2.5G Planted Tank (Freshwater)

[White Whale]

I would like to start on a small planted/fishless tank.

Current Equipment:
2.5g tank
Fluval 1 Plus (maybe too strong? but I don't intend to keep any fish in there anyway)
Eco-complete substrate
Flourish Excel
Nutrafin Plant Gro 15-0-0

Plants I would like to start with:
Java Fern
Java Moss balls

Questions I have:
- Would I need a CO2 system for such a small tank?
- Are there any invertebrates that eat decayed plant matter? (If snails, which ones are NOT hermaphrodites)
- Preferred lighting?


Any and all help is appreciated!

 

[lljdma06]

You would be fine dosing Excel as your CO2 source for such a small system. That being said, if you want to inject the actual gas, there are many very small nano diffusors that look cute and I bet you could get pretty stable CO2 with fermentation. They even sell the new disposable pressurized canisters, so injecting CO2 gas isn't going to be a huge challenge a 2.5g. I prefer TPN+ for liquid macros and trace if you can get your hands on it. Really a great fertiliser and very user-friendly. 10x turnover per hour is good for filtration regardless of the tank size.

Be positive! Try to grow healthy plants rather than come up with a backup plan if it doesn't succeed.

Lighting, lighting, lighting. MY 2.5g had 13W CF lighting and grew plants quite well with no CO2. Others opt for as high as 18W or 22W. For what you want to grow, don't go past 13W, IMO, anything over that is overkill. 13W seems like a lot too, but CF bulbs are rubbish bulbs and I didn't have a reflector, so I knew I wasn't lighting effectively. You can certainly grow more varieties of plants than java fern and moss.

 

[White Whale]

I wanted to start with something simple and that would be able to tolerate mistakes. Any advice on decaying plants? I've had Java Fern before. The old leaves die, but new buds sprout in its place. But the decaying leaves create a mess. Also, are you talking about yellow lighting or would flourescent do?

 

[lljdma06]

I wanted to start with something simple and that would be able to tolerate mistakes. Any advice on decaying plants? I've had Java Fern before. The old leaves die, but new buds sprout in its place. But the decaying leaves create a mess. Also, are you talking about yellow lighting or would flourescent do?

I'm talking about Compact Florescent bulbs. The twin tubes are the most common for smaller tanks. The bulb is shaped like a long "u". Yes, java fern can get messy. There are several varieties, however, and the "needle-leaf" seems cleaner-looking to me.

 

[Biulu]

If you are in Europe: I have bought a Dennerle twin tube, basically it looks like a rectangular desk lamp which you can attach to your tank. I have had great growth with that lamp with smaller cryptocoryne species such as willissie, moehlmanni and wendtti. These plants were flourishing and multiplying very fast with this lamp. I highly reocmmend it.