40g planted

[travis simonson]

You should read through some of the stickies here in the Planted Tanks forum. They are a wealth of information that will answer many of your questions and help to get you started off on the right foot

 

[travis simonson]

Nice work I use a sintered glass diffuser but I've got pressurized CO2 pushing so it works without any problems. I'm not sure how well one would work with DIY pushing it though. I agree with Malkore and TG, if you've got an HOB to run it through it should work like a charm.

BTW, any pics of the plants?

 

[azn_fishy55]

So will maybe a half in. of gravel on top of half in. of sand,will this work?Also will pond substrate tablets be okay to fertilize the substrate and also some laterite becuase I have some left over from another tank.Thanks!

 

[travis simonson]

You should also test for pH, KH, and GH. Most plants do best at a pH of 7.6 or less and KH/GH levels below 10 degrees / 180 ppm. Of course this can be very hard to control depending on your local water supply's characteristics unless you are using CO2 supplementation and RO/DI water. But I digress . . .

 

[krap101]

i was thinking.. if the bell was large enough. you could have like an air line goin from the top of the bell back into the co2 generator? so then you wont lose any from it bubbling over?

 

[hashbaz]

i was thinking.. if the bell was large enough. you could have like an air line goin from the top of the bell back into the co2 generator? so then you wont lose any from it bubbling over?

Yes, you could save all the CO2. You would not need a return line. Just make the bell tall enough that you won't lose any CO2. My plan though, is not to save all of the CO2. I hope that I can get some mixtures going well enough that there is always too much CO2. This excess will escape out of the bottom of the bell - instead of causing a PH drop. In this way, my PH is not dependant on the varying rate of yeast CO2 generation (too little CO2 will still be a problem though).

I will have to see how well it works.

 

[greenmaji]

less problems then using the AC HOB? The filter works period for the purpose of diffusing CO2. heck the guru's use it. and as far as air lock is conserned.. on a aquaclear thats very very unlikely.. It would have to be killer airlock for the filter to not just reprime itself.. I can pull the intake tube out wile the filter is running put it right back on and it reprimes itself if done quick enough.

 

[greenmaji]

you can overdrive regular florecent bulbs.. try searching for ODNO..

 

[BrianNY]

I wouldn't suggest lighting as huggermuggers main issue just yet.

Huggermugger, it's great that you want an awesome looking planted tank. You won't need a PHD in botany to accomplish that. You will need a basic understanding of what aquarium plants need to live. Just like there's a difference between a cat and a dog, so too is there's a difference between species of plants.

I suggest that you start with plants that don't require alot of lighting. Do some research. Get a handle on the water chemistry required, and you'll have that beautiful planted tank.

 

[greenmaji]

Ive just noticed in the past that the members trying to grow low light needs plants in a 29 gallon didnt have any luck with the 20watt bulb that comes with the standard hood brian

A small impovement with ODNO would be only a 10 watt gain (2X).. making low light needs plants much more of a viable option, less frustrating at least.. with the use of a 2-F32T8 ballast (~$7 at home depot). I personaly dont see were 30watts of light would hurt...

your right in suggesting low light plants and reaserch.. members have suggested reading the stickys and Ive just seen people have trouble with the tall 29 gallon and only 20 watts of NO.

 

[gheitman]

You don't have to buy a more powerful fluorescent light fixture, but you do have to be careful about what plants you try, with only 20W of light. As mentioned earlier you can grow Java fern, Java moss, Anubias, African fern and some Cryptocoryne species under that amount of light. You can find a fairly complete list of plants that grow under low light by following the link below.

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=1&filter_by=2

As far as fertilizers go. You normally don't need a lot of fertilizers with these plants. I would suggest looking at Flourish Tabs and liquid Flourish.

 

[greenmaji]

example:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=53933&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
1-1.5wpg was advised when this member had trouble with low light plants in there 29 gallon with the standard 20 watt bulb..

 

[BrianNY]

Yes Bill, you're correct in that taller tanks require more light. I think the point I was trying to make to anyone new to aquarium plants is that lighting has to be taken as part of the sum. Not an independant issue.

Without a basic knowledge of plant biology it's easy to see why people create more problems then they want or understand. The newbies attitude toward aquarium plants is much the same as their attitude towards house plants. You buy a potted plant, say a coleus, place it in some direct sunlight and water it every now and then and it thrives. People have the same concept in mind with any aquarium plant.

 

[greenmaji]

yes yes.. sum of the whole.. I wasnt disagreeing with you.
finding out that diffent plant species have diffent needs
NO3 and other nutrients that are thought of as bad in a FO tank are nessisary for growth nutrition in plants..
a balance of NO3 to PO4 chemistry keeping algae at bay 10:1 ratio..
much more then just light is to be considered...
I just didnt want to make it seem like you could get low light requirement plants growing well in a tall tank with less then 1wpg even after you did your reaserch and it just didnt work, I would find that infanately frustrating... since the light strip is not upgradeable by a simple bulb replacment.

 

[Cash Turtle]

(hmm i thought i posted this already...)
Im going to have guppies
rummy nose tetras
cory cats
a banjo catfish
an apple snail or two
lfs told be these could live together?
i have to do a little more research on the banjo catfish do they eat algea like a pleco? fish food or frozen food?

I also sawa fish called an elephant nose, I really like them but i think they get to large for the 30 gallon..maybe if i setup a 55 instead

I was planning on haveing the tank of plants under the stand for the 120 at first and didnt knw what i was going to do about filtration but since im going through the trouble ofgetting fish i want to look at i think i'll set it up ona stand and use one of my canister filters on it.

I dont know what to put down for substrate. Originaly i was going to have a bare bottom. I like the idae of sand but im afraid of it getting into the filter and i dont know if its ok to have with fish like corys and the banjo that look like they eat off the bottom. or i guess i could go with gravel.

 

[rich311k]

Those fish will work nicely together. The corys and banjo will love a sand bottom. Much easier on their barbels.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I agree with Rich, sand is a good option. To avoid it being picked up by the filter, use a heavier sand like pool filter sand. It doesn't float and is cheap (50 lb bag for $6).

 

[RubixCube]

Yes, they are 30w each. What wattage would be recomended?

 

[Jchillin]

Yes, they are 30w each. What wattage would be recomended?

That depends on what you want to accomplish. The stickies at the beginning of the forum can give you an idea of the light/equipment requirements for the different light levels.

At this point, you have a low-light setup. If you want, take a look at "my tanks" clicky for a example of a low-light set up.

 

[Cash Turtle]

now I need to figure out how many of each to get
I have quite a few guppies 10 at least, I'll have to count them when I get home
I want to have enough tetras and corys so that that can have a school.
am i better off with pygmy corys or the regular grey ones they have at the store?
I have two canister filters, so if one turns out to be ok for my turtles tank than the other one can go on the fish tank
I have a filstar xp3 and as soon as i order a new motor I'll have a working jebo cfs4

edit: were might i find pool filtration sand this time of year? walmart didnt have any so im guessing home depot or lowes?