Newb with questions

[nzafi]

i am moving my 180g in a couple weeks and was thinking of doing a substrate instead of bare bottom. I want to avoid doing gravel vac so I was thinking of using something like ecocomplete red. I would then plant some lower light plants like Amazon sword and various grasses.

The light I have now is the finnex 24/7. My question is can this light keep anything alive and grown in the 24/7 mode?

Really don't want to turn into algae infestation which happened before. Also I'm looking for this to low maintenance and an experiment for further large plywood build.

 

[philipraposo1982]

I'm not familiar with the height of the 170 and where you plan to suspended the light. If it's right on the tank then yeah it's definitely enough to grow low light plants.

With that said algae issues are far more complex than just making sure you have a light that can grow plants.

You need to ensure nutrient levels are adequate for plant grow, co2 levels are stable and adequate, excess organics are removed, substrate is deep enough, plant requirements need to be all met so that they can grow and literally outcompeted algae.

Also consider that low light plants generally grow slow and algae is a simple organism that can grow very fast. You need to ensure you have some faster growing plants. Often times on new planted system I suggest introducing a large number of floating plants.

Read up on macro and micro nutrients, types of algae and favorable conditions for them, types of plants to achieve what you want.

It's all a balancing act. If you get it wrong algae will win. Keep in mind newly planted system generally struggle for a few months up to almost 6 months

 

[J. H.]

If all you want is a substrate, no vac, and no algae, sand, burrowing snails and an aquaponics bed or a algae scrubber are all you need. Some low light plants will grow, albeit slowly, with just ambient light in the room. (Most mosses will)

 

[nzafi]

philipraposo1982 are there substrates that don't require replacing? Like does ecocomplete, fluorite, miracle grow, etc need to ever be replaced? Obviously nutrients need to be supplemented but it would suck to have to replace everything periodically.

 

[philipraposo1982]

every substrate will become useless over enough time. I mean this is assuming you are not feeding the tank with ferts or have insufficient stock to produce enough for the plants.

You can feed the water column which is enough, you will not need to replace the substrate like anytime soon.

 

[nzafi]

Thanks. Trying to decide between turface and ecocomplete. Need to go look at turface and see what it's like.

 

[philipraposo1982]

Eco complete 100%

 

[nzafi]

Eco complete 100%

Guess you like the product

Is it hard to plant after the tank has been filled? I have a shot window to get the tank up and running and was thinking of physically planting it at a later date.

Also, is eco-complete a pain to keep clean? Is it like gravel that everything fall in between or more like a sand where stuff sits on top? I want to avoid gravel vaccing which is only really doable in bare bottom or with a smaller grain size like sand.

 

[magpie]

You shouldn't really/can't gravel vac in general with plants as you'll disturb the roots, plus if it gets more dense there's no room to get to all areas of the substrate. You can get a bit of the very top layer in bare areas but that's about it.

Go with the eco complete and the substrate stirring snails (MTS). You won't really need to replace for low-maintenance plants because you can dose the water each WC with Flourish or something like it, and you can do root tabs for targeted feeding every 2-4 months.

Also, search the forums for RidX treatments which can help break down waste - it's like a probiotic for your tank.

I plant with a full tank all the time when I replace things or add new ones. That shouldn't be a big deal, the only problem sometimes is getting them to stay before they are well rooted.