tropicfishman
Aquarium Advice Addict
hey guys any tips and tricks for a newbie ya can share? thanks in advance
any tips and tricks for a newbie?
- Thread starter tropicfishman
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
neilanh
Sliced Bread
tropicfishman said:
That's rather vague, so I'll make a blanket answer.
Read the stickies in this forum, and the related articles in the articles section.
My final tip would be to ask more specific questions that we can answer.
theotheragentm
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2006
- Messages
- 2,254
Newbies should send a check to me and I will email my great list of tips to you. Act now!
tropicfishman
Aquarium Advice Addict
lol well lets stop and think here fella's,we're in the planted tank forum, so what would I be posting about lol planted tanks! lol you people crack me up lol
travis simonson
Aquarium Advice Addict
If it were up to me I would say:
Get a 300G tank, metal halide lighting, a 100lb CO2 tank, and about a ton of ADA substrate.
Did you want anything else?
Get a 300G tank, metal halide lighting, a 100lb CO2 tank, and about a ton of ADA substrate.
Did you want anything else?
travis simonson
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oh yeah, did you want plants? 
Zezmo
Aquarium Advice Addict
Decide what you want from a tank, set goal, and then read up on how to achieve that. Do you want a hightech, high maintenace, rollercoaster that consumes all your time, but lets you grow anything imaginable? Do you just want a nice tank that is easy to take care of?
Do you have an unlimited budget or a tight one? Are you good at Do it yourself stuff? These decisions will guide what kind of tank, what equipment is needed, and what plants to start with.
Add a ton of plants to begin with...fast growers and the more the better. Don't add too much light, less is more in the begining.
Do you have an unlimited budget or a tight one? Are you good at Do it yourself stuff? These decisions will guide what kind of tank, what equipment is needed, and what plants to start with.
Add a ton of plants to begin with...fast growers and the more the better. Don't add too much light, less is more in the begining.
MyCatsDrool
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2006
- Messages
- 901
move in with travis. have him take you under his wing. call him sensai. I think he would like that. wax on. wax off.
tropicfishman
Aquarium Advice Addict
lol well I have a tight budget ( I have money I'm just saving to buy an expansion board for my digital music recorder ) I want a hands on tank, nothing really technical, but I want to add ferts, do tests etc. I want to do CO2 just not right now, maybe ina few months. Trust me all I have done is read article after article on planted tanks lol. Nothing beats actual input from people with the tanks. I would liek better lighting, I saw a nice 2x65 watt fixture with blue leds for about 80 bucks, which I canwing, its the CO2 setup that has me bound on cash right now.
Whatever you do, don't put run high light over the tank if you can't afford CO2 yet. It's a sure recipe for algae. Either keep the fixture in a box or run the fixture with only part of the bulb and/or use actinics to lower the lighting medium or lower.
happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
The 2x65w fixtue you mentioned....is this for a larger tank or the 10 gal in your signature? That would be WAY overkill, so I am thinking you mean for another tank not mentioned, or planning for a new one....is that right?
I have a 2x65w PC fixture over my 55 gallon tank. I use 50/50 bulbs which gives me 1.7 effective watts per gallon on my tank. ( There is a ton of info in the stickies about light...read those and then you will know what questions to ask
)
With this light level I can grow a variety of med light and all the low light plants. I do not use CO2 and now just 5 months after setting up the tank all the algae is gone and everything is balanced. But with this fixture I can simply change out the bulbs to increase my light value when and if I want to upgrade to high light/CO2 etc. It gives me expansion room. (I was advised this by a member here and I beleive it was a good move and the best choice for me.)
My advice is get LOADS of plants from the start. I was told this but I underestimated what "A LOT OF PLANTS" really meant. Having previously had about 3 plastic plants in a 55 gal tank, 10 plants seemed like a lot....it wasnt until I kept adding and adding some more, trading and purchasing some from memebers here for postage costs that I was finally able to get enough plants to balance out everything and remove the last bits of algae.
The other thing I would add is not to put your lights on for more than 10 hrs a day ...I suspect forgetting and leaving mine on for 16 hrs most days contributed to the algae starting to take over. Get a timer ...they are cheap and SO WORTH IT!
I too posted for advice on this subject and the advice has not steered me wrong. Just be specific....there is a wealth of knowledge here and so many wonderfully helpful people....but in order to give you the best advice they need to know what size tank etc because each area changes your requirements.
Best wishes to you...I was intimidated to start with plants but it is a whole new world and intensely more satisfying than keeping fish without them IMO. Thanks to the fine people here I took the plunge and my tank is just mesmerizing! (At least to me anyway...lol)
I have a 2x65w PC fixture over my 55 gallon tank. I use 50/50 bulbs which gives me 1.7 effective watts per gallon on my tank. ( There is a ton of info in the stickies about light...read those and then you will know what questions to ask
) With this light level I can grow a variety of med light and all the low light plants. I do not use CO2 and now just 5 months after setting up the tank all the algae is gone and everything is balanced. But with this fixture I can simply change out the bulbs to increase my light value when and if I want to upgrade to high light/CO2 etc. It gives me expansion room. (I was advised this by a member here and I beleive it was a good move and the best choice for me.)
My advice is get LOADS of plants from the start. I was told this but I underestimated what "A LOT OF PLANTS" really meant. Having previously had about 3 plastic plants in a 55 gal tank, 10 plants seemed like a lot....it wasnt until I kept adding and adding some more, trading and purchasing some from memebers here for postage costs that I was finally able to get enough plants to balance out everything and remove the last bits of algae.
The other thing I would add is not to put your lights on for more than 10 hrs a day ...I suspect forgetting and leaving mine on for 16 hrs most days contributed to the algae starting to take over. Get a timer ...they are cheap and SO WORTH IT!
I too posted for advice on this subject and the advice has not steered me wrong.
Just be specific....there is a wealth of knowledge here and so many wonderfully helpful people....but in order to give you the best advice they need to know what size tank etc because each area changes your requirements. Best wishes to you...I was intimidated to start with plants but it is a whole new world and intensely more satisfying than keeping fish without them IMO. Thanks to the fine people here I took the plunge and my tank is just mesmerizing!
(At least to me anyway...lol)
JustOneMore20
Algae Fighter
I was just about to post pretty much what you said Zezmo.Zezmo said:
But you beat me to it!I think you should definitely decide what you want out of the tank first of all. Plant suggestions will come after you decide what you the want the tank to be.
Peyton
Aquarium Advice FINatic
You could always do DIY co2 till you can get a "real" co2 setup . Like the others have said though just plan out what you want to do. If you just want a low maintenance/light tank full of plants go with plants like crypts, java fern/moss etc. That kind of tank can look just as nice as high light ones IMHO.
Also, do not get discouraged if you end up growing a tank full of beard algae. Almost all of us have been there, trust me.
. Like the others have said though just plan out what you want to do. If you just want a low maintenance/light tank full of plants go with plants like crypts, java fern/moss etc. That kind of tank can look just as nice as high light ones IMHO.Also, do not get discouraged if you end up growing a tank full of beard algae. Almost all of us have been there, trust me.
Peyton said:You could always do DIY co2 till you can get a "real" co2 setup
Also, do not get discouraged if you end up growing a tank full of beard algae. Almost all of us have been there, trust me.
i think i might be getting beard algae or fuzz algae .. i noticed today of the edges of a sword plant i have ... theres small fuzzy stuff growing .. tried taking it off with my fingers .. but kinda hard ...
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