New 10 gallon planted

[actiondave13]

I'm a new hobbist and now I have my 29 gal tall dialed in and have given away most my baby platy out of my 10 gal I would like to make the 10 a planted tank for more fry..that's where I'll be keeping 2-3 juvenilles w/ mom. I need suggestions on substrate to use and plants to buy. I'm not sure about my lighting but the tank does produce a fair amount of algae so I think live plants should do fine. Thanks for the advice.

[Newman]

You need to find out what type of lighting you have and the wattage. then you can have a greater idea of what plants will work in there

for the type of lighting just look at your bulb(s) if they're the long type, and are about 1" across then they're T-8. if they're very thin and are less than even .5" thick then they're T-5 (i highly doubt that) And if the bulb is very fat and is like 3" or something obnoxious like that that's a T-12.

If you have at least a T-8 then you're good. now you need to know the wattage. usually this is printed on the bulb.
I suggest getting new bulbs anyway, so shop around for something that fits your fixture.
then you will know exactly how many watts you have because new bulbs always have that info.

Also I do not suggest having any fish in the 10 gal while you're planting it and letting it grow out, because even adult platies can uproot plants if they feel like it.

As a rule I think as long as you have fluorescent lighting, you can keep java ferns, water wisteria, and water sprite alive. these are great beginner plants, the latter ones grow very fast.

start with those and get back to us on the lighting.

o and the substrate doesn't matter. you can do sand, gravel w/e.
If you don't mind spending money then eco-complete and flourite sand are some good ones...
if you go with reg gravel or sand its wise to have some root tabs on hand for your root-feeding plants. like crypts.

[GregBox]

Well if your trying to make it a planted tank your should use a substrate that aimed at the planted tank world..read ecocomplete or flourite. If your going to have baby fish swimming around in there you should find some plants that will allow them to hide from mom when she is.... hungry ( I hate to say that). If you already produce algae in the tank you should stay away from broad Anubis and swords. To keep fry alive floating plants and mosses are ideal. I would recommend duckweed and java or flame moss.

[Newman]

And i would recommend floating anacharis and hornwort because mosses generally sink...

[tom91970]

2nd the hornwort (great fry cover); watersprite can also be used as a floating plant. Duck weed is the devil. Some came in with plants that I bought and spread to most of my tanks. It's good for fry but will quickly cover the top of your tank and shade plants underneath.

[actiondave13]

Thanks for the advice. it is 15w and looks to be a t-8.... baby platies would be ok while it is growing out right or will they try to uproot the plants also?

[Newman]

baby platies are too weak to up root plants generally....unless the fry are already over 1" long.

ok with that T-8 you can grow some of the low light plants, so search for those.
Driftwood and some java fern positioned on it is the classic way to start your scape

if you want a carpet look, then get pieces of slate, get a *rap -load of moss and tie the moss down to the slate. then position the slate horizontally for the moss to creep and spread out in a nice carpet. trim that periodically to keep it looking like a carpet. Java Moss is the moss of choice for this.