Why thank you kind soul
I never expected someone to write so much information but I'm greatful you did. I plan to take it slow and learn as much as I can.
I don't have a CO2 system of any kind right now. I just bought a bottle of flurish Excel and was hoping that would work. I also bought pretty much every bottle of fertilizers from the seacham brand. (It was on sale online) so I will have it all.
I don't have any type of a schedule for doseing. Do you have any likes? Or layout of what to dose and how much would be great. The seacham website has a dose chart but it is fairly confusing to someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
Ok you got them but now you need to research it. Follow those links above> I use Estimated Index on a daily schedule but I am very high tech. Strong light full Co2.
If you are going low tech without co2 injection just liquid Co2 you will be more low tech. Your fert schedule will naturally be less. DO your reading. Try to find someone who has posted iinfo that has an aquarium close to what you are planning and copy some basic parameters to give you a baseline.
So where can I buy filter floss? That kinda stinks because I bought brand new filters for this tank. The fluval C4 5-stage filters.
As long as they are not activated carbon, or anything that would leach phosphates or nitrates out of your water. Your medium choices will be fine most likely. Just understand what you have. You can google search planted aquarium filtration mediums to see what is suggested and what others use
And since I am just starting out I was thinking a low tech planted tank but the more I read, the more I am realizing that it doesn't matter because both low and high tech require alot of attention. Not that I wasn't going to give it attention, just thought low = more forgiving. But I am realizing this isn't always the case.
Nope only difference is cash up front. Both require you to be passionate about it to the point you are willing to troubleshoot any issues. Once you get it dialed in you can relax some but you can't ever be lazy about it.
My light is a Current satellite freshwater LED +
Only problem is that it 36" long and my tank is 48". The max light output is 6500k max LBG lighting. It comes with a remote that has several settings that can dim the lights down to lunar settings. I am realizing that this is not the ideal lighting system but I don't have the money to buy a brand new light bar. So this is what I will have to deal with until I can save up for it.
6500k reading is only what the human eyes see. Plants don't care. Your light is fine just put the lower light plants off to the dark corners and the plants who need more light under the light. You can plan this out......You can also do some rock structures on the darker portion to caress your plants under.
What we care about with planted aqaurium light is
1.) Par rating at the substrate.. This will determine if you can raise certain plants. However good luck finding your par ratings for that lamp. Not alot of info
I will say this I run 3 watts per gallon of LED light. In the old day 3 watts of florescent light per gallon was considered solid medium light. With my Beamswork LED I have to raise this light 12 inches above my tank or its way too powerful
2.) Light color frequesncies. Look up plant light and you will see charts that show values in nm ... 420 - 500nm is blues greens 650nm - 750nm is reds oranges. My light is 10k but encompasses all these light frequencies. Your light is 6500k and most likely encompasses these same frequencies.
The only question we really need to know is how powerful is your light. You need ot know this because it will determine what plants you can raise and wil effect whether or not you wil need to add Co2 and how much ferts we need.
Post your make and model and see if you can find any tech data on your lamp
As for the tank layout I will try to move the substrate around to be more in the corners of the tank and leave the middle open for swimming. I will post pictures when I get a chance to move the decor around. I just need to try some new things.
You can do so much with a combo of rocks driftwoods and substrate. to build up those outside edges that wil be darker because of your short light. There is some real sexy rocks that can be purchased online and driftwoods..
Thanks so much for the articles to read. I will get to then asap and try to learn all I can about this hobby. I really do want to become great at this.
Thanks again for your advice.
I look forward to reading from you again soon.
Cheers,
Kaneu[/QUOTE]
no problemo.. I know a few things but don't know it all. I will try to guide you some but you really got to go out and read read read and be inspired by others work. Your head will spin but the ideas will flow... Every time you hit a wall ask another question