Finally Starting up my 60g -related questions

[current516]

My tank is 60g (24" tall) - I have 260 Watt CF. I'm going to do DIY CO2 for a week or so until my new CO2 tank gets here. Eco-Complete and gravel mix.

My plants will be here tomorrow! No fish yet.

I plan on planting them, turning the lights and starting the CO2. Then I was going to wait a couple of days before starting to dose ferts.

Is that an OK plan? Should I start dosing right away? Do the plants need to "acclimate" first?

I'll try and post some pics as soon as I get it going.

 

[malkore]

You probably won't need to dose any ferts for a week or two, as the plants acclimate to the tank. Mostly its the stress from shipping that stunts them for a few days. If they were grown emersed, then you also go through a transition phase as they revert to submerged growth.

I'd wait at least a week...and never dose ferts until you know if you need them or not. A high bioload tank often needs no NO3 dosing, just PO4, K, and traces.

 

[fish_4_all]

The only thing I can think to add is start your CO2 now so you can get an idea of what your Kh and pH will be and get a good grip on the changes. I think it would be the best way to learn what your tank is going to do. If you turn off the CO2 at night, what is the pH swing. If not then what is the pH in the morning. Just gives you more tools to be able to regulate pH and KH to prevent large swings and hurt the fish when you get them.

 

[newfound77951]

Do you have your ferts now?? With 260 watts over a 60 gal, that is 4+ watts per gallon...my 55 is just under 4 wpg (192 watts), I didn't dose for the first couple of weeks and had the worst algae outbreak I could have imagined (within 2 weeks)! Keep an eye on your parameters and don't let anything (particularly N and P) bottom out or with this light you'll have algae so fast you'll be amazed. Definitely get your CO2 going as soon as the plants are in. The plants will acclimate pretty quickly, I had some growing within a few days, although it takes a while before they get to their full growth potential.

In the beginning you may need to dose N as your bioload will be low, but Malkore is right in that a high bioload tank often doesn't need much N. I add lots of P, K and trace but not much N.

 

[czcz]

You should do yourself a favor and limit light until the pressurized setup arrives. Limiting light (say, by using 130w CF) will also lower nutrient uptake if you want an easier learning curve for dosing.

 

[current516]

Thanks all!

UPS takes forever to get to my new house! Almost 5pm.

Anyway, I planted everything last night but I already want to move stuff around. :? I never seem to get it right the first time. Even when I plan.

--
For now I think I'll run 130 watts actinic 10hrs a day, and the 130watts 10,000 for 2 hours.

I'm going to dose Nitrate just to get it in line with my phosphate. And then keep an eye the levels.

When my CO2 tank finally arrives then I'll figure out my dosing schedule.

How does that sound

 

[Purrbox]

The actinic lights have very little usable light for plants. If you are using that mix of lights currently you could have both on for the full time and effectively only be running just a bit over 130 watts. This effectively limits your lighting as czcz had suggested.

 

[current516]

The actinic lights have very little usable light for plants. If you are using that mix of lights currently you could have both on for the full time and effectively only be running just a bit over 130 watts. This effectively limits your lighting as czcz had suggested.

8O

I missed that in the lighting sticky! I figured it would translate to less watts, but thought it would be about half not nothing. ugh.

Well...that explains most of the problems I had in my previous setup. I've been reading this forum for a while. Don't know why I never noticed that before.

Now I need to swap out those bulbs.
This hobby continually makes me feel stupid.

Thanks