Thinking Of Setting Up A Second Tank For Plants!

[Tu13es]

I decided to jump into the fish world recently. I bought a used 30gal tank and stuff, set it up yesterday and it's currently cycling now. Yay!

I was planning on only using silk plants in the 30gal tank. However, they're expensive, and boring. Someone mentioned that I should consider growing some real plants. So, here I am.

I've got a spare 2 gallon and a 5 gallon tank. I could use either, or both, but I'd rather just have one. I'm not sure if the 2g is large enough. It's about the same height as the 5g, if that matters. Either way, I'll need to buy a decent filter (both tanks use UGFs which are bad with plants, plus I hate them, etc) that won't be too strong for the size of tank. I have heaters. Both tanks have incandescent light fixtures. The 5gal tank has two bulbs, the 2gal tank has one.

So, my questions:

Do I use the 2gal tank or the 5gal?
Can I use small pebbles for substrate in a plant tank? Or do I need smaller substrate?
Can I use a CFL in an incandescent fixture? By nature I hate incandescent bulbs as they're hot and use a lot more power than fluorescents, at least in household bulbs.
Is a java fern the best plant to start with? It seems super easy, which is the thing I want most.
Is a lack of any sunlight okay? My room has no natural light. If necessary, I can move it into a room with some sunlight. I assume I can compensate with the right type bulb, thogugh?
What's the best place to get my plants? I'm in the northeast US. I have a nearby PetSmart, PetCo, and some other local pet stores. Are there any online retailers worth using, after shipping costs?

Okay, I think that's all for now.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot about CO2. I'm thinking one of those NutraFin canisters should be okay? Or too big for such a small tank? Will I need a CO2 source in it?

Thanks!

 

[ROSSCO22]

I decided to jump into the fish world recently. I bought a used 30gal tank and stuff, set it up yesterday and it's currently cycling now. Yay!

I was planning on only using silk plants in the 30gal tank. However, they're expensive, and boring. Someone mentioned that I should consider growing some real plants. So, here I am.

I've got a spare 2 gallon and a 5 gallon tank. I could use either, or both, but I'd rather just have one. I'm not sure if the 2g is large enough. It's about the same height as the 5g, if that matters. Either way, I'll need to buy a decent filter (both tanks use UGFs which are bad with plants, plus I hate them, etc) that won't be too strong for the size of tank. I have heaters. Both tanks have incandescent light fixtures. The 5gal tank has two bulbs, the 2gal tank has one.

So, my questions:

Do I use the 2gal tank or the 5gal?
Can I use small pebbles for substrate in a plant tank? Or do I need smaller substrate?
Can I use a CFL in an incandescent fixture? By nature I hate incandescent bulbs as they're hot and use a lot more power than fluorescents, at least in household bulbs.
Is a java fern the best plant to start with? It seems super easy, which is the thing I want most.
Is a lack of any sunlight okay? My room has no natural light. If necessary, I can move it into a room with some sunlight. I assume I can compensate with the right type bulb, thogugh?
What's the best place to get my plants? I'm in the northeast US. I have a nearby PetSmart, PetCo, and some other local pet stores. Are there any online retailers worth using, after shipping costs?

Okay, I think that's all for now.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot about CO2. I'm thinking one of those NutraFin canisters should be okay? Or too big for such a small tank? Will I need a CO2 source in it?

Thanks!

I would use the 5G tank.small pebbles wouldn't be the best for substrate ideally you would need fine grit or sand,Java fren would be a good starting plant,The lack of sunlight is good because it can cause unwanted algae and the NutraFin CO2 system is a good basic CO2.

 

[aaronnorth]

Do I use the 2gal tank or the 5gal?

5g

Can I use small pebbles for substrate in a plant tank? Or do I need smaller substrate?

3mm would be the biggest i would go

Can I use a CFL in an incandescent fixture? By nature I hate incandescent bulbs as they're hot and use a lot more power than fluorescents, at least in household bulbs.

I should think so, Andy is good at electronics so he will confirm.

Is a java fern the best plant to start with? It seems super easy, which is the thing I want most.

rather than java fern, i would go with the "narrow" version because it grows faster and it would suit your tank size better. Anubias and java moss are also easy

Is a lack of any sunlight okay? My room has no natural light. If necessary, I can move it into a room with some sunlight. I assume I can compensate with the right type bulb, thogugh?

Avoid sunlight, it can cause algae.

What's the best place to get my plants? I'm in the northeast US. I have a nearby PetSmart, PetCo, and some other local pet stores. Are there any online retailers worth using, after shipping costs?

Cant help, i only know UK stores.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot about CO2. I'm thinking one of those NutraFin canisters should be okay? Or too big for such a small tank? Will I need a CO2 source in it?

I would rather use easycarbo easy life OR seachem excel. These are an inorganic source of carbon and it would work out cheap on your tank size.

 

[Tu13es]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I decided to go with the 5 gallon tank. It seems sand is the best substrate for plants (correct me if I'm wrong) so I'll go with that. A few others have said CFLs will work fine, so I'll try and find two of the smallest (both in size and wattage) ones and see how that works.

I'm hoping to stop by Lowe's on my way home from work to get some CFLs and play sand. I might then stop over at PetSmart and/or PetCo to pick up a small filter and plant(s).

Once I get the plants set up I might see if I can get some mature filter media for the tank to start getting some bacteria in the tank. Then I think I'll pick up a betta to add to it.

Woohoo!

 

[aaronnorth]

if you can get a nutrient rich substrate then do so. It will help fertilise your plants. You can uy some substrates such as JBL aquabasis then cap it with sand.

 

[SuperColey1]

I assume you mean the CFLs that go into standard baton or screw in light fittings.

If so whilst many say that they are fine I beg to differ!!!

The spiral ones will have huge restrike issues, the dual bend ones will have nearly as many. Reflectors will not be very efficient at all due to their shape and the lack of suitable reflectors etc.

I would prefer to buy a cheap starter and T8 tube and then a reflector made for the intended use!!!

AC

 

[nosoup4you]

It's a 5 gallon with an incandescent fixture...if he were going to go low light/low tech, would a household CFL not be sufficient?

 

[SuperColey1]

Where a 20USG would be low light at 1WPG a 5 Gallon will still be low light at 3WPG!!!

Nano tanks require much more lighting to reach each level and therefore a household CFL will most likely mean that you have to have silly wattage to achieve what a linear tube would achieve.

With a household dual bend CFL (even with a botched reflector to surround it) I would guess you could be needing somewhere around 30W over a 5USG to get the light which would be a bit silly when you could get a proper tube of 10WPG to do the same job!!!

AC