# 10 gallon tank kit or buy light separately?



## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Research what specific plants you want and purchase light based on their specific requirements. Seems a bit pointless to buy a kit though if your not going to use the filter. Also in my opinion if your going to use a canister filter I would definitely go bigger than a 10 gal tank. Depending what the gph is on the filter it may be too big for a 10 gal. This site is a great resource for equipment and especially advice so you could easily get a good set-up going with second hand stuff from here. This hobby tends to spiral out of control so if you take to it like most of us you'd "grow" out of that 10 gal tank pretty quick. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions although I'm not well versed in low tech specs, still learning everyday about my set-up. Definitely read as much as you can and ask all the questions you can. Good luck


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

kevinmichael77 said:


> Research what specific plants you want and purchase light based on their specific requirements. Seems a bit pointless to buy a kit though if your not going to use the filter. Also in my opinion if your going to use a canister filter I would definitely go bigger than a 10 gal tank. Depending what the gph is on the filter it may be too big for a 10 gal. This site is a great resource for equipment and especially advice so you could easily get a good set-up going with second hand stuff from here. This hobby tends to spiral out of control so if you take to it like most of us you'd "grow" out of that 10 gal tank pretty quick. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions although I'm not well versed in low tech specs, still learning everyday about my set-up. Definitely read as much as you can and ask all the questions you can. Good luck



Java and Weeping moss are what I wish to start with. I already researched them and they were suggested as low light, undemanding mosses, that were easy starter plants. One I will tie to driftwood with cotton thread, as suggested, in an attempt to create a moss tree and the other I will be using as a moss carpet.

I have never tried to grow plants by artificial light before but I already know you can't just stick a lightbulb over a plant and expect it to thrive. This is why I posted here asking about fluorescent and LED lights. There are aquarium kits for both, so since most kits come with tank, hood, light, heater, filter, and start up chemicals, even if I do not use the filter that comes with the kit it might be lower cost then to buy it all separately. However, these kits might not have the right spectrum for plants to do well. This is why I am here begging for help.

The tank size is not set in stone lol. It's more of my attempt at restraint. I might start at a 20 gallon if I find a good deal, I just do not want to end up with a large tank full of dead plants. This is more of a testing ground tank, if I can keep the plants alive and the tank running smoothly I can always upgrade. Plus, I am starting low tech, no CO2 or fert auto feeder. Ya, the 200 gallon tank I saw on CL about had me foaming at the mouth with all the ideas for how I could plant and sculpt a tank that size, but I just want to make sure my black thumb does not extend to aquatic plants. Since I can't over or under water them it "should" make it less likely for me to kill them.
.


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

Well keep in mind bulbs can be changed out. On my last set up I had a planted plus bulb and a mid day bulb. For my current led set up I use a 10k spectrum as well as a 6,500k for some color. I would search out a used t8 fixture for whatever tank you decide on and you will be fine for what you listed as plants


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

kevinmichael77 said:


> Well keep in mind bulbs can be changed out. On my last set up I had a planted plus bulb and a mid day bulb. For my current led set up I use a 10k spectrum as well as a 6,500k for some color. I would search out a used t8 fixture for whatever tank you decide on and you will be fine for what you listed as plants
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Would I need a special fixture or could I just replace the fluorescent bulb in the lighted hood with the t8 bulb? It looks to be same size and connectors but I do not know if they do something tricky to require you to use one of their fixtures.


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## kevinmichael77 (Dec 5, 2011)

If the watts if the fixture and bulb match up I believe so. Lots of people just get fixtures from Home Depot for their low tech set ups, like a shop light or something. Cost effective and gets the job done. Look at some of the threads in the low tech forum. Should be able to find some specs.


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

kevinmichael77 said:


> If the watts if the fixture and bulb match up I believe so. Lots of people just get fixtures from Home Depot for their low tech set ups, like a shop light or something. Cost effective and gets the job done. Look at some of the threads in the low tech forum. Should be able to find some specs
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Ahh. I was just thinking hood lights, mounted, suspended, and clamped on lights never crossed my mind. 

Thanks a lot you have been a great help.


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## AGUILAR3 (Jun 22, 2013)

kevinmichael77 said:


> If the watts if the fixture and bulb match up I believe so. Lots of people just get fixtures from Home Depot for their low tech set ups, like a shop light or something. Cost effective and gets the job done.




Ditto




If you're on a budget and have a Petco near by, you can take advantage of their Dollar-per-Gallon sale that includes a free filter(mail in rebate). Add a few clip on lights(Walmart/Home Depot) and a couple 6700k cfl (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs and you're set.


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

Its not budget so much as worry over if I can pull it off or not. A sculpted tank requires more attention to detail and more meticulous trimming and sculpting of plants than just a panted tank. I am trying for this as my first foray into planted tanks.

These will give you a better idea of my goal.


























These are just the more basic ones, there are whole forest ones and rock mountains with trees scattered across them for larger tanks that I hope to work up to at some point.


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Not sure if they still offer the incandescent/eco hood for a 10 gallon but you can put two CFL bulbs in that and they are very effective for plant growth and since you can change the wattage of the bulb, you also can get anything from fairly low light to high light.


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## lochaber (Jan 23, 2012)

you don't really have to use anything special for the substrate (or even anything at all...) if all you are going to have is mosses.

If you already have a filter, there really isn't any good reason to go with a starter kit, usually they are full of low-quality items of questionable usefulness.

If you can find a cheap incandescent hood/striplight, you can get anywhere from low to high light by sticking in daylight CFLs of varying wattages. If you like DIY, you can get pretty good results with brooder reflectors and CFLs.

As for plants, in addition to mosses, try an anubias or a java fern, they are about as easy and demanding, and will give you a bit more variety as well.


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

I want to set it up right from the start for more then just the mosses. I would love to add a few more plants later but I want to limit myself. I would like to see my two mosses adapt and grow before I add even more.


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

If its one of the kits I'm thinking of, I did the same thing. I got a 10 gallon Aqueon kit (they are marked down to 39.99 during the gallon per gallon sale... or maybe it was 29.99 I forget). It has one of the standard hoods and came with 2 yellow bulbs, all I did was put in two 13 Watt Sylvania Micro Mini 6500K CFL bulbs, which is a pretty comfortable amount of light for the tank. My moss is thriving, and my anubias are thriving. I think most low maybe even medium light plants would probably do pretty well in it, as the reflectors in the hood are actually pretty nice. Although I ended up using an Aquaclear 30 vs the Aqueon filter that came with it, I used the filter until my Aquaclear came, and not only was it silent but it had quite a bit of room that you could customize the filter media to your liking.

Found the pictures I took when I was putting together my tank journal... This is the kit I got (and you can see it was marked down 10 dollars too), and the 20 gal kit I believe was 59.99 which really isn't that bad of a deal. Aqueon also makes pretty nice tanks, and maybe it was just my Petco, but the Tetra tanks they had not only had super thin glass, but the silicone job was pretty messy.


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## Kat12 (Aug 11, 2013)

D-Gray said:


> Java and Weeping moss are what I wish to start with. I already researched them and they were suggested as low light, undemanding mosses, that were easy starter plants. One I will tie to driftwood with cotton thread, as suggested, in an attempt to create a moss tree and the other I will be using as a moss carpet.
> 
> I have never tried to grow plants by artificial light before but I already know you can't just stick a lightbulb over a plant and expect it to thrive. This is why I posted here asking about fluorescent and LED lights. There are aquarium kits for both, so since most kits come with tank, hood, light, heater, filter, and start up chemicals, even if I do not use the filter that comes with the kit it might be lower cost then to buy it all separately. However, these kits might not have the right spectrum for plants to do well. This is why I am here begging for help.
> 
> ...



despite trying to understand bulbs on here, I have learned (by breaking the rules) that a standard household lightbulb CAN be used and have thriving plants! 4 of my tanks have no lighting other than regular lightbulbs and the plants are doing well! Also the basic hood for a 10g that comes with 2 bulbs works well for low light to slightly above low light plants!


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## D-Gray (Jul 2, 2014)

Got a 20 gallon tank that came with a junk filter and got an adjustable heater. Gravel, EHEIM filter, excel, and a lighted hood are all ordered. My local stores are useless.

The lighted hood, I think, comes with two 15watt t5 full spectrum bulbs so I hope that works. Was $59 on one site but found it on another for $29. Deciding factor to go with a hood over a just a light that rests or clamps on rim was heat loss. I have a older brick house and the room I am putting the tank in gets cool and even chilly in winter. So thought hood would be better for heat loss and evaporation from the dry heat of a fire going in the same room a lot of the winter.

Thanks all. Filing all the good advice away for the long 50 gallon that I want to do next if this 20 gallon goes well.


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