Varien101

Hello everybody! This will be my first ever thread/post on these forums but i've been reading them in the dark for years lol.

I've had fish tanks all my life, but my interest really sparked around 3 years ago. I currently have my 90 gallon set-up and a 110 in storage due to a smaller place.

My wife says I only get one more attempt at growing plants in the fish tank before she cuts me off =( The 90 gallon is 4ft wide and 2ft deep. The light on top goes all the way across with 2 bulbs that are 28W each.

I've tried using the substrate/peat in the past and the plants I placed there never actually died, more of just clung to life. (most recent attempt)

Needless to say, i'm not allowed to use that anymore lol. So now i've got some larger pebbles around 2-3 inches thick throughout the bottom of the tank, with 1 side of the tank around 6 inches to give it some dimension.

I've always just bought plants from Petco or Petsmart and IMO they've always looked less then amazing. This time around I was thinking of going with Dwarf Hairgrass since i've always read it's an amazing grower and hard to kill.

I put a pic below of the current set-up and would appreciate any advice =)

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Silvering

I wouldn't worry about not having a fertile substrate - use root tabs and only gravel-vac the surface of the substrate lightly when necessary. I started out with plain sand and ramped up slowly as the substrate "came alive" on its own! (Additional benefit: never having to worry about substrate becoming exhausted or needing to be replaced. LOL)

Your problem with that tank is probably going to be lighting - 2 feet is pretty deep and your current lights really aren't going to be enough.

What are livestock are you thinking of getting?

mcg177

IMO. With only 2 28w lights I think your gonna have a hard time growing almost anything unless the tank gets some direct sunlight. With 4 28w lights that would put you at 112w that's still not 2w a gallon but you should be able to get some growth from the low light plants like Anubis and Java fern. If you can get to the 2w a gallon range they would grow better and you might get a big amazon swords to grow.

Sent from my Inspire 4G

Varien101

http://www.aquatraders.com/48-inch-4...re-p/52305.htm

or?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/48-51-Aquari...001#vi-content

The top one is 2.4 watts per gallon, and the bottom one, i'm not quite sure what it is lol. In the end I am willing to spend 100$ on a light if it will make plants grow. I'm not trying to be a plant growing guru or anything, but a carpet of Dwarf Grass would make me the happiest hobbyist in the world.

mcg177

That light would be a good light check on eBay too sometimes you can get some good lights cheap

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Silvering

Not necessarily. I'm using a state-of-the-art $10 Wal-Mart shop light on my tank. Look into some of the DIY lighting stuff around here for what others with deep tanks have used! I know there are a lot of creative options.

mcg177

As far as LED go's I would look through the DIY section the single bright and double light setups that I have seen I don't think it would be enough on your tank because of how deep it is

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Michael

How large are those individual pebbles? They look like pea gravel, which is really difficult to grow anything in. Ordinary aquarium gravel would be better. Better still, get something that has some cation exchange capacity (CEC), like Flourite, Eco Complete, Turface, Safe-T-Sorb, or even plain kitty litter. Safe-T-Sorb is sold at Tractor Supply and is very inexpensive.

The jury is still out on LEDs, we just don't know which ones work and which ones don't. I think you will need at least 2 T5 HO tubes over your tank. If you get a 4 tube fixture, be sure it will work with less than all four tubes installed, or has two switches so that you can use just 2 tubes at a time. This gives you more flexibility on how much light you a putting on the tank.

Varien101

I would like to make it primarily a Rainbow tank, i've always found them to be very pretty fish.

All the LFS sell them, but they are huge. Every once in a while I can find a good deal at the larger fish stores. I was also contemplating goin and catching a bluegill or a baby trout to throw in there instead lol.

Sjb1987

i agree with michael..hair grass wont do so well in that...if you want something sandy like, tractor supply also sells black blasting sand..but i would definitely try to go with a substrate high in CEC