Where to find glass tops...and plants

[PK Tester]

Can anyone tell me where to find a glass top for a 10gal aquarium? Plus a light stip for a 10gal aquarium? Also can you have HOB 's with a glass cover? Is it fesable to plant a 10gal? if so...whats the best substrate for planted + guppy fry tank . The tank is almost cycled now hoodless.

TIA

 

[tkos]

I bought my glass top at my local fish store. They aren't terribly expensive. If you are a little handy then I suggest you make your own hood. Buy some shop lights from Home Depot or any hardware store and build a little box to store it in. It is a lot cheaper than buying the crappy hoods they sell for 10 gallon. You need at least 20 watts of light to start growing things in a 10 gallon very well and the premade hoods only have a 15 watt flourescent. Otherwise AHSupply (do a google search) sells custom kits that are great and worth the money.

My 10 gallon is planted. I just have regular gravel but many people love flourite. It is pricey but for a 10 gallon not too bad and can be mixed with regular epoxy coated gravel to save a little money. You can buy flourite at most fish stores.

As for plants that will depend on the lighting you have. Java Moss is the best plant for fry tanks. It is low growing and covers rocks or drift wood and gives a tangled mass of strands that fry love to hide in. Hornwort and water sprite are also great as they can grow planted or floating and fry can hide in these as well.

 

[PK Tester]

haha I'm not handy at all...I would love some better plants than java moss (I have that in my 12 gal eclipse). Can I go any cheaper with the glass tops + light than AH Supply or is the 29.99 range + bulb about as cheap as I'm going to get? thanks for your reply tkos

 

[RogerMcAllen]

As far as a top, try going to HD or menards and buying yourself a small sheet of acrylic and a cutting tool. You just score it with the cutting tool and then snap it on the edge of a counter or something.

 

[madasafish]

Riccia is also great for fry, as it is very bushy and fine. If you allowed it to grow on the surface (it can be attached to stone and wood with beautifuil results) it would be fine in a tank with only 15 watts. After all, almost all the light would focus on it! It's something different from Java Moss (no complaints about JM, of course; tkos's was a great, prob the best, suggestion). Also, pearlweed might be good for fry, as it can grow in tangly masses.

 

[foxtrot1027]

Thats what I did. I went to home depot and had 3 strips of thick jalousie window glass cut to fit for about 8 bucks for my 29 gal. The cheapest Glass Tops I saw where in the $20-$30 range. I epxoy'd a little metal knob on one so I could open it like a lid.

 

[tkos]

Sounds like you are pretty handy after all.

For my 5 gallon I just went out and actually bought a shoplight from Walmart for about 10$, bulb included. It is only 15 watts but there are 20 watt ones as well. And for now it is just laying ontop of the glass. Not super pretty but I will get around to fixing it up soon. I bought a cheap timer and the light is on a 10 hour cycle.

You can't really beat water sprite as well for a easy plant. You just snip off mature leaves and float them and they grow into a new plant. It is kind of fun to watch them grow floating as well as the roots grow out and reach down towards the substrate. Kind of pretty IMO.

 

[Allivymar]

Got my 10g glasstop from a lfs; Petsmart also carries em. They run around $10 -12 here. The ones I bought don't cover the top entirely; they come with an extra plastic strip so you can cut out spaces for HOB n heater wires n stuff and slide that onto the back edge of the glasstop

 

[foxtrot1027]

I did the same. Got 2 shoplights at wal mart. Used some thin scrap poplar along with some air conditioning foam ruber and made a top to hide the lights. Cost about 12 bucks.

 

[TankGirl]

I have kept a planted 10 gal and I agree with the suggestions above. I got a retrofit kit for my 10-gal strip (strip was $9 at Petsmart, light kit at AHSupply $14.99 or so) and had wonderful results. I used laterite mixed with gravel, but for such a small tank I would go ahead and get fluorite or Eco Complete.

If you just want a nice planted tank without going high light, get a fluorescent strip from the hardware store, the kind you would mount under a kitchen cabinet or something, and get hygro, water sprite, java fern, anubias, crypts, the list goes on!

 

[PK Tester]

I did the same. Got 2 shoplights at wal mart. Used some thin scrap poplar along with some air conditioning foam ruber and made a top to hide the lights. Cost about 12 bucks.

I love your top...but I doubt Im handy enough to make that...I looked at the LFS and saw just strips designed for lights to pop in. Is it possible just to buy one of those? I didn't check the price...I might consider going with AH Supply and their top...Do you guys know if they require any protection from the water? and do they have room for a HOB and such? TIA !!