10 gal newbie

[FishingMouse]

Hi I have a 10 gal tank I was planning to put a school or two of nanos in, but everything I read says that they prefer at least moderately planted tanks. However, I read up on the stuff here about planted tanks and CO2 systems, and it's all so complicated :headbang: is there some sort o 'for dummies' type page like there is for cycling, or are there plants that don't need a CO2 system? I read about low light/ low maintenance plants but am not sure if I can trust what it says. Also, what exactly are live rocks?
Thanks for help! I found this site too late and recently crashed and burned. I want to so things right this time.
Note: I kinda want to stay away from fake plants because I don't want to stress out my fish too much by regularly taking them out and cleaning......so any suggestions on live species suitable for a 10-gal newb are much appreciated!

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

What do you mean by nano's?

CO2 is only needed in high-light high-tech tank's. It's used to balance the levels off ferts, to light, and CO2. Anyway, What type of hood do you have on your 10g? If you don't have one I recommend getting 10G Hood and then buy 2 x 13-15 watt 6500k CFL bulbs. This will throw you into the low-medium lighting range and you will never need to use CO2. With this light you could grow all anubias species, swords, apontogeans, and similar. If you have a petsmart near you I would also recommend getting this Plant Bulbs. It's a pack of 4-8 plant bulbs that will grow into full plants and grow perfectly with the type of hood I recommended. If you really wanted to do even better with the plant's I would finally recommend getting root tabs. API, Seachem, jungle, are a few companies that make them, and most petsmarts sell's them as well.

 

[JakeVS]

Haha! Been there done that! No, you do not need any of those co2, or special lighting or any of that stuff if you are looking to get a start on planted tanks but are wanting to make everything work out. Granted, they do make for some pretty beautiful tanks!

First off, check your lights! What bulb do you have in there, and what is the hoods capacity? Should say right on the bulb what it is (may be just a few numbers and letters) what you are looking for is the wattage (ex. 10w), the kelvin rating (ex. 6700k) and the type of bulb. And it should say right on the good what the capacity is.

Plants that did well for me when I started up my planted tank were anubias nana, crypts, and java moss, this was in a simple inert sand and under bad lights and they still grew! Another good plant is java fern, but I have never actually used it.

Live rock is used for salt water tanks, so I wouldn't worry too much about it right now, and I doubt I know enough about it to give you a good suggestion.

What types of fish do you want? I just put some spotted blue-eyed rainbows in my tank and am loving them!

 

[FishingMouse]

I was looking at some danios and rasboras.....and basically fish that won't get bigger than 1-2 inches, but are still nice to look at. I will look into the plant bulbs, thanks! I have a 10 gal hood, with 15 watt lights. I'll have to look at the other ratings when I get home. Right now I just have gravel, what sort of substrates should I look in to? Are the messy ones necessary if I plan to use plant tabs?

 

[jhawk__]

I would highly recommend Eco complete as a substrate. It works great and has extra nutrients in the substrate for the plants. It looks like black gravel except a little bit more finely crushed then the average gravel.

You won't need a co2 system, I just use my light that came in a kit and my plants are growing fine! I have a 10 gal planted just like you.

All I had to get was root tabs for my swords, but most LFS sells them.

If you go to your lfs and Check out that plants they have an decide on a few you like, you could come home and do a little research on them and see if their suitable for your tank. Then go back and get the ones that work with your tank

Hope this helped

 

[FishingMouse]

I would highly recommend Eco complete as a substrate. It works great and has extra nutrients in the substrate for the plants. It looks like black gravel except a little bit more finely crushed then the average gravel.

Can I use a gravel vac to clean it, or is it too small for that?

 

[jhawk__]

Can I use a gravel vac to clean it, or is it too small for that?

Yes you can gravel vac it! It's not to small

 

[jhawk__]

For stock, I think


5 cherry barbs (school)
1-2 dwarf gourami (centerpiece fish)
2-3 nerite snails (cleaner crew)
Couple red cherry shrimp (cleaner crew)


I think this would make to be a pretty stock.

I also checked it on aqua advisor and they said it would work.

 

[FishingMouse]

For stock, I think

5 cherry barbs (school)
1-2 dwarf gourami (centerpiece fish)
2-3 nerite snails (cleaner crew)
Couple red cherry shrimp (cleaner crew)

Wow, thank you! I gotta say, those red cherries are pretty darn adorable for shrimp. I was already thinking about shrimp, but I haven't done much research on them yet.
I have looked at the gouramis, and am in the process of researching them and schooled fish they might be compatible with.
I hadn't really looked into snails yet at all.

Thank you so much for your help and suggestions!

 

[jhawk__]

No problem if you google liveaquaria.com and click on "freshwater fish", you can don tons of fish and they categorize them so it's easy to find the one your looking for. Once you find the fish your looking for, if you click on the pic it give you tons of information on it !
For example:





That is the quick starts if you wanted to try out cherry barbs !




It then gives you an overview of the fish! I've found this site very useful when stocking my tank. You can also order fish from this website !

 

[jhawk__]

I think the minimum tank size is a little overrated for them though. Anyone else agree with me? Of am I wrong ?

 

[Gish]

yes, i've found that liveaquaria overstates the minimum gallons. that being said, more space is always better for fish.

i don't know how well red cherries will do in a small tank unless there is a lot of hiding places, and then you may never see them.

ghost shrimp are a little bigger and less likely to be eaten.

also if your not ready for live plants, there are plenty of fake ones that look great and the fish dont know the difference.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Anubis, crypts, java fern, java moss are some plants that will work in your tank. IMO I wouldn't to the cherry barbs. I don't think that they're that great because only the male is nice in color and the females are brown. I think I cool nano tank, with
6 galaxy rasbora(cpd)
4 Pygmy Cory's
Or 6 galaxy rasbora
1 dwarf gourami
Shrimp

 

[FishingMouse]

I went to the store today to look at fish and research them. I really like the different danios, and am starting to fall in love with the dwarf gouramis. I also saw the ghost shrimp

 

[FishingMouse]

Oops went to fix a typo and tapped too close to the send button on my app >.< anyway, I really liked the ghost shrimp I saw there, and I'm thinking I might choose a species of danio (not sure which yet) to school, a dwarf gourami (maybe two) and a couple ghost shrimp. The plants at petsmart looked really terrible though.....I will probably go to petco to get a better look at them.

 

[jhawk__]

Oops went to fix a typo and tapped too close to the send button on my app >.< anyway, I really liked the ghost shrimp I saw there, and I'm thinking I might choose a species of danio (not sure which yet) to school, a dwarf gourami (maybe two) and a couple ghost shrimp. The plants at petsmart looked really terrible though.....I will probably go to petco to get a better look at them.

That stock would look nice !

 

[FishingMouse]

Now, Are root tabs enough? How often should I fertilize, and what kind of fertilizer works best to keep my plants and my fish happy?

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

What is your kelvin aka K rating of your bulb's and what type of bulb's are they? T8, t5, t5-ho, cfl's, etc.?

As for root tabs it depends on the brand. If you use the API root tabs I recommend using 3 for a 10g (one in the middle, one of the left, and one on the right) and add new each month. Then for liquid fert I recommend getting Flourish Comprehensive.

 

[FishingMouse]

What is your kelvin aka K rating of your bulb's and what type of bulb's are they? T8, t5, t5-ho, cfl's, etc.?

As for root tabs it depends on the brand. If you use the API root tabs I recommend using 3 for a 10g (one in the middle, one of the left, and one on the right) and add new each month. Then for liquid fert I recommend getting Flourish Comprehensive.

It doesn't say. They're the lights that came with the hood, I can't seem to find anything but the wattage on the box.
How often do you use liquid fert?

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

Dosing all depends on what you buy. Flourish Comprehensive

Can you take a picture of your light and post it on here or maybe try to find it on the internet and give us a link?