Recommended Literature

[haloway]

Hey all,

First post...let me take a moment to reflect...

Anyway, I've been a long time observer of the forums (months) here and thought I might as well make my presence known. I have kept aquariums for 16 years or my life, and considering I just turned 21 they have been a constant part of my surroundings. I had freshwater tanks ranging from 5-30 gallons from the age of 5 to 16, and went saltwater from 16-20. I have been aquariumless for the past year and can't stand it. In short I'm planning on starting up my empty 55 gallon into a freshwater tank when I go off to college at the end of August.

So, far I have the tank and stand from the broken down salt tank. Recently I've purchased a Rena xp3 after reading several posts praising the quality of the filter (thanks for all who recommended printing out Petsmart internet offer and taking it into the store), and have purchased an Coralife Aqualight 192 watt light strip. I'll probably end up changing the 96 watt true actinic stock lamp for another 10,000k bulb since actinic doesn't count as useful light.

I'm planning on doing a planted tank, but nothing as extravagant as many of the members here have, so I'll have to worry about CO2. I'll probably wind up doing DIY until I can get a CO2 tank system. Substrate will probably just be the run of the mill pebble ranging somewhere around 3-4 mm in diameter. I'll possibly mix either Eco-complete or Fluorite as long as one won't end up concentrated on either the top or bottom of the aquarium substrate???? If that isn't doable I'll have to use fertilizer tabs.

Now that I probably bored all of you, I was wondering what you all would suggest on a book that covers many of the aspect of keeping a freshwater aquarium. I'd be interested in having references to what chemicals we should be testing for outside of NO4, NO3, P, NH3, PH and the target values for each. I'd also like the book to have care for plants including common problem signs, a compatability chart for fish, and perhaps some photographs and descriptions of the natural habitat of individual species of fish. The Natural Aquarium Handbook by Ines Scheurman in the 'Book Library' link looks like it could be a good one. I have a feeling it's a long shot to get all those aspects into one book, but I thought I'd see what you guys have to suggest.

Thanks for taking the time to read my rambling,

Kevin

 

[MattAquaBio]

As for the eco complete, it depends on what you want, if your only planting the plants at the back of the tank you could just seperate the tank, on the front side pour 1'' of gravel, on the back pour the ecocomplete, when you have all the eco complete you want just finish filling in the gravel, as long as you only have a thin layer over the top i THINK it will be okay, but i'm not a plant expert for sure so you should probably wait for confirmation on that or for soemone to correct me.
"exotic aquarium fishes" By Dr. William T. Innes is a great book for your purposes. I would recommend it to anyone with an aquarium.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Moved to the Planted Forum

 

[czcz]

Coralife Aqualight 192 watt light strip. I'll probably end up changing the 96 watt true actinic stock lamp for another 10,000k bulb since actinic doesn't count as useful light.

It would be wiser to keep the actinic bulb considering your plan of DIY CO2 and less extravagence; A full usable 192w CF over a 55 is certainly high light and therefore a steeper learning curve.

I do not have a book suggestion for all your needs, but the stickies, archive, and articles are a fantastic reference, of course.

 

[haloway]

Quote:
Coralife Aqualight 192 watt light strip. I'll probably end up changing the 96 watt true actinic stock lamp for another 10,000k bulb since actinic doesn't count as useful light.

It would be wiser to keep the actinic bulb considering your plan of DIY CO2 and less extravagence; A full usable 192w CF over a 55 is certainly high light and therefore a steeper learning curve.

I do not have a book suggestion for all your needs, but the stickies, archive, and articles are a fantastic reference, of course.

Ya know I was thinking about that earlier. If my math is right I have a estimated 1.7 wpg with just the 10k bulb and actinic, and 3.5 wpg with 2 10k bulbs (which I think is overkill for me at this stage). Do you think a 50/50 10k/actinic would work okay for me and allow me to try some of the plants that need higher light intensities. A 50/50 daylight/actinic bulb and a 10k bulb would put me at about 2.6 wpg.

As for the books I've done a bit of asking around and I think I may end up going with Baensch Aquarium Atlas and The Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants.

Thanks,

Kev

 

[malkore]

The Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants by Hiscock is a good one. Its comprehensive, but it won't cover the more obscure plants...but that's what the web is for.

 

[czcz]

Ya know I was thinking about that earlier. If my math is right I have a estimated 1.7 wpg with just the 10k bulb and actinic, and 3.5 wpg with 2 10k bulbs (which I think is overkill for me at this stage). Do you think a 50/50 10k/actinic would work okay for me and allow me to try some of the plants that need higher light intensities. A 50/50 daylight/actinic bulb and a 10k bulb would put me at about 2.6 wpg.

Your math is correct, but since CF is more efficient than T12 (normal output flourescent), it could be said that your tank will behave more like 2.4, 4.7, and 3.5 equiv T12 wpg, respectively.

With your goals and CO2 in mind, I would suggest keeping the current lighting (96w daylight and 96w actinic), then changing to a 50/50 or full daylight once you feel confident about CO2 and advance. You bought a nice light and you can use it to progress at your own pace while avoiding algae and maintenence.

55gals:
daylight CF    equiv T12 wpg
 96w             2.35
144w             3.53
192w             4.71