Planted Monster Tank w/ Black Sand ????

[pupumole]

Would that work?
A 300 gallon tank with black background. I wanna go with black sand ( most likely 3m quartz) ....
and then i want to plant something like dwarf hairgrass to cover the ground .... would that work? i will have two 48" Hagen HO t5 double on my 8ft tank .... but no co2 .... and fish are gonna be big monsters like datnoids and cichlas and bichirs....
would that work? o.o will the grass thrive w/o co2, and wit that amount of light? will the fish bother the grass? will the sand get stirred up so much that the grass wont hold?

 

[PLURMaster]

with higher ligting output the planst will need co2

 

[pupumole]

oh so u r sayin those hagen r high light? didnt know that ^^;;
but then i need co2 to grow plants eh? :| hmmm co2 system costs a lot x.x

 

[Lupin]

CO2 isn't really necessary but it does help allow the plants to grow faster. Pressurized is what you want instead of DIY for such a large tank.

 

[jcardona1]

i dont think its gonna work for the following reasons:

- you may need more light, thats a huge tank. as it stands, youd have only .72wpg. if using T5HO's, i would aim for about 2wpg

- from what ive read, hair grass can be fairly difficult to grow. i doubt youll get it to grow well without the addition of pressurized co2.

i think youll be better off sticking to some low-light plants like anubias, mosses, and ferns. these will do fine without the addition of co2

 

[inth3shadows]

agree with jcardona

 

[pupumole]

hmmm thanks guys : )
i think im gonna pass on the idea of having a soft flowing lawn ^^;; since i dont have enuf lighting ( total of 216 w for a 300gtank) and i currently dont have money for those fancy pressurized co2 setup ^^;;
and i dont really like ferns and anubias that much in a big tank... i just wanted a lil green carpet so black sand and black background wouldnt look so plain...
thanks