, 15 Watts Max
did some research and found out its a 2 gallon lol

 

[Purrbox]

If heavily enough planted, including some fast growing stem or floating plants, then a filter wouldn't be necessary. It's a large enough aquarium that I'd probably still use a water pump for circulation. It can also be used for disbursing CO2 if you're going to inject CO2.

You should be able to use a screw in compact fluorescent with that fixture. Do keep in mind that because of the twist some light will be lost to restrike (light hitting other parts of the bulb and not making it into the aquarium). These smaller aquariums require quite a bit of light, so you may find that even 15 watts isn't enough for high light. You should still be able to grow a very nice variety of plants though. The biggest challenge will be selecting and obtaining plants appropriately sized for the aquarium. This will go a long ways towards making the aquarium scape more maintainable and enjoyable.

 

[chris127]

I was thinking of baby tears and dwarf hairgrass to start out with. is there a nano sized waterpump that you recommend?

 

[chris127]

oh, and whats a good substrate? i was thinking about putting gravel over some peat moss or sand.

 

[neilanh]

I run 26W on my 2.5g just for reference.

For a substrate, depends on what you want to spend. You can get some planted substrates pretty cheaply. Schultz's aquatic soil from home depot/lowes for instance. Or, for small tanks, it's easy to get the "good" stuff for cheap, since you don't need a lot of it. Eco complete or ADA Aquasoil, for instance.

 

[Purrbox]

I'm using the ViaAqua Water Pump 180 on all three of my nano aquairums. It's doesn't take up much space but provides plenty of water movement. For the price it's an excellant solution.

You might want to take a look at Estes Sand. I'm using it in my Pico and love how well it grabs the roots of smaller plants. It's available in small bags, so you buy just what you need.

 

[chris127]

i added some leftover estes gravel to some pond sand. also took some plants from my 20 gallon. i have 1 crypt stem, 1 wisteria stem, 1 japonicum, 1 java fern stem, and 1 anacharis bunch in there. How long before i start to see some noticeable growth? i hope soon with 7wpg