mooncake
Member
Hello all!
I've recently joined the forum and have spent a few days browsing through, discovering that this place seems to be full of fantastic advice. I'm not entirely new to keeping an aquarium, as I've had a 90l one on the go for around 5 years now. However, primarily it's just been about the fish and though I do love having real plants in the tank I'm definitely inexperienced when it comes to doing anything much more than ultimately plonking them in and hoping for the best.
We've recently decided to set up a new small tank and the Dennerle 55l Scaper's really appeals to me. Ideally I'd like to move on a little from basic java ferns, amazon swords, etc., and go for something a bit more medium-tech. However, I've become so boggled by all the options when it comes to lighting and filtration that I could really do with some advice or suggestions. Initially I considered getting the whole kit, but now I'm leaning towards buying separately so I can future-proof a bit more.
The plan is to add a betta and possibly some small corydoras once it's all cycled (would also love shrimp but I know that could be risky with the betta). So I suppose my first question is whether having quite a low flow (to keep the betta happy) is even compatible with keeping plants in general? The more flow, the better, I know is usually the aim. I've been looking at Eheims and just wondering whether something like the classic 2213 would be suitable? My concern's that there will either be too much flow for the fish, or too little for the plants to do well.
Secondly, I'm keen to get a good quality LED light. But I know the issue is that if too powerful, algae is going to become the bane of my existence. Can anyone recommend something that would be good enough to grow quite a decent range of plants but perhaps would also be somewhat forgiving (dimmable I guess) when it comes to my lack of experience with CO2 and ferts. I'm open to using those, but maybe slightly later on down the line (for C02 anyway)... so I need to take that into account when choosing lights and plants.
Like I say, I've been trying to look into a variety of options but I'm getting myself a bit confused now about what to go for. I ended up looking at lights like the Twinstar 450E, but common sense is telling me that might be overkill at this stage (although I did see that dimmers are available, but still... crazy? Not so crazy?). So any help would be much appreciated. Particularly from anyone who is successfully operating a tank of a similar size on a medium-tech basis!
Thanks,
Alison
I've recently joined the forum and have spent a few days browsing through, discovering that this place seems to be full of fantastic advice. I'm not entirely new to keeping an aquarium, as I've had a 90l one on the go for around 5 years now. However, primarily it's just been about the fish and though I do love having real plants in the tank I'm definitely inexperienced when it comes to doing anything much more than ultimately plonking them in and hoping for the best.
We've recently decided to set up a new small tank and the Dennerle 55l Scaper's really appeals to me. Ideally I'd like to move on a little from basic java ferns, amazon swords, etc., and go for something a bit more medium-tech. However, I've become so boggled by all the options when it comes to lighting and filtration that I could really do with some advice or suggestions. Initially I considered getting the whole kit, but now I'm leaning towards buying separately so I can future-proof a bit more.
The plan is to add a betta and possibly some small corydoras once it's all cycled (would also love shrimp but I know that could be risky with the betta). So I suppose my first question is whether having quite a low flow (to keep the betta happy) is even compatible with keeping plants in general? The more flow, the better, I know is usually the aim. I've been looking at Eheims and just wondering whether something like the classic 2213 would be suitable? My concern's that there will either be too much flow for the fish, or too little for the plants to do well.
Secondly, I'm keen to get a good quality LED light. But I know the issue is that if too powerful, algae is going to become the bane of my existence. Can anyone recommend something that would be good enough to grow quite a decent range of plants but perhaps would also be somewhat forgiving (dimmable I guess) when it comes to my lack of experience with CO2 and ferts. I'm open to using those, but maybe slightly later on down the line (for C02 anyway)... so I need to take that into account when choosing lights and plants.
Like I say, I've been trying to look into a variety of options but I'm getting myself a bit confused now about what to go for. I ended up looking at lights like the Twinstar 450E, but common sense is telling me that might be overkill at this stage (although I did see that dimmers are available, but still... crazy? Not so crazy?). So any help would be much appreciated. Particularly from anyone who is successfully operating a tank of a similar size on a medium-tech basis!
Thanks,
Alison