47 Gallon Column... Help with questions please!

[freude88]

Okay, So I brought a 47 gallon tall column aquarium and yes I am familiar with the school of thought that long is better than tall I have a 72 gallon bow front and love it, but I have always liked how tall tanks look so I am going for it. I am planning on keeping small fish so length shouldn't be a huge problem. Anyways I have several questions and would be grateful for any advice.

Lighting - I bought a 20 inch Finnex 24/7 planted light. Will this be enough light to reach the bottom or do I need to buy another one? If something else would be better I am willing to look at those options too but I do like LED. Also, is there any type of underwater lighting that I could put at the bottom if light from above is not going to be enough???

Filter - What type of filter would you recommend? I have used both HOB's and External filters. I tend to like HOB's a little better however.

Surface Agitation - Someone at a LFS told me to put a power head at the bottom for water movement since it's taller. Do you agree? I was planning on putting an airstone line against the back to help with this as well.

It will be a low tech tank with moderately hard water. Any plant suggestions? I have plants in my current tank but am always looking for something new.

Thanks in advance!!

Joy

 

[Johny]

Its hard to say if the 24/7 will be enough light without knowing the dimensions of the tank and what you are doing.

I have a 65 gal (2 foot tall) and started with a finnex planted + 24/7 light. I love the fully automated feature. Plenty of light to see the fish, and it really brought out their color.

Problem is that my tank is a planted, and a coupe months in I've realized that it want intense enough to grow shorter plants. Any plant I put in that was already 8-10 in tall did fine. Anything shorter struggled. I just added a second light, Ray 2 ds, 2 days ago hoping to get better growth.

How tall is your tank?
Will it be planted?

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[Johny]

I forgot to mention the powerhead. I find it helpful to run one lower in the tank line suggested. I have a canister filter and have the out flow direted near the surface to help with agitating the water surface for gas exchange. It doesn't allow for much current lower down. I put a powerhead right down on the gravel and directed the flow along the back glass to keep water moving on the lower level.

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[freude88]

The tank is 20x18x29. I appreciate your advice... It sounds like I will need a second light. Any suggestions?

 

[Stacey W.]

I hace a 55g column style tank and I ran 2 leds on it and got a ton of algae. I am now winning the battle. Use the light that you have and see how the plants do, then make adjustments. Also I pulled my bubble wand out, I hated it. I then placed a powerhead on the lower right hand corner of my tank where I had a huge dead spot (I have an hob). You can wait to see where your dead spot(s) are and then place it.

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[Johny]

I agree with Stacy, start with what you have and add to it, mostly I would just say be aware that the hight can create challenges such as needing more light or dead spots.

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