Thinking of a planted 5G Hex...

[OdeToBlitzkrieg]

Hello, made this account a while back when I first got my 20L aquarium. The 20L is still trucking along with 4 Albino Cories and 5 Black Skirt Tetras. Maybe some time in the future I'll add a "feature fish", but just speculation.

Anywho, I "lost" the bug when I got my bike and now that it's winter (and a cold one in the south at that!), I've caught the bug again and this time my bug includes plants. I've always wanted them but have been scared away by the extra care. However, I've got the money and the bug and I have adequate non-planted aquarium, so I think I'm gonna set up a 5 gallon Hex aquarium and give it a go. Lauraf's journal has kinda got me inspired to do the small tank. Plus, I don't really have room for another large tank and I don't wanna experiment on my main tank, the 20L.

However, I wanna get myself clear on what I'm getting myself into. My gameplan is to get one of the 5G hex kits from Petco. For the substrate, I'm planning a dark-colored plant substrate mixed in with some bright turquoise pebbles, similar to my 20L which uses black gravel with turquoise pebbles. For the stocking, I'm thinking simple, 2 or 3 ADFs with a Betta or a Dwarf Puffer. The plants would be simple beginner plants. I'm thinking Wisteria, Anacharis, something leafy like Anubias, and a little Java Moss. I have some questions though.

1.) Lighting. In Lauraf's thread, making the tank open top and with a desk light was discussed. I can do this, but as a last resort. My concern is that it's going to be in a high traffic area and nothing may happen, but it's gonna make me nervous. The tank comes with a 15 Watt incandescent light bulb. Will that work? If not, can I find a bulb that will at a walmart or for a cheap price online?

2.) Fertilization. What does this entail, exactly? I've seen liquids and tablets. What do you recommend? And the tablets said to add 6 per 10 gallons per month, and the liquid I looked at in the lfs said a few mL per water change.

3.) Further Plant Care: Pruning, plant food, C02, I've heard of a lot of stuff. From what I've read, C02 wouldn't be necessary for me. I've read that pruning is more of a playing by ear thing, depending on how your plant grows. Is plant food necessary? And am I missing anything else about plant care that I'll need to know?

4.) Dwarf Puffer or Betta? I like the idea of getting a Dwarf Puffer, but I've heard they can be difficult to care for and can be pretty aggressive. On the other hand, Bettas are pretty easy and don't really bother ADFs. Anyone with a Dwarf Puffer, feel like chiming in?

5.) Betta + ADFs + Cherry Shrimp? Too much for a 5G? If so, I think I'll just go with the Shrimp and ADFs for now.

6.) Would you be interested in a journal?

If I have any more questions, I'll add in later. Thank you!

 

[kenny1tothe6]

Nice current stocking for the 20gL...not overdone!

Anyways, on to your Q's on the 5gal..I'll try to answer them the best I can with my experience & what I've read from the 'net.

1) 15W incandescent bulbs are rather bad for growing plants. While the plants have a chance to grow under that, it isn't really fitting their needs and they won't thrive. In WalMart...in "mine" atleast, in the regular light bulb section[not the ones in the fish section], there are 6500K[not cool white, those are too yellow for my liking] 15W screw-in bulbs. I imagine that'd allow you to grow pretty much anything you'd like. This is remembering some stuff...just *WON'T* live. One of my friends on here can't grow Anubias; but can grow Java Ferns like crazy and mine don't usually like me...lol

2) Fertilizers...hmm...TBH, I forget to fertilize my tanks when the time comes and growth seems fine[not bad, even though alittle slow]...I usually use the normal liquid fertilizers from Seachem; Flourish, Flourish Excel[carbon source], and then there are macros I don't even think about. The tabs are for heavy root feeders like swords[definitely not recommended for your tank as they get huge], crypts, and the like. Some people do the EI fertilizing thing, but I know very little about that and just stick to the generalized directions on the bottles[or boxs] of stuff.

3) Co2: Flourish excel can serve as a carbon source unless you wanted to go really high tech which is expensive and time consuming[all my tanks are low tech]. Plant trimming...don't even worry about that until the plants get big enough to trim. They usually don't like being messed with. Stem plants would get trimmed from the best leaves from the middle, the leaves that would go into the gravel get trimmed of and done! Root feeders get "bad"[tattered, etc.] or even excess leaves trimmed off when they start intruding on other plants.

4) Betta. I like bettas better cuz they are very colorful and for the most part, easy to care for. DP's usually like small live foods[like blackworms] and sometimes frozen foods[like bloodworms]. If you feel comfortable knowing the DP is alittle harder to take care of, it's then a matter of personal preference.

5) I'd skip the ADF's because they are near blind so the betta could eat their food before they get the chance[or the shrimp could], they like live/frozen foods like DPs, the betta could possibly attack them or vice versa[tho both cases are rare]. Another note is the betta could possibly eat shrimp, so I'd let the tank get established, then add the shrimp, and a while later after the plants have provided plenty of cover for the shrimp, add the betta. Remember you also can't have ghost shrimp with a betta. That usually ends up with the shrimp tearing the betta's fins.

6) Journals are always useful to one to keep track of what's been done, what works, what doesn't, etc...so sure!

HTH