New Tank

[mart609]

I've just picked up a bargain off ebay
its a 48x15x15 tank, which i worked out at 180ltr??
i want to go for a planted tank as i like the more natural look
just have a few questions as i'm a complete newbie. i've read a few of the guides but its alot to take in
questions are:

whats the best substrate for a planted tanks? sand/gravel etc? or is it just down to personal preference?

the tank came with a fluval 405 external which is rated upto 400ltrs, is this overkill for the tank? do planted tanks need more or less filtration/flow?

CO2 wise I've picked up a Glass CO2 defibrillator off ebay and am setting up a low tech sugar/yeast bottle setup, will this suffice?

and finally the tank came with these lights

which I'm guessing are completely wrong for a planted tank, what kind of lights should i be looking towards

thanks

 

[JenCliBee]

whats the best substrate for a planted tanks? sand/gravel etc? or is it just down to personal preference?

Hi and welcome to the plant side .

substrate will depend on what you want from the tank and how the tank is going to be run (high tech/lowtech). If your going the lowtech, no ferts/co2 then a rich soil based substrate capped with sand or gavel is usually recommended. If you are going to dose your fertilisers daily then you can opt for pretty much anything, gravel, sand and even cat litter like i use.

the tank came with a fluval 405 external which is rated upto 400ltrs, is this overkill for the tank? do planted tanks need more or less filtration/flow?

Planted tank in general need good flow rates, ive used and currently use most of the juwel range of filters and even though i would recommend them, there flow rate is considerably lower than they state. You may find even with the 405, you may need the addition of a little powerhead just to help circulation. The recommended for planted tanks is 10x turnover.

CO2 wise I've picked up a Glass CO2 defibrillator off ebay and am setting up a low tech sugar/yeast bottle setup, will this suffice?

You will need at least 3 bottles to keep this even close to being stable and even then it's very hard with yeast based systems, there not really recommended for larger tanks but have been used successfully.

and finally the tank came with these lights

which I'm guessing are completely wrong for a planted tank, what kind of lights should i be looking towards

The 14000k will be fine, the blue for aesthetics isn't the greatest though. You may want to replace both anyways because they do look old. However if you keep the 14000k you could get a 4500k-6700k to balance the whiteness out abit.

On this sized tank and not using pressurised co2, i would be more inclined to go the more lowtech route and chose easy to care for plants, there are alot to choose from and some very nice ones out there. The only problem i can see is the lighting does seemed to be T5 and i would imagine 36/39w which is going to give you around 1.5/1.6wpg... most would consider the addition of co2 necessary even if it was a carbon supplement like easy carbo/flourish excel.

Really things would depend on what sort of plants you want, what you want from the tank and how high/low maintenance you would prefer it

 

[mart609]

hi and thanks for the speedy reply.
I'm liking the idea of the low tech solution, with the soil substrate and gravel/sand covering
what type of soil should i be looking at? any links?

if i went for the low tech, non co2 option would i still be able to use lights in the tank? or would this cause damage to the plants?

or if i went for the more high tech route, would the bottled yeast co2 option cover me until i could afford a more stable co2 setup? as i'll be setting it up in a few weeks and im on a bit of a budget this side of xmas

 

[JenCliBee]

hi and thanks for the speedy reply.
I'm liking the idea of the low tech solution, with the soil substrate and gravel/sand covering
what type of soil should i be looking at? any links?

if i went for the low tech, non co2 option would i still be able to use lights in the tank? or would this cause damage to the plants?

Soil wise you could go with most pond soils but many use the John Inness(sp)No3/No6 can never remeber the number lol. you can actually go with most potting soils aslong as they contain no pesticides. There are also nature soils aimed specifically at us plant people.

Light wise you could dim it down by having floating plants as shade, this will limit the amount of penetrative light and be much better to avoid light/algae related issues .

You can still add ferts to this method which i would recommend but you would/could get away with just adding every month or so just to replenish.

 

[JenCliBee]

or if i went for the more high tech route, would the bottled yeast co2 option cover me until i could afford a more stable co2 setup? as i'll be setting it up in a few weeks and im on a bit of a budget this side of xmas

The yeast based systems are unstable, unstable often leads to co2 related algae, there really isn't a definite answer, you could be fine if you limit the light, you could be fine full stop. You would need to add fertilisers aswell due to the extra growth the co2 and light will produce. There are many factors.

Me personally would do the lowtech first and the just upgrade everything when you have the means. You can still go for the same layout in hightech as you would for the lowtech... ie soil capped substrate. You could then once going hightech..remove the floating plants to allow the full light and then start to dose ferts daily.

Me personally wouldn't rely on yeast based for that sized tank for any length of time unless i was using a very limited light source but then in that case, you could get away with not adding the yeast based anyways .

 

[tanksalot]

+1 on the yeast-based systems.

I have DIY CO2 running on two tanks, a 27 litre and a 110 litre, and the bigger one has been a pain in the proverbial.

After about 3 months I've got it moderately stable, but it's been Algae Central for most of that time, and I know even now that it's on a knife edge

I definitely wouldn't attempt it in anything as large as your tank - over time you'd end up spending a fair bit just buying the sugar, so you might as well save that money towards getting a pressurised system.