Looking for some helpful opinions

Hi everybody. So I have been a member on here for quite a while, a bit inactive though recently, and have yet to actually put on a post. Ive been keeping fish for possibly 15 years now, mainly low maintenence community setups.A couple of months ago I made the step up to planted aquariums though by setting up my 50litre with a couple of java ferns, anubias, neons, and snails. Although its been on a very tight budget I have a 100% survival rate on the fish and snails, though my plants are struggling a bit, but I am pretty sure its just a shortage of fertilizer and a lighting issue. I have set this up as a "test" run and to get the feel and learn from mistakes.
I currently also have a 20liter and a 250liter which are currently empty, but I will get them started again soon. My idea with the 250 will be very basic, and probably no plants or something very low maintenence and hardy, as I am looking to make that a goldfish aquarium (2 fancies only), the 50liter stocking I want to keep the same and just change the light and substrate, while the 20liter I am looking to set up a planted betta tank with a carpet and shrimps.
So I just gave you that long story, and all I actually want to know is your opinions on floodlights, and submersible lights. The submersible light probably just for the 250l, and more for the look it might give then actually assisting in anything else.
What I would like to know though is it worth getting a submersible?
Then concerning the floodlights, whether it would be any good for plant growth and what power to look at, mostly for the 50liter, as I might spend a bit and get something proper for the 20liter if a floodlight wont work, and then if it will at all be any good on the 250liter, keeping in mind that it is quite a deep tank aswell?

And then lastly, what will you guys so is the best place to get plants from? I am in the East Rand area.

 

A belated welcome.

A 20 litre can be a great nano planted tank, if that is what you are leaning towards.
For that you will need good lighting though, especially if you want to grow a carpet.

If I was setting up a nano tank, I would keep it low-tech.
A piece of dragon rock, and a small piece of driftwood planted with some of the smaller Anubias and some Buce.
Dwarf baby tears (Hemianthus Callitrichoides) apparently grows quickly, and is very undemanding.
It will need regular trimming though.

Submersible lights to me are a gimmick, and don't do anything apart from aesthetic appeal, if you like them.
At worst they can promote algae growth.

Do some research, browse as many sites as you can, and then make your decision, knowing that you will change your mind every year or so.

Keep us updated with pics.

 

Hi and welcome @Jacques..vW

Nice to see you active

Im not the best at giving advice on planted tanks and lighting but @Pezulo is good at it and has given good advice
As for plants on the East Rand, the best supply i have seen as of late is Wazeer's
Since they doing the ADA scapes they carry a very good supply of nice healthy plants
We did a bit of LFS visiting last Saturday and i didnt see much stock of plants in the other stores we went to

Good luck and post pictures as you go along

 

Maybe go for low-light plants instead?

I have 2 of those submersible DGHL lights (1160 and 790mm), and they work fine, you get various light combinations and I went for the white and blue (plants like blue and some red spectrum as well). I found that if the lights are submerged, they do add some heat in the tanks which can be a pain in the summer, so I mounted both units overhead. The 1160 was around R960 and the 790 was R450.

The nice thing about having a submersible light is that the units are sealed and electric shock to the fish are minimized. The 790 (10watt) was an emergency purchase (2 days ago) to replace my fluorescent light which fell in the water and killed two of my fishes . On the upside, the plants seem to like the LED and new growth is already visible.

There is however such a thing as too much light and I am going to install a timer this weekend, to ensure that I do not exceed 12 hours per day.

I use under-gravel filters hooked up to a small power-head to distribute nutrients in the inert substrate. The water is dosed with various Seachem products. But here is the catch, using liquid fertilizer can in the long run, easily cost more than those expensive ADA soils.

Another costly mistake I made was to use RO water without checking pH, KH and Gh, not to mention the lack of trace elements which resulted in poor growth and even death of the plants.

Note: I'm also fairly new at planted tanks and the learning curve is high xD

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

So just a couple of quick answers and explanations from my side aswell. Yes I will be putting most of my focus and effort on the 20liter. I have seen a few nano tanks with full growth before and I love the look of it. The 50liter will be more intermediate, while the 250liter very simple, but all of them will be probably low light plants, and maybe I will try 1 advanced species in the 20liter.
The submersible will be 95% for the aestetic look of it, but I just wanted to know some opinions on it, and would probably end up not getting it anyways.
If I decide to go with floodlights for the 50liter and 250liter, what wattage woyld you guys recommend, and how many thereof. I was thinking a 10watt for the 50 litre, or maybe 2 of them, and 2 x 30watt for the 250liter, but as I said I dont have any experience with these and I am also very open to recommendations regarding this topic.

 

Hi Jacques
These guys are in the East: http://www.betterweather.co.za/

 

Well in the end I only decided to set up the 60liters. Work responsibikities kept me in Mozambique till beginning of August, and when I got home the plan was to stick around and slowly set up each tank. The 60liter was running though with family members looking after it, but it was definitely neglected a bit.

So when I got home this tank was my priority to sort out. I salvaged the Anubias and even though it had some black algea, Im glad to say there is now some new leafs coming through. So I set up the tank again early August and has been running niw for about 7 weeks. I have some Blue Dream shrimp in there which also gave me some babies recently, and 3 Apple snails. The Anubias, some Crypts and Java Moss, and then an unknown plant which I have no idea what it is. I purposely havent added fish to allow the shrimp to breed first. About a month ago I found out I will be heading to Madagascar for work for 6 months, so Ive had plenty of time educating family just on basic maintenence. I will be ordering fish for them to add in a couple months time, and replenish any supplements aswell.

All of the Crypts melted within a week or so, but they are starting to come through strong again aswell, and oh yeah I decided on the 20watt floodlight for this tank. I have decided not to spend too much more for now, just because I wont be at home.