Advice for New 75 Gallon Planted Project

[LiQuiD]

Ok guys, I've finally got my 75, and want to take my time setting it up proper for planting. I could really use this forums advice as this will be my first time using a soil/gravel substrate. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

1) I was going to use MiracleGrow Organic as the base, then use black gravel and sand on top of that. Thoughts? Any recommendations on gravel or different substrates?

2) I understand I will need to plant heavy for this tank to help against the growth of Algae. Is this statement true? I will eventually be doing a C02 set up, sooner than later.

3) Lighting - I currently have a 48" Aqueon® colormax t5 aquarium light fixture Will this light be adequit enough for my 75? I really would like to go LED with moonlighting, so I was looking at THIS light as a replacement. Just want to be sure I will get the same results growth wise, for the plants. I eventually will be trying to carpet dwarf baby tears.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Ok guys, I've finally got my 75, and want to take my time setting it up proper for planting. I could really use this forums advice as this will be my first time using a soil/gravel substrate. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

1) I was going to use MiracleGrow Organic as the base, then use black gravel and sand on top of that. Thoughts? Any recommendations on gravel or different substrates?

2) I understand I will need to plant heavy for this tank to help against the growth of Algae. Is this statement true? I will eventually be doing a C02 set up, sooner than later.

3) Lighting - I currently have a 48" Aqueon® colormax t5 aquarium light fixture Will this light be adequit enough for my 75? I really would like to go LED with moonlighting, so I was looking at THIS light as a replacement. Just want to be sure I will get the same results growth wise, for the plants. I eventually will be trying to carpet dwarf baby tears.

Thanks everyone!

1. Whatever you choose. Over time, you will have sand on the bottom and gravel on top. The sad reality. Flourite and Eco Complete are common favorites. If you get Flourite make sure to wash the heck out of it. You do not need to wash the Eco complete if there are no fish yet. Read the bag it tells you.

2. You do not necessarily need to go in full throttle. Just do as many as you can handle to take care of. Algae can be controlled with proper dosing. Of ferts, suitable lighting time, and water changes. Plants are just an added bonus do not rely on them to prevent algae.

3. Check the wattage. The planted guys and gals can correct me on this but I believe it is..
Low Light- 1-2 watts per gallon
Medium- 3-4 watts per gallon
High- 5+ watts per gallon.

If you want baby tears I believe you would automatically shoot up to high lighting. I would wait till you get the hang of things first because I have heard they can be quite tricky.

Finnex LED's are not that pricy and work wonders with planted tanks. Many users on here own one or multiple. I have a Finnex Planted Plus 48inch on my 75g planted.

Also I'm assuming you will be dosing ferts especially with your mind set on baby tears.

Paintball co2 system is on the cheaper side of pressurized and can be much more efficient than DIY. I have an Aquatek regulator and a 20oz bottle of co2. They last about 6 months per bottle. You can regulate the flow with a bubble counter and a co2 regulator. I got everything I needed from Amazon.

Hope this helps


Caleb

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[LiQuiD]

3. Check the wattage. The planted guys and gals can correct me on this but I believe it is..
Low Light- 1-2 watts per gallon
Medium- 3-4 watts per gallon
High- 5+ watts per gallon.

I have read about Low light vs high light and am a little confused. High light = high watt output or does it mean longer time of light running? Sorry for the noobness.

Finnex LED's are not that pricy and work wonders with planted tanks. Many users on here own one or multiple. I have a Finnex Planted Plus 48inch on my 75g planted.

Do you carpet any plants? Just curious if the Finnex will work for that.

Also I'm assuming you will be dosing ferts especially with your mind set on baby tears.

For sure! I have heard with using soil though, you do not need to dose as mch or as often?

Paintball co2 system is on the cheaper side of pressurized and can be much more efficient than DIY. I have an Aquatek regulator and a 20oz bottle of co2. They last about 6 months per bottle. You can regulate the flow with a bubble counter and a co2 regulator. I got everything I needed from Amazon.

Thank you, I was definitly going to look into paintball tank first. That is the same regulator I was going to purchase as well. It needs an adapter though correct? Thanks again!!

 

[ImACoolguy]

I have read about Low light vs high light and am a little confused. High light = high watt output or does it mean longer time of light running? Sorry for the noobness.







Do you carpet any plants? Just curious if the Finnex will work for that.







For sure! I have heard with using soil though, you do not need to dose as mch or as often?







Thank you, I was definitly going to look into paintball tank first. That is the same regulator I was going to purchase as well. It needs an adapter though correct? Thanks again!!

Light level means more watts. Basically the higher light you go the more watts you have. Meaning a stronger output. This also means more room for algae to come in. Managing light/plants/and ferts is all a balance.

I just got Staurogyne Repens. I'm going to try a carpet with them.

Aquatek makes a co2 tank adapter.


Caleb

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[ImACoolguy]

Most recent shot of my tank. excuse the air pump hose, dojo loach loves digging all my crap up






I use the Aquatek co2, Finnex light, Eco complete and Flourite with sand substrate, and dose Flourish Flourish Excel and LeafZone. This is after 2 months of growth. These plants all started out small except the vals in the corner.




Caleb

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[LiQuiD]

Light level means more watts. Basically the higher light you go the more watts you have. Meaning a stronger output. This also means more room for algae to come in. Managing light/plants/and ferts is all a balance.

I just got Staurogyne Repens. I'm going to try a carpet with them.

Aquatek makes a co2 tank adapter.

Got it. Not sure the wattage of this light I have, I will have to look it up when I get home. Cant believe there isnt more info on this light from the website.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Watts per gallon has been obsolete for quite a while now with the advent of Led and T-5 ho lighting. What you will be looking at now is PAR or Photosynthetically Active Radiation. For what you want with HC you are going to want to be pulling about 65-70 par at substrate at minimum. Honestly even a lot of the best can't et HC to work so I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to planted tanks. If you want a fixture that you can use for almost any application go to: Build My LED Custom LED Lights for DIY Horticulture Aquarium Hobby Lighting and take a look at their fixtures. I own one and run it on my 55 gallon high tech tank and it is very impressive, the thing is that the cost reflects that Thats the only fixture Id attempt HC with unless you were to have multiple finnex fixtures or something. TO start I would recommend a single 48" finnex planted+ for your tank. You can grow a pretty wide array of low to medium light plants with it and get a really sharp looking tank even without injected co2 if you don't want. It is also very cost effective and a great bang for your buck. The BML is very expensive but really the best fixture on the market right now. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions, Ask them!

 

[LiQuiD]

Watts per gallon has been obsolete for quite a while now with the advent of Led and T-5 ho lighting. What you will be looking at now is PAR or Photosynthetically Active Radiation. For what you want with HC you are going to want to be pulling about 65-70 par at substrate at minimum. Honestly even a lot of the best can't et HC to work so I wouldn't recommend it to someone new to planted tanks. If you want a fixture that you can use for almost any application go to: Build My LED Custom LED Lights for DIY Horticulture Aquarium Hobby Lighting and take a look at their fixtures. I own one and run it on my 55 gallon high tech tank and it is very impressive, the thing is that the cost reflects that Thats the only fixture Id attempt HC with unless you were to have multiple finnex fixtures or something. TO start I would recommend a single 48" finnex planted+ for your tank. You can grow a pretty wide array of low to medium light plants with it and get a really sharp looking tank even without injected co2 if you don't want. It is also very cost effective and a great bang for your buck. The BML is very expensive but really the best fixture on the market right now. Hope this helps and if you have any more questions, Ask them!

Thank you. Not sure what you mean when you say "HC", sorry. I just want to feel I can get the Finnex LED light, and not lose any light quality when swapping out the Aqueon T5. I cant find specs online for my light anywhere online, so hopefully its on the fixture itself. For all I know, the light I have will be fine for my 75 gallon.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

The finnex is a pretty big improvement over the aqueon t-5s. The aqueon t-5s actually aren't a really good fixture to begin with, ok but not great. The planted+ is a good fixture and I know there is par data some where on TPT so hopefully someone who knows where that is will post a link. HC= Dwarf Baby Tears (Hemianthus callitrichoides)

 

[ImACoolguy]

Also I would go with dry ferts. I'm doing liquid and with a tank this size it's quickly going to become costly. I'm about to switch.


Caleb

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[DeeLee2013]

Also I would go with dry ferts. I'm doing liquid and with a tank this size it's quickly going to become costly. I'm about to switch.


Caleb

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+1 on using the dry ferts!


? Diana Lee ?
? the St. Augustine Redhead ?
http://floridaorchidendlers.com

 

[LiQuiD]

Also I would go with dry ferts. I'm doing liquid and with a tank this size it's quickly going to become costly. I'm about to switch.

+1 on using the dry ferts!

So are dry ferts added just like liquid ferts? Or are they only added in the beginning while building the substrate floor? What would you recommend using? Right now I am using Flourish and Excel for my 55 gallon.

 

[ImACoolguy]

So are dry ferts added just like liquid ferts? Or are they only added in the beginning while building the substrate floor? What would you recommend using? Right now I am using Flourish and Excel for my 55 gallon.

With liquid ferts, most of your bottle there is water. With dry ferts it's straight what you need. You get much more for what you pay for. You just do Estimative Index dosing and determine your dosage for your tank.

On a side note, you are just dosing Flourish and Micros. LeafZone provides macros. Having a balance of micros and macros makes the tank much better.


Caleb

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[LiQuiD]

With liquid ferts, most of your bottle there is water. With dry ferts it's straight what you need. You get much more for what you pay for. You just do Estimative Index dosing and determine your dosage for your tank.

On a side note, you are just dosing Flourish and Micros. LeafZone provides macros. Having a balance of micros and macros makes the tank much better.

Got it, so you just add this dry fert directly into the tank. Know any good brands? Ill pick up some LeafZone as well.

If I have a soil base in my substrate, is continual fertilizing still necessary? I thought the soil would provide all of that.

 

[ImACoolguy]

You lost me on soil. I use aquarium plant substrate. Eco complete and Flourite (that's why I recommended them) but there are others that work just as well. I've never used soil or dirt so I'm not going to answer that.

I've still got plenty of reading to do for dry ferts, I believe you just add them to the tank.

(Waiting for the planted nerds to come in and provide much better info than me.... *cough* Brookster *cough* Fresh2o *cough* )


Caleb

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[ImACoolguy]

I'll try to find the dry ferts Mebbid recommended. That's way back in my subbed threads.


Caleb

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[ImACoolguy]

This thread should help some.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=331712

Mebbid mentions Metricide. That was one of the recommendations for me.


Caleb

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[TankinWithUs]

I just wanted to say I love the look of this tank! sucker for light substrate!