Planning a planted tank

[Goldfish]

In the next month or so I'm going to be creating a 70 litre (ish) densly planted tank. Since there'll be so many greens and reds in there, will this reflect much on the fish and cause colour imbalances? Also, I know it helps for plant growth if you use different lighting, so will this affect the colouring? I'm very new to the various types of lighting (doing lots of research), so what does the number and letter K stand for (eg. 8000K), and which would give the best balance between plant growth and a good white light? (From my research so far apparently 8000K is the whitest?). Finally, 70 litres (may have to update that once I've found the exact tank I want, but won't vary much) is roughly 18.5 US gallons, so would 60 watts of lighting (3.2 WPG) be sufficient? Or too much?

Ah, so many questions...

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks,

James.

 

[alanhill]

Funnily enough I am just sitting down to finish an article about this. I hope it will be on view here in a few days time and that you will find it useful. Decorating a tank is a matter of personal taste, but IMHO you can have too many plants as well as too few.

K stands for Kelvin, which is a unit of temperature: the link to colour is that the temperature of a hot object affects the colour of the light it radiates. Things can be hot enough to radiate microwaves or infra-red without giving out any visible light, hotter things glow red hot or white hot or blue hot.
The filament of an ordinary light bulb reaches about 3000K and gives very red light. Daylight is much bluer; its colour temperature varies around 6000K, depending on the brightness of the sun and the blueness of the sky. This is why you can adjust the white balance of your camera for different types of lighting: so it should be possible to match the setting of your camera to the lighting you install.

Hope this helps.

Alan

 

[JerseyJay]

Finally, 70 litres (may have to update that once I've found the exact tank I want, but won't vary much) is roughly 18.5 US gallons, so would 60 watts of lighting (3.2 WPG) be sufficient? Or too much?

James,

Alan covered the K question. I used anything from 3K-10K and didn't have any problems growing plants. I would recommend staying between 5-9K. I personally prefer 8,800K and that is what I'm using on my tanks.

As for as how many wpg, it all depends what kind of plants you are going to use and how high tech you are willing to setup your tank. Did you think about fertilization or CO2?.

 

[Goldfish]

Thanks Alan

Jay - I'm planning on using DIY CO2 for the time being, haven't done much research into fertilisers though. My LFS said that I need a layer of fertiliser underneath the substrate with a heater in it. Would it be okay to not use a layer (I'm a bit worried about my corys digging it up and maing the tank cloudy) and to just add liquid fertilisers? If I did this would I still need the heater?

As for plants, I don't really know yet. I'd like to have some eustralis stellata (the picture on your site is much too tempting), and something grasslike. Also a variety of cabomba (Cabomba furcáta (C. piauhyensis)? at any rate a pretty one with a variety of deep colours), an anubias which I currently have, and this (sorry CDM for using this pic, I don't know its name - the red and green one next to the rock):

I hope that isn't too crazy a choice . I'll have a look for some others, but I don't know what kinds of conditions they need...

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to do it really properly.

Thanks.

 

[Ibn]

With the type of lighting that you're considering you can get away with DIY CO2, but make sure that you have a couple of bottles running and make sure you get it going (if you get tired of doing the DIY, then consider going pressurized).

You can definitely do liquid fertilizer and forget about the undersubstrate layer and the heater. The substrate heater is definitely a European thing and isn't used in the States very often, due to its effectiveness and cost. The layer that they're referring to is probably a very thin layer of peat or something. Like I said earlier, you don't need either of these. Tom Barr has proven that plants can get away with water column fertilization and if you have a heavy root feeder, then consider root tabs.

For something grasslike, how tall of a plant are you looking for? If it's for foreground effect, dwarf hairgrass, Eleocharis parvula works really well (go w/E. acicularis if you're looking for something taller). If you're looking for a taller background grass-like plant, then consider Cyperus helferi.

Cabomba furcata turns a nice shade of red once it gets enough light. Another beautiful Cabomba, is C. pulcherimma, which gets a nice purple instead. That plant in the picture there is a Nymphaea species (lotus), perhaps N. zenkeri. They get to be a decent size, so it might not be appropriate for a tank of that size.

If you're interested, there are also other forums devoted to planted tanks. Two which come to mind include: aquabotanic.com and plantedtank.net

 

[CDM]

Those plants in my 10 gal need stronger lighting. The lower substrate type of light-greenish plants do middle strong photosynthesis. If the lighting is strong enough, those will spread along the substrate, otherwise, those will grow straight up. I use CO2 pressure tank with timered regulator to supply the CO2. However, those grow really fast, and eventually (soon) those will cover up the substrate and starting grow straight up. The red/greenish plants is not a good idea for small tank like 18.5 gal. Those grow fast, my one spent 3 weeks to reach the top and shield the light from going down, hence the long plants next to it turned out ugly. Also, the light greenish plants can really dye greenish color on some fishes with white or transparent belly (check those neon tetra or pencilfish in my thread you'll see). So, I don't recommand my type of settings. Btw, those hairy like plants are great.

Here's the tank after 3 weeks:

 

[Goldfish]

Thanks I think I better give that one a miss then CDM. I'm going to use DIY CO2 until the summer I think, when I'll have more spare time, and have no undersubstrate fertiliser or heater.

More questions (of course):

1. What kind of filter should I use?

2. What kind of heater should I use? - I'm sure I've read somewhere about an 'in-line' heater or something, which is mainly outside the tank? Am I making this up? I'm really aiming for as little tank presence as possible with regards to filter, heater etc.

3. Stocking: I'm hoping for: 4-6 endlers
6 or so Corydoras Trilineatus
5 or so Otocinclus Cocama (zebra otos)
Will that be okay? I was hoping to breed them all, eventually (putting the fry into a spare 10g I've got). Please do say if that will be foolish, or change stocking amounts or whatever, I'd rather have happy fish than unhappy fish.

Thanks once again,
James.

PS - It's the easter holidays now, so I'll start putting everything together ASAP.

 

[Ibn]

1) Just about any type of filter. Most people use canisters, since they provide decent amount of movement and filtration and keep CO2 in solution.

2) Up to you really. If you're trying to get more equipment out of the tank, then consider an external heater (take a look at the Hydor), which you can plumb into the canister. Also, I know of a person who's in the local plant club that I'm in, who had some glass pipes made. These are used to replace the Eheim ones and are barely visible inside the tank.

3) Those stocking levels are fine for that size tank. You might want to hold off on the O. cocama in the beginning since you won't have enough algae to support them in the beginning. Wait a few weeks and then add them. Also make sure that they nice and healthy individuals since the genus doesn't ship well and many starve to death during acclimation (hence the need to look for fat bellies).

 

[alanhill]

I'm hoping for: 4-6 endlers
6 or so Corydoras Trilineatus
5 or so Otocinclus Cocama (zebra otos)
Will that be okay? I was hoping to breed them all, eventually (putting the fry into a spare 10g I've got). Please do say if that will be foolish, or change stocking amounts or whatever, I'd rather have happy fish than unhappy fish.

I'd advise you to think hard about the Endler's. I like them and we have two tanks full of them, but I'm not sure how well they would fit into your set-up. They are hard water fish from the Venezuelan coast (although they are very adaptable) and a couple of sizes smaller than fancy guppy varieties. They will certainly breed, but you would be well advised to remove the gravid females to your 10 gallon, because you couldn't catch the fry in a large planted tank without considerable disruption. I would consider a shoal of tetras which like the same water conditions as the cats.

Alan

 

[Goldfish]

Alan - what would the effect be of putting them in different water conditions? I'm aware of moving the females, hopefully that shouldn't be a problem, but the water conditions I'm concerned about. Would being in a softer environment be detrimental to their health/wellbeing? If it will, then possibly a pair of killifish, or new rainbows? (I've been keeping tetras for about 6 years, and I fancy a change)

Also, aside from getting an RO unit, how can I reduce my water hardness? Will boiling be enough? *tries to remember GCSE chemistry*

I have to go out now, I'll check my water hardness out of the tap when I get back.