Bullterrier Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Hi I initially signed up for the forum in Aug 08. I have finally been able to start setting up my 10 gal tank. Spring 08 I ended up moving furniture here from my Dad's in Ontario and had to get rid of my 45 gal reef tank to make room. I have been in withdrawls ever since. I do have a 10 gal and 33 gal FW at work btw. I had a beautiful 20 gal tall starfire glass aquarium built in Sep 08 by concept aquariums, but decided on a holiday etc..so i put off getting it up and running until now. Looking around my house I couldn't find a good location ( I do have 6 cats and 2 dogs, Bull terriers) where I could see it a lot or have access to a sink etc.. or away from windows. In the end I have opted to go with just a 10 gal in my mainfloor 1/2 bathroom. I get a good view of it. I set it up on the weekend. I had a very hard time finding lighting for a 10gal. I ended up with a Nova 18" T5 fixture. The 18 in only comes in a SW version I needed to switch out the actinic bulb and put in a 2nd 10k, no 67 K avail in that size. The other option was a coralife with a quad bulb and about 96 watts!! Too much light, or a regular plastic hood with PC bulbs, of which they were out of stock (Big al's). Has anyone else had issues finding lighting to fit a 10 gal? The aquarium is cycling now. I have a bag of flourite, giving me easily 2-3 inches of substrate. heater and hang-on filter right now. Oh and one piece of wood (soaking on its own)and a small rock. For CO2 I plan to just use the flourish Excel. I plan to head back to Nature's Corner on Sat. Henry says he should have new shipment of plants and fish. I am new to plants, like the SW I find the latin names a bleep to remember. I like the common names. I'd like to get some grasses for the front , moss for the wood and some larger plants for the back, nothing too tall as the tank is small. A small school of little fish (not sure what kind yet, depends what is avail) a betta and a couple of cory's for fish to round things out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bignose Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 I had a hard time finding a light for my 5.5G tank. I ended up buying a 18w mini coralife fixture but the only problem is you can't attach legs. I think they are used for refugiums. How many watts is your light fixture? I'm a SW person myself(about 1 year) so most of this is also new to me. I'll watch this journal and perhaps I'll learn something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingin' It Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 HiI initially signed up for the forum in Aug 08. I have finally been able to start setting up my 10 gal tank. Spring 08 I ended up moving furniture here from my Dad's in Ontario and had to get rid of my 45 gal reef tank to make room. I have been in withdrawls ever since. I do have a 10 gal and 33 gal FW at work btw. I had a beautiful 20 gal tall starfire glass aquarium built in Sep 08 by concept aquariums, but decided on a holiday etc..so i put off getting it up and running until now. Looking around my house I couldn't find a good location ( I do have 6 cats and 2 dogs, Bull terriers) where I could see it a lot or have access to a sink etc.. or away from windows. In the end I have opted to go with just a 10 gal in my mainfloor 1/2 bathroom. I get a good view of it. I set it up on the weekend. I had a very hard time finding lighting for a 10gal. I ended up with a Nova 18" T5 fixture. The 18 in only comes in a SW version I needed to switch out the actinic bulb and put in a 2nd 10k, no 67 K avail in that size. The other option was a coralife with a quad bulb and about 96 watts!! Too much light, or a regular plastic hood with PC bulbs, of which they were out of stock (Big al's). Has anyone else had issues finding lighting to fit a 10 gal? The aquarium is cycling now. I have a bag of flourite, giving me easily 2-3 inches of substrate. heater and hang-on filter right now. Oh and one piece of wood (soaking on its own)and a small rock. For CO2 I plan to just use the flourish Excel. I plan to head back to Nature's Corner on Sat. Henry says he should have new shipment of plants and fish. I am new to plants, like the SW I find the latin names a bleep to remember. I like the common names. I'd like to get some grasses for the front , moss for the wood and some larger plants for the back, nothing too tall as the tank is small. A small school of little fish (not sure what kind yet, depends what is avail) a betta and a couple of cory's for fish to round things out. I'm doing the same, with my 10 gallon. I was going to put in some shrimp, but decided that those will wait for awhile. I haven't found any lighting yet, but I really have to get on that fast before my plants arrive! Good luck with yours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingin' It Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) HiI am new to plants, like the SW I find the latin names a bleep to remember. I like the common names. I'd like to get some grasses for the front , moss for the wood and some larger plants for the back, nothing too tall as the tank is small. A small school of little fish (not sure what kind yet, depends what is avail) a betta and a couple of cory's for fish to round things out. I'm doing the same, with my 10 gallon. I was going to put in some shrimp, but decided that those will wait for awhile. I haven't found any lighting yet, but I really have to get on that fast before my plants arrive! Good luck with yours! Edited February 23, 2009 by Wingin' It Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkstar Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 The 10 G I use have 2 desklamps with CFL daylight bulbs in it and the plants seem to thrive. Temporary ideas are better than nothing sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullterrier Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Bignose The fixture is 2 x 18 W T5's so 36 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkstar Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 BignoseThe fixture is 2 x 18 W T5's so 36 watts. You should probably be able to grow anything in there with that light Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullterrier Posted February 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Sweet :thumbs: I'd like to find a 67K bulb and switch out one of the 10k for a more varied spectrum. Not sure where to look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedarkstar Posted February 23, 2009 Report Share Posted February 23, 2009 Sweet :thumbs: I'd like to find a 67K bulb and switch out one of the 10k for a more varied spectrum. Not sure where to look. Wish I could help you there, but the best I've found was the standard "plant & aquarium" bulb home depot lol, I think its like 4500 or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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