Mini Planted Tank

[3fsh]

I have a 2.5g tank that I want to aquascape. I think I will probably put a few tiny ("feeder variety") guppies and some small shrimp in it. The lighting I have is a good 12 watt compact flourescent. (About 4.8 watts per gallon.) Can anyone recommend a good mix of plants that either a.) won't get too tall or b.) grow slowly enough that I can trim them back. Also, what substrate would you recommend? I've used regular gravel and the stuff that's formulated for plant growth. I've never tried sand but I've always wanted to. Do you think CO2 is necessary in a tank this small? If someone would be willing, I'd love to pay for starts of different plants and some kind of a layout drawing for the tank. I want this to be the kind of tank I can show off when people come over.

 

[snowflake311]

I have a 2.5g tank that I want to aquascape. I think I will probably put a few tiny ("feeder variety") guppies and some small shrimp in it. The lighting I have is a good 12 watt compact flourescent. (About 4.8 watts per gallon.) Can anyone recommend a good mix of plants that either a.) won't get too tall or b.) grow slowly enough that I can trim them back. Also, what substrate would you recommend? I've used regular gravel and the stuff that's formulated for plant growth. I've never tried sand but I've always wanted to. Do you think CO2 is necessary in a tank this small? If someone would be willing, I'd love to pay for starts of different plants and some kind of a layout drawing for the tank. I want this to be the kind of tank I can show off when people come over.

No with light co2 is not needed. Yes it sounds like a lot of light for that size tank but it is still a weak light. The watt per gallon really will not work well for tanks under 20 gal. The watt per gal rule is much like the 1 per galling rule it's an ok guid line but it's not always right.

I would get moss it's great in almost any tank. Low tech high tech water ever. Flame moss grows kind of tall and can make a great carpet. Look for easy to grow plants that are small or have small leaves.

What's your substrate? You could go simple and put a few rocks with a flame moss carpet. Java moss would work too.

 

[dayzofspeed]

anubias are great looking plants are reasonably slow growing,are not demanding and are easy to prune and you can get pygmy ones as well