Finally have income to support my planted tank!

[red_wall]

I got a job in February, and after buying my car, and a new computer, I can finally turn my attention to my tank.

Please don't laugh, but ladies and gentlemen, here's my very laughable tank.




It looks like crap as you can see. It's a 46 gallon bow-front with less than 1 WPG, and the lights haven't been replaced in 4 years.

It started off looking really nice. But then collapsed over a year. My parents fed up with me trying to do things the right way, and not what they wanted to do, I had nothing to spend on my tank.

Now, I'm about to jump headfirst into a new tank.



I want to replace the substrate, either with eco-complete, or some cheap marine sand from my LFS. I was advised against sand though, as it is sharp.

Going with low light plants.
I was originally thinking

Compact Hygro (placed in a corner)
Bacopa australis (Bunched random spot)
Green Hygro (background)
Pearlweed (random bunch)
Rotala rotundifolia (bunched)
Egeri najas (bunched)
Red Tiger Lotus (centerpeice)
Possibly a few Anubias spread around

With Hemianthus callitrichoides, or Lilaeopsis mauritius as a carpet (wasn't sure about Hemianthus' light reqs.)

Of course, the shipping charges will be killer from any website, not to mention they'll probably not be as good of quality as other fish-keepers. So, I was thinking about putting a WTB low light plant package ad on Aquaria Central, take the best deal.

Going to take out my old filter and replace with canister

And would like to use dry ferts.

DIY CFL retrofit on my old hood, up the lighting to 2.2 WPG

No co2



My questions to you guys are:

Would I even need ferts? If I go with what I want, then It'll be a lushly planted tank with no co2.

If I go dry ferts (I AM kinda poor here haha) I was thinking of ordering from Rex Grigg(http://www.bestaquariumregulator.com/ferts.html) anyone have experience with him? And what would you recommend me dosing?

I found this, but don't know if it's legit?

¼ tsp KN03 3x a week
1/16 tsp KH2P04 3x a week
1/16 tsp (5ml) Trace Elements 3x a week
50% weekly water change


That's really all the questions I have.

Thanks for helping!

I'll probably have more questions later on.

 

[I'mHooked]

First of all, I really like that horizontal Florida Palminius you have in your tank...nice touch!

If you have eco-complete as a substrate, and slow growing, low-light plants, you may be okay avoiding dry fertz. Just check and make sure that the plants you are adding then are primarily root feeders...if they're heavy feeders through their leaves (like java fern), then eco complete isn't going to do anything for them. That's when you would need to add the dry fertz like you mentioned.

And please upgrade your lighting...even low-light plants need quality light at lower levels. 4 year old bulbs are going to have a much lower lumen output then you even expect.

I've had great success with the Seachem line - highly recommend. Dry fertz can be really tricky if you haven't had experience w/ them.

Otherwise - good luck! Please post your progress!

 

[red_wall]

I honestly like my flag as a background to my tank haha :]

Won't the eco-complete eventually run out of nutrients? How would I 'recharge' it?
I'd supplement dry ferts anyways, i guess, just in case.

I said I was going to upgrade it to 2.2 WPG haha

I really don't want to deal with expensive (over the long run) ferts. I'd rather buy the dries and dose.

I'll post it. It may take around a month or two haha.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

bowfront tanks are sweet looking when its full of plants- very satisfying illusion- your plant list does look reasonable and the only formula is by trail and error as some people have better luck with some and not others.

 

[I'mHooked]

Eco-complete or Flourite will be around longer than either of us will be - technically...Since the whole substrate granual is full of nutrients, it would take the eco-complete to be reduced to a mud-like substance to be deprived of nutrients. It takes years, literally, for the plants to "unlock" the minerals and nutrients found in the substrates mentioned above.

But there are some aquarists out there that will "renew" their substrate by taking out some of the old stuff and adding new stuff, or go the easy route and throw in some root tabs (work great). Either way, your plants will do great with the substrate and the dry dosing that you mentioned.

And yes...dry dosing is much cheaper...I temporarily forgot about the size of your tank...

Cool on the lighting...with low-light species and undemanding plants, you'll have yourself a great looking low maintenance tank!

Looking forward to pics!

 

[I'mHooked]

Okay, so I took a closer look at the plants that you had listed above - just a heads up from www.topica.dk (THE leading source of information for aquatic plants). I'm thinking these plants are unlikely to do well in the lighting you have stated above:

Compact Hygro: Medium to high lighting
Pearlweed: Medium to very high lighting
Rotala rotundifolia: Medium to high lighting
Red Tiger Lotus: Medium to high lighting
Hemianthus callitrichoides: high to very high lighting
Lilaeopsis mauritius: high to very high lighting

I know you also mentioned a carpet effect for your tank...this is commonly a look in high-light aquariums since "carpeting" usually occurs as a result of high lighting and/or severe and frequent pruning.

You may want to consider other plants that have lower light requirements, like java fern, etc. Orrrrr......you have a GREAT excuse to upgrade your lighting system!!!! Of course higher amounts of light increases plant demand, which increases maintenance (you can see where this is going)...

 

[I'mHooked]

Oh, one more thing! Check out the sticky on lighting...for taller tanks/large tanks the watts-per-gallon rule doesn't really hold true, so you would have even less lighting than you would think. Unless of course you already took that into account...

 

[shookONES]

Get ADA Aquasoil Amazonia II...best substrate on the market
Get better lights...2.2wpg in a bowfront won't be much at all
CO2 is your friend
Nutrients are your friend

 

[r3d]

Get ADA Aquasoil Amazonia II...best substrate on the market
Get better lights...2.2wpg in a bowfront won't be much at all
CO2 is your friend
Nutrients are your friend

I completely agree with this guy
If i were you and were completely set on having a full blown planted tank i would up the WPG to the 3-4 range, get pressurized CO2 and dose dry ferts
your plants will see much better growth under these conditions
and with your current planned setup i feel your going to get algae up the ying yang unless you introduce CO2

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy,

Make sure your tap water parameters fit your plants' needs (pH, hardness).

Dosing ferts is interactive, there is no recipe. You need to monitor your water chamistry to know how much to dose when. That is especially important for nitrates and iron.

Best of luck,
HarleyK