Plant And Filter.

[spacefishy]

hello everyone.

i would love to have a very nice planted tank. but firstly i need to know what is the requirement for the water filter.



have any recommendation for the filter that i could use for my 29(us) galloon tank.

 

[RadaR]

External is best. I would reccomend a fluval 105 or 205.

 

[chibi]

I use an external filter. At least, I think it's external... it sticks out on the side. I use a Hagan 50 filter for my 29 gallon tank. It's quiet, it's effective, and you can regulate the flow.

 

[spacefishy]

thank you for the recommendation. but now im confused what should i add first for my planted tank.

now my 29 gal tank has 11w lighting, gravel and a top filter which i think is not suitable for planted tank.

im about to add substrate in my tank tomorrow. now the problem is, what should i upgrade first.

lighting or filters.

 

[RadaR]

Id say filter.

 

[chibi]

Filter definitely. Lighting usually isn't a huge factor in the health of the fish or plants; filters are.

Edit: Whoops, forgot you don't have any fish I'd still say filter, though. A lack of proper filtration for a short period of time is a lot worse than proper lighting over a short period of time.

 

[spacefishy]

thanks!

 

[spacefishy]

im getting EHEIM ECCO - 3 LAYERS FILTER next week. anyone have experience using this type of filter?

is the filter suitable for plant?....

 

[RadaR]

All externals will be fine. And EHEIM are very good.

 

[Themuleous]

Why upgrade the filter first? As long as you have one in there that does the bacterial filter thing, it doesn't matter what it is, whereas rubbish lighting will mean the plants wont grow very well and some may not even survive.

Get lighting first IMHO

Sam

 

[robjack]

Filter definitely. Lighting usually isn't a huge factor in the health of the fish or plants; filters are.

I'd say lighting is the factor in the health of plants. Definately upgrade the lighting first, as you won't be able to grow any plants really at your current light levels. Up the lighting, then worry about the filter later. To a certain extent, plants themselves act as a filter, so at least in the short term, filtration isn't the main issue.

Hope this helps,

Rob.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Another vote for the extra lighting !

Depending on the plants you choose, you may actually need to change the lighting, filter and substrate to have much success, but I'd cerainly start with the lighting.
I dont agree with the statement that lighting usually isn't a huge factor in the health of plants ! It's often far more important to plants than the filtration method !

Are you sure it's 11W and 29 Gals. That seems very low, 11w seems more suitable for 29 Litres ! A good rule of thumb for lighting in a planted tank is to aim for 2 watts per gallon (US gallons).

The filter is also important for the overall health of the tank and it's occupants, but there are methods where you can actually have a planted tank without any filtration ( Walstad 'Natural' method) ! However as with all things, you need to have things balanced correctly for that to work.

I'm not sure what you mean by a 'top filter', but the only one that would give you real problems with plants is an Under Gravel Filter. An external filter is certainly your best choice and ideally you should upgrade the lighting AND the filter at the same time ..... but if that's not possible, I'd still say do the lighting first !

 

[Themuleous]

Glad Im not the only one!

 

[spacefishy]

cool. thanks for the advice guys. really appreciate it though.

it looks like i have to change both in few weeks. cos the filter that i will buy is from a friend. he sell for RM188 (Malaysian currency). its about USD$54 .

do u think the price is reasonable?

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh seems ok, but Ive heard some disappointing things about the ecco range of eheims. But at that price it doesnt really matter, try and see

Sam