I have a 125 gallon (72x24x17) and am wanting to do live plants but need a little help making sure I have the right stuff. For substrate plan to use pool filter sand with root tabs. I plan to does flourish excel into the water column as well. For lighting I was thinking AquaticLife Dual Lamp T5 HO's. That would be 4 36" bulbs at a total of 156 watts. Would that be enough? I just want basic plants (java fern, java moss, anacharis, amazon sword, dwarf baby tears, dwarf hairgrass) Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!
Advice for my 125 gallon
- Thread starter Dahawkster15
- Start date
A 13" Florida Gar would be the only inhabitant at this point. Still looking into options for tank mates.
Hrm, so you are planing on using 2 different fixtures, one for each side correct?
I'm not sure what you know about reflectors so I'll try and explain this the best I can. When you look at the bulbs, how many reflections of each bulb do you see? If you don't see any reflections then you have what are considered "poor" reflectors. If you can see an image of the bulb off of the reflector behind the bulb, then you have "fair" reflectors. If you can see 3 images of the bulb, then you have "very good" reflectors.
Knowing your reflectors makes a big difference with how much light is being given off. FOr simplicity sake, lets just pretend that you are using 2 t5ho bulbs that run across the length of your tank. THe amount of watts that a bulb uses means nothing in terms of light given off, the only important factors are the distance between your lights and the substrate and the types of bulbs in them (such as t8, power compact, led, t5ho, t5no, ect.)
If you have poor or fair reflectors, then I'd say that you are probably fine with the lights you plan on having. However, if you have ver good reflectors then you have a slight problem. One of the biggest problems with planted tanks is actually having TOO much light. Very good reflectors and 2 t5ho bulbs at 24" of hight would be considered high light. I can tell you from experience, that once you have what is considered high lighting, you will need to start doing daily dosing of fertilizers (such as the EI method) and be injecting pressurized CO2 into the aquarium, or else you will most likely find yourself with an algae farm and poor plant growth.
If your lighting is intact high lighting, then what you would need to do is raise the aquarium lights off of the tank to be about 4 inches or more off of the top of the tank. This can be achieved through use of legs for the lighting, or by hanging the lights off of the celling above the tank. THen you would be in the medium light range, which can be done with less fertilization and you can get away without having to use pressurized CO2.
If you have poor or fair reflectors, then you could get away with not dosing extra fertilizers and not having to inject co2.
The injection of fertilizers however is dependent upon your choice of plants and choice of substrate as well. What substrate are you currently using or planing to use? A picture of it would be nice, compared to maybe a coin or something so that we could get a size reference. Plants like smaller gravel, and I am of the opinion that sand is always an excellent substrate choice (provided you use the right kind of sand (I like pool filter sand personally)). There are also pre-made substrate that are designed for planted tank useage.
Lets look at the plants you listed and showed interest in. Java Fern and Java Moss are considered low light plants, meaning they will grow in the lowest of lighting, but can also be kept in higher lighting as well, provided that there is a balance in ferts, lights, and co2. Extra flow is also appreciated, especially in a tank this large, to help disuad the growth of algae on these plants.
Anacharis and Amazon Swords are considered medium light plants. They will do fine in medium or high light setups, provided that a balance is acheived in the aquarium. Sword plants are also heavy root feeders, so a nutritiuos substrate and root tab fertilizers are appreciated for these plants. Anacharis appreciates fertelizers in the water column, but can do well with little supplementation.
The tricky plants you mentioned are the dwarf baby tears and the dwarf hairgrass. Dwarf hairgrass is a plant that can survive in medium lighting, similar to what a sword plant would require, however, it will not form a lush carpet without high lighting (which in urns means fertilization and co2 injection). If you plan on keeping your tank lower maintenence and without co2 injection then I would advise against this plant for your tank. Dwaf Baby tears are a whole other story. It is a small and delicate plant, and will not do well without high lighting, fertilization, and co2 injection. Even then, it is often considered a difficult plant, and is prone to floating up off of the substrate due to its small roots and just general small structure. It is a beautiful plant and looks amazing as a well maintained carpet, but it is high maintanence and also requires frequent trimming to keep it short and carpet like. Unless you plan on going high light, ferts, and co2 I would advise against this plant.
If you have any planted tank questions, be it about substrate, lighting, water flow, fish choice, plant choice, or just plain anything feel free to message me, I'm always happy to help a fellow hobbyist
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By the way, random aside, I've always wanted to have a large planted tank with at least one gar or more and tons and tons and tons of hornwort or cambodia, alongside some jungle val, to make this huge planted mess that the gar could swim elegantly through or above. Saw something like that in footage of wild gars, thought it was pretty epic.
I'm not sure what you know about reflectors so I'll try and explain this the best I can. When you look at the bulbs, how many reflections of each bulb do you see? If you don't see any reflections then you have what are considered "poor" reflectors. If you can see an image of the bulb off of the reflector behind the bulb, then you have "fair" reflectors. If you can see 3 images of the bulb, then you have "very good" reflectors.
Knowing your reflectors makes a big difference with how much light is being given off. FOr simplicity sake, lets just pretend that you are using 2 t5ho bulbs that run across the length of your tank. THe amount of watts that a bulb uses means nothing in terms of light given off, the only important factors are the distance between your lights and the substrate and the types of bulbs in them (such as t8, power compact, led, t5ho, t5no, ect.)
If you have poor or fair reflectors, then I'd say that you are probably fine with the lights you plan on having. However, if you have ver good reflectors then you have a slight problem. One of the biggest problems with planted tanks is actually having TOO much light. Very good reflectors and 2 t5ho bulbs at 24" of hight would be considered high light. I can tell you from experience, that once you have what is considered high lighting, you will need to start doing daily dosing of fertilizers (such as the EI method) and be injecting pressurized CO2 into the aquarium, or else you will most likely find yourself with an algae farm and poor plant growth.
If your lighting is intact high lighting, then what you would need to do is raise the aquarium lights off of the tank to be about 4 inches or more off of the top of the tank. This can be achieved through use of legs for the lighting, or by hanging the lights off of the celling above the tank. THen you would be in the medium light range, which can be done with less fertilization and you can get away without having to use pressurized CO2.
If you have poor or fair reflectors, then you could get away with not dosing extra fertilizers and not having to inject co2.
The injection of fertilizers however is dependent upon your choice of plants and choice of substrate as well. What substrate are you currently using or planing to use? A picture of it would be nice, compared to maybe a coin or something so that we could get a size reference. Plants like smaller gravel, and I am of the opinion that sand is always an excellent substrate choice (provided you use the right kind of sand (I like pool filter sand personally)). There are also pre-made substrate that are designed for planted tank useage.
Lets look at the plants you listed and showed interest in. Java Fern and Java Moss are considered low light plants, meaning they will grow in the lowest of lighting, but can also be kept in higher lighting as well, provided that there is a balance in ferts, lights, and co2. Extra flow is also appreciated, especially in a tank this large, to help disuad the growth of algae on these plants.
Anacharis and Amazon Swords are considered medium light plants. They will do fine in medium or high light setups, provided that a balance is acheived in the aquarium. Sword plants are also heavy root feeders, so a nutritiuos substrate and root tab fertilizers are appreciated for these plants. Anacharis appreciates fertelizers in the water column, but can do well with little supplementation.
The tricky plants you mentioned are the dwarf baby tears and the dwarf hairgrass. Dwarf hairgrass is a plant that can survive in medium lighting, similar to what a sword plant would require, however, it will not form a lush carpet without high lighting (which in urns means fertilization and co2 injection). If you plan on keeping your tank lower maintenence and without co2 injection then I would advise against this plant for your tank. Dwaf Baby tears are a whole other story. It is a small and delicate plant, and will not do well without high lighting, fertilization, and co2 injection. Even then, it is often considered a difficult plant, and is prone to floating up off of the substrate due to its small roots and just general small structure. It is a beautiful plant and looks amazing as a well maintained carpet, but it is high maintanence and also requires frequent trimming to keep it short and carpet like. Unless you plan on going high light, ferts, and co2 I would advise against this plant.
If you have any planted tank questions, be it about substrate, lighting, water flow, fish choice, plant choice, or just plain anything feel free to message me, I'm always happy to help a fellow hobbyist
.By the way, random aside, I've always wanted to have a large planted tank with at least one gar or more and tons and tons and tons of hornwort or cambodia, alongside some jungle val, to make this huge planted mess that the gar could swim elegantly through or above. Saw something like that in footage of wild gars, thought it was pretty epic.
Wow thanks for an incredible answer and great insight! My substrate is going to be pool filter sand. I would rather stay on the low-medium light spectrum and not have to do co2 yet. One day, but not now lol. So do you have any other suggestions or ideas about a carpet-type plant? And maybe some kind of floating plant because my gar loves to sit under the piece of floating driftwood in his tank right now. And about having a jungle theme with gars, that's exactly what I'm going for! Nothing more beautiful then greenery grown all over some driftwood with a couple of graceful gars elegantly cruising through it lol.
If you can, show me a picture of your lights, especially the part where the bulbs actually are, I should be able to tell you what kind of reflectors you have and what level of lighting you will be at. Pool Filter sand is a great substrate, I'm getting some started for my little nano tank. Its also relatively cheap so it seems like a good idea for your size of tank. The only issue with pool filter sand is that it does not contain any nutrients. If your tank is already set-up I wouldn't do this, but if your tank right now is dry or can be drained completely, I would try and do a dirt substrate capped with pool filter sand. As far as dirt goes, unless you wanted to try mineralizing the soil (it takes a long time, I've never done it, and as far as I know you don't necessarily need to do it), I would get Miracle Grow Organic CHoice Potting MIX (not soil, the mix uses chicken manure or something like that while the soil uses cow manure...both are usable but I hear that the mix is better and I figured that it make sense anyways), or just any kind of organic potting mix. You would probably have about an inch or two of dirt, followed by an inch or so of pool filter sand. You could use more dirt but then you might need to worry about anerobic spots where it is too deep, which basically are bubbles in the substrate of highly rotten gasses and stuff that you don't even want to mess with.
If you don't or can't do dirt, 3 or 4 inches of pool filter sand can totally work, you'll just want to maybe add some red clay or get a ton of root tabs so that you can add nutrients to it.
As far as carpeting plant in medium light...you could always try some dwarf sag, it grows a bit bigger than most carpeting plants but you also have a tank that is a bit bigger than most planted fish tanks lol. Starugyones repens might work in medium lighting as a carpet plant, you could try dwarf hairgrass if you'd like (its a pain in the ass to plant though...to plant it right and have a better chance of carpeting you need to pull apart the pott or mat you get it in and plant each individual plug of hairgrass.....it takes FOREVERRRRRRRRR), and I've seen people do rather impressive things with massive moss carpets as well.
As far as floating plants, you have a lot of options actually. You could always go with good old duckweed, but be warned that it will take over the top of your tank if you don't scoop some out every now and then. Red root floater is nice, and I personally use Amazon Frogbit with pretty good success. There is also dwarf water lettuce if you can find it, and even water sprite and hornwort can be used as floating plants. While not a floating plant however, jungle val will grow from the bottom to the top of the tank and then will arch right under the surface of the water, which your gar might appreciate. Both Banana plants and Red Tiger Lotus have the ability to send leafs up to the surface and can grow lilly pads up there (though once they find the surface that might be the only kind of leafs that they send up there...but it can be changed with trimming).
If you don't or can't do dirt, 3 or 4 inches of pool filter sand can totally work, you'll just want to maybe add some red clay or get a ton of root tabs so that you can add nutrients to it.
As far as carpeting plant in medium light...you could always try some dwarf sag, it grows a bit bigger than most carpeting plants but you also have a tank that is a bit bigger than most planted fish tanks lol. Starugyones repens might work in medium lighting as a carpet plant, you could try dwarf hairgrass if you'd like (its a pain in the ass to plant though...to plant it right and have a better chance of carpeting you need to pull apart the pott or mat you get it in and plant each individual plug of hairgrass.....it takes FOREVERRRRRRRRR), and I've seen people do rather impressive things with massive moss carpets as well.
As far as floating plants, you have a lot of options actually. You could always go with good old duckweed, but be warned that it will take over the top of your tank if you don't scoop some out every now and then. Red root floater is nice, and I personally use Amazon Frogbit with pretty good success. There is also dwarf water lettuce if you can find it, and even water sprite and hornwort can be used as floating plants. While not a floating plant however, jungle val will grow from the bottom to the top of the tank and then will arch right under the surface of the water, which your gar might appreciate. Both Banana plants and Red Tiger Lotus have the ability to send leafs up to the surface and can grow lilly pads up there (though once they find the surface that might be the only kind of leafs that they send up there...but it can be changed with trimming).
I actually do not have the lights yet. I would be getting them next Friday. Here is a link where they show the reflectors: http://www.thatpetplace.com/aquaticlife-dual-lamp-t5-ho-freshwater-light-36in
Thanks for all your help! I am going to use most if not all of the plants you suggested. I'm still not sure if I am going to add dirt in the bottom or some clay. Please tell me what you think of those reflectors!
Thanks for all your help! I am going to use most if not all of the plants you suggested. I'm still not sure if I am going to add dirt in the bottom or some clay. Please tell me what you think of those reflectors!
Also, is the miracle grow 100% safe for fish? And I looked it up and it said it fertilizes for 3 months? Am I going to need to change it out or will root tabs replenish the nutrients? Thanks!
Great info for when I set up my tanks again, plan to plant most of them so thanks for the insights
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I've seen people use dirted substrate for years on end without fertilization in medium light setups, and as long as it is all organic it is safe, of course in the beggining there will be a nutrient spike and all due to extra nutrients in the water column. Is your tank already set up, because if it is I wouldn't try and change the substrate to dirt.
I'd say your reflectors are considered "fair", so it shouldn't be too much lighting or anything like that. Be prepared though that in newly started planted tanks, diatoms and algae will appear for a while but will gradually go away on their own once a good balance of factors is obtained. If you want any more plant ideas, believe me I have a ton of ideas XD. Actually, I'll throw one out there right now, a nice hardy stem plant that gets pretty massive are any of the hygrophilia species. Wistera and Giant Hygro would both be nice plants in a medum light aquarium like this, and they will grow into massive bushes and jungles, and they are fun too because if you want to trim them, you can cut the stem and replant the cut off portion and it will form a new plant. Although, I will say that I wouldn;t use Wistera and water sprite in the same fishtank, because they just look too similar to me lol
I'd say your reflectors are considered "fair", so it shouldn't be too much lighting or anything like that. Be prepared though that in newly started planted tanks, diatoms and algae will appear for a while but will gradually go away on their own once a good balance of factors is obtained. If you want any more plant ideas, believe me I have a ton of ideas XD. Actually, I'll throw one out there right now, a nice hardy stem plant that gets pretty massive are any of the hygrophilia species. Wistera and Giant Hygro would both be nice plants in a medum light aquarium like this, and they will grow into massive bushes and jungles, and they are fun too because if you want to trim them, you can cut the stem and replant the cut off portion and it will form a new plant. Although, I will say that I wouldn;t use Wistera and water sprite in the same fishtank, because they just look too similar to me lol