300 gallon planted tank help

[Jonathann04769]

so I am getting 2 very large 300 gallon tanks 84” by 26” by 30” and for one of the tank I am gonna have a umbee but the other one I want to be peaceful and planted. I am sorte of new to planted tanks I have had one 36 gallon running now for 5 month with no co2 and it’s doing amazing and turning into a jungle.

I just wanted to know what would be the best lighting option for a 30” deep tank, should I go with led light bars or about 3 bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

So for stocking ideas I have a apistogramma pair in my 36 with 6 Congo tetras and a small angelfish I want to move all of those fish into the 300 and make my 36 into a tetra tank, I am thinking of picking up some more angels to hopefully get a couple pairs and I want my apistos to breed as well, I will problably get 14 more Congo tetras to get a nice school going what else should I put in there? I was thinking of about 10 hillstream loaches and 5 Siamese algae eaters for clean up, and some 6 German blue rams not sure what else I want I am open to suggestions.

And for plants I was thinking some cryptocoryne spiralis and jungle Val for background plants and for mid ground i wasn’t quite sure but I want everything to be like a jungle I will have lots of driftwood and rocks spread throughout the tank and for foreground I wanted a nice fast carpeting plant that doesn’t need co2 and sends runners like crazy.

Anybody out there with a big planted tank know the best fertilizer for a tank of that size?

 

[Deadliestviper7]

As for fertilizer I like the liquid frets they sell in pet stores.

As far as lighting go with some reef rated leds

 

[fisheatfish]

My initial thought....WOW!...300 Gallon planted tank! Hats off to you.

Not sure of your budget but for lighting, you can go diy T5s or LEDs and adjust height accordingly.

Since you want to go with carpet, substrate should be considered. Again, budget? That’s a lot of surface area to cover. Best low tech carpet I’ve experienced with are dwarf sagittaria.

Mid ground, I’d suggest anubias around the base of the driftwood and perhaps go crazy wrapping the branches with moss.

Dry fertilizer is the way to go. Try Greenleaf Aquarium.

Curious...what kind of filtration?

Much luck to you!

 

[Fat Homer]

Dont really have much advise for you since i’ve never had a chance to do anywhere near such a large planted tank but definitely props to you for jumping into the deepend so quickly...

As for the carpeting plant though, swarf sag does sound like a good option for a low tech / large surface area carpet...

And i definitely agree go dry ferts route for this tank, coz liquid ferts will start costing you and arm and a leg real quickly...

 

[skjl47]

for plants I was thinking some cryptocoryne spiralis and jungle Val for background plants and for mid ground

Some years ago (Late 1980's to early 1990's) I had a 125 gallon planted tank setup. The plants grew very well under two shop lights with 48 inch fluorescent tubes. Since that time I have used lighting of various types with the exception of the expensive commercial LED units that can be found in fish shops currently. Not saying those expensive lights do not work, just that I have been able to find a less expensive work around.
My biggest planted tank currently is a 55 gallon and for a year or two have been using a 48 inch LED shop light on it. It was at first just an experiment to see how the light looked on a tank. It looked good so I left it on that tank and many months later the plants are doing well. I will try to get some pictures and post them. My point being that lights have never been a problem and the expensive units can be avoided with fine results.

Another thing I did was to convert the two light hoods that had been on the 55 gallon from 18 inch fluorescent tubes into standard screw in bulb bases. I have been running various LED bulbs with a standard screw in base. I find I like the "daylight" bulbs with a kelvin number closer to the 5000 K to 6500K range. The "soft white" bulbs in the 2500 K range also grow plants but I just do not happen to like the look.
It was a little work to convert the lights to take the screw in bulbs and took some time but has worked out fine. There are a good range of these LED bulbs available now so finding some with enough lumens and a proper size is not the issue it was just a few years ago.

I will post about substrate, ferts and types of plants later.

 

[Jonathann04769]

My initial thought....WOW!...300 Gallon planted tank! Hats off to you.

Not sure of your budget but for lighting, you can go diy T5s or LEDs and adjust height accordingly.

Since you want to go with carpet, substrate should be considered. Again, budget? That’s a lot of surface area to cover. Best low tech carpet I’ve experienced with are dwarf sagittaria.

Mid ground, I’d suggest anubias around the base of the driftwood and perhaps go crazy wrapping the branches with moss.

Dry fertilizer is the way to go. Try Greenleaf Aquarium.

Curious...what kind of filtration?

Much luck to you!

Thanks I am quite nervous to start it up and at the same time excited, I don’t really have a budget for this tank I wanna go all out to make it really nice, I found a couple extremely nice peices of drift wood and am wanting to go crazy with moss on them any suggestions on what kind of moss, also for dry fertilizer do you mean the little pill shaped ones that decinagrate over time? The filtration I am gonna use will be a fluval fx6 or fx5 not 100% on that yet

 

[Jonathann04769]

Some years ago (Late 1980's to early 1990's) I had a 125 gallon planted tank setup. The plants grew very well under two shop lights with 48 inch fluorescent tubes. Since that time I have used lighting of various types with the exception of the expensive commercial LED units that can be found in fish shops currently. Not saying those expensive lights do not work, just that I have been able to find a less expensive work around.
My biggest planted tank currently is a 55 gallon and for a year or two have been using a 48 inch LED shop light on it. It was at first just an experiment to see how the light looked on a tank. It looked good so I left it on that tank and many months later the plants are doing well. I will try to get some pictures and post them. My point being that lights have never been a problem and the expensive units can be avoided with fine results.

Another thing I did was to convert the two light hoods that had been on the 55 gallon from 18 inch fluorescent tubes into standard screw in bulb bases. I have been running various LED bulbs with a standard screw in base. I find I like the "daylight" bulbs with a kelvin number closer to the 5000 K to 6500K range. The "soft white" bulbs in the 2500 K range also grow plants but I just do not happen to like the look.
It was a little work to convert the lights to take the screw in bulbs and took some time but has worked out fine. There are a good range of these LED bulbs available now so finding some with enough lumens and a proper size is not the issue it was just a few years ago.

I will post about substrate, ferts and types of plants later.

I don’t really wanna use non aquarium light purely because I want to be sure this tank will be great I don’t wanna spend hundreds on plants and then have them die due to not good enough lighting, I do believe that you can grow plants well using non aquarium lights but I don’t wanna take that risk, I would love to hear what you have to say about fertilizer substrate and plants

 

[Jonathann04769]

Dont really have much advise for you since i’ve never had a chance to do anywhere near such a large planted tank but definitely props to you for jumping into the deepend so quickly...

As for the carpeting plant though, swarf sag does sound like a good option for a low tech / large surface area carpet...

And i definitely agree go dry ferts route for this tank, coz liquid ferts will start costing you and arm and a leg real quickly...

Ok thanks any other ideas for plants or fish?

 

[Jonathann04769]

Do these stocking ideas and plants seem good?
For fish- 3 pairs of angels, 20 Congo tetras, 20 rummy nose tetras, a pair of apistogramma redneck, 10 hillstream loaches, 2 females and 1 male German blue ram, 5 Siamese algae eaters and 4 rose line sharks. Any ideas on if I could put any puffers in that tank? And I am open to any more suggestions on fish or if some of these fish aren’t compatible please tell me.

For plants- lots of dwarf sag, cryptocoryne spiralis, jungle Val, anubias nana petit, Christmas moss, Java moss, Java fern, Monte Carlo and Japan clover. Not sure what other plants, open to suggestions Thanks

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

As for lights

If you wanna go for the T5HO route, look into hydroponic fixtures, you get a more even coverage . Plus they should be cheaper than then ones with aquarium labels on em.

If you wanna go the LED route, SBReef Fresh Water leds will probably give you the most bang for your buck. $130 USD ea, I think you need at least 3 with your foot print.

PAR Data for the SBReefs https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/sbreef-fresh-water-led-165-watt-par-data.700330/

fertilizers, defiantly go with dry ferts. will save a lot of money in the end.

substrate, you can get away with sand if you your water column dosing is adequate.