I have had my 72 gallon bowfront tank set up with tropical freshwater fish for about 9 months and I am wondering what the costs and difficulties would be in converting this aquarium to a planted tank. I have read a few threads about planted tanks and I am so confused. Do I have to remove my fish for a long time to set the plants up? Do I need to buy new substrate, a CO2 diffuser, and new lights? What nutrients would I have to add to the tank? any advice would be very appreciated.
NEED ADVISE! considering a 72 gallon planted tank
- Thread starter APAC
- Start date
What is the current stock list?
What kind of plants do you want to keep?
What lights do you currently have?
What substrate do you have?
What kind of plants do you want to keep?
What lights do you currently have?
What substrate do you have?
Stock-
7 Painted Tetras
5 Tiger Barbs
2 Bala Sharks
2 Bleeding Heart Tetras
1 Baby Polypterus
1 BGKF
1 Emerald Corycat
1 Glow-lite Tetra
Substrate-white gravel
Plants-I would like any good lookin low maitenance plants if possible
Lights-standard flourescent lighting
7 Painted Tetras
5 Tiger Barbs
2 Bala Sharks
2 Bleeding Heart Tetras
1 Baby Polypterus
1 BGKF
1 Emerald Corycat
1 Glow-lite Tetra
Substrate-white gravel
Plants-I would like any good lookin low maitenance plants if possible
Lights-standard flourescent lighting
There are some ways of doing it.
1. Keep the plain white sand. Plant really easy plants like crypts, anubias and keep the current set up without removing any fishes. These are slow growing plants. CO2 addition is not essential for these guys but it might help. You may want to take it slow for now. Maybe add Flourish excel.
2. Replace the current sand substrate with an underlying layer of soil (1/2 inch- 3/4 inch) add back sand on top of it. Keep the fish out for about 2 weeks. Add plants to it and then add back fishes.
3. Completely replace the present set up or add premade substrate like ecocomplete or flourite. At least add the premade substrate in 1:1 dilution. You can add substrate tabs like flourish and then add plants to that. No need to keep the fishes out for more than a couple of hours to a day to get the water cleared up a little bit.
I went for the third option but looking back I wish I had gone for the soil underlayer- it provides natural carbon source and you can have dry start.
Now for lighting- I think yours is 48inches long. So 4 normal Fluorescent lights stretched over it should give enough light and this is the cheapest and the most inelegant way of doing it. In my experience and opinion the best is T5HO lights which can be had for as low as 120$ or slightly inferior PC light. The ones I have are expensive and I am not sure where to direct you for good inexpensive PC lights.
Next CO2- what you need is a carbon source- be it flourish excel or co2 or soil based substrate. If you want to have good luck with plants you need it.
If you are willing to experiment a bit- I have had great luck with aquariumplants.com substrate which is apparently rebranded Turface( something used in baseball field). It has high CEC (cation exchange capacity- higher is better. Soil/peat have high CEC) so it will hold on to nutrients and release it at slow rate when needed into water. You might need to remove the fishes for a couple of days using this substrate.
If you have more money then there is always ADA products which will need you to remove fishes for atleast couple of weeks.
Good looking plants are probably healthy plants and no matter which plant you have you will need all the above ingredients to make them healthy.
Hope I have covered all your questions.
1. Keep the plain white sand. Plant really easy plants like crypts, anubias and keep the current set up without removing any fishes. These are slow growing plants. CO2 addition is not essential for these guys but it might help. You may want to take it slow for now. Maybe add Flourish excel.
2. Replace the current sand substrate with an underlying layer of soil (1/2 inch- 3/4 inch) add back sand on top of it. Keep the fish out for about 2 weeks. Add plants to it and then add back fishes.
3. Completely replace the present set up or add premade substrate like ecocomplete or flourite. At least add the premade substrate in 1:1 dilution. You can add substrate tabs like flourish and then add plants to that. No need to keep the fishes out for more than a couple of hours to a day to get the water cleared up a little bit.
I went for the third option but looking back I wish I had gone for the soil underlayer- it provides natural carbon source and you can have dry start.
Now for lighting- I think yours is 48inches long. So 4 normal Fluorescent lights stretched over it should give enough light and this is the cheapest and the most inelegant way of doing it. In my experience and opinion the best is T5HO lights which can be had for as low as 120$ or slightly inferior PC light. The ones I have are expensive and I am not sure where to direct you for good inexpensive PC lights.
Next CO2- what you need is a carbon source- be it flourish excel or co2 or soil based substrate. If you want to have good luck with plants you need it.
If you are willing to experiment a bit- I have had great luck with aquariumplants.com substrate which is apparently rebranded Turface( something used in baseball field). It has high CEC (cation exchange capacity- higher is better. Soil/peat have high CEC) so it will hold on to nutrients and release it at slow rate when needed into water. You might need to remove the fishes for a couple of days using this substrate.
If you have more money then there is always ADA products which will need you to remove fishes for atleast couple of weeks.
Good looking plants are probably healthy plants and no matter which plant you have you will need all the above ingredients to make them healthy.
Hope I have covered all your questions.
thanks for the advice
I just went to Home Depot and bought a 48" Shop Light Set Up with two Philips T8's at 40watts a piece so that gives me a grand total of 112 watts. I also purchased a 50lb bag of gravel and some Eco-Complete as well as a big piece of drift wood f/m Uncle Bills. Just went out and purchased a saw from walmart to build risers for the lights and picked up 4 plants from Petsmart. What else do I need? Is a CO2 diffuser even necessary?! what plant fertilizers should I purchase?
I just went to Home Depot and bought a 48" Shop Light Set Up with two Philips T8's at 40watts a piece so that gives me a grand total of 112 watts. I also purchased a 50lb bag of gravel and some Eco-Complete as well as a big piece of drift wood f/m Uncle Bills. Just went out and purchased a saw from walmart to build risers for the lights and picked up 4 plants from Petsmart. What else do I need? Is a CO2 diffuser even necessary?! what plant fertilizers should I purchase?
pick the right plants and you wont need to do a thing. anubias and java fern, for example, are not to be buried in the substrate. they are to be tied to drift wood or rocks. so replacing your substrate is not necessary. and these plants look great and are easy to grow, which it sounds like this is what youre after.
add Flourish Excel as a source of carbon regularly and sit back and enjoy
add Flourish Excel as a source of carbon regularly and sit back and enjoy
I purchased 2 Anubias, 1 Peacock Fern, 1 Aqua Fern, and 1 Wisteria. I was looking forward to planting these in the soil! so I really just tie them to the driftwood? How do I monitor the CO2 level or is that necessary and what plants go into the substrate?
I personally love wisteria- great looking, easy growing.
Anubias and the ferns you can tie to drift wood. Wisteria I guess is better off planted. If you bought ecocomplete that is a good substrate to start.
Anubias will not grow quickly so patience.
CO2 ,if not being added, need not be monitored. If you want to add it then question is DIY vs CO2 tank. Most ceramic diffusers will not work with DIY co2 as the preassure required to push the gas will not be sufficient. Putting it into the intake of a power head is a easier and more efficient way to do it. You could partially cut into the impeller and that will produce a finer mist and this method works well with DIY co2.
SO do you want to add co2 and if so how?
Anubias and the ferns you can tie to drift wood. Wisteria I guess is better off planted. If you bought ecocomplete that is a good substrate to start.
Anubias will not grow quickly so patience.
CO2 ,if not being added, need not be monitored. If you want to add it then question is DIY vs CO2 tank. Most ceramic diffusers will not work with DIY co2 as the preassure required to push the gas will not be sufficient. Putting it into the intake of a power head is a easier and more efficient way to do it. You could partially cut into the impeller and that will produce a finer mist and this method works well with DIY co2.
SO do you want to add co2 and if so how?