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I just started a 10 gallon aquarium the other day and it is my first planted aquarium. I've been reading up and I was just wondering if anyone had some good advice to give me. All I have done so far is buy water lily and apotonogen bulbs from WalMart and several have got about 1 inch sprouts on them with about 3 days of growth. Is this normal growth? I have 3wts per gallon of lighting and made one of those DIY co2 bottles. I only used a 20oz bottle because it seemed most of the DIY plans were for bigger aquariums. Anyways I am getting about 1 bubble every 3 or 4 seconds through an airstone. Is this good? The final thing I did was add some cheap Tetra Florapride to the water. Have I messed up on anything majorly or am I pointing down the right path?

IMO you are on the right path, you can get easy growing plants like wornwort, elodea, with that light most swords, Cabomba, Bacopa, there are quite a few, good thing you have that light, so it won't be a hassle later on.

I would not recomend ferts at the moment, seems that your bulbs are doing great so far. If you notice plants getting spots on them, or turning yellow then that means it's time to add some fertilizer, i recomend Tropica's Master Grow, it has worked wonders for me so far.

Good luck and welcome to the green side

Thanks for the tips. I just wanted to see how well I was doing. I might end up taking some plants out and getting some that you suggested for a different array of plants. From what I hear the bulbs I have can get pretty big in a 10 gallon.

I also wouldn't recomend ferts, I think thats' what started me having serious cynobacteria (aka blue green algae) issues in my planted 10 in january, I've been fighting to get it under control for 7 months ...I think I've finally reached that point . Yes adding ferts seemed to make the plants grow really fast, but I think it also gave the algae a step up.
You've got a good ammount of light, and running the CO2 is good, my only other advice would be to keep a tab on your nitrAte numbers, actually not just nitrAte but all of them. 10 gallon tanks are notorious for crashing out, if your nitrates start falling below 12-20ppm you may want to consider dosing some to prevent the BGA problems that I've been facing.

^_^

Hi,
You are off to the right start, but have taken things
a bit fast (sortof stepped into the deep end, instead
of the shallow end of the pool).

Reading your post, you put the gravel, water, fish, and
plants into the tank all at once and then added the CO2
injection, and turned on the lights.

The tank needs to cycle. Since you have read enough to
know about CO2 injection, you probably are aware of the
nitrogen cycle that needs to establish itself in the tank.

When starting a tank you should have floating plants that
absorb the ammonia and nitrates as they are developed.
You should also have stem plants such as mentioned in
Falstaf's post as well. The bulbs should have been placed
in the tank last, and only after it was an established
tank ( several months) as they are doing nothing for the tank but draining the newly forming substrate nutrients.

The key to CO2 injection is keeping the CO2 in contact
with the tank water for as long as possible thus allowing
the water to absorb it. That means very, very, very, tiny
bubbles. The smaller the bubbles, the more subject they
are to the whims of the tank currents and the more they
are "blown around" on their rise to the surface.
Generally speaking, airstones will not give you those
tiny bubbles. One or two bubbles of average size that
pop out of an airstone and immediately rise to the
surface are doing no good, and you are simply wasting
your time. Get an airstone that puts out very fine
bubbles, or, use a "diffuser" a device made of slintered
glass that breaks CO2 into very tiny bubbles.

And lastly, as was mentioned in both posts, the immediate
use of ferts, is completly unnecessary and what you are
doing is setting a banquet of nutrients on the "table"
for algae. Give the plants, fish, and substrate time
to develop, and then add ferts only if the plants indicate
that they need it by turning yellow or developing holes,
and other symptoms of lack.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

So it sounds like I should do a water change to rid some of the Florapride out of the water right? Oh and the airstone I have is making really small bubbles that will float up the airline and sit at the top of the water. There isn't a lot of the co2 mixture in the bottle so it's making small bubbles. Is that good?