New tank! 5 gallon build with lighting questions

[paytertot]

My American government teacher was talking about how she had 4 goldfish in her 5 gallon tank, and of course I had a conniption and now I have a free 5 gallon tank! Yay me!

I'm planning on heavily planting it and having shrimp and maybe snails in there. So here are my questions, since I have planted tanks but I've never had a heavily planted one...

*what kind of substrate do y'all recommend and like best for heavy planting?
*what kind of lighting do I need?
*what is your favorite kind of shrimp?
*what kind of ferts should I use?
I'll be running co2 of course.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I have a planted 5.5 gallon with a 10w LED daylight floodlight, Eco-complete substrate, HOB filter, Seachem flourish twice weekly, Excell daily, iron and magnesium as needed. No co2. I had a 15w T8 over it for a while and it worked out well. A common CFL daylight would work great also. It was originally just a quarantine tank but I rescaped my 20 and took out most of the plants and decided to put a few of them in the 5.5 and donate the rest to a LFS (three full 1 gallon bags).

 

[paytertot]

So which lights would give me high-ish lighting? That's what I'm going for.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

So which lights would give me high-ish lighting? That's what I'm going for.

CFLs over a 5 would by my choice. They come in different watts so you can adjust the light levels easily. One bulb may be all you need. I can't say how effective the LED light I'm using is yet but I could post a pic to give you an idea. The shimmer effect is great. It was about 13 bucks US shipped.

 

[paytertot]

So if I just have the 10 watt fluorescent.. is that even decent lighting?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Do you mean a 10 watt CFL daylight or a straight T8 or something? If it's a CFL you'll be able to grow lots of plants.

 

[paytertot]

No not a t8, the cfl I guess.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

You'll be able to grow loads of plants with a 10w CFL. I'd say it probably puts you in the medium light range for a 5 gallon. If it's a shallow tank and you're doing co2 you could even try out some light hungry plants depending on the type of fixture it's in. Is it a desk lamp, a round cone type reflector, or a normal aquarium style light fixture? Is the bulb a daylight? Also, is the bulb a spiral or "U" shaped?

I know it's a lot of questions but it's easier to judge the amount of light going into the tank if we're clear about some of the details.

On a side note, I just made a simple wood housing for the light over my 5.5 planted tank. Waiting for the paint inside to dry now. I don't have any black paint for the outside on hand so it'll have to wait for Monday.

 

[Khij159753]

Can either of you post a link to a light that would work for a 5 gal? Im going to start one up and just want some hardy plants.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Can either of you post a link to a light that would work for a 5 gal? Im going to start one up and just want some hardy plants.

What are the tanks dimensions?

 

[Khij159753]

I haven't bought the tank yet. I'm waiting to find all the pieces I'll need. I was thinking probably just a standard size from petco.

 

[paytertot]

Pics. Disregard the goofy sibling in the background. Lol

 

[Aqualady40]

Pics. Disregard the goofy sibling in the background. Lol

subscribed......okay found yah....cute...

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Great start! Here's my 5.5 betta tank.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn152/CoralineAlgae/10-12-2012014_zps4633ab6d.jpg

I apparently don't know how to upload pictures. -_-'

 

[paytertot]

Great start! Here's my 5.5 betta tank.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn152/CoralineAlgae/10-12-2012014_zps4633ab6d.jpg

I apparently don't know how to upload pictures. -_-'

Awesome I love that

 

[paytertot]

Here are a couple pictures of my lighting.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Here are a couple pictures of my lighting.

I know that bulb well. It's the best one to get in my opinion. A lot of people on this site use the same one for plants. It's way better than the spiral ones for a horizontal fixture (unless you have a bigger tank and need more watts).

 

[Khij159753]

What light is it?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

What light is it?

You can often find them at walmart in the pet section or petsmart sold specifically for aquariums. It's a "U" type 10 watt CFL daylight. Just great for incandescent hoods. Amazon had some by ZooMed I think.

 

[Atxpunx]

Would a spiral type cfl of the same wattage be less efficient? If I wanted lower light should I get the spiral type 10 watt?