Vinman409

i have had tanks for a long time but never used dirt i have a 100 gal tank want to use a 6 bulb t5ho,cascade1000,eheim2217,lifegaurd 25watt uv i did alot of reading on this maybe to much but that isnt enough experience means everything so any ideas? also press co2. i got this all for FREE! NICE!

jsadlersos

Hey congrats on your free stuff!
That seems like a lot of light, be careful of algae blooms. Also i believe that some plants grow better under less light, so be sure to provide these plants some shade from the full blast of the lights. Your plants will benefit from pressurized CO2 with that much light on your tank for sure. If you can manage it you should try to slow the flow to the uv sterilizer way down so that your water has plenty of contact time with the uv light (you could use one of your canister filters w/ a ball valve to achieve this as long as the sterilizer is inline post filter). This contact time will allow it to eradicate free floating parasites as well as bacteria and free floating algae. This bulb will need to be changed about once a year to maintain peak effectiveness. Also the uv sterilizer will not do anything to algae that is already anchored to the inside of the tank.
As far as the dirt goes, don't use too much. Doing so could cause an excess build up of hydrogen sulfide, which will in turn make your fish sick and rot your root systems. I just had a huge problem with this and removed all the soil in my tank (fish ended up with septicemia), but I did it wrong, so don't give up on soil! There are plenty of threads on the use of soil here, so if that's the route you decide to go make sure you do your research. Hope this helps and good luck.
Cheers

Vinman409

thanks great stuff another question when do i cap dirt if i add gravel to the mud wont the gravel sink into the mud or wait untill alitte dry before i add gravel nobody really says they just say cap dirt

jsadlersos

When you put water on the dirt it will make mud (don't add any more water. The gravel will sit on top, the dirt is more dense than you might think. Don't cap too much (1/2 to 1 inch). Once you get the cap on, plant your plants, add decor, etc, then put paper towels over everything on the bottom. Set a dinner plate in a stable spot, and if you have a collander set that on top of the plate. Make sure your water is dechlorinated and temp is around 75 degrees. Begin adding water. The reason for all this is so you don't start disturbing the soil underneath. If you disturb the soil you will end up with brown water. After you've got the water in and things have settled you will want to begin poking the gravel/soil with something (a bamboo skewer will work). Do this every day to every few days, and try to hit most places in the substrate. What you are doing here is releasing potential hydrogen sulfide bubbles (These will stink when they break the surface). Hydrogen sulfide, in a large enough concentration, can leech into your water column and begin to make your fish very sick (I just had an issue with this.....not fun). It can also rot the root systems of your plants. Poking the substrate will help to release this potential threat before the concentration gets too high. This may need to become part of your daily routine for quite a while as (depending on what soil you use) it may take the soil a while to finish breaking down.

HybridHerp

6 bulbs I think would be way too much light (then again, how deep is your tank and how high above the tank is your light going to be?) In any event, defiantly listen to jsadlersos and read up as much as you can on everything, there is no such thing as too much reading :P
what plants and fish and inverts and whatnot do you plan on keeping in this?