Bare bones 10 gal planted - questions

[Lissaspence]

So I've always wanted to try a planted tank. I have a 10 gal that's empty sitting in my office which I'm going to use to give this a try. If I do this though I want it to be as bare bones and cheap as possible. I don't have a filter so I'm going to make a sponge filter. It came with a light which I'm sure is just the generic florsent light. Can I use the fixture and change the bulb? I really don't want to buy a new fancy light. I also plan to put the tank somewhere where it'll get some natural light. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to put it yet (or how much natural light I can give it) because I'll have to do some rearranging with my house plants which currently take up every window space available. I'm consitering seeing if my husband can build a shelf that rests on the top of the tank so I can just put my house plants over the tank. That way I don't have to get rid of anything. But I digress...
I do not plan on using any CO2. I have some left over sand I'd like to use for the substrate. and I think I'm only going to stock it with some guppies or something.
Is fertilizing necessary or is that just so they grow faster and fuller? Is there anything I'm missing? Does that sound doable?

 

[gomezladdams]

I have a 10g at work with a standard flourecent hood and sand that grows plants like you woudnt believe.The bulb was replaced with a plant bulb,and the substrate is black sand with some aragonite thrown in as they are hard water fish.Anubias nana,crypt. wendtii and java moss are in the tank.Putting the tank in a window is risky especially with minimal filtration as the water could go green.

 

[Lissaspence]

Great, Maybe I won't have to rearrange my window space after all then. Thanks for the response. I'll post pics once I get it going.

 

[Liquidplants]

Sand isn't the best substrate for plants. Maybe some Laterite in conjunction with the sand or just get some plant substrate. Florish Excel dosing help me with my plants.

I would see about giving it as much light and if you start having algae issues then get a SAE and / or a shrimp or two.
~LiquiD~

 

[Sab_Fan]

Sand isn't the best substrate for plants. Maybe some Laterite in conjunction with the sand or just get some plant substrate. Florish Excel dosing help me with my plants.

I would see about giving it as much light and if you start having algae issues then get a SAE and / or a shrimp or two.
~LiquiD~

agree with everything above, except I don't think an SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) would be a good choice for a 10G tank, that tank is too small . . . better choice would be an otocinclus cat or bulldog pleco

I have a planted 12G nano-tank at work, and oto cats and/or bulldogs have always been enough to control algae . . .

 

[FLESHY]

agree with everything above, except I don't think an SAE (Siamese Algae Eater) would be a good choice for a 10G tank, that tank is too small . . . better choice would be an otocinclus cat or bulldog pleco

I have a planted 12G nano-tank at work, and oto cats and/or bulldogs have always been enough to control algae . . .

+1...oto cat and a couple shrimp. Glass shrimp if need be. Planted tanks need good cleanup crews, otherwise they can be a pain.

In my opinion you would be saving yourself from some OTHER pains if you were willing to spend a little more green. I see a couple things that are going to be issues (algae farm) that could easily be addressed.

- Sponge filter...okay but depending on how densely you want to plant the tank (what theme, and what kind of plants you are looking are important things and you dont touch on either of these points) you might end up with dead spots, which equals slime on your plants, which leads to algae.

- Cheap lights. Your cheap hood might be okay, make sure you get a grow lamp though, probably something with a low k rating. 6-10k range. Fluorescent lighting creates algae, and so do bulbs outside of the above range.

+ Natural light...algae farm. People have already been over this.

- Not using co2, which is probably the reason I am still in planted aquaria to this day. I was about ready to throw in the towel when I built my sweet DIY. I dont have algae problems now, and my plants grow faster. Cost me next to nothing. At the very least I recommend that you purchase some seachem excel (an inorganic form of carbon for your plants). It will allow you some leeway algae-wise.

- Substrate... your choice wont cause algae, but wont do you favors either. There is stuff you can buy that is just as cheap that your plants will like better.

- One thing you get right...ferts are not really necessary. At least not for me, but I have a substrate intended for planted aquaria, and do regular waterchanges. Ferts usually in low light, low tech setups end up just causing algae because the plants dont have the light and the co2 to use the excess nutrients.

Ik that you said this is bare bones, but sometimes its worth it. I bet to make my ten gallon setup it cost me under $50. You could probably do it cheaper, but I didnt want to spend the money right off the bat. Slowly but surely I bought everything I actually needed until I had a nice tank running the way I wanted it. If you want to do java ferns, moss, and anubias, and thats it, you can probably ignore everything I just said and be fine.

Good luck, post pictures.

 

[Lissaspence]

Thanks for all the responses! That's a huge help. I'm not complete opposed to spending some money I just want to use what I have already if I can and keep things to a minimum cause I'm cheap . That being said I found an old HOB filter I had, so I'm going to use that instead of the sponge.

I thought I read in the planted tank sticky that sand is good?!? Is it just a special plant sand that I would need or you just disagree with sand all together?

I put everything together last night, filled it up and cleared a window spot. I put in some stuff from another tank to seed it and start the cycling. I definatly have to go get a heater though.

I would love to get some small oto cat's or shimp. Which is better do you think? I've always wanted shrimp but I know nothing about them. Are they hard to care for? I am really leaning toward some guppies too though. I think they are pretty. They should get along well right?

If I get good natural light from the window and I leave the light in the hood off most times and have my shrimp/catfish cleaning crew do you think I'll still have a bad algae problem? The window is facing east and gets a decent amount of morning sun. If I do leave it there. What plants would you suggest for that?

I'm going to go to the LFS this weekend to get the heater and look into bulbs, substrates and plants. Can I put the plants in there before the waters fully cycled? Or does the cycling effect them too?

I already have the sand in there but I can always change it out. I can also move the tank out of the window if necessary but I'd rather leave it there since I don't have many choices for spots out of a window that's still somewhere I'll see and enjoy the tank all the time. So any way nothing is set in stone and I'm open to trying what ever. Thanks for the help everyone! I'm so excited to get this going

 

[Lissaspence]

I forgot to address this in my last post.

- Sponge filter...okay but depending on how densely you want to plant the tank (what theme, and what kind of plants you are looking are important things and you dont touch on either of these points) you might end up with dead spots, which equals slime on your plants, which leads to algae.

I don't really know what theme or kind of plants yet. I'm doing this all on a whim and am up for what ever. I guess I would like it to be kind of dense but not a forest. I do really like the low foreground plants too. I'm Noob so I'll probably end up taking up a ton of the sales clerks time. Looking at the actual plants, deciding what I like that way and then figureing out what out of the ones I like would work with my system.

- Not using co2, which is probably the reason I am still in planted aquaria to this day. I was about ready to throw in the towel when I built my sweet DIY. I dont have algae problems now, and my plants grow faster. Cost me next to nothing. At the very least I recommend that you purchase some seachem excel (an inorganic form of carbon for your plants). It will allow you some leeway algae-wise.

I'll consiter this later. I like doing DIY stuff so I guess I'm not completly opposed to CO2 but it is an after thought at this point. I'd like to focus on getting things going and then I might do this later....

 

[gomezladdams]

Sand is fine for a starter planted tank.There are many other choices,I have mineralized topsoil in one of mine.But for a first planted sand is a good choice.
otos are cool but the tank needs to be established for a while or they arent likely to make it.
Lots of cool little shrimp available.I like the cherry reds the most.

 

[FLESHY]

I like the sounds of a HOB better, especially since you mention you might like something a little denser. Sand will work, a lot of people use pool sand, but that is usually just a top for a more nutrient rich substrate.

If you are going to use the sand, I would recommend buying root tabs to give the substrate some nutritional value for your plants. - This is big, especially in a low tech system in my mind.

You could have both oto cats and shrimp. Just remember if the oto doesnt have food, some will resort to eating fish slime. Not good. Glass shrimp are very easy, others can be more or less difficult, depends on the species.

Lighting-wise I would suggest that you avoid the window. This is just a general rule of thumb for all aquariums. By the time it gets into your tank, its low quality light, and will just end up giving you a nasty brown slime algae.

When stocking plants I suggest that you mainly do it all at once. Work out what you want, get the plants, and plant them all in one go. Since plants "eat" nitrogenous wastes it doesnt really matter if the tank cycles with them in or not.

Lastly even if you do hold off on the DIY, you should have, and dose with, excel from the very beginning. That will be the saving grace in this project I have a feeling.