Trying to decide

[ajn81]

Thanks a lot SoCalBoo, really great info!!!

I'm certainly not planning on using CO2 so thanks for the different plant options.

Do you have any pictures of you 10 gal so I can get some ideas?

What kind of lighting do you suggest?

Thanks for the help.

[ajn81]

I think I'll take a trip to AW today to get some ideas

[SoCalBoo]

I'm on vacation and will return on the 4th. I'll see what the tank looks like...might be looking too nasty to post a photo.

for lighting, i had a 28w pc over it, but actually took it off and put a 15w cheapie florescent strip light on it. I think it is a t8. I like the look better. I also put mine near a window facing south and it gets a good amount of natural sunlight through the day. Some may say don't do this, but I've never had an algae problem in the tank. Between the light and the filter, my tank uses up less than 250w per day. Not bad.

google diane walstadt and her book "the planted aquarium." tremendous resource of low tech planted FW tanks.

for plants, you want floating plants and submerged plants that can convert bicarbonates (and don't need co2). a few emergent plants would be good too, since once they poke through the surface, they use co2 from the air, not the water, and don't need any co2 supplementation.

Avoid slow growing plants like many of the mosses, java fern and anubias. they grow too slow. You need something that will fill in quick.

algae issues often happen in FW planted tanks. the best defense is a good offense - quick growing plants that will export nutrients and produce alleochemicals (chemicals that 'beat down' the algae). Look to Hygrophila, Cabomba, Egeria, Ceratophyllum, Ceratopteris thalictroides.

For floating plants, frogsbit, water lettuce, water sprite, duckweed (basically anything that you can grow in a tank that floats). are great. plus fish love them to hide under and spawn in. and they give great shadows underneath.

[ajn81]

Finally set this thing up, it's currently in the middle of the "quite cycle." Here is a build thread for the new setup. Thanks for all the help.