[krisha]

Hi there

Have had aquariums since I was a kid on and off - but never really gotten into the aquascaping thing - Is there somwhere online where i can start to gather info - like a beginners guide?

I have a 120 litre tank I wanna set up.

Cheers :yawinkle:

 

[krisha]

Thaks for the fast feed back - I have plenty of experience in running a tank - but have never focused on the plants - so I will ask

ohh by the way - i wanna make a homemade CO2 system - seen several here, but is there a guide to how i can put i together?

 

[krisha]

By homemade CO2 system do you mean DIY CO2 with yeast and sugar? I believe there's a sticky in the DIY forum with some good tips for making one of those types of systems.

cheers mate I'll check it out

 

[krisha]

Here are links for diy Co2:
http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html#3
http://www.youtube.com/user/slntsteve

I have found that when dealing with plants it is best to first decide on the lighting and then the plants. Some people use shop lights with daylight bulbs. Daylight is around 5500K, thus light bulbs between 5000K and 7000K are best. A lot of people make a big deal about the watts per gallon (wpg), which is based on T12 bulbs. The T12 bulbs don't reflect light to the bottom of the tank very well. Aaronnorth helped me to see that plants can grow with any light but how they grow depends on the photons they receive. If you can't get the plants to grow how you want them to you add ferts. For example adding Flourish helps bring the pink out of Hygro Sunset.

http://www.barrreport.com/general-plant-topics/4768-k-rating-bulbs-plants-2.html
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/journals/56524-50gal-ugly-tank.html

Great stuff - i am not going to make a tank with some of the sophisticated substrals you fellas use - just gravel with some fertilizer in, CO2 and liquid ferts for running care.

 

[krisha]

setup, day 2




Internal filter - diy co2 - lights...well they have to be improved with better bulps.

 

[krisha]

3 weeks since setup - plants grow very well, but i have a big attack of hair algea