ShaneSmith

From my experience trying to work in a "middleground" in the 12 inches of a 55gallon is really hard. I would drop back a little on the light and concentrate on the driftwood and anubias/ferns. Ryuken's tanks dont usually have much in the way of stem plants and they are stunning. For your first tank messing around with fertilizer is not what you want to do IMO, and stem plants love fertilizer!

tsunami

I agree with Shane. A middleground in a 55g is simply not possible. Believe me, I have tried.

Your three swords will quickly outgrow your aquarium if kept well. Personally, overall, your aquarium has way too many plant species. I would limit it down to ten to eleven species, so you can have much larger, more impressive bunches of each.

Your DIY CO2 may not be enough to successfully run a tank with this much lighting. If you want to use the DIY CO2 anyway, I would at least use two to three 2L bottles to increase CO2 production. Pressurized CO2 would be ideal.

Finally, I would not recommend using the hang on the back filter for a 55g planted tank. It might create too much CO2 loss. A small canister filter would be a better choice.

Carlos

vicious

I'm more than willing to go ahead with a pressurized CO2 system. Is there one that gives you the most bang for the buck so to speak? In other words which ones are tried and true?

I'll eliminate the swords (I figured they would get too big, but I was hoping they would fit). I'll also come up with more groups and less variety. Although I can't give up on the stem plants. That's the same challenge that led me to keep corals. Perfect stable water, correct food, correct trace elements, right type and amount of lighting, etc. I'm also willing to research, listen, and learn. Just be patient, I'll try not to ask too many dumb questions .



Thanks,

Vicious

(after my favorite Wide Reciever Joe Jurvicious)

ShaneSmith

Well a pressurized system is going to be more help than you can imagine. Personally i like the milawakee 3 in one for convienence and ease. Its 99 for a solonoid, regulator, bubble counter, everything you need besides a tank and reactor.

darbo

OK, you asked for it. I am an absolute newb, but I just found your forum today, so I haven't been lurking.

I have several questions that pertain to my 55g aquarium. It uses a Tetratec hang on back powerfilter, a 48" 40watt fluorescent light fixture, and a simple gravel substrate. Since I am a newbie, I'm certain I got started on the wrong foot, but I'd appreciate your advice.

1. Should I tear it all down and start over with another substrate? If so, what exactly do you recommend for my substrate. I've been reading several articles about substrates, but they always are full of scientific explanations...I don't want that, I just want a simple recommendation.

2. Rather than starting completely over, can I just leave the gravel in the aquarium and supplement it with some product and still achieve beautiful results from the plants?

3. The posts above reference "low-light" aquariums and "high-light" aquariums. Define these terms please. Low light is exactly what wpg?

4. Does the intense light used in some aquariums 2-3 wpg not have any adverse effects on fish?

5. When I am ready to add plants should I plant densely? Why or why not?

6. Where can I find recommendations for plants that are not difficult to grow, maintain, and are beautiful plants?

Wandy

I saw the request to post so here goes.

I am about to set up a 30 gal long tank. I wanted to have a planted tank and this being my first tank in about 30 years I had forgotten what happened when I had plants way back when. They never rooted, usually rotted, algae was rampant. Plastic was great.

Here I am today. I have assembled a bottom of seachem flourite, a Dave Gombergs CO2 kit, a small piece of thrice boiled driftwood, a coralife 90w light in a canopy from Big Als, a eheim 2213 (not sure how to set this up, do I use carbon, etc ,etc), a timer.

My goal is to have a flowing, green grass, effect. Simple, yet striking. I want to have a large school of fish.

I have no idea really what to do here. The amount of conflicting information is overwhelming. I do not trust my local fish store as a resource as they had tried to sell me something so ridiculously expensive I was feeling taken. I left never to return until I knew something.

I bought a test kit, a aquarium pharmaceuticals I think but don't know what anything means yet which is good becuase the tank is not up and running.

The foreground plants so far will probably be Eleocharis parvulus mixed in with Hemianthus. The backround will likely be some mixture of cryptocorne balansae or respiralis. I may have a java fern in there.

I do not know how much to buy when I order or where to order from. Any help here would be great?

Can fish be ordered online???

My wish...someone would lay out in basic language how to set up a planted tank both with and without co2. I read the Walstead book but did not have my basic sciences reference handy and could barely follow some of it. I am certain it is a great treatise on low tech but by the end I realized that once everything is set with that kind of substrate there is little adjustments to be made. I wanted a little more flexiblity in my arrangements.

Sorry for the length.

tsunami

I don't know if you can really layout the rules of a basic planted tank. It all depends on a tanks individual's needs and one's goals. There are people who want to setup high light, high maintenance aquariums with CO2. There are lower maintenance aquariums with moderate light and CO2...

For the plants you want to use, the amount of lighting sounds perfect.

You are using Flourite and CO2, which sounds great.

What kind of test kit did you buy? Is it a pH test kit? Nitrate test kit?

With your use of flourite and CO2, I can hardly call it low tech anymore.

For a tank that size, to start:

4-5 bunches of Eleocharis acicularis or parvulus
2 bunches of Hemianthus micranthemoides (grows insanely fast)
10-12 individual plants of Crypt balansae+retrospiralis mix
1-2 Java Ferns
3-4 bunches of a fast growing plant for the beginning stages of the aquascape, you can take these out once your tank stabilizes in ~2-3 months (Hygrophila difformis, Hygrophila polysperma, Limnophila sessiliflora are good ones)

You can order fish online. Try www.aquabid.com for the best prices. Most other sites are too expensive (www.liveaquaria.com, www.fish2u.com).

Carlos

Wandy

My test kit is a 'freshwater master test kit' by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and includes PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, GH, KH. I also got a Hagen NO3 test kit.

I just opened up the box for the eheim 2213. WOW! Lots of tubes and valves and stuff. Any suggestions on initial setup. Instructions are not clear. Do I use all of the media? It looks like (starting from the top) that there is a thin carbon layer, a thicker 1.5" fine floss sponge, some white 'rocks' then a coarse blue sponge layer and then what looks like a chalky colors cut up bits of tubing. I am used to a HOB type of filter so this cannister has a lot more 'stuff' to it.

What is my tank considered? Hi light? Low, mod?

I am not certain how much maintenance my tank is going to require as this is a first for me. Any thoughts? I know I am having some new tank inhibitions which is why everything has sat in a box for months but spring is here and I figure I might as well 'dive' in and get my 'feet wet'.

Any ideas where to buy the plants?

Sir_BlackhOle

Should be a picture on the box for the Eheim. I think mine is, from the bottom up, sponge, ceramic rings, sponge, pumice pieces, sponge. I didnt use the carbon pad at all.

Maintenance on my 75 isnt too bad. I vacuum and change 50% of the water once a week, and clean up any big debris floating around whenever I see any. My plants havent really grown enough yet to start pruning them though.

tsunami

Ah, then you have all the test kits you need except for a phosphate test kit. I like the one by Seachem. IME, you will never need the ammonia or nitrite test kits.

For the media, I would place the ceramic noodles in the bottom, followed by the blue sponge, followed by the white rocks (ehfisubstrat), followed by a layer of fine filter floss. I'd toss the carbon media.

Your tank would be considered high light but with lower maintenance plants, I think. Crypts, hairgrass aren't too demanding as far as trimming is concerned. The H. micranthemoides will be.

You can try www.aquariumgarden.com, I've had good experience with their plants. Simply follow the link at the front of the page. I've ordered from them twice. They always toss in freebies. Once, my entire shipment was lost. The next day, the owner, Vic, refunded my money... and later in the week, he even sent me a monstrous Anubias frazeri centerpiece as a gift! Service just doesn't get better than that. For starting up a new tank, online ordering is definitely the way to go to get a large quantity of healthy plants cheaply.

Carlos