# new to plants... and fish :)



## greenween (Apr 8, 2006)

Hi, I am sort of new to all of this. We got a 1 gal for my son a few months ago. ( see post under beginner) After a trial with a goldfish, we ended up with our betta- bloo. we have been really successful with him thanks to this site and all of you!:fish: :fish: I bought a used 10 gal scrubbed all the neglect off of it ( with plain water and a little elbow grease) and am now cycling it. My question is: We were thinking about planting the 10 gal. but I already put gravel in the bottom. Can you put plants in this aquarium gravel or is sand or some other sort of substance required. Would a 10 gal. be too small maybe? What about the under gravel filter system?Good or no good for plants? Also, some of you may know this, I have had some trouble finding it anywhere else, and there isn't a forum here for aquatic frogs. We have also been thinking about getting one for the 10 gal. however I can't seem to find out whether the water level should be lowered for it to be able to surface for air, most things I've read say that they stay under constantly and only surface for air on occasion. When I was a child my step mother had aquariums and I seem to remember having a lower water level and a floating block to feed it on. Is this correct? or maybe certain types do not require this.I think what she had were the large albino, we were thinking about the african dwarf. We've only been cycling for 3 days, so we haven't done anything yet, just trying to gather some info. before we do. Thanks to all of you! This site has been a lifesaver!!


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## Guest (May 24, 2006)

You can plant plants in regular gravel, but it needs to be small grain (2-4mm). Larger gravel compacts the roots and can cause plants to die. Sand is also not great because it can develop anaerobic pockets which will kill the plant. Some people have good luck though and grow plants well in sand.

The next thing you need to think about is lighting. In smaller plants, like a 10g, more light is needed. I would shoot for around 30 watts of compact fluorescent lighting. That will enable you to grow low-medium light plants.

African dwarf frogs (ADFs) are the smaller aquatic frogs. African clawed frogs get much bigger. I don't think you have to lower the water level for ADFs. I think a few would fit nicely in a 10g tank. They can be hard to feed though.

Here are a couple websites:
http://aquaticfrogs.tripod.com/id8.html
(on this one...scroll down until you see African DWARF frog on the left side. It talks about both types.
http://allaboutfrogs.org/info/mypets/dwarfs.html
This site has some good info. It also has a link that informs you on how to tell the difference in ADFs and ACFs.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

If you just have a standard 10 gallon hood and dont want to blow a bunch of money on lighting you can still get it done. If it is incandescent go buy two screw in CF bulbs made for plants. If it is a flourescent fixture then get a plant bulb for it. You wont be growing high light plants with this setup but you can still certainly grow low and even some mediums. I grew swords, java moss, wal-mart aponogeton bulbs, anacharis and I think dwarf sag with my 15w flourescent bulb... before I upgraded. Which I bet you'll end up doing also  Some of them in normal aquarium gravel also.

Plain aquarium gravel will work, but its not ideal. You will probably be able to grow most low light plants in it, because most of them aren't very picky.

If i remember right undergravel filters are bad for plants, but I cant remember why.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

THey are bad for plants because the roots get tangled in them. YOu can grow plants with them but large root plants (swords) have serious problems with them.


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