recommendations for 10 gal?

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serafino

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Feb 27, 2008
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An octopuses's garden in the sea
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So I recently sold one of my monster tanks to get some money for scuba certification. I had some left over and decided to start a small planted tank since I have always liked the look. I have two 100W halogen lamps shining down on this little 10 gal so I'm not worried about lighting. Photos were taken with only one on so half the tank is dark lol. Is this too much light? I don't have C02 and I do not want to add it. I like low tech tanks so I'm avoiding that by using fish to make C02. So I attached some photos of the tank. I just put in some zebra danios, and a few ghost shrimp (hopefully they will start breeding and one looks like it has some eggs) to cycle the tank a bit before I add any plants. So what plants do you think will do well in this tank? After the tank cycles a bit more and I add plants I'm going to stock this tank with a few more fish. Probably some tetras or something like it, some type of algae eater and maybe a single dwarf gourami. So what should I add fish wise and plant wise?

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Those lights are useless for planted tanks. They are dangerous (if they get wet, they explode), and they are the wrong spectrum. At most you would be able to plant extremely low light plants, and you will grow a ton of algae. Co2 is needed to compete with the algae at that kind of lumen output. Ditch those lights, and use a 5000K-10,000K bulb, ideally 6500-6700K.
 
I think these are getting the right spectrum because when I see the rainbow they create there is lots of red and blue. They are far enough away from my tank they wont get wet. They are actually not sitting on the tank but actually mounted on the wall above the tank. Do you still think I need to ditch the lights? I can also add a 30W T-5 light on top. The only reason I'm using these is that I had them lying around. I'm trying to keep the cost of this tank low. Would I be able to avoid the CO2 if I had enough fish and did frequent water changes?
 
Just fish alone will not produce enough CO2 for a heavily planted aquarium, especially with that much light above it. What type of halogen lights are those, BTW?
 
Are they made for aquariums, or just home decor lights?

For a tank that size I would say you could just dose Excel for you CO2, but you've got shrimps, so that's out. I would just go with a DIY 2 liter bottle or one of those reaction kits from the chain pet stores.
 
The lights can still get wet from condensation. Not a good idea. They are not the right spectrum, they can have the right color peaks, but the wrong Kelvin temperature. Without co2 (you will have to go pressurized with that much lighting, and the wrong spectrum) you will have algae.
 
if u have a 30w t-5 why not just use that???..get the right spectrum bulb and call it a day...3 watts per gallon is more then enough to grow low and mid light plants...wyldfya correct me if i am wrong but would this not be his best bet???...and with that light u would not have to worry about co2...not saying it wouldnt help...u can always do a diy reaction 2 liter on such a small tank they actually produce results...
 
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