plans for a 40g breeder

[runninwoof]

In 3 months im moving out of my apartment, and plan on starting a brand new 40g breeder planted.


this is my painting of the plants.

i want a somewhat low tech setup, i dont mind slow growing. so i was looking at lighting around 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 wpg. i found this Compact Fluorescent Aquarium Lighting: Coralife Aqualight Single Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights
if anyone knows of a sattalite fixture < 100$ id love a link

also hoping i dont need any CO2, maybe i could use excell.

as a substrate i wanted to try the aquariumplants.com substrate.

Lastly I was wondering what kind of filter will i need? canister? would this be a good choice Aquarium Filtration & Water Quality: Rena SmartFilters Power Filters

AND lastly lastly what kind of fish would like this? maybe angles? other type of cichlid, or even dwarf puffer tank?

All advice and comments apreciated!!

 

[mgamer20o0]

lol i am going to save you a lot of money..... they dont want people to know but their substrate is just soil master select. used to be able to get it for less then $15 for 50 pounds..... its light and goes a long way. now its sold under turface which is $25 for 50 pouds sitll far cheaper then what you would have got.

as for lights i would check out t5 ho or lights from ahsupply. you really are not looking for demanding plants in that list so dont go over board with lights. i wouldnt use excel with that set up. its known to melt vals.

you dont need a canister but it would help. hobs i only use ac filters buts that just me. i would look into the c series filter or the rena xp canisters.

fish.... well i am sure people can go on for hours about fish. i am setting up a 120 with small schooling fish.... max size 2 inch maybe even 1.5 inch max.... angels are nice but remember once they get older and pair off your going to have to move some. i had angels for some time in my 120 by the time i started moving them out it was ww3. i ended up with like 6 pairs and one or tow extras. might check out your lfs and see what they have.

 

[bs6749]

A 40g breeder is not well suited for angelfish IMO. If you want angels and a tank roughly that size I'd step up to a 55 gallon tank, which would provide so many more options for you and isn't that much more expensive. Before you buy anything check out prices.

I see you have plans for anubias in your tank, with that in mind you are going to want somedriftwood or something else in the tank on which you can attach the plants. Anubias should not have their rhizome buried in the substrate.

You say that you only want 1.5-2.5 wpg but the fixture you are looking at (assuming the 36" fixture) is equivalent to roughly 3.25 wpg. I'd recommend T5's but not the HO's as the bulbs are more expensive.

I wouldn't buy that substrate from www.aquariumplants.com, in fact, I won't buy ANYTHING from them ever again due to two bad experiences with their plants (my only two purchase with them 8 months apart). Their quality was terrible, plants were loaded with pond snails, and their service was customer service was poor to say the least. Save your money and go elsewhere. Many hobbyists will offer the plants you are looking for and even rarer ones for the cost of shipping while others may charge you that plus the price of plants, but it's DEFINITELY worth it to buy from a hobbyist.

I highly recommend a substrate such as Eco-Complete depending on what you want to keep in the tank as far as fish goes. You may also want to looking into Aquasoil as a possibility for a substrate.

Excel will melt the vals as already stated so don't use it in your tank. It will also make short work of anacharis.

I recommend an AquaClear HOB style filter for your setup. They are nice filters and would work well in your setup. They aren't too expensive either. You should be able to get the filter for ~$40. I've got a Rena XP3 on my 100g tank and it doesn't provide sufficient filtration though it's recommended for tanks up to 125 gallons I believe. It worked okay on my 55g but the ideal setup would be the XP3 in a 75g since that would allow the spray bar to be placed sideways at the far end from the intake tube. You'd need an XP2 for a 40g but I would stongly recommend agaist it since they are probably ~$125 or more and they aren't that great IMO. They are nice filters but canisters in general aren't suited for the tanks that I have. I like to do regular filter maintenance so HOB's are the way to go.

 

[neilanh]

Definately check out Turface MVP, you can usually get it at your local Lesco's. I'm using Soilmaster Select in my 125, and it's my favorite substrate - I've tried eco-complete, aquasoil, and schultz's, and i like the SMS the best and have had the best success with it.

Check out catalina aquariums for lighting as well, they have really good T5 lighting and pretty good prices.

 

[runninwoof]

oky doky,

thank u mgamer for turning me off to aquariumplants.com substrate. i could't find a place that had terface mvp, but was thinking about just going with eco-complete (even tho its sooooo expensive)

i went to Ahsuply and found 96 Watt Bright Kits the 1x96 watt brighter kit. with that i think i will need a lighting house for the kit. could i make 1 easily? could i buy 1 cheeply?

decided to go hob AquaClear 110 (500) Power Filter. would i need to put any "bacteria balls" or other filter media in there?

 

[newfound77951]

I have two of the AH supply 1x96 watt Bright Kits and they are very nice. You'd just need a box that would sit on top of your tank with a longitudinal strip of wood down the center to attach the reflector to (kind of like the center brace on a tank but running the long way). I wouldn't make the top solid as the lights get hot. Or, I think those kits will fit in a 3' strip light housing if you rip all the guts out.

With 96 watts on a 40 you shouldn't need CO2 and should be able to grow most of what's on your list although I am not sure about the HC and the Rotala magenta. When I dropped my 55 from 4 to 2 wpg everything was fine except the carpet plant (I had Hemianthus micranthemoides) and the Rotala macrandra. But your 40 is much shorter top to bottom than the 55 so you may be OK.

Eco Complete is expensive but IMO it's worth every penny. I swear that stuff would grow roots on rocks. I have 80 lbs of it in my 55 and am very pleased with it.

one more thought....an AC 110 might be a bit much for a 40 breeder, although you can turn down the output. I'd also vote for a canister, an XP2 would do nicely. As far as media, I just have foam and Biomax (ceramic bits) in my filters, so just mechanical and some biological filtration.

 

[runninwoof]

with about 2 wpg will i need to bother myself with ferts?

and also would a layered substrate be nice? peet moss, laterite, root tabs, or other goodies?

ps the lighting that i linked earlier says its T-6 lights, could i fit T-5? what is the diference besides the 1/8 of an inch

 

[black hills tj]

I run 65w CF on my 29g tank. I ran 3-2 litre bottles of DIY CO2 and ferts for a while. You can definitely tell a difference. I don't have algae problems without the CO2 and Rex Griggs dry-ferts, but my plants sure do a whole lot better.

 

[newfound77951]

I don't need to add much in the way of ferts to my 2 wpg tank either, but the plants are a bit happier with them and CO2 than without. But if I let the CO2 run out, or forget to dose, it is far from the immediate calamity it was at 4 wpg.

I don't have any experience with layered substrates. I've heard they are a bit of a pain as with planting and rescaping you end up mixing the layers, and if the nutrient rich layers are in too much contact with teh water column it can lead to green water.

T5's and T6's will require different ballasts and end fittings. Generally you can't switch the type of bulb in a fixture as they are specific to how the fixture is set up. T6s are not terribly common and you may have a hard time finding replacement bulbs. T5s are great, I had some T5HOs on my reef tank and they were very nice.

 

[black hills tj]

I have never messed with layered substrates, or even plant specific substrates, but I can only imagine that you could cause quite a mess real quickly.

 

[mgamer20o0]

for your first tank i would say no. its for more advanced users i think. the more you mess in your tank the more mixed it will get.

 

[runninwoof]

oky doky,
Does the 96 Watt Bright Kits use T6 lights? the AH suply site sells T6 lights for 96 watts, so im assuming so.

chekced out the canister xp2 filters and they were $100>! ew

layered substrate is not gonna happen sence im prolly gonna want to replant a few times.

was looking for fish and read that cichlids and planted aquariums dont mix very well. i would like fish that have a personality over a large school of fish so i was wondering if there was a small (1-3") cichlid that wouldnt uproot or dig at my plants?
Also could letting the plants develop roots and feeding the cichlids zookeenee(spelling >.<), pees, lettuce, ect, stop them from terorrizing my plants enough to enjoy them with me?
i was thinking shellies or small south american kinds.

 

[bs6749]

When people say that "cichlids" should not be kept with plants they are referring to African cichlids, mainly from the 3 lakes (Victoria, Malawi, Tanganyka). I'm not sure that shellies would eat the plants and the West African species such as Kribensis would be fine in tanks with plants. Also, cichlids such as GBR's, Bolivians, angelfish, discus, not to mention all of the apistos, would be excellent tankmates in a planted tank as they wouldn't eat the plants. Your tank is not ideal for discus though and I'm not really trying to recommend any of the SA cichlids to you, rather show you that there are plenty of cichlids that go well in a planted tank.

GBR's, Bolivians, and apistos would all suit that tank perfectly. I recommend you get a pair of GBR's and a trio (1 male and 2 females) of one species of apistogramma for the tank. I'd throw in 2 BN plecos, and 5 cories if you like them. Then I'd add a school of neons or cardinals roughly numbering 15. You could also add 5 ottos to the tank to maintain the algae control where the BN plecos may not be able to reach. Then I'd top off the tank with ~10 marble or silver hatchetfish. You may be able to add more of the tetras or hatchetfish if you'd like. Petco has neons on sale right now for 5/$5 but I'm not sure if you are near one.

Don't go with a canister filter. I have an XP3 and wish I hadn't gotten it. I just purchased to Tetra Whisper 60's for my 100g discus tank because I will be cleaning out the pads every other day at the least. The XP3 was supposedly rated for a 125g tank but there's on way it'd work since my 100g is only 5 ft long, one foot shroter than a 125g. I paid $60 total for the filtration that I have on there now and it is working better than a new XP3, which sells for ~$160+ these days. It's all about what you want to do with the tank that will determine the type of filter you will need. I strongly disapprove of canister type filters for a discus setup as they provide a false sense of security. The waste builds up in the filter and since you don't see it, you don't think to change it so the waste builds up and pollutes the tank. Plus, they are harder to change IMO than the pad type HOB filters are.

 

[Purrbox]

Does the 96 Watt Bright Kits use T6 lights? the AH suply site sells T6 lights for 96 watts, so im assuming so.

All of the kits, fixtures, and bulbs sold by AH Supply are Compact Fluorescent. I'm not sure where you saw the T6 bulbs, but it wasn't at AH Supply.

 

[runninwoof]

Bulbs. when it discribes the lighting it says
"The 96watt bulbs have a GY10q base (four pins in a square) and approximately T6 tubes."

 

[mgamer20o0]

just talking about the measurements. the tubes for them are fatter then the lower watt ones.

 

[bs6749]

Bulbs. when it discribes the lighting it says
"The 96watt bulbs have a GY10q base (four pins in a square) and approximately T6 tubes."

You can trust Joy (Purrbox) when it comes to giving sound advice. She certainly knows her stuff when it comes to talking about plants or anything plant-related.

 

[Purrbox]

Bulbs. when it discribes the lighting it says
"The 96watt bulbs have a GY10q base (four pins in a square) and approximately T6 tubes."

I can see where this caused you confusion. This description is comparing the bulb diameter to the size of a T6, not stating that it is a T6.

 

[runninwoof]

ahh perfect all cleared up

 

[runninwoof]

ok i want to start the tank using the emersed growth teqnique with my HC, but i have a question. When i add the water at the end of the 4-8 weeks, will i need to add some kind of CO2 suplement such as excel? i read that without the CO2 it could get mushy during the gas exchanges. i would really like to start the forground this way, but i would hate to upgrade to high tech becuase of it.