serious planted tank build

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J

Jay-C

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 1, 2010
43
0
0
NE-Ohio
good evening everyone,
i just wanted some input and suggestions

i had a begginers planted tank for a while until i purchased a pair of parachromis freddies. i knew they would tear up the plants but i couldn't pass up the chance to own the pair. after a year and about 15 spawns, the male finally killed the female. soon i will be getting rid of him and i want to start a serious planted tank.

i want to do a tank like in the current issue of tfh magazine. basically it is all ground cover with mid or background plants. the substrate slopes up toward the back of the tank. i will have some rock work on each end and two beautiful pieces of driftwood in the center. the plants that they used were the following:

glossostigma elatinoides
riccia fluitans
eleocharis acicularis

tomorrow i will be receiving my new fluval fx5 to replace my rena xp2 and xp1 currently on the tank. wednesday i will be receiving a milwaulkee co2 reg and solenoid. over the weekend i will be heading to the local beverage equipment supplier to pick up a 5lb co2 tank or a 10lb if it will fit under my tank. in the magazine they are running 6 bubbles per second, how long will a 5lb tank last?

75 gallon tank

i have a 48" two bulb t5ho fixture and a 48" single bulb fixture. i was planning on running all 3 bulbs. what type of bulbs should i get?

substrate will be a mix of midnight floramax, black sand, and small black gravel.

co2 will be diffused by running it into the output of the filter.

i am still undecided on fish but i want to let the tank run with the plants for a while first.

as stated at the beginning, any advise or suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
Lights: 6700k. Do more research on co2, can't hurt.

There is no set "correct" bubbles per second. It's good to start without fish so you can just crank the co2 and get everything rooted. You can also try growing emersed...
 
I don't think your going to be able to run 6bps with fish in the tank.

Get yourself a glass diffuser on ebay.
Get a drop checker with 4dKH solution
 
aclockworkorange;4865424; said:
Lights: 6700k. Do more research on co2, can't hurt.

There is no set "correct" bubbles per second. It's good to start without fish so you can just crank the co2 and get everything rooted. You can also try growing emersed...
Click to expand...

should i use all 3 bulbs or just two. i have been researching co2 for two months now, anything in particular you had in mind?
 
JasonG75;4866463; said:
I don't think your going to be able to run 6bps with fish in the tank.

Get yourself a glass diffuser on ebay.
Get a drop checker with 4dKH solution
Click to expand...

they have fish in the tank at 6bps but i am sure it will be trial and error. the tank size the listed was all in cm so i haven't converted yet to see how close it is to my 75 gallon.
 
Jay-C;4867272; said:
they have fish in the tank at 6bps but i am sure it will be trial and error. the tank size the listed was all in cm so i haven't converted yet to see how close it is to my 75 gallon.
Click to expand...


They there is WAY TO MUCH surface aggitation..

You see I did this little experiment..
Test 1 . I tilted my spraybar MORE to the surface which caused more surface aggitation. I increase my bps from 3 to 8. My Drop Checker (over 24 hrs changed from light green (40ppm) to a very very dark green (20-25ppm)
Test 2 . I tilted my spraybar AWAY from the surface which caused LESS surface aggitation. I decreased my bps from 8 to 6. Within 2 hours ALL my fish were swimming at the surface HUNTING for air.

So check your water surface. You might be WASTING a lot of Co2.
 
JasonG75;4869827;4869827 said:
They there is WAY TO MUCH surface aggitation..

You see I did this little experiment..
Test 1 . I tilted my spraybar MORE to the surface which caused more surface aggitation. I increase my bps from 3 to 8. My Drop Checker (over 24 hrs changed from light green (40ppm) to a very very dark green (20-25ppm)
Test 2 . I tilted my spraybar AWAY from the surface which caused LESS surface aggitation. I decreased my bps from 8 to 6. Within 2 hours ALL my fish were swimming at the surface HUNTING for air.

So check your water surface. You might be WASTING a lot of Co2.
Click to expand...
I prefer more surface agitation. Here's why:

- more surface agitation mean higher levels of dissolved oxygen in the tank
- higher levels of dissolved oxygen in the tank mean more o2 available to the fish
- more o2 for the fish means you can push your co2 levels higher than and the fish are fine
- higher co2 levels means plants are better off, and you have more flexibility when battling algae
- result? happy plants and happy fish

sure, you waste a little co2 in the process but it's cheap, and a small trade-off. Plenty of surface movement is why I can keep my drop checker bright yellow all day and the fish aren't even fazed. By the morning, it's a dark blue color, then the co2 comes back on again. If your drop checker stays green all day and night, that's not really a good thing, it could affect your fish at night.
 
i will mess around with it for sure. i am probably two months away from a finished tank anyways. and not sure how much farther out with fish.

do you run an air stone at night?

fluval fx5 arrived yesterday. man is it a lot bigger than i was thinking, barely fits under the tank. co2 reg and solenoid should be in tommorrow.
 
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