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First steps

4K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  Angel079 
#1 ·
Well I took the first step and got myself an aquarium. I went with the 55g Aqueon and glad I did over a 75g. Where I am placing it had me concerned as to how much it would protrude out had I went with the 75g. The 55g is perfect where it sits. I gave up that extra depth that the 75g gives but that's ok. This being my first ever planted tank I want to make it a bit easier on myself. Don't burst my bubble, it's just that the 55g looks a bit more manageable to me.

So we have:
55g Aqueon
Honey stained birch aquarium stand
And the glass top so far. Now I need to learn more about lighting and live plants before I commit to a light. And I need to read up on co2. Not sure I'll need it but I don't know where the line is to needing/not needing co2.

I will eventually do pics. It's just an empty tank now.
 
#2 ·
Most would suggest CO2 if lighting exceeds 3watts per gallon and or the plants you choose need high lighting.
I will let others who are more expierienced with planted tanks comment further.
 
#3 ·
Now I need to learn more about lighting and live plants before I commit to a light. And I need to read up on co2. Not sure I'll need it but I don't know where the line is to needing/not needing co2.
Congratulations on the new tank!!! I'm sure you'll love it!

I guess your existing hood holds 2x4ft florescent's , correct?
Over my 55g's I use the "Daylight" tubes you can find at Homedepot or Lows. They're more blueish in color rather then yellow/ dim and I always had great success with these. They're rated at 6500K which is also what plants need. I always try to get either 35 or 40w of these named ones.

As for CO2 the plants need that, that is correct. Which is why its advisable to stock the tank with fish at some point ;-)
As anything else in life - Your plants need a proper balance between nutrition, light and CO2. So let's say you run 4x200w tubes then you WILL need extra CO2 cause there's no way you could stock your tank so much to make up for this.
In my tanks, with the lights mentioned abound and the stocking I have it works great w/out CO2 - See for yourself under my Aquarium Profiles.
Now also the tanks you see there are all w/out using fert's. However this strongly depends on your source water and its level of nutrition. Most use City water, which doesn't offer a lot and you'd then need add liquid fert's you can use 1x week.
Bottom line: I'd not recommend a CO2 machinery for you;-)
 
#4 ·
Whether you need CO2 or not will depend on what kind of plants you get I would assume. I don't actually have experience at all with CO2 and I don't think a CO2 system is necessary but others may have diverging opinions on the matter. I've read some posts / comments where some hobbyists swear bu it. A good suggestion I would make would be to also research the substrate you want to keep for plants along with the CO2 issue and the lighting. For example, if I had to start over, I would get 3X the amount of gravel I originally purchased, and I may look into researching the type of substrate that would be conducive to growing plants instead of getting plain gravel. But then again, every plant I get for my 32g so far just thrives in there so I have to question whether all the "growing aids" out there are really necessary or simply gimmicks.... ?
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the input everyone. What happens is I get to reading a bunch of stuff all over the internet and the next thing you know you start thinking that you need this and that and all kinds of junk. I was up until almost 3am this morning researching light fixture reflectors and how Mirror 4 is the best and how it concentrates more light. I think I want to stay with 1-1.5w per gallon and get low to medium light requiring plants. And that with some fertilizing should do it.

One has to remember that men are like kids in a candy store with toys. Must have gotta have frankenstein march towards the store yumyumyum TOYS!!! I'm no different and have to remind myself that I want to KISS... keep it simple stupid.

Now to check out this stand. It's driving me nuts. It's birch but they put a thin cheap piece of plywood across the top to close it off. It's not meant to support the weight as the stand frame and aquarium frames are. As you look across the rear bottom of the tank frame from right to left, about 4" from the end of the tank the bottom tank frame is not touching the thin plywood. I can see light. But the tank itself is level right to left as it sits. I think that thin cheap stuff is coming off and I'm putting down 1/2" piece. It may not matter but I'll feel better about it.

Thanks again
 
#7 ·
Well yea whether online stores or you LFS - They make a living off of you buying as much as possible - So yea in their opinion you'd need everything and then some.
But that's real silly and IMO & experience also unnecessary and a waste of $.

There's a LOT of very beautiful plants for which you don't need no hardcore set up. Look at my 55g with the Red Tiger lotus (pic below) IMO one of the most beautiful tank plants and like I said I don't have all that high tech equipment neither.
Also plants like Swords, Anubias, Vallisneria, Cryptocoryne, Ludwigia, Rotala and Hygrophilia all grow just fine in lowe-medium light set up, getting a daylight for them will do just fine, add some liquid fert's and you'll be happy trust me.
Just googel pictures of the images and see how you like them, there's aquarstic plant stores online but I can't post you external links here (forum rules)

For the specialized plant substrate mentioned by Hawkin: This will only help plants that mainly feed off their roots, like Swords, it will not help the other plants too much, so IMO I'd safe the $ for it and rather buy a comprehensive liquid fert and IF you do get Swords just but them root tablets (Seachem's products are pretty good)

Well really you also gotta think, if you hook your tank up with THE most expensive light you can find and THE hardcore CO2 machinery - You may not have Budget left for nice fish and wind up with some lil Guppy or alike - I'd pers not wanna go set up a high tech tank and then add goldfish to it :)

On a side note, and that's a factor that should NOT be neglected by now means: If you have lower lights but Inject CO2 at a higher level (tank out of balance) that does encourage algae growth. Growing algae is EASY, getting rid of it not so much. And its proofed that algae is directly influenced by CO2, Light & Fert levels ;-)

I hadn't been able to find ANY stand I truly liked when setting up the new 55g, so I built my own and I'm LOVING it, not only does it look good IMO but its also sturdy enough to support2x55g on it (I figured I rather built overkill then the other way around not knowing a thing about carpentry lol)
 

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#8 ·
Agree with Angel, you can grow the majority of aquarium plants without CO2, in plain gravel substrate (fine grained is best), full spectrum fluorescent light at around 1 watt or slightly less per gallon, and weekly liquid fertilization.

It is true that plants will grow faster with added CO2 and increased lighting (these have to balance as Angel said), but they will still grow if slower and be healthy and do the water filtering work they do best without this fuss. My aquaria photos demonstrate the low-tech natural approach that I write about.

Byron.
 
#9 ·
Really Harri, in the end of the day is what YOU want, if you think you totally need a CO2 equipment, go for it, its YOUR tank after all. But I also think Byrons or my tank pictures speak for themselves :)

Just if you do get it - Make sure to have the adequate lights to go with it (and again the balance matter yes lol)
 
#10 ·
I agree. Just talked to the LFS. I forgot the 2 Coralife light fixtures they had. The guy that helped me yesterday said if I go with the Coralife 8081 (2-65w 6700k) power compact fixture I should be fine doing lower light requiring plants and no co2. They have a Coralife T-5 fixture as well with 1- T5 28w 6700k and a 28w full spectrum bulb I believe. I can get the Coralife 8081 cheaper online but shipping only makes it $26.00 cheaper than my LFS. For $26 being able to get it when I want to get it and return it there if it craps out early is worth it to me.

Fishy tank here I come :-D
 
#12 ·
I agree. Just talked to the LFS. I forgot the 2 Coralife light fixtures they had. The guy that helped me yesterday said if I go with the Coralife 8081 (2-65w 6700k) power compact fixture I should be fine doing lower light requiring plants and no co2. They have a Coralife T-5 fixture as well with 1- T5 28w 6700k and a 28w full spectrum bulb I believe. I can get the Coralife 8081 cheaper online but shipping only makes it $26.00 cheaper than my LFS. For $26 being able to get it when I want to get it and return it there if it craps out early is worth it to me.

Fishy tank here I come :-D
First, two 65w tubes will be way too much light in my opinion. There is absolutely no way you can balance that amount of light intensity with nutrients (carbon especially) from the fish. One of these tubes over a 55g would be adequate, I had this size tank years ago with one 40w tube and grew beautiful plants.

As for the other fixture, I'd like to be clear on what it is; I understand they are T5 fixtures.

1. Are the tubes T5 HO or just T5 (it will say on the ends)?

2. What is the measured length of the tubes? And your tank I believe is a 55g with length 48 inches, correct?

We can make suggestions once we know what we are talking about.

Byron.
 
#11 ·
the fixture you mention above is extremely high and will require more than once a week fert and may require injection of c02 but it all depends on how many hours you keep those on. some of the brightest bulbs you got there besides t5. before you drop in fish i would ask around about light schedules and fert schedules so you dont go down a algae infested road in the future, i might add angel would prob be your best bet here with this type of thing the girl knows her stuff! i just wanted to bring up the c02 possiblity and that it would be more likely and easy to do with that type of light over the tank.

Mitch
 
#14 ·
Do you honestly consider 130 watts over a 55g LOW? :shock: Man you're looking at 2.5 wpg that a LOT in my opinion and asking for algae troubles to come. I have a 40&35w on the new 55g set up and I find even that a lil too much.
 
#15 ·
I've been reading more since that last post and in looking at your and Byron's tanks I am changing my mind. I noticed Byron has 80w I believe on a 55 and an 80g and it's nice as is your 55g with 75w. I like the low pro kind though. Search continues
 
#16 ·
Just really gotta keep in mind, if you chose to go high end on the lights - To keep this all discussed *balance* in the tank you'll then need to go high end on everything else too.
And I think I mentioned it before, but with this high end lights you're more likely to get certain algae developed rather quickly too (and I doubt you want these lol).
 
#17 ·
Some comments in response to the last couple of posts.

First, I have 80 watts on each of my 115g, 90g and 70g tanks; when I had a 55g I had 40 watts but today I would go with two regular tubes (80 watts) or one T5 HO on a 55g.

On the T5 HO tubes, bear in mind that these are approximately 1.5 times more intense (brighter) that regular T8 tubes. In other words, two T5 HO tubes will be more light than three regular tubes of the same length. The wattage when talking T5 HO is not the same as wattage of regular tubes. Which is why I suggest either two regular tubes or one T5 HO tube. And even though the one T5 HO will be less wattage than the dual regular, the light will be the same or slightly more intense. T5 HO really is very intense light. I know it is only my opinion, but having tried one of these for a full week on my 115g which is twice the size as your 55g, the dual T5 HO was just too much light. I jokingly commented that my poor fish would be asking me for sunglasses.

And that brings me to another significant point about light that hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet--the fish. Most of the fish we maintain in planted aquaria are forest fish from the jungles of South America and SE Asia, and less often West Central Africa. These fish inhabit slow streams and creeks and flooded forest that is almost always sheltered by overhanging vegetation. Direct sunlight rarely gets through the water. It is no surprise that these streams frequently have little if any aquatic plants because they have too little light. The Rio ***** and Rio Guapore in the Amazon basin are exceptions, they have very thick aquatic plant life, but the direct sunlight is still minimal. And this affects the fish and the plants.

The fish are programmed by nature to inhabit dimly-lit waters, and many believe this explains some of the vibrant colourings of fish like the neon and cardinal tetras; the neon line shines in water so dark you can't see the outline of the fish itself, only this flash of colour. But the point here is that to be relaxed and comfortable in their aquarium, these fish need dim lighting; over a dark substrate and with a dark background their colours are vibrant and spectacular. And a fish that is less stressed by its environment will be healthier and live a normal rather than a shortened life.

And to the plants, as Diana Walstad points out in her excellent book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, aquatic plants have a very low light requirement, much less than what some would have you believe. Less than one watt of full spectrum light is adequate for the vast majority of aquarium plants. Growth will be slower than it will if you increase the light and pump CO2 into the tank, but the slower growth will be no less beautiful and healthy.

My thinking always has been to provide the most authentic environment we can for the fish and plants in our aquaria. This has two results. The aquarium will be more stable without constant fussing and intervention by the aquarist. And this means the fish (and plants) will be healthier and more likely to display natural behaviours and colours.

So, back to the light. You may be tired of seeing it, but there is a delicate balance to a successful aquarium between the fish, plants, light and nutrients. Algae is rarely seen in a balanced setup, simply because the plants use the nutrients which do not exceed the available light and these are not greater than the available carbon from CO2 produced by the fish. Adding brighter light will not result in better plant growth if the nutrients (including carbon and nitrogen from the fish) are not in balance. The absolute first thing to determine is the fish load in the aquarium; then select the light that balances, and suitable plants for that combination; lastly add the missing mineral nutrients in balance with the light and carbon. There is some experimenting in this, but there are also some tried and true formulae that work. One watt per gallon of regular full spectrum light works with the usual fish load and plants. Weekly liquid fertilizer that supplies the missing minerals is usually required. That's it.

Byron.
 
#19 ·
Thanks money. I just now decided on a light. It's not blow your retinas out HO but it is T5 normal output with 2-28 watt bubs (56w) total. One 6700k bulb and one colormax bulb. I want to reread on the T5 bulbs but I'm pretty certain this is the one I'll go with. What I want to read is I know the T5 are more intense than say a T8 bulb (1.5 x) I heard. But I don't know if that's a normal output T5 vs T8 of a T5HO vs T8.

All I know is I'm friggin' happy now because I have a light fixture picked out and I can get this show on the road. WHOOOOWHOOOO all aboard the aqua- train.
 
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