What To Expect - Maintenance/Filters/Lighting in First Planted Tank

[Ehpn7]

I'm a longtime animal lover but new to fish keeping. I got a used 30 gallon (3ft) aquarium and am finally done cleaning it up, and need to get serious about planning. I really want a heavily planted tank as a way of bringing color & light into my relatively dreary living room, but am getting conflicting information about how simple/complicated, high/low-maintenance planted tanks are. As this is my first attempt at fish keeping, I want this to be a minimally-expensive project and (if possible) on the low-maintenance end of things. I would really like to follow this method (http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/) but I'm not sure if it's really as simple as it sounds.

Can anyone tell me what kind of time/money investment I'm looking at? Even things as simple as maintaining/cleaning the filter (for a power filter- sponge filters seem quite straight forward, though again, I've read conflicting information about how appropriate they are for a planted tank).

The current hood is an All Glass T8 fluorescent with a 17 watt bulb. The highest wattage I've seen for 36" T8 is 30 watts- will 1wpg be sufficient for this kind of low-tech system, or are there other bulbs I haven't seen that I can use without replacing the entire fixture?

 

[fort384]

It can be a big investment, or minimal. It depends on the type of plants you hope to maintain.

As far as lighting, your fixture is only going to hold 1 wattage of bulb. They aren't like incandescent where you can go up or down in wattage. At 17W you would only be able to keep the lowest light plants, like java fern, anubias, and java moss.

The place to start is to decide what kinds of plants you are interested in, and check the requirements. A good resource to start is PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource. They have a decent database that allows you to sort plants by placement and lighting requirements.

As far as other things involved, I would read up on fertilizer requirements, and also the benefits/science behind CO2 injection. Here are a couple of articles to get you started:

Introduction to Fertilizing the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

Beginner's Guide to CO2 Injection in the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice

 

[Ehpn7]

The fixture itself says "All Glass Aquarium, Inc. 36 inch Fluorescent Reflector. 120 volt, 20 watt, 60hz." I can only assume then, that the 17w bulb that the previous owner used is incorrect. I've been doing a lot of research on planted tanks, and this is the first I've seen that you can't swap out different wattages within one fixture (actually, I've seen quite the contrary. This is why all the research in the world has primarily baffled me more instead of clarifying the actual facts)!

The good news is that, as I have a 30 gallon tank, it's quite long and low, so the distance between the substrate and the fixture is relatively low (probably less than 14" once the substrate is filled in). I believe that means that I will have better success with lower-than-ideal wpg than if I had a taller tank?

I really don't want to get into CO2 injections-- frankly, I don't want to get into fish keeping if I'm not going to do it in a manner that is expected to be responsible and effective but low-maintenance and low-cost. Obviously, there's no guaranteeing that any tank will be simple or complex, but I don't want to choose a route that will definitely be complex or labor intensive or expensive. CO2 injections + higher light = more growth, more pruning, more maintenance, more equipment, and more supplies, right?

Besides the fact that that setup is not the kind of thing I want to get into, I am very drawn to low-tech tanks that are as close to self-sufficient as possible. Not because I don't want to be bothered with caring for my aquarium, but because I am fascinated by the natural ecosystems involved.

 

[fort384]

Fluorescent bulb wattage is based on length of bulb, and diameter of bulb (T5, T8, T12, etc), for a given output format.

There are a few issues here: 17W T8 bulbs are 24" in length. So not sure how a 17W bulb that is a t8 could fit into a 36" fixture. 36" T8s are 25W. Is the hood/fixture 36" long but the bulb is actually 24"? Not sure where you heard that you can swap bulb wattages in a florescent fixture but that is at a basic level not true (there have been slightly different wattage bulbs for a given tube diameter and length introduced as energy saving bulbs, etc).

If you want to stay away from CO2 injection, that is fine - low tech tanks can still be amazing. It just may limit some of the plant choices you can make. With the current lighting you have, even with a 14" depth, you will want to stick with low light plants. You are correct though that the shallower the tank, a lower wattage bulb can still perform. We generally speak in terms of PAR (Photosynthetically Available Radiation, measured in uMol) and PAR drops dramatically the deeper you go and the further you get from the light source.

As far as a natural ecosystem - even a low light/low tech setup is far from it. It still requires regular water changes, feeding, fertilizer supplementation (eventually) etc... so I am not sure wanting to be self sufficient or more natural is a good case to make when deciding between the two.

As far as time/money investment - if you stick with low tech really all you are looking at for now is the cost of plants. You can attempt to grow the low light stuff with your current fixture and see how it goes. There wouldn't be much need for fert supplementation right away. Eventually the tank would benefit from a trace/K mix like API Leafzone, or the like. The other supplement that works well in a low light tank is glutaraldehyde as a carbon supplement. This is available in bulk through websites like Amazon.com or at fish stores as SeaChem Excel (though it is far more expensive this way).

Your assessment is right on about co2 injection and higher light. It results in more growth, more pruning, more equipment, and more supplies. Low light is a good place to start.

 

[Ehpn7]

There are a few issues here: 17W T8 bulbs are 24" in length. So not sure how a 17W bulb that is a t8 could fit into a 36" fixture. 36" T8s are 25W. Is the hood/fixture 36" long but the bulb is actually 24"?

Well, this is odd. Despite what the label on the lamp casing says ("All Glass Aquarium, Inc. 36 inch Fluorescent Reflector. 120 volt, 20 watt, 60hz"), the bulb IS 24" in length. Does this mean that someone altered the fixture to use a shorter bulb in the hood? Or is the lamp's label just misleadingly worded? I'm likely going to replace the lamp with another one from eBay (36" and the corresponding stronger wattage) to avoid uneven lighting.

As far as a natural ecosystem - even a low light/low tech setup is far from it. It still requires regular water changes, feeding, fertilizer supplementation (eventually) etc... so I am not sure wanting to be self sufficient or more natural is a good case to make when deciding between the two.

Your assessment is right on about co2 injection and higher light. It results in more growth, more pruning, more equipment, and more supplies. Low light is a good place to start.

I know this is still going to be far from self-sufficient. BUT, from what I've been reading, I believe that a heavily planted, carefully planned low-tech tank can require much less in the way of fertilization/pruning/water changes, etc. "Self sufficient" was a poor choice of words- I guess I mean that they're more low-maintenance.

Thank you so much for your input and explanations

 

[fort384]

Any time!

It is possible it was modified or perhaps it is just misleading in that the hood is 36" but the light only 24".