starting planted tank...

[Spy_90]

ok so I've been reading and such, but if possible I'd just like to confirm my thinkings:

29gal tank, thinking about 110W of CF

Now this gives me a high amount of light. the CF strip has 2 bulbs in it, if I just ran one (for 1.8WPG) would the tank be ok without CO2? I'm a little worried because just running one light the light will be a bit biased either to the left side or right side of the tank. But maybe I can ballence between the amount of light plants need to offset this?

Also from what I understand I just want to go out and stock this baby full? What kind of plants would you recommend?

Thanks for any advice! I'd like to do CO2 in the future, but I'd like to start a tank without it and it seems rather complicated and if I can do without it at first it would be really helpful and make thing easier.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I think just using one light will be fine. It will allow you to grow low light as well as high light plants without CO2. I'd go ahead and plant it heavily from the start, if that's what you want. That will hopefully help outcompete algae.

I have alot of plants in my 29g, but I have 65w over the tank, for about 2.2wpg and no CO2. Most are stem plants, but I also have some crypts. I have Rotala rotundifolia, Ludwigia repens, Bacopa caroliniana, Asian Ambulia, Echinodorus tennellus, Taiwon moss, crypts (wendtii, lutea, and retrospiralis), and Stargrass.

The only one of those I don't think would do well under 1.8wpg is Stargrass. It grows in my tank, but doesn't look great.

 

[Jchillin]

You will be fine at 1.8wpg. Contrary to popular belief, you can grow a varied amount of plants in a low-light environment. I have amazon swords, L. repens and brevipes, sunset hygro, vals, parrots feather, ambulia, crypts, Java ferns, stargrass, bacopa, moneywort, and dwarf sag in my tank.

Algae is just as much a concern in a low-light tank as a high light tank. Ferts will help minimize this, especially KNO3 and root tabs (especially for the heavy root feeders such as swords and crypts). In most low-light tanks, the fish bio load will not produce enough NO3 and algae loves to thrive in that environment.

HTH

 

[Codefox]

Might I recommed, also, for a tank that size something like Red Sea's turbo co2 system? Its just a yeast bottle and a little powerhead at the gravel level. Its inexpensive and seems to work pretty well.

 

[JRagg]

I started off with no CO2 and very subpar lighting (your 1.8 is vastly better than what I had). I ended up upgrading it all. I had chosen the wrong plants, so I wasn't seeing the growth I had expected. If you chose the right plants, you can have a very successful low light setup. JChillin's tank is a prime example of this.

Depending on the cost of bulbs and what you're willing to spend, if you want half the wattage out of your lighting you could go with a pair of 50/50 bulbs. Half the usable light for the plants with the same amount of visible light for you. The only thing about having either the left or right side of the tank lit would be that half the tank is dark. Really I think that's a personal preference thing.

CO2 isn't that hard, I'll agree it's intimidating at first, but the second I started using it my algae issues went away.

 

[Spy_90]

thanks for the help guys!

I got the stuff today, I actually went overkill on the lights and got 130W of CF. They also had a simple CO2 system (not red sea it is a nutrafin) that was pretty cheap so I jumped for it. It's basically like a homemade kit except it has a diffuser and hopefully better regulated CO2 flow. It claims one batch will last 28-30days so we'll see.

I set the thing up today, don't know when I'll be able to start putting plants in. I rinsed the florite like there was no tomorrow but I've still got a decently brown tank right now. Hopefully it won't last to long.

 

[HiFi]

When I did my 38 with flourite a while back.. the brownish water cleared to 50% the next night, and almost all gone the night after. I put in my hornwort after the first day, and filled it with nutrient sucking plants after that.