Kyerial Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 I've been contemplating carpeting my 10 gallon with Riccia Fluitians but i have never had real plants in my tank before that have lived past a week ( Lack of decent light) and am not sure if this is the best plant for me to start with, as well as Due to a power outage while i was at work my water filters motor burnt out ( a co-worker gave me a hardy plant to put oxygen in the tank so they wont all die till i can afford a new filter) Would i need to buy a new motor or can the plants maintian the oxygen levels? and can the tank be kept clean with just my cory, plecos and i believe pond snails ( tho i have a Siamese dwarf loach so those guys are not really an annoyance anymore just fine detail cleaners i'll have to see what they do to my "hard to kill" plant i cant remember the name) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) Ok, several points. Planted tanks are always neat, but more work. If you want to minimize your work do not go with Riccia as a carpet plant, it will float up and get everywhere like you cant believe. Set something simple like pigmy sword chain, it creates a sudo carpet over time as it fills in. In terms of the filter, stop by any pet store (cough Natures Corner) and pick up a cheap 20$ hOB (hang on back filter), grab some carbon if you dont already and take the filtre media from your dead filter and use it in the new one. Cheap and easy solution. If you dont have an air pump, hobs will oxygenate your water just with the falling action. If you are using a heater, lower the temp a bit and that will improve oxygen retention. In terms of clean, you may be overstocked and plecos often create lots of waste so that may actually be bad for your tank. If the water smells (looks funny, stagnates) at all, change a bunch of it, other than that clean is just aesthetic. edit- in terms of light, stop by a home hardware store (ei home depot), pick up a Globe 20 inch t8 light and look in the fluorescent isle for a t8 plan grow bulb. Globe light-20$, grow bulb 6$ and should last a long time. Simple and easy low-med lighting solution. You could also stop by a hydroponics store and get something a bit more serious. For 40$ or less you may be able to get a t5 high power light. I havent done it but thats what people have mentioned on here. Search it up and find out what and where if thats what your looking for. Edited July 9, 2011 by Iceturf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 (edited) The plant wont be any help...Change 25% of the water every second day until you get a filter. As for a carpet plant...riccia is terrible...It doesn't attach like java moss...the bottom tends to rott when attached to rocks.with thread as it grows and ends up floating around every where..Its definetly not a long term carpet plant. For low light your better off with crypt parva, dwarf sag, or maybe even hair grass..dwarf sag being the fastest to fill in. Before starting a planted tank....read read read...There is tons of info on this site... The more you know the easier the transition. Edited July 9, 2011 by ubr0ke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyerial Posted July 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 The plant i have right now is hornwort. My co-worker is offering me some glosso and some tawain moss, if i want it. would those be better? I will definitily run over to HH or home depot when i get paid to get some lighting! So far i've never had my tank smell, tho the water has looked yellow from time to time till i got a new filter (to replace the 10 yr old one) and then it cleared up And i've been changing the water to air stir up the tank once a day but only 10% I've been trying to save up to buy a bigger tank because i inadvertently adopted my friends fish because she was trying to kill them off guess she got bored with them other wise i'd just have a tiny cory and the SD loach, So i'm definetly overstocked but i always thought the mess was the guppies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 9, 2011 Report Share Posted July 9, 2011 If you have an incandescent hood, then just pick up a couple 13W (or 23W if you want tonnes of light!) spiral bulbs, and you'll have all the light you need. When you're at the LFS getting a new filter, pick up a small bottle of Seachem Excel - it's a carbon source for your plants. You'll be able to grow a carpet of Glosso without any problems - you'll probably have to pick up some dry fertilizer too; otherwise, you may start to fight algae (but, Excel does get rid of most algaes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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