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I just set up my old 10 gal tank again. I have 15 lbs of gravel, 20 watts of light, some kind of bio-filter as well as a heater. I was wondering what kind of plants I could put in here. Also should I add any chemicals to the water? How long should I wait to add plants? I want to add fish at some point, so should I plant it first or get a cycling fish first?

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

Here's a good article on starting up a planted tank:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm
Tells you pretty much all you need to do.

20 watts over 10 gal is low light. Try to stick with low light plants (or at a maximum medium-low light plants).

-P

Maybe you'll want to occasionally add some flourish excel to add nutrients.

†Aquapickle†

Flourish Excel alone won't be enough as it's not what I would classify as a plant nutrient (as in micro and macro nutrients). Excel is a CO2 substitute and works great for smaller tanks. You'll also need a micro fertilizer like Flourish or Tropica Master Grow at the very least. Depending on your fish load and feeding routine, you may need to add macro ferts (N,P,K) as well.

-P

I have a planted 10g with 20w of light. The plants I have are Dwarf Sag, Rotala Indica, Wisteria, Corkscrew Vals, and an Anubias nana.

Everything grows great. I never add ferts...but if you want a really good looking tank, I would. My 10g is now only home to my male betta, Jack. I mostly have plant cuttings in there, so I just don't fertilize. Sometime in the future I will aquascape it...but until then, it is low maintenance.

People say 2wpg is low light in a 10g, but IME medium light plants grow well. My wisteria grows like a weed, my rotala is pink on the ends and grows fast, dwarf sag (another med. light plant) grows really good. I have never had trouble with medium light plants. Good luck!

*Kristin*

Good point, GG. Some of these light classifications you find on the net are not exactly accurate, but they do give a good ballpark range and a good start. For example, IME wisteria is a low light plant. It grew great in my 0.7wpg tank; heck it's even growing in my small quarantine tank without any artificial light (just ambient lighting).

BTW, if you look at the light requirement explanation page on the tropica website (http://www.tropica.com/signaturpopups/light_requirements.asp), they do tell you that it is not as simple as using wpg. For example, a 20W flourescent bulb with a crappy reflector is not the same as a 20W PC bulb with a good reflector.

-P

My aquarium has become very cloudy. Its only been set up for a day and already having problems. It has gravel and drift wood in it. Any suggestions?
Im new to the chemicals so my reading my not be completly correct (I followed instructions).
PH - 7.5
NO2 - 1.6
NH3 , NH4 - 1.5
GH - 3
KH - 2

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

You're still cycling (ammonia & nitrite should be 0 at all times once a tank is cycled). It's normal for a tank to be cloudy while it's cycling. Do you already have fish in this tank?

-P

No fish in the tank. I do have a few plants though. 1 small java moss and about 5 little plants that look like a blade of grass. I also added DIY CO2. Is this a bad idea?

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

upikabu: Wisteria grew in one of my tanks with under 1 wpg...it just grew so slow. And in my 29g with 2.24 wpg it grows extremely fast...so yeah I would say it is low light also. Oh and different sites give you different light ranges (low, medium, bright) for the same plants. It depends on alot of things and not just wpg...I have learned that myself.

justin: Yes you are still cycling. My tanks always get a little cloudy while cycling. It will go away. I'm not sure about the CO2...not my area.

*Kristin*

Yea the cloudiness has already gone away. Its starting to get crystal clear, i would post the PH and all that but im heading out. Thanks for everyones help i really appreciate it.

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

No problem. Post a picture when you get it all planted.

*Kristin*

Took another reading...
PH - 5
NO2 - 1.6
NH3 ; NH4 - .25
GH - 3
KH - 2

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

Something's odd with your pH test kit - pH 5 is unusually low. What's the pH of your tap water? Your KH is a bit on the low side too (4 or more is considered ideal in planted tanks), but not unusual (depends on what they put in your tap water) and can be easily fixed by adding baking soda.

You can leave the DIY CO2 on while cycling. Any CO2 will help the plants. You should add more plants though. Just pack it up.

NO2 and NH3/NH4 readings should be zero once you're cycled.



-P

The GH and KH are a little difficult for me to understand. It says add drops of the chemical to my 5 ml of water and it will turn from color "A" to color "B" but it only shows me color "B" and i never see the change. The PH straight out of the tap is 6.0 not sure if that tells you anything.

55gal Tank:130 watt coral lights,Eheim Wet/Dry 2227 Canister Filter,Powerhead, Co2 Injection and a heater.

Hmm..what brand(s) are these test kits? Maybe someone who has them can chime in. Another way is to ring up your closest LFS and ask them what the pH and KH of their tap water are, or bring a sample of your tank water for them to test.

-P

Hi,
Unless you are drawing from your own well, I too find
an out of the tap pH of 6 rather low. Most treatment
plants strive for a 7.0 to prolong the life of the
pipes. Acidic, will attack the pipes themselves, and
too alkaline can cause deposits on the inside surfaces
that eventually clog them.

Your description of the test matches how you test the
KH and GH, not the description of how to test the pH.

For the pH test, you fill the vial with 5 ml of water
from the tank to the middle of the white line in the
center of the vial. Then you add 3 drops of the reagent.
Then you cap and shake the vial, and then hold the
vial up to daylight and match the colors of the vial
to the chart.

Lastly, if your reagents are old and out of date, or
have been exposed to light and heat, you would want to
replace them as that will cause erronious readings.

Anytime you have a reading that is "out of whack" take
a sample to the LFS and ask them to test it. Or, test
the water from a second or third tank, and see if your
readings are still off.

Frank


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