Setting up planted Tank.... Help Needed

[rohitp78]

Hello All,

I want to plant my existing 30Gallon 36" long acrylic aquarium. But before plant i need few tips from you experts. Also i have a few questions

1. I have sand substrate (PFS) will this be ok for planting?
2. The tap water and tank water ph is 7.8, is this ok for plants?

Currently i have 2 20W tubes, which i am planning to replace with Current USA satellite lightning (30" 1*65W and 1 lunar) with SmartPaq Lamps (10,000K/460nm Actinics). for $65 +tax + shipping (is this a good price or anyone knows a cheaper place?). I will have around 2.16WPG and from chart i looked here i can grow up to medium light plants. Is this a good choice?

do you have any plant suggestions for low maintainence, medium plants and water ph of 7.8?


Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[Tong]

1. I don't have experience with sand. I know some people do have sand and it works for them. They can better inform you on this.

2. Your PH is fine. I would guess any PH between 5 - 9 would be suitable for plants.

3. Your current lighting is very low but sufficient to grow very low light plants (i.e. very low maintenace plants). Replacing your T12 bulbs (I'm guessing this is what you have) with T8 bulbs would be a slight improvement but you'd still be in the low light range. My point is, if you want a low maintenance tank...you don't need the lighting upgrade, just get some T8's and you'll be set.

Don't let the numbers fool you. Even medium lighting is a lot of light and a lot of work.

 

[Codefox]

I think, also, from my research that the WPG is an ok rule of thumb but does tend to break down pretty good. WIth 10,000k lighting and especially being a smaller tank, I'd guess that's easily a med/high light situation.

I tried to go without CO2 when I started out and I was extremely successful...with algae. Definately get some sort of CO2 for that

 

[rich311k]

1. Sand will be fine. You can supplement root feeders with fertilizer tabs.

2. If you do upgrade the fixture you will be on the verge of CO2 territory. You will have to judge that yourself, if you start having major algae problems. You could also do excel which in that size tank should not cost you that much.

 

[Codefox]

2. If you do upgrade the fixture you will be on the verge of CO2 territory. You will have to judge that yourself, if you start having major algae problems. You could also do excel which in that size tank should not cost you that much.

CO2 for that size tank would be really easy and probably cheaper than Excel. For 30g I don't think you'd need a pressurized setup, so all those inexpensive kits that produce CO2 through various reagents would probably work well.

 

[rich311k]

I do DIY for my 36 and it is not that easy. You have to change a jug once a week and you need a very efficient reactor to get anywhere close to consistent levels over 30ppm, but yes it can be done.

 

[Codefox]

I was gonna do a DIY but realized it would be a huge pain. For $40 I got a kit from Red Sea & its basically just a container for the yeast & sugar with a tube hooked to the reactor.

I'm just saying for a tank that size, and just starting out, it'd be an easy way to get CO2 in. I don't know how much PPM I have and I have to say I'm not too worried about it since my plants are growing fast now and no algae at present

 

[rohitp78]

Thanks a lot for all the replies.

Currently i have 24" 20W GE freshwater bulb and other is 24" generic( i could upgrade it with GE). The GE bulb is in link below.
http://www.elmersaquarium.com/h126_ge_freshwater_bulb.htm

I am not sure if they are T5 or T8.

Do i have to buy CO2 setup because of medium light in tank? I am not planning on adding a lot of plants, but only some. Will i still need CO2 setup? If i have to buy a CO2 setup, what will be the cost of complete kit? is reactor bought seperately or included in $40 kit from Red Sea?

Do i need to buy CO2 checking kit? how often should i check the CO2 level? Is the testing kit costly?

Thanks again for all the Help!

 

[Tong]

Fresh and Saltwater Bulbs
* Superior color enhancement of fish, plants and decorations
* Supports growth of freshwater plants
* Enough light for coral and other marine invertebrate in saltwater
* 9325°K color temperature, 67 CRI
* Makes red, blue and green more vibrant

14 watt 15"
15 watt 18"
20 watt 24"
40 watt 48"
30 watt 36"

These appear to be T12 bulbs and not very good ones at that. Yeah, don't buy these anymore. For the same price you could just stroll on down to your local walmart and buy a GE Daylight bulb or a GE Plant & Aquarium Bulb and be better off. Those however, are also T12. Phillips makes a nice 24" T8 daylight bulb but I don't know of any retail stores that sell them. They can be purchased online at bulbs.com.

By the way, I think with the light upgrade your lighting will only be 1.69 WPG. Uh...long story on the calculation. With this lighting, you won't need need CO2, but I still wouldn't be surprised if you got massive algae.
And let me reiterate, even at this lighting level it could still be a lot of maintenance.

As far as CO2 itself goes. You could probably do it for $5 DIY and it would be just as good as the purchased kit. Search google for DIY CO2 and you'll find lots of stuff.

 

[Codefox]

People are probably going to get on me for it...but I don't monitor the actual level of CO2. I'd say with your lighting you're going to want to put CO2 in though because the plants need CO2 to utilize that much light. If you don't have it, then the plants can be overtaken by algae which happenned to me.

 

[Tong]

I just use a bell reactor (top of a 20 oz soda bottle) for my DIY CO2. Cheap and stable. My CO2 is always at 19 ppm. I've found most people who use bell reactors get CO2 similar to this so if you use one you shouldn't have to measure CO2.

Just realized this. Couldn't you just buy a 36" Double Strip light for your tank since it is 36" long? A 36" double strip light with T8 bulbs will give you almost as much light (you won't notice the difference) as the one you are thinking of buying at probably half the price.

 

[Purrbox]

The one thing that no one has mentioned yet, is that in order to take full advantage of the light from that upgrade you would need to replace the bulb that comes with it. It's 50% Actinic which means that only about half of the light is actually usable by plants. If you don't replace the bulb you'll end up with even less lighting than your current setup.

 

[rohitp78]

I hope i am understanding this correctly.

Purrbox: So do you think that regular 36" dual light strip from walmart or homedepot with 2 T8 36" bulbs the best choice for lightning? Because i will be spending much more buying current USA satellite system and extra bulb which is not actinic.

Once i figure out about lightning, i will check how i can build DIY CO2 system.

Again thanks all for your useful responses.

 

[Purrbox]

Not necessarily. If you're talking about shoplight fixtures, then you also need to take into account that the reflectors are meant to light a room and not a small area like your tank. You're going to lose a lot of light because of this.

The current fixtures are great, you just need to factor in the extra expense of the new bulb. Most of these also come with a lunar light, which while not necessary is a very nice little feature. I'd love to have it on all my tanks. If you don't mind refurbished products you can get a great deal by buying it from here. Their new prices aren't too shabby either. They also carry the replacement bulbs, so you could order everything from a single location.

 

[rohitp78]

Thanks for the reply. The store looks good, also close to me.

Which Japanese style 65W lamp should i get?

65 watt 10,000k Daylight 21.25" x 1.75" x 1" 10 oz. 10
65 watt 6,700k Daylight 21.25" x 1.75" x 1" 10 oz. 10
65 watt Dual Daylight 6,700k/10,000k 21.25" x 1.75" x 1" 10 oz. 10

Any way of getting other fixture which already has a daylight lamp, since the actinic bulb i will get will be of no use. buying new bulb will also cost $20 Extra.

I really appreciate the support you guys are providing.

 

[rich311k]

It depends on what you want. They will all be fine for your plants. I use the 6700/10000 bulb.

 

[Purrbox]

Any of the three should work well for you. It's really more of a matter of which you like the looks of best. If you're able to go to the store itself, you might be able to talk them into swapping out the bulb at a reduced cost. Some will do that, others won't. Unfortunately Current doesn't seem to make their fixtures with the daylight bulb. Guess they haven't figured out that there's a market among us freshies.

 

[rohitp78]

Thanks! i will be giong to check lfs if they can swap the bulbs. If not i will be ordering online store since it has unbeatable price.

Thank you everyone for suggestions, i think i will be starting to plant my aquarium in few days.


Update:

I placed my order for 30" Current-USA Satellite 1*65W lightning at from TriCityTropicals. They had the cheapest price & shipping i found on internet. They were also able to switch SmartPaq 65W 10,000k/460nm bulb with Dual Daylight 65W 6700/10000 for freshwater plants for free.