# Low Tech 10 Gallon



## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

So i am starting a planted 10 gallon. I am very experienced with sw and fw. I just have a few questions because i have never done a low tech planted nano before. 

My first question is the substrate. I will be using regular flourite most likely. Good choice???Would you guys recommend eco complete/something else better for this small of a tank or not?

And my second question is, i might go with my full hood of 15 watt fluorescent. I know that's not a lot but i will only have low light plants(anubias,crypts...) I see lots of people here that have the dual incandescent hood and switch the bulbs to 13w compacts. Would that be a better choice? It would have more wattage but is reasonable to switch or not?

Thanks


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## Spachi (Oct 27, 2008)

rinse, then COMPLETELY DRY the flourite. 
i've only had a planted for ~2months, so thats about all the help i can be.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Welcome to TPT 

IMHO, fluorite is an excellent choice.

Your 15 watt fluorescent tube canopy should be fine for what you are wanting to grow. And if you stick to plants as in the setup described here, you should be fine.
http://www.vickisaquaticplace.com/PlantsChapter1.html


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## t0p_sh0tta (Jan 24, 2008)

Spachi said:


> rinse, then COMPLETELY DRY the flourite.
> i've only had a planted for ~2months, so thats about all the help i can be.


Drying isn't needed. I used a paint strainer (looks like a shower cap) and blasted the flourite with a hose. No cloudiness whatsoever.


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Cool, that's the exact site i was looking at. That's what gave me the general idea of the plants. If i don't completely dry the flourite, will i have too much clouding?


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## raymugg (Feb 9, 2009)

*dissapear*

the cloudiness will cease ine 5 to seven days after bacteria sets in....


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

I have seen lots of things about planting with flourite and it always creates dust even after it settles. Is this accurate or not? I really don't want to deal with dust storms. Will eco-complete have less dust in it? Even after it is settled and i want to plant or move plants around?


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

Giolz said:


> I have seen lots of things about planting with flourite and it always creates dust even after it settles. Is this accurate or not? I really don't want to deal with dust storms. Will eco-complete have less dust in it? Even after it is settled and i want to plant or move plants around?


I cannot speak for Eco-Complete as I never tried it, but I never had an issue of dust storms when I used fluorite and the substrate was disturbed. Also, keep in mind that if dust storms are the only issue with fluorite than that is not that bad, considering all the issues people are having with other substrates. Soil Master Select messes with water parameters too much that some people find fish and plants suffer until things stabilize, there appear to be bad bags of Eco-Complete and ADA Aquasoil. In the case of Eco-Complete it makes the substrate unusable. With the ADA Aquasoil, the soil disintegrates almost immediately or afer a while, and there tend to be ongoing cloudiness issues. The only substrate to date that has not suffered in any major way is fluorite. Your only other option is pool filter sand.


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

OK, i have decided with flourite. Do you think the regular or black have major differences? Do you prefer one over the other? Because i don't know which to get because I like both of the colors.


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## boltp777 (Jan 16, 2009)

Giolz said:


> OK, i have decided with flourite. Do you think the regular or black have major differences? Do you prefer one over the other? Because i don't know which to get because I like both of the colors.


This chart shows the different minerals in the substrate check this out http://www.seachem.com/support/GravelMineralComposition.pdf :wink:


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Giolz said:


> OK, i have decided with flourite. Do you think the regular or black have major differences? Do you prefer one over the other? Because i don't know which to get because I like both of the colors.


I prefer the look of black. But one thing to keep in mind is that a bag of regular has about 30% more volume than a bag of black. I found 1 bag of black not to be enough for a 10g. 30% more would have been just about right. So I ended up buying two bags of black for my 10g. Since I had so much extra, I ended up doing a big of terracing, and ended up with nearly 4" in one corner, and used up about 2/3 of the 2nd bag of black.

I agree with Homer on the 15w. I started with that, and the crypts seem to actually prefer it. I added a 2nd 15w for 4 hours a day because I had a sword I wanted to use to quickly fill in some space until the slower stuff grew in. My crypts melted, although I'm not sure it was due to the extra light.


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Ok, i might go with the regular because of it being more. I don't want to buy 2 bags.

Ya i saw the chart, the regular has more minerals in general...


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

IME the black is much less dusty than the regular. I greatly prefer the color of the black instead of the regular red.

Another option to consider is Flourite's Onyx sand- or, if you want to get exactly the same product for about half the price, look for Seachem's Marine Tidal or Coastal Grey (often found in the SW section at LFSs).


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Ok, finally decided for sure. My local lfs has a bag of Eco with just a little water in it and he said he would give it to me for $10 dollars so tomorrow i will go pick it up! Love the black color in it also.


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## Crawdad259 (Feb 15, 2009)

That's a great deal!

Bob


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

cjp999 said:


> I agree with Homer on the 15w. I started with that, and the crypts seem to actually prefer it. I added a 2nd 15w for 4 hours a day because I had a sword I wanted to use to quickly fill in some space until the slower stuff grew in. My crypts melted, although I'm not sure it was due to the extra light.


I wonder if the extra light caused a nutrient deficiency to develop that cause the crypts to melt? How are the other plants doing? 

I had a sword. I put it in a corner in the shade to stunt its growth. It did fine until I put it in the area with only sand.


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## cjp999 (Nov 18, 2008)

Hilde said:


> I wonder if the extra light caused a nutrient deficiency to develop that cause the crypts to melt? How are the other plants doing?


Possibly. I'm now pretty sure it was K and PO4 deficient, even before adding the extra light. I corrected about a week ago, and am now just sticking with the one 15w light, mainly because I needed to temporarily move the extra light to another tank. The light is now also more towards the back, so this should help the sword. The crypts are bouncing back.

BTW, the sword did fine during this time, except older leaves showed K deficiency (which was true even before the extra light). The java ferns are still getting established. The anubias have been doing well.

...I just noticed my sword now has a leaf with problems. See the attached picture. Of the 12 or so leaves, I'd say this one is about the 3rd or 4th oldest. The other leaves all look fine. I pruned every leaf that had problems last weekend. Maybe I missed this one, but I don't think so.

Note the leaf is not as green as it appears in this picture. Also, the speckles that look somewhat green in the picture are actually more of a dark gray. The two damaged areas have well defined edges.


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

UPDATE!!!

Added 7 glowlight tetras and 4 red cherry shrimp(hopefully they are different genders). I also got 2 bronze crypts that look good.

These are some bad pics, my camera had very low battery and i even barely got to take these shots. More to come tomorrow!


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Picture Update!!!
Added a huge java fern attached to driftwood...


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Update...

So i got 7 baby neons and a bunch of water wisteria...

These are the pictures!

























Movie-


Plz comment


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Is the plant in the back right supposed to be that water wisteria?

It's either the emersed form or your pet store ripped you off...


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Ya its the wisteria. They change leave form depending on the lighting conditions. The scientific name backs it up.


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## CAM6467 (Feb 11, 2009)

I think that you'll be very pleased with the eco-complete. I have been using it for a few weeks now. I've gone through some pretty good planting and have never once had a cloudy day. I'm not ever using anything else. Everybody talks about the other stuff "puffing" or getting super cloudy with water changes, but my eco-complete hasn't ever done any of it. Great tank by the way. I love that driftwood. Can't wait to see more pics! Keep up the good work...


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## chrl_hdfld (Feb 27, 2009)

your 10 gallon looks great so far. i also have a 10 gallon plant tank with a 15 watt light . and ive been growing alot of bright light plants succesfully. only thing is the sword wont grow. just dies off.. may want to look into the DIY co2 yeast method. works wonders! goodluck!


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Ya, i thought about diy sugar/yeast CO2... i might end up trying it later on.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

I think some CSM+B fert or flourish comprehensive would help the sword.

You can get dry ferts at http://www.rexgrigg.com/. They are cheaper in the long run.

I am positive that is wisteria. I bought some that had small leaves like in the pictures and they have become bigger.


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

i like where this tank is headed. good start!


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## frogmanjared (Feb 21, 2008)

I see that your Wisteria has both leaf types... is that because of a change in temp, or getting close to the light? I've had mine for just over a week and hasn't grown any of the more feathery leaves.


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## Giolz (Sep 10, 2008)

Well the emersed v submersed leaves will be different, they will also change because of light... just give it time, 1 week is nothing

Thanks everyone for your comments!:thumbsup:


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## suebe333 (Feb 17, 2009)

Im loving it so far , nice work


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## Kolkri (Dec 9, 2006)

Off to a good start. Needs lots more plants.


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