Hi all, got some newbie question for ya.

[shoboy]

Ok, please bear with me as I have had about 5 sam adams tonite. 8O

I have my 20gal tank as an empty now, and I want to try it out as a planted tank. This is going to be my first planted tank, so I'm not going "too" go crazy with the equipment.

I have, and would like to use, this stuff as the "hardware".

Glass lid
1 penquin 160 filter w/bio wheel, as the good bacteria grower thing(remember, 5 beers so far)
1 whisper 2 filter as the main cleaner filter. The flow nob is broken at 1/2 way, so the flow is nice and slow, but still enough for a 20gal tank.
White silica sand as the substrate. I have used this in my small eclipse tanks and it's great as a sand bed. Small but quite heavy in water, so it does not get sucked up very easy by the filter.

The tank will be in an area that gets NO sunlight, so the bulb is more important here than usual. Buying a duel bulb setup is not out of the question, but I'd rather not get one since I have a few single setups from the various tanks I've done over the years. (I've settled on just 4 now) So I have spare parts lying around in the basement. If a good, single bulb will do, I'd rather do that.

I have no probs buying a small CO2 setup from big-als. Someone in another topic linked to one that's only like $20, so that's no big deal at all. After reading some topics before I posted, I get the idea that my filters will help eliminate CO2, especially the biowheel, so getting a smaller co2 setup is no problem and probably needed.

I want to put a betta, maybe some neons, a few ghost shrimp, and maybe some other small fish in their. Danio's, stuff like that.

Ok, now that i;ve rambled on..here's the newbie questions.....

What do you think of the stuff I listed as being used in this tank?
Is the "50/50" bulb I see for plants a good choice? If not, what should I look for?
Will using my air stones and air pump NOT be a good idea? Even if I get a co2 setup?
I would like to have a pretty heavily planted tank. Going on this, do I need a brighter light, more co2, ect.......?

1 of my LFS's has quite a few plants to choose from. He has them seperated in groups from low light to high light requirememts, so not knowing about the specific plants, I'll have a good idea as to what plants go well together, as far as what lighting they need goes.

Ok, enough for now. My head is hurting, and I'll just keep rambling on........so, I thank you for your input, ideas, suggestions. And when I do the tank, I wont be drinking, so the plants and fish will be safe!

 

[hashbaz]

- filters look good (more later)

- 50/50 bulbs are for corals and not for plants. (they might grow you some nice algae)

- surface agitation (airstones, biowheels, anything that moves air and water past each other) causes CO2 to get closer to it's "natural" level. If you add CO2, surface agitation will cause you to need to add more CO2, but it will not hurt anything.

- Adding CO2 is not required until you get to 3 watts per gallon.

- Around 2 watts per gallon is a good place to start for your first planted tank. (unless you have excess time and money) CO2 is not necessary, easier to add fertilizers, less algae etc.

- If you add CO2, minimize surface agitation from your filters: ditch the biowheel and don't aim the return water across the top of the water.

- If I remember correctly, some 24in hoods come with 24in (20watt) lights and some come with only 18in (15watt) lights. I would suggest getting a duel 24in light set-up. (exactly 2 watts per gallon)
PS There is a good "sticky" at the top with a lot more info.

 

[malkore]

Technically CO2 should be injected once you hit 2wpg as the plants will be using it up faster than the fish can produce it. Furthermore CO2 at 2wpg will keep algae almost completely eradicated, provided your nutrients are kept in check.

If you have two single bulb fixtures laying around, use them both. This may require you to ditch the plastic lid for the tank, replacing it with a glass top.

 

[shoboy]

Oh, I got plenty of spare single bulb fixtures. I was thinking that I could get 2 different bulbs, 1 for each, if there was a combination that would work better. I also have a few plug-in timers that I could use to rotate a day-glo type bulb, and a nighttime bulb. I'm not to hip to lights other than your typical flourecent, I've never grown plants, just Afr. Cic's and other "pretty" fish.

I already have a glass lid on it, so that's no issue.

My only real concern about using the 2 filters I mentioned is that they dont flow very fast, so the water would not be moving around too much, and for this size tank, everything else I have is too powerful of a filter for it.


I only asked about the airstones cause I have xtra pumps and who knows how many airstones lying around. Just trying to use as much stuff as I got.

 

[shoboy]

Duh, I posted above comment before I thought of this.

Basically, all I need is too look for no more than a 40watt bulb. Anything more and I'll need to start adding co2?

What's a good brand/type of lightbulb to look for?

 

[greenmaji]

am I reading this right? but you said you dont have to worry about CO2 escaping because you have a glass lid? your using hob filters and I do belive you plan on feeding the fish at some point.
40 watt normal florescent bulbs are four feet long..
Im guessing your looking for the 24" bulbs and your going to use 2 of them.. anything that is 5000-10000K would work.. 5000-6500K is suppose to be best.. the bulbs at wally world are labeled with the K number they produce, they were when I bought the ones for my kitchen.. unless your wanting to spend more money I would suggest going to a local hardware, or department store and get some GE or whatever they have in your area..

 

[malkore]

bulbs for a 20gallon tank are gonna be 20watts. 2x20watt bulbs over the tank will give you 2watts per gallon, and put you in the range where CO2 injection is gonna be a good idea.

Glass top is good.

Don't stress on the filter so much. planted tanks typically only have 4x per hour turn-over. I have 2 20gallon tanks, one uses 2 AquaClear mini's, the other uses 1 AquaClear 150 (which under the new naming convention, would be 2 AC 20's and 1 AC 30)