Planted Tank Parameter Help

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shamby1135

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 9, 2013
Messages
8
I will start by introducing my question- with- where I want to end up in this project. Any tactical help would be really really appreciated from you fellow experts. I have not bought a single thing, so I am starting fresh here with no limitations.

I consider myself an 'intermediate' freshwater fish keeper (I feel I know the importance of water chemistry, h2o changes, light and co2), but have never devled fully into planted tanks.

My goal is to have a 48" long planted tank with a mated pair of angel fish, and maybe a 2-3 clown loaches or 3 cory's.

I am thinking about a 33 gallon long tank 48 1/4 Long x 12 3/4 Deep x 12 7/8 High, outfitted with a 48" HO5 108W AQLife light and a 'high tech' CO2 tank sytem/diffuser. This gets me to a quite high 3.27 wpg.

Question: Is this tank going to be blasted with too much light with this set up? (I have read that this is the first common mistake in the hobby and leads to hideous algea messes)

Should I go for a 40gal (17" high) or a 55 gal (21" high) with this type of lighting?
Any filter suggestions greatly appreciated as well!
And Thank you!
 
I'd go for the bigger 55g. The angels will appreciate it also. Another thing is that clown loaches get too large for a 55g and they will pester the spawning angels and eat the eggs. My 3 yo-yo loaches drive my 6 pairs of angels in the 220g crazy when they spawn. Sometimes depending on where the angels lay the eggs the loaches are able to get to them and eat them. So I would suggest cory's and in a tank that size I would get 6 as the cory's like being in shoals.

As for the light are you considering a 2 bulb or 4 bulb fixture? A 2 bulb fixture using CO2 will allow you to grow many different medium light plants. I have 2 55g tanks both with 2 bulb T5HO fixtures. It's not too much light. Now a 4 bulb fixture is going to be alot of light but would allow you to grow anything, even carpet plants, especially when using CO2. You would only be able to probably run your lights 6 hours daily, that is how long I can run my metal halides without having algae issues. Also you will need to use dry ferts daily (which is very easy). I dose PPS-Pro which I really like as I can custom dose my tanks to the plants needs. You can view my 220g via the link at the bottom of the post.

I run a Fluval 406 canister filter on both 55g's and love them. The allow for alot of media, have good flow, easy to maintain, and very quiet.
 
Great suggestions- thank you! The light I am looking at is a 2 bulb HO5 48" fixture that comes with 2 bulbs, one bulb is a 48W 650nm Pink Roseate, the other is a 48" 48W 6,000°K. So even with the 21" height of the standard 55gal, it sounds like this fixture would be appropriate? With this light I can upgrade to a 4 bulb (of course double the price).
thanks for your help!
Stuart
 
I have a couple 2 bulb T5HO fixtures with a 6700K bulb and a 650nm Pink Roseate bulb and I am replacing the Roseatte bulbs with a second 6700K bulb when it's time to replace them. The Roseatte's are so dim I just don't like how dim the tank looks with them in a two bulb fixture. Now in a 4 bulb fixture I would be fine using one.
 
Good to Know! I will throw in an extra 6700k when I make the purchase so its on hand- thanks!
 
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