# First Planted Tank 5.5 gallons



## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Hey Guys, this is my first planted tank. I hope to become an expert someday, so any comments are welcome. Especially on what i did wrong. 




























the light is a 8 watt flourescent, 18,000 K aqua-glo light i bought from Petsmart. Is that enough for this tank?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

man that sand is white!, i like it, reminds me of snow, as for the light, i would recommend more light, like another one on the other side and one that is between 5000 and 10000 k, 6500k would be ideal


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

awsome, thank you for the advice. How do i make the HC grow into a carpet instead of vertically?


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

also, i was looking for black sand all they had was white sand haha.


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## PinoyBoy (Mar 14, 2008)

higher lighting and more nutritional substrate would make the HC go carpet


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Thank you, you mean like peat moss or flourite?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

flourite would work, so would dosing the water column with ferts, but that might lead to an algae outbreak


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

I have been dosing with "Plant Gro: Iron enrich" is that good?


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## Austinv (Jan 8, 2008)

HC does well with excel and higher light, if this is a newer tank dont dose a lot of ferts and let the tank get established first and let the plants get rooted well. IME i have found that dosing to early causes algae, I have done that with my first planted and had algae. Dose a few times a week once they are established and dose in smaller amounts that way algae does not have anything to feed on. One thing about dosing is that you do not have a lot of plants in the tank so there will be more ferts in the water which will be taken up by algae so really small doses will prevent an outbreak.

Overall one more lights, some excel, plants, and small doses will allow you to keep the tank clean so it does not become a headache, and one more thing that is important is water changes I do around 50% a week this will "reset" your tank (thats the way I look at it) by removing ferts from the water and whatever excess nutrients are lurking in there!

HAVE FUN!!!


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

The tank has been set up for around two weeks, ive been dosing small doses the last week. I guess im stopping until it is better set up. I am off tomr, so i guess fridays will be water change day.


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

i just replaced the light with a 60 watt bulb sylvania energy saver. It says 60 watts but then says, "using only 13 watts". What does that mean? Does it still mean its putting 60 watts worth of light but only uses 13 watts worth of energy? It also says 35000 k on the box. Is that enough for the 5.5 gal?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

ok, the bulb is 13 watts. by 60 watts, it means it is equivelent to a 60 watt incandescent light bulb (which are no good) i would go by homedepot and buy a 27 watt full spectrum light (daylight bulb) desk light that they have for only $20, they work great. oh, and im guessing you meant 3500 k? i think that 35000 k would be invisible to the human eye, lol


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

ahh, the lamp and bulbs cost me 21 bucks. I should have waited and got advice before buying things. Is there a specific brand?


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

I went to Lowe's and returned the other setup, do they have that 27 watt at lowe's. Or is there something diff. setup i can purchase from lowe's i can use? I didnt have a receipt and they had to put it on a gift card.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

its only at home depot, though, i think lowes has a lamp that would work for $35 or $40


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

The light bulb is 20 bucks by itself?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

the desk light is a fixture and comes with the bulb, all together, it is $20


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Oh ok, that is not bad of a price. Did you know the brand of light?


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

here is the little rascal that has been tearing up my HC


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

here is an update!
Before:









After:


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## dlawlor (Oct 30, 2007)

what kind of light did you get?


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Its a Hampton Bay 27 watt, full spectrum Day bulb desk lamp. I picked up at Home Depot. It was only 21 dollars for the bulb, and desk lamp.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I see you are using the light I recommended, how do you like it?


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

OH yeah, thanks for the recommendation. My plants are growing everyday! haha. Except for the HC which the shrimp keep picking at. I decided to take it out.


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Its been a while, but here is an update.


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## ZooTycoonMaster (Jan 2, 2008)

Good job!

But the tank still looks blue...the bluer the tank/light is, the higher the Kelvin rating is. The yellower the tank/light is, the lower the Kelvin rating is. What happened to the Home Depot bulb?


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

it probably just the camera.

You have had a growth explosion. It's time for a trim


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

Yeah, its my camera phone. It is still the Home depot lighting. Haha, right after i took that pic, i trimmed all my plants.



















Its still not what I want it to be, I havent had a day off in weeks. My next day off im going to try and fix it up. 

and heres the duckweed i had to pull out of it today!


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## innerchi89 (Mar 30, 2008)

August 5th Update!
I tore down the 5.5 gallon and set up a 10 gallon in two days.









and also im setting up a Iwagumi, im not sure on the concept. Besides the three rock, with a central big rock.


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