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I have never had a planted aquarium before. I've been doing a lot of reasearch though, and this summer, I'm going to put plants in my 10 gal. Because it is such a small tank, I would like to know what some very small plants are that are still great for a beginner.

Edit: I won't have any CO2 fertilization going. I have a flourite substrate (2-4 inches deep) with about 40 grams of peat towards the bottom. I have 6 serpae tetras and 1 amano shrimp.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Not amazon swords I'd also suggest no cryptocorynes if you're going to be moving the tank around.

On the other hand, Java ferns and most varieties of Anubias would be great! Corkscrew Vallisneria could be nice. That should give you a fair variety of colors and sizes and leaf shapes.

How is the lighting? (how many watts, I assume you have flourescent lights)

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I actually don't have lights yet, so I'm pretty flexible with that. Yeh, I am going to be moving it around 4 times a year. I'm glad you said java ferns and anubias, cause I've been drawing sketches of what I want my tank to look like and I had both java fern and anubias nana in them. I'll also look up the corkscrew vallisneria. Thanks for the help.

Is all this stuff hardy and forgiving for someone new to aquatic plants?

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

eogle,

I think that a lot of options will depend on your lighting. Do you have any idea yet what light you want?

You cannot go wrong with Anubias Nana and Java Fern. Also Java Moss on driftwood or rock could work very nice.

In general, I don't think there are too many plants that would settle nicely in the substrate if they are removed 4 times a year, even Vals will suffer as they need some time to settle. The ones that could work are fast growers. In this case you would not care about "old" parts as the new ones would grow so fast that they can replace any transport loss in no time. Wisteria would be one of them.

That is why all the plants mentioned above are good as they all can be fixed to entities above the substrate. I personally believe that Amano Pearl Grass is a good and forgiving substrate rooter, it is also versatile in what you can do with it. Let it grow tall for the background, keep it shorter for the middle, make it short for pockets in the foreground. The problem - it will not grow in low light, medium to high is required to achieve these growth options.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So, when I transport this thing, I usually just take out 2/3 of the water and put it in the car. Are you saying that I need to take all of the plants out when I transport it? If so, what do I do with them? put them in a bucket of water with a lid (thats what i do with my fish, along with a mobile airator).

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

eogle,

Maybe it was my mistake to assume that you would take all the water out of the tank anyway.

I would assume that you have to drive or something. Wouldn't the flourite substrate be all stirred up by the end of the trip if there is still water in the tank? Not having this substrate myself I cannot say for sure, but I would assume that quite nasty stuff would be set free and pollute the water (and top of the gravel).

If you do decide to remove all the plants then, depending on the duration between removal and replant, you can simply place them in pastic bags with a little water in it (short trip) or you can wrap them in wet newspaper, then place them in plastic bags (long trip). In both cases, put them in a box where they cannot be smushed, will not get cold in the winter, and don't receive sunlight (heat).

I hope this helps rather than confuse you even more,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So, when I transport this thing, I usually just take out 2/3 of the water and put it in the car. Are you saying that I need to take all of the plants out when I transport it? If so, what do I do with them? put them in a bucket of water with a lid (thats what i do with my fish, along with a mobile airator).

Take out all the water, maybe leave some to keep the substrate moist. Every time you break or turn you're going to have water sloshing around your car, it's kinda silly to leave any in there, just messy and a pain in the rear to transport and to have that extra weight.

As LF said, wrap the plants in wet newspaper and put that in tha sealed plastic ziplock bag to prevent drying and evaporation. If it's anubias and java fern just a little bit of water in the plastic bag should be fine without the newspaper.

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks, that clears everything up a lot. I will do that next time I transport the tank.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Anubias Nana petite is a nice small plant. Since you will be uprooting them definitely stay away from crypts...they melt when you upset them

Like the others said, java fern is great. I will be replanting my 10g soon and will be putting some java fern in there along with maybe nana petite and some crypts.

Corkscrew vals are growing great in my 10g with 2wpg, but I don't know how they would deal with being moved around.

*Kristin*

Thanks Kristen.

I'm probably going to have a 48" two light flourescent fixture above my tank. The reason I need it so long is because it will the the "sun" for not just my aquarium, but also my bonsai trees. It might be anywhere from 6" to 12" above my tank, so it will be kind of hard to predict my wpg. In any case, I will probably have a pretty high wpg. This may be a problem since I won't be injecting CO2, but I think I will have to toy around with the lighting bit.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

How many watts are the bulbs you are going to put in the fixture? You could put regular bulbs that are about 15 watts each..then you would have 3wpg (30 watts total over 10g). The length doesn't matter...its the watts that do.

Having above 2wpg and no CO2 could be a major problem. You will have to deal with algae. You could always get the Hagen CO2 Natural Plant system found here. That would be enough CO2 to hopefully keep the algae to a minimum. And its not that expensive.

*Kristin*

Wow, I didn't realize CO2 was so cheap. I'll probably buy a something like that (or that) then.

Most 48" bulbs are 40 watts, so I'm probably going to have a greenish light for display purposes and another with a better spectrum. The thing I was talking about with the length is that the light fixture will be 4 feet long and my aquarium is only like 16" long. So most of the light is not going to be directly over the aquarium. Sill, I'll try not to put too much light into the aquarium.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Wow,

You two are on the path to a high tech tank

But not so fast

There are a few things I would like to mention:

- In general, the smaller the tank the more wattage you need to reach a certain light level (for example medium light) for plants.
- In specific, 2wpg in a 10G is really low light as most of it will miss the tank completely and be lost through the glass. 3wpg will be just fine for the less light requiring medium light plants.
- And even more specifically, you elevate the light way above the tank and even more light will go astray. You can be glad if you can grow any medium light plant, IMHO.

About adding CO2 in any form:

There is nothing wrong with it in almost any tank, but don't expect too much in return for your tank in particular. I would assume that additional growth will be limited by the light. In addition, and even under the assumption that you would have enough light, a tank that is constantly stripped down and never really has a chance to settle will show even more problems (like algae) when setup in high tech style.

But that is of course only my opinion, and - not for the first time - I may be way off.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I was just suggesting an option for CO2 that wouldn't be alot of equipment and stuff to move around. I don't have CO2 on my 10g, because I only have 2wpg. I would need atleast 3wpg IMO in order for CO2 to be of any use.

My lights are built into the hood, so not much escapes.

If you have a light fixture on top of glass, some light will escape, so if you go for 3wpg, you may be ok without CO2. I suggest getting a glass top (if you don't already have one) and then set the light on it. Don't elevate it off the glass because like LF said, even more light will escape.

I am no expert here, just giving my suggestions.

*Kristin*

Yea, I have a glass top. I'm going to try getting the as close to the tank as possible. I appreciate all the advice you all have given me. All this stuff can be confusing. If I did get CO2, I would wait to see if I need it or not. If algae is low and my plants are doing good, I won't get it.

By the way, CO2 seems really confusing to me. How do you do it? And how do you measure and regulate the amount of dissolved CO2 in your tank? I'm reading a book about aquatic plants, but it doesn't go into much depth about CO2.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

eogle,

This whole CO2 thing is not all that hard to understand, but to truely master it takes a lot (I haven't done so yet). The basic idea is to increase the third element that plants need for strong growth, besides water. The other two are nutrients and light.

CO2 is only one of a few forms in which this element can be added, for example Flourish Excel (that is the product I would recomment to you) is a liquid product containing carbonates that is added to the water.

To identify the level of CO2 (not Excel) in the tank water, test the KH (carbonate Hardness) and the ph. A chart can then be used to cross these two values to give you the CO2 in ppm.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks people. I'm really excited about getting plants. If I have anymore questions, I'll probably post another forum. Maybe I'll take pictures some time too.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."