plants for 10gallon? suggestions?

[arcab4]

hi everyone,

what would be a good background plant for a 10gallon. i can't use vals since they grow waaay too tall. i'm trying to find a replacement for my microswords since they're slowly falling apart in the tank. guess they didn't like being in there.

thanks!

[arcab4]

thanks for the suggestions. here are the specs.

Lighting: 2x18 (total of 36Watts = 3.6watts/gallon)
Substrate: 50% Flourite 50% Aquatic Soil
C02: Concentrated C02 from a can
Filter: Eclipse Twin Lamp 2 Filter
Plants: Micro Swords
Fish: 8 Neon Tetras, 1 Albino Neon Tetra, 2 OttoCats
Others: 4 Amano Shrimps

another thing i was considering, removing one of the lights. and make this tank really low maintenance. or change one of the bulbs to actinic. no reason why..just cause. haha. hmmmm..

[raydobbs]

hi everyone,

what would be a good background plant for a 10gallon. i can't use vals since they grow waaay too tall. i'm trying to find a replacement for my microswords since they're slowly falling apart in the tank. guess they didn't like being in there.

thanks!

Well, I am certainly no expert - but I was told by the people who set me up with my tank, and equipment that anything less then a 33 would be very problematic to plant living plants in later, as the ecosystem is so small - conditions can radically change in mere hours - killing your fish and plants.  One of the reasons I chose a 55 gallon tank, the ability to convert to a planted aqaurium (if not to a Marine system) when I become more experienced...

[SegaDojo]

wow.. with your setup, you can grow just about anything...

why don't you try rotala macandra?  its a really nice looking plant... I want to try some stargrass, but can't find any yet.

don't remove any of the lights! I'd love to have that much light under my tank.  You can grow anything you want... if you want a low maintenance tank, then use it for a different tank since you've got this one all setup already.  I'm actually thinking of swapping my 14 watt fixture for 2-13 watt PC's in addition to my 15 watt fixture to make 4.1 wpg.

[SegaDojo]

I don't agree with those people who told you that Ray.  Yes, the system is sensitive, but not so much that things will change in a matter of hours.. maybe a few days to a week.... but that also depends on your fishkeeping habits... whether or not you overstock your tank (which you shouldn't anyways), and how much you feed your fishes (do you overfeed?  lots of leftover food floating around?).  I've been keeping my planted 10g for almost 1 year now, and there have been no casualties except when I've had no power for 3 days, and the water temp dropped dramatically.  

if it was a salesperson who told you this, then they were just trying to make a sale.

Arcab:  why don't you try Hemianthus micranthemoides?  It has small leaves, grows nice and bushy, and easily trimmed.

BTW: what are your tank specs?  maybe I can be more helpful once I know what kind of lighting and now much of it you've got in there.

[arcab4]

thanks for the suggestions. The problem i'm seeing is that with the eclipse system, all the light is in the front. that means the plants in the back don't get enough. you would think that after going through two different eclipse systems, i would've known that by now. haha.

and i don't really want any plants in the front cause i have this really nice piece of driftwood (see top left image of this site..it's random).

[EvilAccess]

First of all, having plants in a 10 gallon tank is actually a good way to stabalize the enviroment because they are a definate part of the life cycle for an aquatic enviroment. *I've kept plants in 10 gallon tanks for years at a time. *Tank conditions benifit from their presence. *Just be sure to watch the water chemistry close, because it can still swing if you are not carefull. * *

As for what to put in, if you already have some driftwood, have you considered some Java Moss? *It's easy to keep and looks great (just be prepared to keep it trimmed if you keep that much light over it.) *dwarf Sag is also a good small tank plant, as well as the smaller crypotocoryne species, such as walkeri.