5.5G planted nano

hershey · #1 02-13-2009, 12:06 AM

lighting will be fairly simple on a tank that size a couple of 13w cf bulbs would let you grow a variety of plants
I would recommend a quality substrate such as flourite or eco-complete these substrates IMO allow your stem plants to root and also adds nutrients to the plants

Rbacchiega · #2 02-13-2009, 12:55 AM

avoid excel unless it is a heavily planted tank required huge ammounts of CO2. Iron will help if you are keeping red plants. Best bet, get Flourish. That's it, it's just called flourish

bignose · #3 02-13-2009, 02:01 AM

Well I must be blind because the 5G tank I have is actually a 2.5G tank. Anyways I changed the name of the thread. I also went and bought a piece of driftwood for the tank which was really cheap it only cost me $2.50 which is a nice change from my costly reef.

bignose · #4 02-13-2009, 04:06 AM

Well I feel like and idiot after I broke the 2.5G tank. I was banging... I mean tapping the glass to get the sand off it and I broke a pane. I went back to the fish store AGAIN and bought a 5.5G tank. I'll rename the thread again.

Keri · #5 02-13-2009, 04:33 AM

LOL!

too funny

I look forward to seeing this progress, I've been eyeballing the FW shrimp at the store a lot lately, they are really neat. What kind of filter do you need? Do they need a heater too?

bignose · #6 02-13-2009, 05:18 AM

I'm going to take the chance and not run a filter or heater. My apartment is very warm because they crank the heat in the winter to prevent water lines from freezing. I have some powerheads that have been sitting around for a long time. I'll finally get to use one again.

I'm still slowly filling the tank. 24GPD RO units are slowwwww, it's a painful wait.

BlueAbyss · #7 02-13-2009, 06:30 AM

Watching this one closely... I might do a small planted cube with native plants from the lakes around here, with LED lighting to keep the heat down, my interest in planted tanks has grown again

I just don't want to have to get my plants from the city, too much of a pain.

Myka · #8 02-13-2009, 07:07 AM

I'm fairly new to planted tanks too, but in my experience (which is 7 months now lol) I have screwed around with fertilizers, CO2, algae outbreaks, you name it. So far, I have found that you either need a super technical tank with all the bells and whistles, or you need a KISS tank...it seems there's no happy medium. I don't dose ANYTHING to my tank anymore (no CO2 anymore either), and it is doing quite well:

When I tried adding Fluorish Iron or Excel or ferts or CO2, I just got algae. It seems like it's a fine line of a balance between ferts/light/CO2/plant growth. If you want a list of the plants and stuff in my tank, or want to read the journey my tank has taken and what I have learned so far, click on the "10g" in my signature.

Oh and as far as lights go...I have (2) 23w clip on lamps on my tank, and it is too much light. I can only run one light for about 6 hours a day or I get algae. I'm going to change the bulbs to (2) 13w, and see if that will be ok. One more thing...cram as many plants in there as fast as you can so it will out-compete the algae. Algae is your worst enemy. I fought it tooth and nail.