110 gallon, My First Planted Tank ~ Ideas For Improvement?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
If you do Val, spend some extra cash ad get either red Val, or leopard Val, of maybe even contortion Val.

And if you get a sword, get a colorful one. Although get the lights first, then you can get plants that aren't just green.


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Very good info. Thanks! Those are great fixtures and I'll research them for better pricing than what I'm seeing.

Also just found out I was wrong about the existing fixture. My husband said they're actually very old T12 fluorescent bulbs, with a 2 bulb ballast. The space between these bulbs is about 1 1/2 inches. I'm not seeing t12 bulbs greater than 40watts. So it looks like the existing fixture is not only unsightly, but useless for my needs.

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I can't see the pic but yah, your current lighting scheme is useless for plant growth more or less.

Once you handle the lights you should be fine. I have multiple sources good for plants and good for ferts and all.


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The fixture is ancient!

Pls feel free to pm sources for both. And that leads to the next question.... Ferts?

I've just pinched off a bunch of damaged and unhealthy leaves. Haven't added anything yet for ferts and its two weeks since planting. What's the healthiest approach for the plants and fish?

Thank you again for your patience, insight and knowledge, you're most helpful!
Laurie

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Nice tank Mike, thank you for the plant recs too. I'm definitely waiting to add more plants until lighting is upgraded. I really like your setup.

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Thanks, but I ended up trading it for a 100 gallon tank 72"x18"x18" which has just sat around for 2 years now lol. But I am getting my 55 gallon tank ready for a high tech set up, I got a 48" Odyssea T5HO 4x6500k w/ built in timer (only cost me $110), I got a SunSun 302B 3 stage canister filter, and a SunSun 402B w/ 9w uv light canister filter for the tank. Now I'm just waiting for money to come in so I can get a co2 injection system for the tank, and it'll be ready to go. I plan on EI dosing with dry fertilizers, but I'm having issues with the driftwood I have in the tank I don't know if I like it or not or if I should replace it with some of the other 20 pieces I have just sitting in my 100 gallon tank.

For going high tech sure requires a bit of money to get it started with all of the equipment that's needed, but in the long run it's well worth spending that kind of money...


For your tank I would suggest getting this light fixture, diamond plate shop light because I've seen a few setups from people who use it, and they have amazing planted tanks.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...ight-Fixture-1241DP-RE/202192989#.UggDvJLqlrM

It has a good reflector, and should give you the lighting you're looking for.
 
Im going to recommend cheap lighting if you want to go that way....

I got an Odyysea T5HO 4ft 4bulb off ebay for my 125. I forget what the watts per bulb is but its something like 216w total. It has a timer and everything. It was only around 100.00 shipped. Its been running for about 4-5 months and works great so far.
 
Im going to recommend cheap lighting if you want to go that way....

I got an Odyysea T5HO 4ft 4bulb off ebay for my 125. I forget what the watts per bulb is but its something like 216w total. It has a timer and everything. It was only around 100.00 shipped. Its been running for about 4-5 months and works great so far.

Haha I got the same light, 48" Odyssea freshwater quad w/ built in timer so far I love it, but I plan on swapping out 2 of the 6500k bulbs for 2x5000k bulbs because 5000k is closer to afternoon sunlight whereas 6500k is close to mid day sunlight. They're 54w T5HO bulbs for the Odyssea fixture.
 
Thanks all. Is this the odyssea light you're referring to? I saw it in another thread here as well. It comes with a timer, moonlight leds, etc. For $110 shipped. Is it appropriate for a 28 inch high tank, low tech? Its certainly cost effective if it will work.

http://www.aquatraders.com/48-inch-4x54W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Fixture-p/52325p.htm

Regarding swords, there's a few kleiner bar and rose in the tank now. Hopefully they'll be OK until I can put in new lights.

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Meh, the Odyssea fixtures don't impress me. They have pretty meh reflectors, and I've heard about issues with massive overheating with them.

granted, you could use them, but really you'd only get low end medium light due to how tall your specific tank is.

That shop light is also T8 bulbs.....that'd be fine if you get a couple of those and did low light but if you are aiming for medium I really wouldn't bother, although the price is nice. However, I also don't know if you really can hang the light, idk what your ceiling is like and all....plus, you want the light as close as possible given how tall your tank is. Btw, watts per gallon isn't a thing, its all about PAR at the substrate which measures how intense your lighting really is. High light, you generally want a par value that is going to be something like...60ish at the substrate

I'll PM you the websites for what I recommended, and I'll PM you about ferts. Keep in mind though, my lighting recommendations are pricier than everything else mentioned so far, but they are also high quality.

With ferts though, there are two main methods that are used, EI and PPS-Pro. I use both on different tanks. EI I do for my 75, PPS-Pro I do on my 10 and my 5.5

PPS-Pro basically has you adding in only the amount of ferts that your plants need for the day. EI has you adding in excessive ferts, more than your plants need, to make explosive growth.

Because of how much space your tank will have, I almost would recommend doing EI. PPS-Pro is better suited, imho, to smaller tanks that you want to be more controlled as far as trimming is concerned, and also for tanks where you do not want to do weekly water changes. EI dosing requires 50% weekly water changes. However, if you do EI, I would also recommend that you modify it, as EI works off the assumption of high light and high co2 content. I mean you can dose EI as if you did have those things, it won't hurt any fish or anything, but its a little wasteful since the plants wouldn't be using it all.
 
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