cowman345
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hi all, I'm new here, so I'd like to say hi and introduce myself. My name's Dave and I've been a reef aquarist for about 4-5 years. I lost a 55gal reef to an electrical accident (lesson: don't throw a heater you just dropped on the floor back into your tank and leave for work). Afterwards, I took a couple years to recover and try my hand at aquaria again. This march I got back into the swing of things with a 2.5gal Nano Reef that is still doing well today.
Heavily inspired by Travis Simonson, I tore out a wall in my basement office and installed a stand for a 75gal aquarium with the intent of trying freshwater, specifically a planted Mbuna tank.
Here's my set up so far:
75gal Perfecto Aquarium with sturdy 2x4 stand
3 VHO Lamps on an IceCap 660 Ballast, total 330W - (2 50/50 actinic, 1 6500k full spectrum bulbs)
Filstar XP3 with 1 pack Bio Stars (will add more later)
~2" CaribSea Cichlid Sand (fine) and ~3" CaribSea EcoComplete Plant Substrate
200W Hydor Heater
CO2 injection with Milwaukee Regulator, solenoid, and pH controller.
Initial additives: none
Buffered to ~14dKH and maintained at pH 7.2-7.3 with CO2 injection.
While my long term goal is to have a well-maintained growing garden populated by Mbuna Cichlids, my current goal is to obtain some plants and allow them to establish a foothold, and get my fertilization relatively stable before adding fish.
So, now for some advice-seeking, that's why I'm here, after all...
Where should I get plants from? Also, is there any reason I shouldn't get a bunch of plants incl. Glosso and Riccia right away?
Thanks all, I hope to contribute a lot to these forums in the future!
-dave-
Heavily inspired by Travis Simonson, I tore out a wall in my basement office and installed a stand for a 75gal aquarium with the intent of trying freshwater, specifically a planted Mbuna tank.
Here's my set up so far:
75gal Perfecto Aquarium with sturdy 2x4 stand
3 VHO Lamps on an IceCap 660 Ballast, total 330W - (2 50/50 actinic, 1 6500k full spectrum bulbs)
Filstar XP3 with 1 pack Bio Stars (will add more later)
~2" CaribSea Cichlid Sand (fine) and ~3" CaribSea EcoComplete Plant Substrate
200W Hydor Heater
CO2 injection with Milwaukee Regulator, solenoid, and pH controller.
Initial additives: none
Buffered to ~14dKH and maintained at pH 7.2-7.3 with CO2 injection.
While my long term goal is to have a well-maintained growing garden populated by Mbuna Cichlids, my current goal is to obtain some plants and allow them to establish a foothold, and get my fertilization relatively stable before adding fish.
So, now for some advice-seeking, that's why I'm here, after all...
Where should I get plants from? Also, is there any reason I shouldn't get a bunch of plants incl. Glosso and Riccia right away?
Thanks all, I hope to contribute a lot to these forums in the future!
-dave-