Starting First Planted Tank

[Crazybob]

hey guys, im going to be setting up a 75g tank and plan on heavily planting it. im going to put a couple tribes of dwarf cichlids (1-2 males and 4-5 females) with various community fish. i was interested in your opinions on good back/mid/foreground plants or links to good sites.

i also wanted to know what kind of lighting i would need? i currently have 1-48" strip, as it was on my old tank that started leaking. i heard tho that it is better to have 2-24" strips, is that true or are people just trying to get me to buy things?

i do plan on making a co2 injection system for it as well. the 2 liter bottle method with 2c sugar, 2c baking soda, and 1c yeast. i was wondering what the best way to get it into my tank water was tho. i was told you can just put the tube right into the tank, but i looked and saw thats among the worst ways to do it and i was wondering what your methods were.


thanks for all the help and sorry the post is so long

~crazybob 8)

ps. whats the best kind of substrate to use? i like the look of sand but ive read it can trap toxins, would plants eliminate that danger?
pps. i have an emperor 400 and a cascade 700 for my filtration, if that would be an issue of sorts.

 

[aaronnorth]

2 x tubes will increase the light coverage, it hard to describe, if you take 1 spotlight then it will shine in 1 place, if you have 2 then you will get more area covered.

1 - 1.9WPG Low light
2 - 3WPG + Medium Light
3.1WPG+ High light

2WPG+ you will need CO2, aim or 5500k - 11 000k and a spectrum peaking in the red, green & blue

you will need a lot of DIY bottles, 6+ for a 75g, if i were you i would invest in pressurized or make one out of a fire extinghuisher.

I think people worry to much about anearobic pockets, the plants root will jhelp that problem, i read somewhere that once the gas is released it reacts with the oxygen and becomes harmless, Tom Barr set up a tank with the substrate 1ft deep.

Have you read the pinned articles above? Plant geek is a good plant website for finding out about different species.

 

[smoothvirus]

Filtration sounds good, you'll need more light though. I have the Coralife Freshwater Aqualight- 48" Power Compact Light-2 x 65W on my 75G.

 

[DevUK]

I was interested in your opinions on good back/mid/foreground plants or links to good sites.

There are lots of good stem plants out there. Take a look at the sticky post about easy to start with plants, also check out Greenline aquatics for some good plant selections. Also worth using the Tropica website for getting an idea for plants too. You can search for specific requirements (height/light/origin etc).

i also wanted to know what kind of lighting i would need? i currently have 1-48" strip, as it was on my old tank that started leaking. i heard tho that it is better to have 2-24" strips, is that true or are people just trying to get me to buy things?

I'm guessing 48" means its about 32watts? On a tank this size you'd probably be best with another couple of similar wattage tubes. You will need to consider low light plants though, such as cryptocoryns.

i do plan on making a co2 injection system for it as well. the 2 liter bottle method with 2c sugar, 2c baking soda, and 1c yeast. i was wondering what the best way to get it into my tank water was tho. i was told you can just put the tube right into the tank, but i looked and saw thats among the worst ways to do it and i was wondering what your methods were.

In all honesty, on a 75 gallon tank DIY CO2 just won't be sufficient. You can rig up a pressurised CO2 setup for under £100, using a fire extinguisher, regulator (the expensive part) and possibly a solenoid valve. I use a 2kg fire extinguisher on my 47gal which lasts about 5 months. It will last longer with a solenoid vavle. Here is a good writeup on using a fire extinguisher.

As for getting the CO2 into the water, there are several ways. One is using a glass diffuser inside the tank. You have a length of CO2 tubing (looks like silcone air tubing) which goes from your CO2 equipement, into the tank to the glass diffuser. They look quite pretty

Second method is an external/inline reactor. This method needs an external filter as you attach it on the return pipe before it goes to your filter outlet in the tank.

You will also need a drop checker. This is a little glass device that is attached inside the tank on a suction cup with a liquid inside it. The liquid changes colour depending on how much CO2 is in the water. Here is a great forum post about Drop checkers

ps. whats the best kind of substrate to use? i like the look of sand but ive read it can trap toxins, would plants eliminate that danger?
pps. i have an emperor 400 and a cascade 700 for my filtration, if that would be an issue of sorts.

For substrate you could go with sand, or maybe one of the Unipac fine gravels. Unipac Zambezi sand looks great. You could also consider using a fine gravel or even planted substrate under your plants, and any open unplanted areas you could use sand. As for toxins, plant roots will help keep the substrate oxygenated, as will fish that turn the top layer over and some snails such as MTS (trumpet snails - though snails can be a pain too).

Planted substrates come in several forms. You have under layer substrates which sit under normal gravel/fine gravel (sand sometimes mixes but if its deep enough its usually OK). Tetraplant substrate is an example of this. Then you have complete substrates which don't require any covering. Caribsea Eco-Complete, ADA Aquasoil (very good, but very expensive) are among many of these types.

As for your filters, I'm not sure about those that you list, are they Bio wheels/HOBs? Generally, for a heavily planted tank you need good cirulation. Some go as far as having more than 10x filtration (ie in your case 750 gallons per hour!). The more the better. This is to get nutrients and CO2 to every part of the tank and make sure there are no stagnent areas. Stagnent areas lead to amonia pockets, which lead to algae. Amonia is the cause of algae and if your filtration (circulation)/CO2/nutrients aren't high enough this will cause problems.

You need to look into fertilisers too. EI (Estimative Index) is one way that is used by planted enthusiasts and beginners alike. Its very good and actually very easy once you get your head around a few basic concepts. All it requires is some discipline really (something I struggle with!) Take a look at this fantastic post about EI. It might be a long read, but its a very good writeup

Hope I haven't scared you too much

All this being said, you could simply go for some basic plants, and some basic plant fertilisers and have success.

 

[Crazybob]

hey, thanks for all the help, hopefully ill be getting the tank going by next week. im building a stand for it this weekend, i just picked up lumber earlier today, so ill let you guys know how that turns out.

thanks for the links devuk, they were very informative, and if anything they made me want to do a heavily planted even more! lol

anyway, ill probably throw another post up tonight when i have a proper chance to research exactly the kind of plants and things i want. and i need to look more into substrate, i do like sand, but i want something thatll allow my plants to do really well in too.

thanks again,
crazybob

 

[Crazybob]

hey guys, how many lbs or inches deep should i have of substrate? im getting ready to buy the substrate (prob going to use something like eco-complete) but i need to know how much to get for it.

also, im going to be picking a a double strip light, so i will have 3 48" strip lights, with 32, 36, or 40 watts per light. giving me approx 1.5-1.7 w/g. would this still be considered low lighting or would it be medium lighting?

thanks for all your help so far, hopefully ill be able to get some pictures up in a couple of weeks

crazybob

oh, should i get the bubble co2 monitoring device, or will a dropper kit work fine?

 

[aaronnorth]

aim for 3" of substrate depth, 1.5/1.7WPG is low light.

Do you mean a bubble counter? These just monitor bubbles released per second or minute, it helps to see how much CO2 you are injecting, it is only neccesary on pressurized system as you can regulate how much CO2 you are injcting.

 

[Crazybob]

i meant a test kit, either a dropper, or a bell thing that you float in your tank to measure how much co2 is in there

 

[lljdma06]

aim for 3" of substrate depth, 1.5/1.7WPG is low light.

Do you mean a bubble counter? These just monitor bubbles released per second or minute, it helps to see how much CO2 you are injecting, it is only neccesary on pressurized system as you can regulate how much CO2 you are injcting.

This is a 75g aquarium. Lighting works different on larger systems, you don't need quite as much. I consider 1.5-1.7WPG almost more like moderate lighting in a tank this size. You'll be able to grow most of the commonly available plants without much effort (low-light plants will grow extremely well), and with CO2 injection, you'd probably be able to grow almost anything, except the really finicky high-light species. Especially if you are using quality bulbs with good output and have good reflectors.

Since this is your first planted tank, I suggest that you initially plant with very hardy plants. The list in my signature will do well in the conditions you are creating. Also aim for a very large quantity of fast-growing stemplants initially. It will be more forgiving as you are getting the hang of dosing regimens for fertilisers. I see too many lovely tanks that start off with hairgrass and glosso fields only to end up with plants binned because they don't survive the algae problems.

Good luck, look forward to seeing the journal!

llj

 

[Crazybob]

hey, thanks llj, the only plant that i know i really want is dwarf riccia. its such a cool plant. would you not advise that i get it for a while? its such a cool plant.

once i get the tank in ill start a journal with pics and things.

thanks again to all who have been helping me out so far

 

[Crazybob]

okay, so i have a good idea on what i need to get started, but what kind of fertilizers should i be using? id like to use the ei method which devuk showed me. what powders do i have to get, and where can i order them from?

 

[aaronnorth]

Pottasium Phosphate (monobasic) - KH2PO4
Pottasium Nitrate - KNO3
Trace Mix

OPTIONAL:
Magnesium Sulphate - MgSO4
pottasium sulphate (sulphate of potash) - KSO4
GH Booster (if you have less than 3)

Enough K is added with the above but you can dose more if you wish, extra Mg and SO4 can also be added depending on your levels.

With EI, you need 30ppm CO2 constant which means pressurized, and high lighting (2.5WPG+), otherwise, it will be an algae disaster.

have you read this EI article?

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Plants-a...-Index-Article/


You can order them from Aqua Essentials

http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/index.php?...p;cPath=145_146

or garden direct, dearer, but you get more powder for your money so it works out cheaper.

http/www.gardendirect.co.uk/fertilisers-...=2&sort=20a

 

[Crazybob]

why would i need to have very high lighting to use it? couldnt i just dose with less ingredients, or does 2 times per week instead of three? i havent read that EI article, but i have read thru the one from ukaps, but i will read it in a little bit.

 

[Spider Pig]

why would i need to have very high lighting to use it? couldnt i just dose with less ingredients, or does 2 times per week instead of three? i havent read that EI article, but i have read thru the one from ukaps, but i will read it in a little bit.

You don't need to have high lighting as long as you choose suitable plants that will tolerate low light. The tropica catalogue is a good way to narrow down your selection with its advanced search function. Plants will grow slower and can tweak fertilisers to match. Have a look at the other options to EI like PMDD and DIY/ TPN+
http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/

 

[Crazybob]

hey thanks. ive been told that pressurized co2 is more stabele than using bottles, but as im a poor college student at the moment i think im going to have to use bottles for alittle while until i can reasonably afford the pressurized system. i was thinking however about using 4 - 2 liter bottles and replacing on a week, giving me a more stable and continuous co2 level. it would roughly look like:

day1: fill all tanks
1 : 100%
2 : 100%
3 : 100%
4 : 100%

week 2: replace bottle 2
1 : 75%
2 : 100%
3 : 75%
4 : 75%

week 3 : bottle 3
1 : 50%
2 : 75%
3 : 100%
4 : 50%

week 4 : bottle 4
1 : 25%
2 : 50%
3 : 75%
4 : 100%

after week 4 the levels would remain the same, just rotating which bottle was at what level. if that set up didnt produce enough c02 i would be able to add more, and vice versa.

would that be a viable solution until i could replace it with a pressurized system?