shamby1135
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2013
- Messages
- 8
First off Thank You! to the posters on this site and those experts so generous to offer their advice and experience. I set my planted tank up in the dead of a March MN winter, and I am so glad I did. Being of spreadsheet mentality (as my partner calls it) I built my planted tank list based on recommendations from different posts here, and I planned planned and planned. I don't have a photo to share but its beautiful and I couldn't be more pleased.
I did want to share my recipe card however for anyone else launching in to this- it may sound basic but lighting alone is a topic enough to thwart anyone from getting into the planted tank hobby. So here goes:
Tank 55 gal
Stand (obvious)- I chose a cheap wrought iron stand as the tank is in the hobby room in the basement
Light: Aqua Life 108W 48" 2 bulb light. Its the T05 HO fluorescent lights. Yes its enough light, (I wasn't sure, and another poster reassured me that it would be fine)
CO2: Used a 10lb tank ($90 for tank, $15 for each fill after), the Insta Max Mix CO2 Reactor ($30) and an all in one Salenoid/Pressure Gage CO2 kit- about $125. Yes I set iit up with my little limp wrist all by myself.
Filter: Fluval 4-06 Canister Filter
Substrate: 10 bags of Eco Complete by Carib Sea Spendy but worth it about $130
Fertilizer: I use the dry based 'pure fertilizers' from a site that sells them specifically for planted tanks (KNO2, KSO2, Plantex) and use them regularly, though not at the recommended amount as the No2 gets way too high for my Rasboras About $30 (lifetime supply)
Plant Tabs- I did use the commercial plant tabs, swords and other rooted plants are thriving. (about a 1 year supply- $25)
Maintenance: Filter water through bags of peat, change water once per week at 50% (I do this for all of my tanks). I use Seachem Prime to take care of the initial ammonia spike from the Chloramines used in my water supply.
So there you have it, wanted to share what I did to make it easier for anyone else that 'just wants to do this'. My total was about $1100, I had significant savings believe it or not by ordering the substrate and lighting online.
Thanks!
I did want to share my recipe card however for anyone else launching in to this- it may sound basic but lighting alone is a topic enough to thwart anyone from getting into the planted tank hobby. So here goes:
Tank 55 gal
Stand (obvious)- I chose a cheap wrought iron stand as the tank is in the hobby room in the basement
Light: Aqua Life 108W 48" 2 bulb light. Its the T05 HO fluorescent lights. Yes its enough light, (I wasn't sure, and another poster reassured me that it would be fine)
CO2: Used a 10lb tank ($90 for tank, $15 for each fill after), the Insta Max Mix CO2 Reactor ($30) and an all in one Salenoid/Pressure Gage CO2 kit- about $125. Yes I set iit up with my little limp wrist all by myself.
Filter: Fluval 4-06 Canister Filter
Substrate: 10 bags of Eco Complete by Carib Sea Spendy but worth it about $130
Fertilizer: I use the dry based 'pure fertilizers' from a site that sells them specifically for planted tanks (KNO2, KSO2, Plantex) and use them regularly, though not at the recommended amount as the No2 gets way too high for my Rasboras About $30 (lifetime supply)
Plant Tabs- I did use the commercial plant tabs, swords and other rooted plants are thriving. (about a 1 year supply- $25)
Maintenance: Filter water through bags of peat, change water once per week at 50% (I do this for all of my tanks). I use Seachem Prime to take care of the initial ammonia spike from the Chloramines used in my water supply.
So there you have it, wanted to share what I did to make it easier for anyone else that 'just wants to do this'. My total was about $1100, I had significant savings believe it or not by ordering the substrate and lighting online.
Thanks!
