Equipment Check

[emo]

Hi everyone,

I'm in the process of beginning a new heavily planted high-light tank and just wanted to get some views on my planned setup.

Tank: Juwel Rio 180

Filter: TetraTec EX1200 - Carbon removed, 1 Sponge compartment replaced with Eheim Substratpro
Heater: Hydor Inline 300w

Lighting: (Approx 3.4wpg)
Juwel High-Lite T5 45w
1x Juwel Nature 45w (9000k)
1x Juwel Day 45w (4100k)

Arcadia Ultra Seal Twin lamp 24/39W T5 Controller
1x Osram Lumilux 880 Skywhite (8000k)
1x Osram Lumilux 840 (4000k)

Substrate:
Not decided, possibly Tropica Plant substrate as a base layer then some sort of sand on the top, i'm leaning towards black as opposed to gold/silver sand
I already have a rena cor cable heater, however it's 15w and i'm not definitely sure I want to use it yet. Suggestions?

c02:
I'll be going FE c02 as soon as possible, however the tank needs cycling first. It'll give me some time to shop around.

Ferts:
EI Dosing probable, maybe ferts

Plants:
Don't have a definite list, but I have a picture in mind of a wall of plants on the back and sides, small amount of wood and some carpeting in the foreground 'arena' if you will. Plants i'll come back to.

Livestock:
Nothing definitive yet either, Rams (Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi) pair eventually but that's a while off.
Cleanup crew just shrimp, amano, crystal red would be lovely. Again nothing definitive.



I'd love to hear some opinions, comments and suggestions if there are any.


Steve

 

[Phage]

Just wondering, why do you want high light? Nothing wrong with it, just wondering…

Wall of plants.. do you mean a moss wall?

As for livestock… have you ever had german blue rams? They are quite sensitive to water quality. I’ve had two for almost two years and they randomly got sick. I still don’t know what is wrong, I had to put the male down few days ago. Might want something more hardy.
If you want rams, what about bolivian rams? They aren’t as colorful though. Or what about ocelot danios? I really like mine against my plants. You can get apistogrammas. Or gouramis (chocolate, pearl, honey) but I think they might eat some plants. Small school of rainbow fish. What about otos as well? Harlequin rasboras. One angelfish. I dunno, random alternatives that are colorful. Up to you though.

Can't comment on much else as I am no expert, hehe.

 

[emo]

Hi Phage,

By wall of plants I simply meant plants covering the entire back of the tank rather than attached to the back.

Juwel high-lite for three reasons, 1) I want the top of the tank covered, purely for aesthetical reasons. 2) The Juwel HO T5s are rated a few watts higher than say the arcadia I bar. I've not read to much against the high-lites. 3) It's also pretty easy to attach the other 2 standard HO T5s to either side of the Juwel unit, with reflectors on each lamp.

I do know about how sensitive rams are aye, about two years ago I was close to getting a pair however I ended up doing a lot of moving for work etc and couldn't put in the time. They will be an addition, just not until everything is well matured. I can't say i've put as much thought into livestock as I have the equipment and plants, but after years of the fish being the focal point in my tanks rather than the plants i'd like to turn the tides, so to speak.

 

[aaronnorth]

dont use the substrate heater, they dont work.

Dont plant until you get the CO2 sorted,

EI would be the best bet on a tank this size, or you could use a DIY TPN+ http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm