I want to do it right this time (lot's o ?'s)

[Punkymom]

Ok, I had tried a planted tank a few years ago and it all went wrong. I had tons and tons of algae. Fast forward to today. The only thing I have left from that tank is the lighting system. I paid an arm and a leg for it so I never parted with it. It's a coralife that houses 2 65 watt 6700k bulbs. I had this over a 20 long...give you a hint how dumb I was? Anywho, I want to use it on my 26 gal bowfront. I was originally going to just buy a bigger aquarium, but with the way funds are right now, I think I'd be just as happy spending much less to plant this tank. So, I can use the light fixture over the top of this tank (yay for adjustable leg thingies) and so that's great. I guess I have moderate to high lighting. I'll only be using 1 bulb, BTW, so that's 65 watts over 26 gal. I've been looking through a lot of the FYI for planted tanks and I've studied the DIY CO2 thingie. Couple ?'s about that:
What kind of filter pad should I use? Bigals didn't have the one the website noted to use. I'll check my LFS tomorrow, but if not is there another one that will work?
It talks about putting a check valve on the CO2 line leading to the reactor. Where is this exactly? Probably a dumb ? but I can't picture it in my head.
It mentioned something about this being enough to filter your tank possibly. Thoughts? I'm thinking with the addition of this if it IS enough, perhaps after 6 weeks or so I can remove my current filter (penguin).
What kinds of plants can I keep with this kind of lighting?
I'm open to all kinds of advice, ideas, criticism, etc towards this project. TIA!

 

[fort384]

Punky, I am confused? Not sure how your DIY CO2 system could double as a filter. I think you would want to continue running a good adequately sized filter on the tank. With 65W, I think CO2 is almost a neccessity on the tank -- you will also want to check out the section on fertilization with that much light. High light + no fertilization + no CO2 = a ton of algae so I am guessing thats where it went wrong the last time. The key to healthy plants is balancing all these factors... you cannot bottom out on any nutrient, but you don't want excess either. I wouldn't call it a fine line, but there is def a line.

If you use CO2, fert, and 65W of light, you can grow almost any aquatic plant. The only thing you would be limited by are plants that like high CO2 levels like Rotala Macranda or Wallachi, and the like. Some of the foreground carpet effect plants also prefer high CO2, but you could probably attempt them with the setup you are planning.

For plant ideas, check out PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource . Also, there is a lot of info on fertilizing in the plant resources link in my signature.

Good luck, and welcome back to the hobby.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Also you might want to check out this page:
New Lights?
From this thread
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/updating-the-wpg-rule-theory-69964.html

...about the outdated WPG rule. Newer bulbs, better efficiency, higher light levels...

Yeah that 20L with 130W of light if they were T8s it was effectively around 180W or 9(!!!) WPG. OMG that's high.

 

[Punkymom]

Yeah, so the whole new WPG thing totally confuses me. I must have read that thing over and over for an hour. How do I tell what kind of bulb I have? Ok, so keeping filter, def need CO2, and nutrients. Foreground runner plants...not sure which ones these would be. Thanks for the ones mentioned, they will be noted. I could have swore I read that on that site that it could double as a filter. IDK. I read so many things last night that some of them ran together in my head. Kind of hurts right now.

 

[Purrbox]

If you plant heavily enough and stock lightly enough, your plants can act as the filter for your aquarium. You'd still want some water flow, but other than that you'd be set. Perhaps this was what you were thinking of?

I wouldn't worry about understanding the lighting conversions, instead plug the numbers into the calculator and use those as a guideline for your lighting level. Based on the description of your fixture, you're using compact fluorescent bulbs.

Finally if your penguin filter has a biowheel, you'll need to remove the biowheel so that it doesn't gas off most of the CO2 you're working to inject.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I must have read that thing over and over for an hour. How do I tell what kind of bulb I have?

The 'T' determine diameter in 1/8s of an inch

T12s are 1-1/2 inches in diameter
T8s are 1 inch in diameter
T5s and 5/8
These are all straight tube, in general. They make U tube and round tube also, but they're still long and plug in like a fluorescent with pins, etc.

CFL are the twisty ones that can go in an incandescent socket

 

[Punkymom]

Oh, thanks for the clarification! I found a good fish store in my area and I got a bag of eco-complete and a bag of smaller gravel (I have bigger gravel). I also got a 2 liter and a 1 liter to drink and then use the bottles. I got the silicon tubing, rigid tubing and the pump. I also got the batting from Wal-Mart to use in the bottom of the tube and I stuck some in my filter as well . Oh! ? - do I need 2 two-liter bottles since my tank is smaller? I was thinking that it would be fine to only use 1. What do you think? My bulbs are either T8s or T5s. I didn't measure them yet. Oh, another ? - guy at fish store said that since I'm using the eco-complete that I probably wouldn't need to fertilize or use supplements for the plants. WDYT? I was kinda like hrmm...need to ask you guys about that first. Anyway, I'm excited to get started, but I need a few more parts for the CO2 thing. I may go ahead and switch out the gravel today, though. My biowheel doesn't turn anymore, can I leave it in there?

 

[Purrbox]

For a 26 gallon you'll definately want two 2 liter bottles for CO2 generation.

You'll still want to remove the biowheel. When I removed the biowheel from my setup the aquarium didn't even go through a mini cycle. Just keep an eye on things and be prepared to do a water change if necessary.

 

[Punkymom]

Ok, so I'll def remove the biowheel. Check on the 2 two-liters - I'll pick up another bottle today. Ordered chems (Seachem, the ones rec'd by the FYI), additional parts for my DIY CO2. Only thing left to order are those connector thingies for the bottle caps. I think I'm ready now! I am going to wait until I have all my parts before I venture to make the CO2 thingie. Should be fun, though.