Help converting

[Jose]

Hello all, my name is Jose. I want to convert my 60g with my 2 puffers and pleco to real plants. What type of fertilizer should I get? Any other equipment? I plan to put amazon sword plants in it for now. What kind of care do plants need? I have some red sea Flora Fe and Flora Vit drops. Any advice would be appreciated.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Help converting

lighting is the key
you need to know how many lumens you have in the tank.
Or how many watts you've got and how high above the gravel your fixture is and how old your bulbs are.

Once you know how much light you've got you can search for plants that do well with that environment.

[charliefoxtrot]

Re: Help converting

you probably don't want to mess with fertilizer's just yet.  

First thing you want to do is get some better lighting.  Rule of thumb for average size tanks is 2 watts per gallon.  For some reason that doesn't apply to really small or really large tanks but it should be fine for your 60 gallon, that's 120 watts flourescent.

If you're using the light that came with the tank, then it's probably not bright enough.  If you have the extra money to spend, it'll be worth it when you see your tank lit and planted.  

If you don't have the extra money to spend all is not lost.  Just get some low light plants.  I've got three planted tanks (not counting the others which just have the token little fern or moss ball) and only one of them is "lit properly" with CO2.  Of the other two, one has a bunch of java moss and a java fern which has taken over half the tank.  It looks pretty tight.  The other has got this big piece of bogwood leeching tannins in the water so that it's got that brown tint and is really dim by tank standards.  I've got some java moss and a couple of crypts that have done quite well over the course of a couple years and the tank looks pretty sweet in my opinion"

Good low light plants are java ferns, anubias (there are about a million different kinds of anubias),  crypts (in green and red/brown varieties), and java moss.  In fact I put a clump of java moss in a tank and within a few months it took over the tank.

Next thing after lighting comes CO2.  Basicly when you cram a lot of plants in a tank, they start having to compete for the limited resources.  It's assumed that your tank has plenty of oxygen, otherwise your fish would have been gasping and dying a long time ago.  Likewise there's already some natural fertilization from the nitrates that come from the nitrogen cycle...from leftover food and fish poop.  But CO2 starts getting scarce so you may need to start think about putting some in from an external source.

The first thing people did was just start hooking up CO2 tanks from welding setups or soda fountains.  Sounds pretty straightforward but it's kind of expensive plust you've got to drop the psi to about 3 or so, which involves at least two valves.   At some point someone (I think it was probably a homebrewer) came up with the idea of putting some sugar, yeast, and water into a 2 liter soda bottle, letting it ferment, and plumbing the byproduct CO2 into the tank.

The last thing with CO2 is getting it diffused into the water.  Some people use what's called a stepladder diffuser, which maximizes the bubbles' contact with the water on it's way up to the surface.  There's also these little bell-shaped diffusers that trap the gas.  My setup has this little powerhead that basicly chops up the bubbles and spews them into the water more efficiently.  It's pretty neat (when it works).

I haven't really messed with fertilizers so I don't know much about them.  I know you shouldn't try and use "regular" fertilizer, like the kind used for non-aquatic plants, because they contain too many nitrites and you'll get a spike and all your fish will die.

And despite the long-windedness of this post, I really wouldn't consider myseld an expert on planted tanks.  i've only been keeping them for a year or two and at best my skill/experience level could be described as "intermediate" so by all means, do get some second opinions.

what kind of puffers do you have?

[SCOTT]

Re: Help converting

A cheap lighting alternative is to hit the walmart and get yourself a $7.00 shop light and a couple $5 plant bulbs. For less than $20 you are able to put 80 watts of light into your tank, which I have found is more than ample for all but the highest light demanding plants. As for fertz, I would suggest if you plan to use any additives that you do it long before adding fish. In that way you can heavily dose the plants in order to establish a solid root structure. Once adding fish to the tank, if at normal to heavy stocking loads, you shouldn't need any additives. If for some reason you decide you just have to add fertz, I would go with a liquid fert made especially for aquariums, there are several to choose from. If using an added fert, do your normal water change, then add the fert. Don't expect dramatic results, and don't overdo it. Your best bang for the buck is going to be the shop light and the DIY CO2 reactor. These two items will allow the plants to effectively use the nitrates that are already in the water and these will produce a dramatic effect. I recently grew a couple swords, 1 in CO2, 1 without, the one with CO2 was more than 5 times the size of the one without after only 3 mos.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Help converting

I was able to find a 3' shop light with 2 - 300w metalhalide bulbs which I built into a canopy for a 75g tank.   Gave me more than enough light for plants and when I switched to Africans, it kept the holy rock covered in green algie.   But when you have 600w of lighting, it raises the tank temperature 10/15 degrees.  Next time I will install a 3" computer fan in the canopy.

[guppymax]

Re: Help converting

The Houston Aquarium Society went to the Aquarium Design Group one time and the ADG had so many watts of lighting in a tank that they used a chiller to keep the water cool.

max

[Jose]

Re: Help converting

Thanks, I'll probbaly go the cheap way, i'm on another project.

[Jose]

Re: Help converting

I forgot to mention that I work for a lighting company and I can get ballast for cheap sometimes free(customer returns). I have about 15 used 40w fluorescent ballast and 3 new. I had a couple 175w MH ballasts but I sold them. Theres a 400w MH ballast that I can probably get.

Charlie: I have green spotted puffers about 1 1/2". I know they are brakish but I had to have them when I saw them. I have them in freshwater with aquariumsalt and I will be putting them in brakishwater soon.

[Bill]

Re: Help converting

It's important to add fertilizer for your plants, this will keep them healthy and growing well, plus it will also prevent algae. It is really pretty easy once you understand the basics.

If you are still going with this planted tank let me know and I wiil explain it further to you.

Bill