Starting a 30 gallon...tips?

[Pacman]

I just got a 30 gallon, flatback hex aquarium with canopy and stand. I've got a bit of experience; had aquariums for many years, most recently saltwater.

I'm going to be setting this up as FW though; thinking a community/ livebearer fish aquarium with some plants, but not a potted tank. I've got an IceCap VHO ballast from my reefing days, and wondering if this can be used for a FW tank? and if so, what bulb(s) would be best?

 

[neilanh]

Welcome!

Not sure with your experience if you know about fishless cycling, if not please read the article in my signature.

What wattage is the VHO ballast you have rated at? That'll determine if it's usable or not. The plants will prefer any bulb between 5000K and 10000K.

 

[Pacman]

It's an IceCap 430, which is capable of running 2 or 3 36" bulbs at 95 watts each.

I was thinking of doing 2 bulbs: One daylight 6500k bulb and one 50:50 bulb; this makes about 180 watts over a 30 gallon tank which may be a bit of overkill for a FW tank though. Maybe I should just go with 24" bulbs. It just doesn't seem like too many people in the freshwater world use VHO.

Anyway, I'll have to start a thread with some pictures. The tank, stand and canopy need a bit of TLC; the previous owner scratched the acrylic tank up which I'll be buffing out.

 

[Pacman]

Oh, and as for cycling, I pretty much know about the whole nitrogen cycle. I think the fishless cycling process is much more humane so would definitely be going that route.

 

[Purrbox]

A single 95 watt bulb would be more than enough for a 30 gallon planted aquarium and would almost certainly require CO2 injection to avoid algae soup.

 

[OldMan]

That 50/50 bulb is not going to affect plants. The spectrum is such that the plants can't use it. For FW plants, you want bulbs in the 5000K to 10000K range only. Anything more than 10000K, like an actinic or an actinic 50/50, is a waste of electric power when it comes to FW plants. Anything more than about 2 watts per gallon on a FW tank will require fertilizer dosing and CO2 supplementation, otherwise you will be dealing with mega-algae problems. I tend to run near the 2 WPG limit because I like some of the medium light plants but don't want to spend $200 per tank for CO2. The fert dosing is pennies per week but the CO2 on a 30 gallon tank is starting to get too big for a yeast based system. Of course, if you had lots of tanks near each other, a pressurized CO2 system could serve all of them and is actually cheaper, in terms of cost per bubble, than a DIY yeast system. The initial cost is a bit high though.

 

[Johnny Tuttle]

Well, in my short couple of months here, I've seen several threads and started a few myself with people with livebearer communities who are now overrun with fry.

I've had my tank running with fish for 5 weeks(?). I started with 3 guppies (1m/2f--one f replaced due to loss), and now, I've got nearly 20 fry in my tank.

Please strongly consider a way to deal with fry before making the plunge with livebearers. And if you have a way of dealing, let me know please