Planted tank help

[CATALYST]

I want to do a planted tank but I'm new. I have a plain 'ole fw tank with guppies but I want something planted. I want it to be about 10 gal...right now I have a 5. I change the water once a week and clean the filter. What kind of maintenance would I have with a planted tank? Suggested substrate?...right now I just have river rocks. Do I need different lights?...right now I have flourescents.

[Emg]

I would go with a low light planted tank. The flourescents would be fine for that. Just be sure to pick low light plants such as java fern, anubias nana, cryptocyrene.....etc. I've had good luck with red lotus/water lily in low light tanks. They add a nice red color to the mix.

I use echo complete for planted tanks as a substrate in my planteds. Works for me and I like the look of it. You don't need to rinse that out when you put it in like you do with most other substrates like flourite.

I'd keep up with the 50% water changes every week. If your plants look like they need some feeding..(low light tanks don't need much)....you can give flourish excel a try. It's a liquid carbon fert. Flourish trace might be helpful from time to time. That's all I ever dosed my low lights with and they do well enough.

Have fun ! Post some pics when you get it all put together.

[CATALYST]

I got a plain 10 gal tank today with the eco complete substrate. What kind of filter should I use? I have a fluval one in tank type but I thought maybe the aqua clear hang on type might be better. What do you think? I was going to get all of the plants at once after the tank had a cycle.
Any fish recommendations? I have 4 guppies that will relocate. I'd like to have algae eaters that won't eat the plants...and one betta maybe for color. I like the little catfish too.

[John7429]

My preferred substrate is ADA/ADG Aquasoil. It's pricey though. The only other substrate I use is eco-complete. With as many planted tanks as I have, Aquasoil is worth the extra $$.

However, the types of plants you like matter most. If you're going low light/low tech cheap plants, its not sensible to spend $$$ on aquasoil. But keep in mind, you may want more demanding plants as you progress.

As far as water changes go, 50% weekly is WAY too often. Or should I say annoying. Its not necessary. The biggest factor on this would be your filter. I personally overkill the filter (not much $$ more to get the next bigger model) and only do monthly water changes. Heck, my most "expensive" planted tank houses CRS and I haven't done a water change in over 2 months. Livestock and filter will be the biggest factor. Fish = more filter + water changes. If you're just doing plants, its not as big a deal.

Given what you've got and want:
Ember tetras - worth lookin into (my favorite nano fish for planted tanks)
Ottocinclus - Get at least 3 or 4 for the algae
SAE - Get a couple if you can find REAL ones... if not, don't bother
If "little catfish" refers to corys - don't get too many, up to 3 or 4 would be ok.

For filtration, I would recommend investing in a small canister filter. I use TOMS Rapids Mini ($20ish at DFS) on all my 10g and smaller tanks. It'll conserve more real estate in your tank and do a better job filtering. It'll also reduce the amount of oxygen put into your water. Excess oxygen in planted tanks slows growth. HOB style filters create bubbles where the water flows back in.

Lighting will depend on types of plants. Most use power compacts or T5. However, I have a 10g Endler breeding tank with a cheapo 18w flouro and it grows ferns, mosses, and riccia just fine.

[CATALYST]

For the filter, I have one of these with just a sponge in it. Will it work or is a canister kind better?
I can't find a link for the bulb. It's incandescent 15w plant light. Is there a better one?
I like this guy like you listed...Otocinclus cocama. Should I stay away from fish that like some salt added?

[krazykat]

I think that your tank will do great if you don't get too many fish in there.

I had a 5 gallon heavily planted tank for 2.5 years. It had flora base for substrate, a piece of driftwood covered with java moss, crypts, and dwarf chain swords. Lighting was a 15 watt flourescent, and I had a Tetra HOB filter rated for 10 gallons.

I did a 2 gallon H2O change every 2-3 weeks and the plants grew like crazy! I had to constantly trim the java moss! I would change the carbon and filter bag two days before I did any water change, and I kept it topped up so that the water level was as high as it could be at all times. Temp was kept at 82 F and lights were on from 11 AM to 11 PM. It also got plenty of morning sunlight. I did not have any algae problems at all, and this was probably because the plants were able to use up all the nutrients. I dosed with a liquid fertilizer after every water change.

Only inhabitants were a juvenile albino bristlenose pleco and a dario dario bengalensis. I originally had three of the dario darios but they are very aggressive and the other two paled out and eventually just disappeared . Only took a few weeks for this to happen. The water parameters were always perfect - pH 6.8, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrate 0. This was most likely due to the low stocking levels and dense planting. I loved this tank, but then my dario dario eventually crossed the rainbow bridge . I have him in alcohol in one of my API test tubes (sealed with silicone) now.

Your planned setup sounds very similar - I wish you all the best !

[John7429]

Originally Posted by CATALYST

For the filter, I have one of these with just a sponge in it. Will it work or is a canister kind better?
I can't find a link for the bulb. It's incandescent 15w plant light. Is there a better one?
I like this guy like you listed...Otocinclus cocama. Should I stay away from fish that like some salt added?

I wouldn't venture into salt-friendly fish. You're changing the demands of the tank that way... There are plants that like salt as well but they are not as common.

Personally, I would go with a mini canister filter. Just my experience. Much better filtration capabilities and over time, will save you $ by means of less frequent water changes. With that said, I've never liked internal filters (ugly) so I do have a strong bias in opinion.

The importance in bulbs is wattage (output) and kelvin rating (temp/color). If you're just using that one bulbe, I doubt you're getting enough spread for a 10g tank. Your reflectors play an important role as well. Having a great bulb and shabby reflectors won't do you any good. Regardless, you don't need to buy expensive bulbs from the pet store that say "plants" on them. Getting FULL SPECTRUM bulbs rated at 6500k or higher will work just as well. You can find them almost anywhere that sells bulbs (walmart, homedepot, grocery store... etc) in both the incan and flouro style.

The incan bulb in my Eclipse 5g hex cost me $2 (on sale) at my local grocery store (65000k spiral compact flouro). The 18" regular flouro bulb I mentioned yesterday cost me less than $10 at walmart (18w 65000k) but would have cost at least $25 at a pet store.

[CATALYST]

I have the cheap hood from petsmart that they sell with the plain 10 gal tank. It has two bulbs. I got the bulbs from walmart that are 15 watt, so there are two in there. They said for plants on them. They aren't very bright. The florescent one in my 5 gal is way brighter.

[CATALYST]

Can I layer some aquarium rock on top of the eco substate?

[charlir1954]

I must agree with John in that "Otocinclus" cats are very good for algae removal. They get into the smallest nooks and crannies while being very peacefull. I used to have 50 gal planted tank consisting of crypts and Java ferns that started off slow but soon populated the tank. For substrate I just simply used "swimming pool filtration sand" and it worked great for me. If you advance to a larger planted tank, I would very highly recommend a "Loricaria"
cat, often called whiptail, or stick catfish. One of theese catfish will take care of ALL algae in the tank within a couple days. It never did hurt any of my plants. And soon needs algae tablets daily to avoid starvation. It is very peacefull and bothers none of the other fish. But is so unflexible that inorder to move around it must take short hops. I never had to worry about those plants that come home from the pet store all covered in algae. My "Loricaria" loved those kind best. In one day you would have thought that the plant came from a high reputable store they would be so clean.

[CATALYST]

These lights I have are crappy. Got a suggestion for a 10 gal light? I was looking at something that listed the anubias and they recommend a light that is 500-1000? I need the housing to be low profile so it will fit on the counter under some cabinets. I have it on the kitchen counter. I got a couple plants in there and I got a piece of wood. I can't remember what it's called but it's soaking in a bucket.
I do like those little oto fish. I went to look at some. I saw some online that had spots but all the ones in the LFS around here have stripes.

[PEMfish]

DIY T5. Can't say anything better ( assuming you know how to not burn down the house ).

[CATALYST]

I got a new hood at Petco. I think it comes with a T8 8000. Better than that other dumb light. I also got two otos and put them in with the guppies. I don't have any fish in the new tank yet. How long should it take to cycle the fresh with that eco substrate?

[Luukosian]

Maintenance isn't too much compared to what you're doing now. I change about 50% every week to keep away from fertilizer buildup on my planted tanks and dose phosphate/potassium and traces on alternating days. Flourite is what I use for substrate, works great..one bag should do it for a 10. Some kind of DIY co2 unit would probably work(yeast/sugar) but hard to keep a constant ph/co2 level with that kind of set up and ends up being more trouble than its worth. Hard to justify spending the money for a cylinder for a 10 gallon tank though.....

As far as algae maintenance I like ottos, true siamese algae eaters, and amano shrimp...


I wouldn't be TOO concerned about cycling if you have a lot of fast growing plants in there...they eat up all the nitrate/nitrites pretty quick if your dosing everything else correctly. Don't get me wrong though...there still is a cycle its just not as dramatic as a non-planted tank I'd wait about a week to make sure plants are growing quickly then test nitrates/amm/nitrites and throw one or two of the ottos in there. Heres a good link Cycling a Planted Tank | Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks

[CATALYST]

Thanks for the link!
So it looks like I should start throwing fish in.
Do you recommend certain test kits for fresh for regular use?