Skimping and my first setup

[Paradisio]

Well, i'm starting up my first tank; I have a few queries. Basically I'm on a budget and trying to put together a decent tank.

1. Can I grow plants on artificial driftwood? I bought it at a petsmart several years ago, I'm not sure what it is made out of, but it isn't wood. Would moss grow on it?

2. Using regular bulbs (I'm still trying to learn the acronyms) what brands are good? I'm aiming for 1-1.5 WPG.

3. Any advice on plants? I have some good stores near me. I don't want to tackle CO2 injection for a while, especially because my tank doesn't really have somewhere nearby to hide the canisters.

Right now I have a 29 gallon (tall), but I may be upgrading to a 55.

4. How much is the HOB bio wheel going to hinder me? I'm not planning on having floating plants; they just aren't my thing.

5. Would it be okay to mix some echo-complete in with the regular stone substrate most stores sell? At 20 bucks a bag, its a decent hindrance in my budget; and since I doubt I'll be "heavy" planting with my cheap setup, I'm wondering If I need it at all.

 

[Zezmo]

1: yes, moss will stick and grow on your plastic wood...over time it might cover enough of it that it looks real.

2: 2x 15watt regular florescent tubes are cheap and will give you 1wpg... enough to grow moss an not much else. 1x 29w, 32w, or 36w compact florescent would be a better choice, but you will pay more too. Lately, they have been making Compact florescent shop lights (try Wal-Mart) for a reasonable price, you might be able to adapt 1 or 2 to your needs cheaply. Screw in spiral type compact florescents are anotehr reasonable cheap lighting choice.

3: for your light (@1-1.5 wpg)..... Moss, Cryptocoryn, Anubis

4: with no CO2 the Bio wheel is a good thing. With CO2 injection, it can cause CO2 loss.

5: Dont mix eco complete IMO. I do use ECO complete in my nano tank. It is ok stuff, kinda messy. But, if you are on a tight budget you can spent your cash elsewhere. I have heard many good things about Turface, it is cheap, and you would buy it from a lawn supply place. One bag will do your 29 now, and your 55 later. But realisticaly, save your money. Buy (or collect from a local stream/creek/river/lake/beach) natural untreated gravel in the 1-3 mm size range. Unless you go high tech, high light, CO2 etc.... a nice mulmy gravel will give you all you need from a substrate. You can put root tabs under the crypts to help them along if you like, they don't hurt and they might even help.

HTH

 

[Paradisio]

I think I'm going to go with the turface, any specific brand stores that are known to carry it?

 

[Zezmo]

http://www.turface.com/productinfo_turface.html

You could probably find a local dealer thru thier home page.

 

[Purrbox]

Send them a message through their contact page. You'll likely have a response back the same day if it's a business day. I contacted them last week and had a response within just few hours and was off to buy my Turface MVP. At $10 a 50lb bag it's a great deal. Looking forward to putting it to use.