(yet Another) Substrate Question Amongst Other Things

[DevUK]

Hey all. I'm going to be setting up a small planted tank - 18" x 12" x 12". I'll be looking at getting either an interpet compact T5 36w or 55w light unit.

My goal is to experiment with EI. I'll be using a Nutrafin yeast based CO2 unit also.

My questions are -

What substrate would you recommed? I've thought about ADA Aqua soil, and also Tetra. For a small planted aquarium what would you suggest? I also want to put a thin covering of sand or some other fine substrate on top. Any recommendations/advice here?

Also, how do you work out WPG? I've read that with smaller tanks the WPG "rule" doesn't apply as much, needing more WPG than you'd expect. Again, what lighting would you recommend?

Finally, for a planted tank what sort of filtration is usually good to go with? Is a low current required? I'll probably be using a fluval 2+ internal but its a bit of a beast compared to the tank size. I may use a fluval 1 as I have one spare at the moment. Is there any rules of thumb for filtration?

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

[nry]

I have used EcoComplete as the substrate in my 5 gallon cube, nice colour (black/dark grey) and is complete so no need for anything else.

As for the filter, I have a £10 AquaVital hang on filter, into which I have stuffed way more media than it comes with and I have taken out the carbon pad thingy. It gives a good turn over with little water disturbance, plus the turnover is adjustable very easily (turn a dial). Internal filters for a tank this size are a real waste of space and the flow rate seems massive and the amount of filter media was very very poor.

I don't run CO2 in this tank, I use Flourish Excel, but even with only a 15w Interpet Daylight Plus T8 inc. reflector I can't say anything has struggled to grow beyond the really high light stuff like hiemanthius (spelling?) which didn't do well. A 36w or 55w PC will be great though the length of the 55w tube is 21" so you'll lose a lot of the light outside of the tank dimensions, the 36w is only 16" so with a reflector you should be getting close to 100% of the light onto the water surface.

 

[Themuleous]

Just to add to nry's exceelent adivce

What substrate would you recommed? I've thought about ADA Aqua soil, and also Tetra. For a small planted aquarium what would you suggest? I also want to put a thin covering of sand or some other fine substrate on top. Any recommendations/advice here?

The sand will mix with the substrate below over time, there isn't really much you can do about that. So if you're after the look of sand you might struggle. Eco-complete would be ideal or ADA AS if you can live with the NH3 spike for a few weeks. ADA AS power might give a similar appearance to sand?

Also, how do you work out WPG? I've read that with smaller tanks the WPG "rule" doesn't apply as much, needing more WPG than you'd expect. Again, what lighting would you recommend?

Work out the total volume of the tank in US gallons, then divide the total watts by the volume to get WPG. I would suggest you only get the 36w tube at the most, 55w is probably a little to much even for a small tank. As for which tube, the interpet daylight plus gets good reviews.

Finally, for a planted tank what sort of filtration is usually good to go with? Is a low current required? I'll probably be using a fluval 2+ internal but its a bit of a beast compared to the tank size. I may use a fluval 1 as I have one spare at the moment. Is there any rules of thumb for filtration?

You cant really over filter a tank, some people with high light tanks tend to run at around 10x the tank volume per hour, but 3-4x would be adequate. I run a eheim classic 2211 on my 24lt nano, and its work well if you can live with the increased flow rate in the tank.

Sam