Planted Aquarium Maintenance ? - Aquarium Advice

tsweers89 · 11-02-2009, 02:27 PM

I picked up a 72g bowfront and am now finally getting everything ready to set it up and get it going, but i have a few questions. I am going to be aquascaping it with some driftwood to add in it.

Here are my qusetions:

1. I plan on having a grass plant on the tank bottom. Like this tank here:

Now i know on my old aquarium when i would do a water change i would syphon the gravel and such but when i have a grass type plant how do i go about doing that since i wont be able to get down to the gravel and trying would probably reck the plant?

2. How many of you use a UV seteralizer? I have been told it makes the water more clear and kills micro organizmes and bateria in the tank. What are your thoughts on this? also what is a good one to gowith for my 72g. Im using a ehiem filter so i would probably want to go with a inline one.

3. Since i am using a canister filter i thought about a inline heater also so i could get rid the intank one i currently have. How efficient are these? Would a 300watt be sufficient or would i still need a in tank to? This is the one i was looking at: ETH 300 In-Line Heater 300W f/16mm-5/8"Hose

4. As far as ehiem filter media goes do i really need anything? My first plan was to just use the sponges and then just a bunch of aquarium flawss. Is that ok? i see these bio balls, carbon, etc that you can get but am woundering if there are really needed.

5. Am i going to need a powerhead to provide flow across the tank? Or is my ehiem filter intake and out going to cause enough.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

meegosh · 11-02-2009, 03:23 PM

As far as the gravel vacuuming... you don't. You can wave the vac above the grass to get any loose stuff out. In my 10g I simply vacuum around my plants and wave it above my mosses to get anything that sits in it. The plants will use the wastes as they decompose from what I understand. Its like natural fertilizers.

As far as your other questions, I'll have to let someone else chime in. I've never used a UV sterilizer or a canister filter. I do not run any carbon on my tank unless I medicate the tank and need to remove it. The only other time I ran it is when I added some driftwood. The carbon helped remove the tannins and clear the water up.

underdog5004 · 11-02-2009, 04:30 PM

I'm just getting my 55G tank set up with plants (wish my paychecks were larger). I have a canister filter (magnum 350), and I have filter floss, ceramic beads, and some "bio-bale" that I bought from a reputable LFS to kickstart my cycle.

It's the first tank I haven't used carbon on, but to be honest, I haven't really seen that much of a difference. I used to work at a LFS, and from what I understand, carbon is good for filtering "crap" out of the water (like ammonia, meds), but if you leave it in for too long, it will start leaching the "crap" back into the water.

I haven't had that problem with my 55. An inline heater would be nice, since it would help the denitrifying bacteria metabolize faster, but I've just got a 200W heater in the main tank. If I ever transition to a sump filter, I'll be putting the filter, heater, etc in the sump.

Can't really testify as to the UV sterilizer, but my boss at the LFS put one on her pond, and she said it worked like crazy against algae, really cleared up the water.

timwag2001 · 11-15-2009, 01:12 AM

1. vac as well as you can around the plants and wave the vac over the plants to free up all of the mulm that accumulates. before hand you can also use a turkey bastor to swish the stuff out.

2. uv sterlizers are cool but i wouldnt run it all of the time. great for bacteria blooms and green water. best one for your tank would prob be a turbo twist. kind of expensive though to have just for the heck of it. wait untill you need one.

3. i run the hydor on my 55 and works awesome. i think that it would be sufficient as long as you have enough water ciruclation

4. the substrat and ceramic stuff prob isnt necessary but i would say go for it anyway. yeah its kind of expensive but it wont get clogged up and reduce flow. they should be replaced a little at a time though after a while. carbon is junk after a week or so and can remove ferts that you are adding for your plant. pretty much only usefull for removing meds

5. you didnt list what type of eheim you are running so i couldnt tell you for sure but i would bet money that its not gonna give you enough flow for that size tank. so i think at least one more power head is in order. you should have enough circulation so that all of your plants are gently swaying around.

6. the end

Bige · 11-15-2009, 02:21 AM

Your tank looks great. The best you can do is wave the siphon over the grass. Now your tank is so planted the roots and water changes will keep water clean.

fort384 · 11-15-2009, 02:33 PM

What kind of lighting are you using? Are you planning on injecting CO2? How about fertilizer? To get ground covers like the stuff in the picture you posted, it takes a pretty high tech setup. Most stock lighting is insufficient and almost all of the ground cover type plants need co2 and ferts to spread and thrive.

As for the UV sterilizer, there is a lot of speculation that they are no good for planted tanks as they may oxidize some important trace elements that your plants need. However, there are also a lot of people that use them 24/7 on their planted tanks and report no problems whatsoever.