Getting A New Planted Tank

[FuzzyDragon09]

Hey guys!
So I am getting a new tank for Christmas am I am preparing my shopping list. The tank is going to be a 68 gallon (footprint= 36x18). This is the thread about it: http://houstonfishbox.com/modules.ph...ewtopic&t=8231 I want to make the tank a heavily planted one and have a couple questions.

Lighting- I am either going to get a single or double bulb fixture. What kind of bulbs would I need if I want to have medium to low-light plants?

Substrate- I've heard Eco-Complete is good but have never used it. What would you suggest?

CO2- Do I really need this? I have no experience with them but if I have to buy another gizmo I will. I heard somewhere that you don't really need CO2 if you don't have high-light plants. Is this true? And I have also heard that there are some fertilizers that kinda substitute CO2. Is this also true?


PS- Am I allowed to repost a few questions here if I have posted them and other questions in my other thread? I'm hope I am not in trouble. :uhoh: The nice people that have been helping me so far say they don't have much experience with plants and frankly I don't either.  

Anyways, thanks in advance!  :bsty:

[spyke1969]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

Congrats on going planted, My fav, here are my answers to your questions/ My opinions:

Lighting: for a 68 you will need more than 2 bulbs unless you are thinking of metal halide, which I dont think you are, look at the t6 sets, t6 is a lamp diameter,  for even low light plants you are going to need around 136 watts= 2 watts per gallon

substrate: several of us have experimented w/ lots of soils, of course it all depends on what type of plants that you want to keep, my fav is the ADA Aquasoil. but some do well w/even just pool filter sand

Co2: I'll tell it like this, your car runs just fine on gas, but if you add NOS, watch it go! Same goes for plants, it is not always nesasary but it sure helps

as for your questions :yes ask them, ask alot, it will save you alot of money & heartaches, nothing sadder than to pay 100's only to watch all your plants die & not know why

[schance]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

get either t-5 or higher for light and get COMPRESSED CO2 get a reg and soleniod off ebay and a tank at any AOC
ada soild is going to be your best bet and fis gallery has a 250 watt metal halide made by jebo and if you can get over the jebo brand its a good light i think it is approx 150 but dont quote me
for lights try  dual power compacts

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

You can get by with sandblast or poolfilter sand,  a 4' dual 40w flourecent shop light, no CO2 and low light plants.

But from then on you'll want to upgrade.   If you can afford it all now, get it now.  If you're on a budget, make due without the bells & whistles
but keep an eye on the Fish Market here and pick up the pieces when you can.
one exception,  get the good substrate now.    

[FuzzyDragon09]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

Ahh! 8O My heads starting to hurt.  :( This is all really confusing.  

Congrats on going planted, My fav, here are my answers to your questions/ My opinions:

Lighting: for a 68 you will need more than 2 bulbs unless you are thinking of metal halide, which I dont think you are, look at the t6 sets, t6 is a lamp diameter,  for even low light plants you are going to need around 136 watts= 2 watts per gallon

substrate: several of us have experimented w/ lots of soils, of course it all depends on what type of plants that you want to keep, my fav is the ADA Aquasoil. but some do well w/even just pool filter sand

Co2: I'll tell it like this, your car runs just fine on gas, but if you add NOS, watch it go! Same goes for plants, it is not always nesasary but it sure helps

as for your questions :yes ask them, ask alot, it will save you alot of money & heartaches, nothing sadder than to pay 100's only to watch all your plants die & not know why

get either t-5 or higher for light and get COMPRESSED CO2 get a reg and soleniod off ebay and a tank at any AOC
ada soild is going to be your best bet and fis gallery has a 250 watt metal halide made by jebo and if you can get over the jebo brand its a good light i think it is approx 150 but dont quote me
for lights try  dual power compacts

You can get by with sandblast or poolfilter sand,  a 4' dual 40w flourecent shop light, no CO2 and low light plants.

But from then on you'll want to upgrade.   If you can afford it all now, get it now.  If you're on a budget, make due without the bells & whistles
but keep an eye on the Fish Market here and pick up the pieces when you can.
one exception,  get the good substrate now.    

Umm what does t6 and t5 mean? Okay so I am buying the tank, stand, light, and top from the Fish Ranch. I told Charles I wanted a planted tank and he PM'd me and said he would get back to me about the kind of lights I need.

So spyke says that CO2 is not always necessary but it helps and schance says to get Compressed CO2 (don't know what this is)? So is it really necessary for medium to low-light plants? I don't know what specific species or kinds of plants I want yet. Maybe I should figure that out?

I'm kinda on a budget but not really. My parents are paying me $200 for Christmas and I pay the rest. So basically they are paying for the tank and stand. I've been working part time while taking classes so I have money.

As for substrate there are two votes for Aquasoil but I read that you can have ammonia spikes and drops in pH. Have either of you had these problems? What other good planting substrates could I use? Also I don't think I asked this but how much substrate should I use? A pound per gallon?

[schance]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

ok the aquasoil is great when you first use it overdose with amequel and that will take care of the ammonia and so long as you dont have fis in there now i would not worry about the ammonia i have 3 tanks with it never had a problem.

t-5 and t-6
most standard floescent tubes are t-8 or t-12 but the t-5 is newer and stronger the t-6 is the jebo version of a t-5 i would not mess with the t-6

know what plants you want....

phreek is right once u start u never stop u will want to upgrade

co2 is great but not nessicary you will see a huge difference
do not try the DIY (do it yourself) some people just get lucky and it works for them but most give up and never use co2 and then never realized the full potential of the plant tank

advice:
get the sub first spluge and get the best then figure out what type of plants you want then you next thing you should prob get is a light because light is IMO more important than co2 and the ank will look better than CO2 last, and light wise at least start off with dual florescent tubes and work you way up.

[FuzzyDragon09]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

ok the aquasoil is great when you first use it overdose with amequel and that will take care of the ammonia and so long as you dont have fis in there now i would not worry about the ammonia i have 3 tanks with it never had a problem.

t-5 and t-6
most standard floescent tubes are t-8 or t-12 but the t-5 is newer and stronger the t-6 is the jebo version of a t-5 i would not mess with the t-6

know what plants you want....

phreek is right once u start u never stop u will want to upgrade

co2 is great but not nessicary you will see a huge difference
do not try the DIY (do it yourself) some people just get lucky and it works for them but most give up and never use co2 and then never realized the full potential of the plant tank

advice:
get the sub first spluge and get the best then figure out what type of plants you want then you next thing you should prob get is a light because light is IMO more important than co2 and the ank will look better than CO2 last, and light wise at least start off with dual florescent tubes and work you way up.

I think I will do without CO2 for the time being. If I think I need or want it later I will get it. As for determining what plants to buy...what do you think about this list? I just looked up Asian plants that wouldn't be too hard to care for. I picked Southeast Asian plants because one of the tank inhabitants will be the RTS I currently have in a 10 gallon and his ancestors came from around there. I have kept Java Moss but none of the others. Please let me know if some of these are more trouble than they are worth or what have you.
:bsty:

Dwarf Hairgrass
Java Moss
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne undulate
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Rotala sp. 'Nanjenshan' (Mayaca sellowiana)
Microsorum pteropus
Hygrophila polysperma
Limnophila sessiliflora
Rotala rotundifolia (indica)
Water Sprite
Nymphacea stellata
Giant Hygrophila
Water Wisteria
Vallisneria spiralis

[schance]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

alot of the bed things like the grass will definatly be harder than say the rotala so i would stay away from those types until later i am not familiar with the names i know them and what they need when i can see them but ya you can look most of those up and get info or there is prob someone who can give u the story on all these plants.

[spyke1969]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

Sorry, I was confusedabout the T5 T6's Its the T5's that are nice. I was trying to save you some money & not sugesting the metal halide light. Schance is right, Jebo has that light w/ a MH in it for about $150, ask Charles he had the first one that I saw.

[FuzzyDragon09]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

alot of the bed things like the grass will definatly be harder than say the rotala so i would stay away from those types until later i am not familiar with the names i know them and what they need when i can see them but ya you can look most of those up and get info or there is prob someone who can give u the story on all these plants.

I guess I will first try some of the hardier ones on the list first and then see if I can grow the others.

Sorry, I was confusedabout the T5 T6's Its the T5's that are nice. I was trying to save you some money & not sugesting the metal halide light. Schance is right, Jebo has that light w/ a MH in it for about $150, ask Charles he had the first one that I saw.

Okay.  :? I guess I didn't really ask this right before. What does the "T" stand for? I just asked Charles if he knew about these.

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

 I know, pick me, pick me.

Fluorescent Lamp Labeling
The actual fluorescent tubes are identified by several letters and numbers and will look something like 'F40CW-T12' or 'FC12-T10'.
So, the typical labeling is of the form FSWWCCC-TDD (variations on this format are possible):


F - Fluorescent lamp. G means Germicidal shortwave UV lamp.
S - Style - no letter indicates normal straight tube; C for Circline.
WW - Nominal power in Watts. 4, 5, 8, 12, 15, 20, 30, 40, etc.
CCC - Color. W=White, CW=Cool white, WW=Warm white, BL/BLB=Black light, etc.
T - Tubular bulb.
DD - Diameter of tube in of eighths of an inch. T8 is 1", T12 is 1.5", etc.
For the most common T12 (1.5 inch) tube, the wattage (except for newer energy saving types) is usually 5/6 of the length in inches. Thus, an F40-T12 tube is 48 inches long.

[Tameyourself]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

I will be following this topic - I am trying to start a planted tank too :)

Just a 29 gallon for now.

[FuzzyDragon09]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

 I know, pick me, pick me.

Fluorescent Lamp Labeling
The actual fluorescent tubes are identified by several letters and numbers and will look something like 'F40CW-T12' or 'FC12-T10'.
So, the typical labeling is of the form FSWWCCC-TDD (variations on this format are possible):


F - Fluorescent lamp. G means Germicidal shortwave UV lamp.
S - Style - no letter indicates normal straight tube; C for Circline.
WW - Nominal power in Watts. 4, 5, 8, 12, 15, 20, 30, 40, etc.
CCC - Color. W=White, CW=Cool white, WW=Warm white, BL/BLB=Black light, etc.
T - Tubular bulb.
DD - Diameter of tube in of eighths of an inch. T8 is 1", T12 is 1.5", etc.
For the most common T12 (1.5 inch) tube, the wattage (except for newer energy saving types) is usually 5/6 of the length in inches. Thus, an F40-T12 tube is 48 inches long.

Wow! At first this looked scary.  8O Then I read it 10 times and got out a calculator. Now it makes sense! :emtidea: Thanks for this PhishPhreek!    Oh and hey do they not all come with the color in the label?

I will be following this topic - I am trying to start a planted tank too :)

Just a 29 gallon for now.

Cool! I'm hoping that once I have one planted tank set up that the next one will be much easier. I won't be asking so many newb questions. Well maybe.  :wink:

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

 
CCC - Color. W=White, CW=Cool white, WW=Warm white, BL/BLB=Black light, etc.

Oh and hey do they not all come with the color in the label?

YES  "not all"  but they should - Never say never or always,  because somewhere someone will prove you wrong.    

[FuzzyDragon09]

Re: Getting A New Planted Tank

Here's what I have decided so far:

Lighting- I'm still waiting on Charles to get back to me on this, but I'm in no hurry.

Substrate- I've been looking around at Aqua Soil, Flourite, and Eco Complete and I think in the end I will choose because of color and price. They all sound great.  Eco Complete has a nice dark brown/black color, Flourite has some black varieties that I have seen, and Aqua Soil Amazonia II has what looks to be a nice dark color, but the Eco Complete is slightly cheaper. 4 bags of Eco-Complete is cheaper than 4 bags of Aqua Soil or 5 bags of Flourite, so I am going with Eco Complete.

CO2- None for now, but maybe I will add it later if I think I need it.

Plants- I am going to do some more research on this list of plants before I buy any but I think they shouldn't be too hard to keep. I basically went to a website with a list of a ton of different kinds of plants. I then picked out the ones that specified an Easy to Moderate care level and Easy to Moderate lighting requirements that are native to Southeast Asia and/or Tropical regions. I also took a look at the reviews of the plants to see how other people's plants fared but I'm still going to research some more. Here is the list:

Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf Hairgrass)- Care= Easy, Light= Any
Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss)- Care= Easy, Light= Low
Cryptocoryne wendtii (Green/Brown Wendtii Crypt)- Care= Easy, Light= Any
Cryptocoryne undulate (Undulated Crypt / Alligator Weed)- Care= Easy, Light= Medium
Cryptocoryne x willisii (Willisii (Nevillii) Crypt)- Care= Easy, Light= Any
Microsorum pteropus (Java Fern)- Care= Easy, Light= Low
Hygrophila polysperma (Dwarf Hygrophila)- Care= Easy, Light= Bright [Some people said even without adequate light it grew like a weed?]
Limnophila sessiliflora (Dwarf Ambulia)- Care= Medium, Light= Medium
Rotala rotundifolia [indica] (Dwarf Rotala)- Care= Easy, Light= Bright [May be able to grow well in lower lighting?]
Ceratopteris thalictroides (Water Sprite)- Care= Average, Light= Average
Hygrophila corymbosa (Giant Hygrophila)- Care= Easy, Light= Bright [May be able to grow well in lower lighting?]
Hygrophila difformis (Water Wisteria)- Care= Easy, Light= Medium
Vallisneria spiralis (Tape Grass / Val)- Care= Easy, Light= Medium

Oh and I got the info about the plants from this website under the garden section. They separate the plants by size, whether they are the floating types, or whether they are the carpet kinds. http://www.aquahobby.com

EDIT: I also have a question about fertilizers. I have never used them on my Java Moss, Anubias Nana, and Elodea (Anacharis) in my betta tanks but I know I will need to use some when I set up my planted tank. What are the best fertilizers out there? They all say that they have different things in them and I am confused. Would I need more than one type?