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MyraVan · 03-19-2007, 03:40 PM

I have a 2.5g planted tank. It has a filter, this one
http://www.petclubuk.com/froogle.do?id=1880
I don't know if it's available where you are, but get a proper internal filter rated for at least 2.5g and you're good.

Then there's cycling. Do you know about cycling? If not, read the sticky "Nitrogen Cycle: The Basics." in this forum. In my case, cycling was instantaneous, as I use this same filter in another tank, so I took the filter pad out of the established tank and put it into the new tank, putting a new filter pad in the old tank. You might think that this would leave me without any good bacteria in the old tank, but it is a well planted tank that relies as much on the plants to filter the tank as the filter, and so it didn't suffer.

Now, stocking. I put 5 microrasba "galaxy" in it. When I was at the shop they recommended for this tank:
* ember tetras
* the microsrasboras I bought
* one betta

My daugher (whose tank this officially is) chose the microrasboras, so that's what we got. Don't add this amount of fish at once unless you have access to some way of instantly cycling your tank! If you have an established tank you could add bacteria by rising out your filter sponge in the new tank (I did this and it worked well in my new big tank, 58g) or cut up a sponge from an established filter to fit in the new small filter. Or you could use a commercial product like Seachem Stability or BioSpira.

If you don't have such a good local shop, you could probably stock it with a couple of healthy (not feeder fish) male guppies. Test for ammonia and nitrite every day as you're cycling to make sure that your added bacteria have done the trick, and do water changes if it hasn't.

Now, you say you want this to be a planted tank? Sort out the lighting first, this is probably the trickiest part, finding a light small enough to fit this tank. I put my tank in front of a window as an experiment, to see how it worked. It worked fine in the winter, but now with the lengthening days I've got lots of algae, so I'm about to move it away from the window and install some artificial light, an 8w flouro tube. This may be too much light for this little tank; we shall see. It's still an experiment!

And then there's substrate and plant choice... Since this is such a small tank, just go and buy a substrate for a planted tank, you'll only need one bag so it won't set you back too much. Damon (planted tank wizard) lists these as his favorites (most favorite at top):
ADA soils
Soilmaster select
Turface (grey if you can find it)
Onyx sand
Flourite
For plants, small is the important thing. Look for anything with "dwarf" in the name: dwarf sag, dwarf hairgrass, dwarf sword, etc....

03-19-2007, 03:40 PM	#7
MyraVan Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 864	I have a 2.5g planted tank. It has a filter, this one http://www.petclubuk.com/froogle.do?id=1880 I don't know if it's available where you are, but get a proper internal filter rated for at least 2.5g and you're good. Then there's cycling. Do you know about cycling? If not, read the sticky "Nitrogen Cycle: The Basics." in this forum. In my case, cycling was instantaneous, as I use this same filter in another tank, so I took the filter pad out of the established tank and put it into the new tank, putting a new filter pad in the old tank. You might think that this would leave me without any good bacteria in the old tank, but it is a well planted tank that relies as much on the plants to filter the tank as the filter, and so it didn't suffer. Now, stocking. I put 5 microrasba "galaxy" in it. When I was at the shop they recommended for this tank: * ember tetras * the microsrasboras I bought * one betta My daugher (whose tank this officially is) chose the microrasboras, so that's what we got. Don't add this amount of fish at once unless you have access to some way of instantly cycling your tank! If you have an established tank you could add bacteria by rising out your filter sponge in the new tank (I did this and it worked well in my new big tank, 58g) or cut up a sponge from an established filter to fit in the new small filter. Or you could use a commercial product like Seachem Stability or BioSpira. If you don't have such a good local shop, you could probably stock it with a couple of healthy (not feeder fish) male guppies. Test for ammonia and nitrite every day as you're cycling to make sure that your added bacteria have done the trick, and do water changes if it hasn't. Now, you say you want this to be a planted tank? Sort out the lighting first, this is probably the trickiest part, finding a light small enough to fit this tank. I put my tank in front of a window as an experiment, to see how it worked. It worked fine in the winter, but now with the lengthening days I've got lots of algae, so I'm about to move it away from the window and install some artificial light, an 8w flouro tube. This may be too much light for this little tank; we shall see. It's still an experiment! And then there's substrate and plant choice... Since this is such a small tank, just go and buy a substrate for a planted tank, you'll only need one bag so it won't set you back too much. Damon (planted tank wizard) lists these as his favorites (most favorite at top): ADA soils Soilmaster select Turface (grey if you can find it) Onyx sand Flourite For plants, small is the important thing. Look for anything with "dwarf" in the name: dwarf sag, dwarf hairgrass, dwarf sword, etc....