New to freshwater!

**talldutchie** · 03-12-2013, 05:10 AM

OK...

In my opinion the desired look could well be done, probably a little easier with the spec v even. Fish... in a 5 gallon I wouldn't but if you must, half a dozen chili rasbora. In an edge you could try a small school of ember tetra but that's pretty much it really. An oblong tank will generally offer a bit more swimming room than a cube of the same volume.

**MarcGonsalves** · 03-12-2013, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by talldutchie

OK...

In my opinion the desired look could well be done, probably a little easier with the spec v even. Fish... in a 5 gallon I wouldn't but if you must, half a dozen chili rasbora. In an edge you could try a small school of ember tetra but that's pretty much it really. An oblong tank will generally offer a bit more swimming room than a cube of the same volume.

Cool thanks for advice. What if I upped it a bit more to like a 15 gallon or something? I'm not trying to get into the 20 region because that's what I had before and I'd like to try different, but at the same time I'm trying to provide enough room for some fish and plants.

**talldutchie** · 03-12-2013, 01:41 PM

A 15, especially a rectangular shaped one, would provide enough space for a decent sized school of small fish.

**MarcGonsalves** · 03-12-2013, 10:31 PM

Okay, now as far as lights. If I'm trying to do something like I said would I be looking at T5s or LEDs. I have a buddy of mine that says it's a waste of time to do anything other than LEDs, but then again there are people who say T5s are perfect.

**Limming** · 03-13-2013, 02:55 AM

It depends on what plants you want to keep. In general I haven't had good luck with the LED that came with my tank and the plants grew much better with a single T8 even though it was much lower wattage. I would think for a 15 gallon one T5 would be fine allowing you to grow low light and moderate light plants with no problems.

**MarcGonsalves** · 03-13-2013, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Limming

It depends on what plants you want to keep. In general I haven't had good luck with the LED that came with my tank and the plants grew much better with a single T8 even though it was much lower wattage. I would think for a 15 gallon one T5 would be fine allowing you to grow low light and moderate light plants with no problems.

Okay well as I said I'm a complete freshwater noob, I'm strictly going off of tanks I've seen and heard about. Haven't looked into the formal names of things, but is it the hair grass that a lot of people have on the bed of their tanks to give it a nice mossy feel to it? Also I think it's dwarf baby tears that I liked at my LFS as well as a moss ball... How would those do under a single t8 or dual t8/t5 bulb fixture

**Limming** · 03-13-2013, 01:11 PM

For a carpet of easy plants I'd go with dwarf sagittaria its a hardy plant that grows about a inch that would do well with a T5. There are lots of resources for learning about lighting and different plants online if I were you I'd go look at those to get a better idea of what plants you like and that well be the determining factor for what lights you get. I wouldn't go with anything above medium lights as with really strong lighting you have to start messing around with C02 unless you want major algae problems.

**MarcGonsalves** · 03-13-2013, 08:47 PM

Thank you guys for all of the advice, I'm now starting to put together a list of things I'm interested in getting for my tank, including plants and equipment. As far as the T5 would 1 bulb be okay or get a dual bulb fixture?

**MarcGonsalves** · 03-14-2013, 12:34 AM

Okay so after a little bit of research I found some pretty neat things and equipment that interested me. For starters I really liked the MR. Aqua 17.4 gallon MA- tank, apparently one of my LFS sell Mr. Aqua products too :D
Substrate: Eco-Complete Plant Substrate Black Fine Grade
Lighting: (here's where I need some help) I like the Marineland LED Double bright or the Coralife Dual Fixture High Output T5... Would I need CO2 with either of these? I read some reviews and it seems like they can grow some pretty good plants.
Plants: As far as a carpet goes I see that Dwarf Sagittaria/Baby Tears/Hair Grass do a pretty good job, which would y'all recommend.

Of course open to any and all advice, thanks in advance!