NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

[thomas]

Hi, a friend of mine took me to City Pets to show me the ADA small plant tank at the cashier counter. He loves it so much, and as a good friend, I don't want him to give up this hobby. I could not do anything more helpful than promising to help him build the tank. I spoke to the lady owner and here is what we have to buy for that tank

ADA 17 gal tank                $80
ADA plant substrate           $28
Coralife                            not sure (but no more than $100)
Driftwood                          $10-15
Plant and carpet                 $50
Shrimp and neon                $30-50
CO2                                  $200 ( budget does not allowed till 3-4 months later)
Eheim                                $100 ( I am not sure which serial, but it looks pretty small)

First question: The one she used is Coralife Metal Halide ($220) that resembles a study lamp. I remembered one time when I read, someone had said that they could use the study lamp bought from Office Deport for like $10. Can someone confirm how is it possible?

Other than that, I don't know what else to ask. Please feel free to fix me, if necessary.

[Tiapan]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

most office lights like that are halogen/ i dont know if there is a huge difference in them or not, but they put out a huge amount of heat, i meant a ton so be careful

[HoustonFishFanatic]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Thomas for a 17G i would say go with a Coral life Aqualight 24" with a 65W 6700K bulb atleast if you want to grow some decent plants.This should be around 60$.
I think you could buy the ADA Aquasoil a couple of $ cheaper from ADG.
Everything else looks good and hope you know that you will also need fertilizers to supplement with high lights and CO2. ADA ferts are good.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

I think the 17g tank is the 60p so like HFF go with the 65/55w coralife since to get something from HD to run on that light will probably cost you the same and not look as nice. Metal Halide if you have the money to spend but the most I would shoot for is the 150w but that requires co2 and good ferts. I want to go with a 70w MH on my Mini-M personally but I am running good amounts of co2 and dose daily.

The substrate is a good start since ADA Aquasoil will grow anything! and don't fret about the prices cause CityPets sells it for the same price as ADG does and that goes for the whole ADA line. The driftwood will probably be more then that since most pieces are about $20ea.

Plants is up to your liking but I do recommend looking into fertilizers as well since plants need food to grow. You can probably get away with a lot less if you run low light/no co2/ low light plants since Aquasoil will leach good amounts of nutrients in the beginning months. I rec going with ferts from the get go though.

With your fish selection I would look into something else other then neons....they will dwarf your tank and they look better in big groups.....try looking into micro rasboras....like maculata, brigittae, merah or even jellybean tetras which will make your tank look much bigger.

As for the Eheim you are going to want the classic 2213 for that size tank.

[thomas]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Thank you everyone for your support  :P ,

ek, what specific kind of fertilizer do you refer? Is it at CityPets also? What is the dosing on your ADA?

I think we will buy the brigittae, because they look so cute. (Green plant, green carpet, red shrimp, red fish,... very attraction =)

Oh, does anyone know what is the transparent tubes (output/input) made by glass? Do they come with Eheim, or we have to buy separately?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

All my planted tanks get ADA ferts along with their supplements....simple and works fantastic compared to anything I have used....each pump of the bottle is for 5g. I use their whole line....BrightyK, Brighty Lights, Brighty step 3, ECA, Python-git, Green-Gain, and Green bactor.....the last four I only use once a week or when I see the need for it.

City Pets, ADG and FishGallery carries the ADA line but the latter is a bit more then the first two and ADG is where it comes from.  There is also the Seachem line which works well and if you want to mail order there is Gregwatson.com

The clear tubes are actually glass and if you are not careful they will break....also not cheap and it sucks breaking one....They are also ADA products which I think you will have to get from ADG......They are called Lily Pipes. Need to be careful putting them on and working with them.

[screename]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Since when are 60-P $80?  Thats cheap.  I thought they were $95    8O

Also, if youre gonna spend all that good money, I think a great upgrade would be the coralife 24"   2x65watt.  It is only $30 more than your proposed lighting "budget".  This will increase your chances of better looking carpet plants with much more light to penetrate the lowest areas of your tank.  Eventually, with CO2 and ferts, you will ultimately be limited by your tank's lighting.  

ADA ferts are amazing.  I was having problems with some of my plants dying off and was skeptical about jumping into the realm of ferts but after a little convincing from EK, I decided to try them.  Within 3-4 days, I saw a noticeable difference and I now swear by them.  Great investment!

[thomas]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

yeah,   , I actually got that tank for $80 b/c the lady miss her pricing at first. I came by the next day to buy it when she realized that the price should be $95, but after few minutes talking, she agreed to sell me with that price. She was very kind to sell me that tank. I was so excited, and bought the Coralife 24'' 2x65W too in same day.

Screename, what to you mean  by "Eventually, with CO2 and ferts, you will ultimately be limited by your tank's lighting"? Please explain a little more for me bc I have never used a CO2 before.

Thanks :?

[djmatthewblack]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

You could probably build a c02 chamber.  They have little kits for $40 at most LFS but all you really need is some coke bottles, some tubing, glue, sugar and yeast.  Good for a while but the ones I built won't hold pressure and I don't have anything good to seal the caps with.  Still worked well for a few months.  Combine that with some organic liquid c02 and your plants will be great.

[Mzungu]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Screename, what to you mean  by "Eventually, with CO2 and ferts, you will ultimately be limited by your tank's lighting"? Please explain a little more for me bc I have never used a CO2 before.

I think what screename means is that no matter how much CO2 and ferts you use, the plants will only grow so much without adequate lighting. I'm trying to think of an example...Kind of like if you buy a new houseplant, put it in a south-facing window, give it great fertilized soil, and talk to it daily ( :wink: ) but only water a little bit once a month, it's not likely to grow much. So the water would be the limiting factor.

[screename]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Mzungu is correct.  Im glad you went with the 2x65 watt!!!  You can pretty much grow anything now.  By limiting factor, I mean that it doesnt matter how great all your components are if one component is lacking.  Its the weakest "link" that will hold you back.  

A good real life example is:
Say you just bought a very nice sports car.  It has a great engine, great suspension, great chassis, great aerodynamics etc. etc. Then, you put the crappiest tires on it.  The car will not perform to the best of its abilities.  Its performance is limited by the crappy tires.  No matter how great the rest of the car is, if the tires can not hook up, that 600 horsepower engine is of no use.   Hope this makes sense some how.

[thomas]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Oh, haha, dump THomas. I bought a good light already, but not CO2 yet. So, it means CO2 sources is my limiting factor now, right?

What about the CO2 from respiration of fish? The excess CO2 could kill my fishes, b/c I doubt if I have enough plant to absorb all CO2. How do I check how much CO2 my tank need?

[HoustonFishFanatic]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Get one of the drop checkers they have online.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

The fish will not produce enough co2 and it will not be consistent either.


For optimal plant growth/appearance ferts are added to the water so that greatly increases the need for co2.....actually ig goes like this....light helps photosynthesize, co2 aids that and ferts feed it.

[ponyrandy]

Re: NEED HELP before setting up a mini plantscape

Not to hijack, but does anyone know what the little green mounds of ground cover are in this tank?
Brian