Cool water tank (chiller) and plants??

[Howdy]

I searched through the forums some and it sounded like at least down to 70 degree F may be okay for planting. I'd like to have mid to high level plants in this set-up with about 2.5-3 WPG.

I plan to have this set-up for native fish around here and thinking a couple degrees under 70 would be ideal for bass and sunfish at least. I'm targeting about 68 deg. (maybe as low as 65 if I go with smallmouth bass and not largemouth).

Will it present any problems with plants at this temperature? TIA.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Cool_Water_Plants_s/19.htm

There are some cool water plants. or you could go biotype and add some regular lily pads from a lake and such.

http://www.tropica.com/default.asp

lists the temperatures of their plants.

I hope you have a rather large tank for bass, they are definately jumpers.

Oh, Welcome to AA

 

[sudz]

Hey! Welcome to AA. While sunfish seem pretty small when they steal your worms when fishing, they get to be fairly big. My brother caught one about 10 inches long. How big of a tank are we talking about here?

Chilling a larger tank can be cumbersome, and expensive. What your doing is very common though, picking an enviroment to recreate.

There are people in my aquarium club in town that have "lakes" from south africa for their chchilids. 85 degrees, and only using plants and fish found in that lake. Its an interesting concept. I personally like mixing and matching. Cheaper, and more choice

Most plants will grow in cooler water, (around 70 should be fine)They may not grow as expected though.

As for cold water plants: I found this link on google:

http://www.lifeforceonline.co.uk/coldwater_plants_a_to_l_page40.html

Hope that Helps!

 

[Howdy]

The bass will probably start out at about 3-5". I've kept bass in other tanks, they do grow quite quickly and you can't keep them for all that long unfortunately. I'm still deciding, but I think it will be a 180 gallon.

oh, and thanks for the Welcome and links!

 

[greenmaji]

Do you plan on using a chiller?

I have some resorces and have done alot of phase-change research on how to build one if your intrested (PM me its kinda heady material )