10 gallon planted

[Adam]

What I have

Tank
I have a couple 10 gallons kicking around, and I've never tried a truly planted tank before. 

Filtration
An AC mini.  Foam only.

Lighting
I have a 15W powerglo straight tube fluorescent fixture, as well as some incandescent fixtures that I would like to put some CF bulbs into.  If I had 2-13W(?) CF bulbs, as well as the 15W straight tube fluorescent, it would come out to about 41W, 4.1 WPG.  What kind of CF bulbs would I be looking for, and that can fit (K rating, wattage)?  The reflector is a plain white sheet, can I upgrade this somehow?  The powerglo has a high K rating, would this need to be changed? These two fixtures would be on top of a glass cover.

I also have the option of another incandescent fixture, with again two more CF bulbs.  Which would work better?


Substrate
I have some ~3-4mm red gravel, pool filter sand, play sand or ~6-8mm white gravel/pebble.  What substrate would I want? Anything I need to buy here?

Plants
I would really like some of that stuff that is only on the bottom, almost covering it, in amano's tanks.  It only grow to be about an inch or two in height at most.  Some other interesting plants would probably be added.


Denizens
Amano shrimp, neons probably.  Any dwarf cichlids I can keep in it?

CO2
I have a hagen canister as well as the bubble ladder, and I am proficient at making my own concoctions. 

Nutrients and fertilizers
I am really hoping that my bioload will provide most of the nutrients, but I am not opposed to dosing with a multipurpose fertilizer (not expensive).  I have a Kent freshwater plants solution here, any good?

Thanks for the interest, we'll see how this turns out.

Adam

[Zoe]

Can't help you with all of that, unfortunately, but I can share some experience for same.

For the substrate, you can go with pool filter sand if you like the look. Personally I love it, and if you get some Malaysian Trumpet Snails to keep the sand clean.  However, it's a royal pain to keep clean looking.  So, there are some really nice plant-specific substrates out there that are natural looking, and darker, which you might prefer.

You could keep a pair of kribensis, apistos, shellies or rams.  Or a single dwarf gourami.  Depending on what color you go with, you could go with harlequin rasboras, instead of neons, to compliment the colours. (Have you thought of Scarlet Badis?)

For fertilizers, I've had the best of luck with in-substrate fertilizers (as opposed to liquid) but I don't know about anyone else.  I've also had perfect luck with no fertilizers so frankly, unless your plants look like they need it, you could skip them.

Good luck

[Adam]

Thanks.

I was looking at the rasboras, I've always liked them.  As for the in-substrate fertilizer, what do you suggest?  I've heard fluorite is good, but I'm not sure where to get it, and I don't want to spend too much $$$ for such a small tank. 

Thanks.  Anyone else with experience with planted/small planted aquariums?

Adam

[FreshWaterTank]

A well planted 10 gallon could house 2 Dwarf puffers.

[Zoe]

Puffers really ought to be kept alone, so I wouldn't do that.

As for the fertilizer, frankly, I haven't used any in ages and my plants are fine.  I can't recall which type I used, sorry. They are like little black tubes with holes in them.

[SuperT]

I had a couple of small natural aquariums.  The fish loved it and it was easy to look after.  All thats required is substrate, water, heater (although the heater was rarely on) and light (fish and plants).  The plants grew out of the water in a hurry.  I was forever cutting them back.  I had a couple of diy hoods with some cf bulbs (think lamp bulbs).  It was a lot of light and you can get them in different spectrums as well (depending on how big you are willing to go)

anyways if your interested here is a link that started me on my way about 8 months ago as an experiment.

http://naturalaquariums.com/faq.html

Terry

[BigDaddy]

While mathematically your lighting comes out to 4.1 WPG... keep in mind you do not have a high light tank.

The WPG rule breaks down on extremely small and extremely large tanks.

I have a 36W CF bulb over my 10 gallon office tank, and the tank behaves like a medium light tank.  No need for CO2, and minimal fert requirements.

[Adam]

So....

The aquarium cracked during transit. I'm thinking about a 15 gallon high, as it has the same footprint.  Any cons to this?  I know the extra height will reduce my light, but I want a taller plant for more volume and extra space for growing plants. 

Suggestions?

Adam