Set Up My Tank.

[Dave Pauls]

Hi. I am new to this board, and I have been reading through a lot of your posts. I have a lot to learn. that is for sure. ha ha. any ways, I recently purchased a 60 gallon aquarium. I want to set it up as a planted tank. I am on a bit of a budget though. So far I have:
tank - 48"x18"x18"
stand
Filter - aqua clear 500
Heater - 300 watt
hood - which i am going to scrap and make my own
I got all that for $75.00

My house is on a well. that means that my water is extremely hard. I think this might be a problem, but I am not too sure. what can I do to work with this? I had a very small planted tank (20gal) a few years back, and I used to use distilled water from a dehumidifier mixed with well water to do my chainges. with the help of peat in the filter, I managed to maintain a ph in the high 7s. I didn't have any CO2 though. the problem now though is that I can't make enough distilled water to do signifigant chainges on a 60 gal tank. I will have to test the water to see how bad off I am on that front. for now I am saveing distilled water and rain water to get me started.

ok now from what I have read, the most important things are lights, substrate, and CO2. I am planing on makeing a top for the tank out of plexy glass, and getting 2 two tube flourescent light fixtures to go on top. fitting them with four 40 watt light tubes will give me about 2.5 watts per gallon. I was planing on getting two sun light, and two grow light tubes from the hardware store at about $5 each. is it worth the extra money to get the "aqua glow" ones from the pet store?

for the substrate, I was thinking I should go with Laterite mixed with sand, then put in some solid fertilizer tablets. then another layer of sand on top. I am a bit confused by the substrate thing... there are sooo many choices. I don't want to screw this up because fixing this one is pretty hard once the tank is up and running. Also I was wondering about a heating cable under the gravel. do I really need one? how much difference does it make?

now for the CO2. It sounds like this nutrafin thing is what I should be getting. I guess i need two for a tank my size. would it be worth the money to get a gas canister? probibly not i guess. the money would probibly be better spent else where?

I would really like some help on this one. if anyone has any advice or anything they know I am gona screw up setting this tank up, I would LOVE to hear it. Thanks soo much in advance
DAVE

 

[nry]

For a 4-foot tank I'd personally be looking at injected (bottle-based) CO2, keeping a steady level using a yeast-based system in a 4-foot tank is going to be a reasonable job.

CO2 will help lower your pH, probably by 1, so that will be a benefit: maybe considering a pH meter will help for you to ensure the pH stays very steady?

There are loads of options for substrate, personally I like things that go beneath a layer of sand/gravel and just stay there. I've used JBL AquaBasis Plus in my current tank, loads of other brands exist, Tetra do a similar product and next time I'd be tempted to use the Tropica version as this has an excellent reputation. Something like EcoComplete is also worth considering. It is an all-in-one product (i.e. no additional gravel etc required) and doesn't generally cloud the water etc. It is a deep grey/black colour which I also like. Providing you do something beyond just sand/gravel then that is what counts. Adding root tabs may be useful but not sure initially whether a new tank needs them, I'd only consider them if I had a tank much beyond a year or two old where the substrate nutrients may have been used up: still dosing methods like EI (see pinned thread) generally reduce or remove the need to worry about substrate nutrients as plants get pretty much all they need from the water column.

 

[afroturf]

Wellcome to TFF, looks a good deal with the equiptment you got so far, First off your lighting sounds fine i would go for a 50/50 mix of plant and daylight tubes, you may want to come up with some routine for the lighting i wouldn't advise having all 160w on at all time may be start at 80w for 8hrs a day with a full 160w for about 4hrs for a midday burst, and then increase it gradually from there to about 10hrs a day.

Don't bother with a heating cable many books say they are good for plants but they are now outdated and many view than as unnecessary i don't know the ins and outs of it but just go for a standard heater it'll save you a few $ to.
Like you say there are loads of substrates out there and it is difficult to choose but most will do a good job including laterite, i'd mix it with something with a larger grain size than just plain sand as plain sand can prevent nutrient circulation and isn't the greatest for small root.

I think the aquafin co2 system you mention is a fermentation type? These are ok but a full pressurised system are far better and although the initial cost will be higher, in the long run a full pressurised system will work out not to be that expensive and far less work for you, especially on a tank this size.

 

[Dave Pauls]

thanks so much for the info,

"Something like EcoComplete is also worth considering. It is an all-in-one product (i.e. no additional gravel etc required) and doesn't generally cloud the water etc. It is a deep grey/black colour which I also like. "
I actually picked up one bag of this stuff for another project which I scraped, so I am going to mix my one bag in with what ever I do use as a substrate... the problem I have with this one is the cost. It is $30 a bag, and I would need at least 7 bags which is over $200 just for the substrated. I just don't think I can afford that AND a CO2 system. soooo I guess gravel and laterite mixed with my one bag of the ecocomplete will be my substrate.

So the heating cable is out.... thanks.

"i wouldn't advise having all 160w on at all time may be start at 80w for 8hrs a day with a full 160w for about 4hrs for a midday burst, and then increase it gradually from there to about 10hrs a day."
Is that kinda just till the plants get going sort of thing so I don't have an algae bloom?

So I will go for the CO2 injector, now all I have to worry about is the water quality. Should I put peat in the filter to lower the ph, or should I just get it going as it is, give it a week to settle with the plants, CO2 and everything else, then test it and see whats going on?
I guess I should start it off with just fast growing plants till everything is on track then try some more demanding stuff. what kind of plants should I get then? I have Valls growing in a goldfish tank, and with my hard water, they just go crazy, so I will get a bunch of those in there, and I found the amazon swords really grew well in my last tank. What else should I get in there off the start?
thanks
DAVE

 

[PortWash]

it going as it is, give it a week to settle with the plants, CO2 and everything else, then test it and see whats going on?
I guess I should start it off with just fast growing plants till everything is on track then try some more demanding stuff. what kind of plants should I get then?
DAVE
[/quote]

Try some cabomba, wisteria, anacharis.... IME they are all easy to find also