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Planted Tank it will be! Is this a good start?

4K views 27 replies 3 participants last post by  Byron 
#1 ·
First post here so Hi. Great info on this forum and I would like to thank Byron on the Natural Planted Aquarium series. Really good stuff

Well, I got a 50 gallon tank 36"L x 18"W 21"H. I've gotten tired of the fake looking stuff I got in there plus I enjoy messing around with the tank. So, I figured the planted tank would be the way to go. I got several questions and I thank you for helping out.

Here is what I have planned so far.

Substrate:
Thinking about going with the Florite substrate. Is this a good route?

Lighting: Currently I have a florescent 1 bulb hood which sets on top of a glass cover. I was thinking about switching out the standard bulb and go with a bulb designed for the plants. Maybe a full spectrum bulb. But I am unsure if the one bulb is going to be enough. Will I be severely limited with the type of plants I can go with using this lighting system? Duration of lighting I was thinking of at least 10 hours a day. I want to enjoy the tank as much as I can I guess.

CO2: I was thinking of going with the natural method of not using it. But I have read up on the DIY CO2 and how to diffuse it into the water. If I read right I can expect planets to grow a little more slowly with out CO2 added?

Filtration: I do have a HOB filter and I have read that excess ripples on the water surface creates loss of CO2. So, I have stuffed some fluval foam stuff in my filter where the bio wheel goes. By doing this and making sure the water is right under the lip of the water exit I have really reduced my ripples on the water. Is this good enough because external canister filters seem to be a popular way to go? Also I have an airstone in there but have read to take this out. Should I do that?

Fertilization:
I have not done much reading there because I have no idea what plants I will get. I figured certain plants need certain fertilizers

Activity Level in tank: I dont think I want to make this a tank where it is all plants. I do want to make this a tank where I can still get some fish in it other than just a few neon tetras. So I guess I am looking to make a functional planted tank.

Any plant recommendations for a tank like this would be appreciated.

Kyle
 
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#2 ·
First post here so Hi. Great info on this forum and I would like to thank Byron on the Natural Planted Aquarium series. Really good stuff

Well, I got a 50 gallon tank 36"L x 18"W 21"H. I've gotten tired of the fake looking stuff I got in there plus I enjoy messing around with the tank. So, I figured the planted tank would be the way to go. I got several questions and I thank you for helping out.

Here is what I have planned so far.

Substrate: Thinking about going with the Florite substrate. Is this a good route?

Lighting: Currently I have a florescent 1 bulb hood which sets on top of a glass cover. I was thinking about switching out the standard bulb and go with a bulb designed for the plants. Maybe a full spectrum bulb. But I am unsure if the one bulb is going to be enough. Will I be severely limited with the type of plants I can go with using this lighting system? Duration of lighting I was thinking of at least 10 hours a day. I want to enjoy the tank as much as I can I guess.

CO2: I was thinking of going with the natural method of not using it. But I have read up on the DIY CO2 and how to diffuse it into the water. If I read right I can expect planets to grow a little more slowly with out CO2 added?

Filtration: I do have a HOB filter and I have read that excess ripples on the water surface creates loss of CO2. So, I have stuffed some fluval foam stuff in my filter where the bio wheel goes. By doing this and making sure the water is right under the lip of the water exit I have really reduced my ripples on the water. Is this good enough because external canister filters seem to be a popular way to go? Also I have an airstone in there but have read to take this out. Should I do that?

Fertilization: I have not done much reading there because I have no idea what plants I will get. I figured certain plants need certain fertilizers

Activity Level in tank: I dont think I want to make this a tank where it is all plants. I do want to make this a tank where I can still get some fish in it other than just a few neon tetras. So I guess I am looking to make a functional planted tank.

Any plant recommendations for a tank like this would be appreciated.

Kyle
Hello and welcome to TFK :-D From the sounds of it your tank is already set up. What type of substrate are you using? From comments that I have seen from others it does not seem as if there is much added benifit with using stuff like the florite substrate. Hopefully someone else who is using it in their tank will be able to comment on it better. In my 50 gallon that is planted I am using basic aquarium gravel and have been having sucess with it. From my understanding things like florite wear out and the nutrients that they supplied can be provided by using fertilizers.

For the bulbs you want something that is rated around 6500 K, which will give you the best spectrum for plant growth. Most plants will be fine with this type of lighting. As for CO2 most do not use it, especially if you are wanting to stay with a low tech natural planted aquarium.

Fertilizers that I would recommend is seachem flourish comprehensive and also root tabs for your substrate rooted plants, like amazon swords.

Some plants that I would recommend are things like amazon sword, water wisteria, water sprite which is a floating plant, pennywort, java fern which needs to be attached to either driftwood or rocks also does well witha moderate current so could be placed in an area around your filter, anubias which also needs to be attached to either driftwood or rocks, java moss, and there are several types of crypts that would work. Just a note on crypts when added to the tank they often will melt, it may look like the plant is dying off. This is because of the change in water parameters. If you leave the roots undistrubed it will grow new leaves. If you have not come across it yet at the top of the page second tap from the left is a link to the tropical fish profiles. On the profiles is also a section for profiles on freshwater plants, which can give you a lot of information about different types of plants. Also depending on what type of fish you want to keep will also have a determining factor on the type of plants you may want to get.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the Welcome! I really like your 50 gallon you have. How does those Angels do with aggression? Any problems from them towards others?

Yeah, the tank is about 5 months old. Right now I have regular aquarium gravel but I dont like the color any more. It is that blue color. It looks nice but I just want a little more natural looking type of set up. Also, I liked the darker florite color for it's contrast to the plants and fish I have. That is interesting about the florite and I will have to look into the regular gravel because the cost of it is cheaper. I just figured I would try to get the best substrate for plants but with the fertalizer you mentioned it seems that maybe a specialized substarte is not needed. I will have to read more into it and see what others say. Thanks for the heads up on reading into the types of plants my fish like. Seems I got a bunch of reading to do!
Kyle
 
#7 ·
Angels are what got me involved in this hobby, there is something about their elegant graceful look that really caught my eye :-D I have also found their personalitys to be great, the king will greet me every time I am near the tank, he sits in the front and starts wagging his tail begging for food like he hasn't been fed for ages. I also have it now that all of my angels along with my platys will eat blood worms from my hand. Now when ever I put my hand in the tank to fiddle with something they all come to see if I have something for them. :lol:

For the gravel, the bacteria that is on it is sticky and rinsing will not remove it from the gravel. From what I have read on the forum with trying to seed with either gravel or filter media that it is best to use some of the item that already have the bacteria on it. Here is a link to a good article the Byron posted today on bacteria in the aquarium. It is a lengthy read, and probably will need to read several times (I know that I am going to have to, to be able to digest all that is in there) but it might help in giving a little more understanding. http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-articles/bacteria-freshwater-aquarium-74891/
 
#8 ·
That is too funny about the angels. I did not know they had a personality like that. I may have to read into them more. It is amazing how smart they are when it comes to food hahah. On youtube I just watched some full grown angels and they were awesome!

Well that stinks about the bacteria. I will read that article byron wrote. The main reason I am changing is because I am moving this weekend and I figured if I was going to move the substrate I would change the color and maybe a better substrate for plants. I am taking at least half my water with me. Today I went to walmart and bought a bunch of 1 gallon water jugs to carry the water in hahaha
 
#9 ·
Keep some of the old substrate and put it into a nylon bag, even pantyhose might work. Add that to the tank, if you make sure to keep your filter media wet and anything else that might be in there like driftwood, hopefully you will be able to keep enough of the bacteria alive, that it will help. I myself am looking at moving in November, not looking forward to that since live in Michigan and more than likely it will be cold, if not even snow on the ground already. Moving will be fun, thinking about changing my substrate also. Thinking about exploring the idea of doing sand, need to do my research still though :-D
 
#10 ·
That is a great idea! Never went pantyhose shopping though hahah. I mean what color should I go with on the panty hose? hahaha :lol: It may not look pretty in the aquarium but it should help keep my tank going into another new cycle. Thanks again! I live in the opposite of you....Im in houston tx so I get to choose hot or hotter for a move hahahah. Hmmmm I must do more substrate research and in a hurry....moving Saturday.
 
#12 ·
Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum. Nice to have you with us. And welcome to the wonderful world of natural planted aquaria.

I have read through this thread and will only pick up a couple of issues to add a bit.

First on the light. What is the length of the tube (measure end to end not including the prongs)? This will allow me to answer your question on whether a single tube will work on a 50g. Having a fixture sitting on the frame with a glass cover separate certainly makes it easy to change fixtures. I have this on all my larger tanks. [BTW, you can see photos of my various tanks, past and present, under "Aquariums" below my name on the left.]

Filter. Once you go into the world of live plants, filtration becomes very secondary. All you really need is something to move the water around. A canister on a 50g is a good idea, or even a dual sponge filter. Not essential, but something to think about. Especially if you intend having forest fish which prefer quiet still water.

Substrate. Dark colours in a natural, like black, dark brown, gray, or a mix of these, is best. Plants will grow fine in any substrate, though some are better than others. Small-grain gravel, sand or an enriched substrate are my preferences. All the tanks in those photos but one have gravel or sand. The current 70g with Flourite is only 4 months old. So far it has been of minimal improvement over the others, and I have many of the same plant species in several tanks so it is a reasonable comparison. And I use Flourish Comprehensive Supplement once or twice a week in all tanks. If you go with an enriched substrate, I prefer Flourite over Eco-complete because the latter is sharper and can be trouble for substrate fish.

Last on the move/change of substrate and bacteria. If you have your live plants, this will not matter. If no live plants when you move/change the substrate, then move as much decor from the existing tank without any rinsing as you can; keep it wet. Same with the filter media. Dump the media into an open pail so it will get some oxygen, and keep it under tank water in the pail. If you can get the plants to be able to plant the tank when you move and change the substrate, they will handle things. I would still move the decor wet.

Byron.
 
#13 ·
Thanks for the welcome Byron! Im super excited with this natural method of planted tanks.

I measured my bulb and the part that is actually glowing is 34" Today I was looking at some bulbs at petsmart that said full spectrum but it was 8000k. How is that different from the recommended 6500K? Im also kind of worried about this tank being wider than other 50 gallons I see. Im worried that since it is so thick light may not be able to get to the front of the tank as well. If getting a dual t8 light fixture greatly helps and increases plant selection then I have no problem upgrading.

On the filtration...if I get a canister would it be like a fluval 205 or 305?

For the move I will take everything I can and will keep it wet. I have a big ice chest I can put some aquarium water in it and put the decor in it. Soon as I get the tank set up I will plant some plants to help with the cycle. Speaking of plants....where does everyone get theirs? Online? Petsmart has some but most look all brown looking

Thanks for the help Byron and thanks for all the info you put on this site!
 
#15 ·
For plants most of mine came from sweet aquatics, I was happy with the quaility of the plants, did get a couple of pest snails, which seem to have been confined to the 10 gallon that I had to put them in before I was able to plant. The price was also really good, my biggest complaint was the fact that it took almost three weeks for my plants to arrive once I had placed the order, payed online by paypal. Other than the amount of time that it took everything else was good. I also have gotten a few plants from petsmart, my anubias, and cyrpt, although I was really picky in selecting plants that looked good, cost was definitly more. I know that other people have mentioned other sites online that they have used for getting plants.
 
#21 ·
Today I went to several aquarium stores around Houston and got to see some really awesome stuff. I did end up going with byrons suggestion with the Life-Glo bulb. It does not say life glo 2 though. It is a full spectrum 6700 k 30w 36" bulb.

Side not here.....I went to a aquarium store on the yuppie side of town and they sure did try to make me feel stupid with the not going with 2 t5 bulbs, and co2 injections. Kind of pissed me off and I let the sales person know how he lacked the knowledge of a natural aquarium. He was very quite after I asked him how in the world did planted tanks survive before t5 came out? Oh, wait they did ;-)
 
#22 ·
Today I went to several aquarium stores around Houston and got to see some really awesome stuff. I did end up going with byrons suggestion with the Life-Glo bulb. It does not say life glo 2 though. It is a full spectrum 6700 k 30w 36" bulb.

Side not here.....I went to a aquarium store on the yuppie side of town and they sure did try to make me feel stupid with the not going with 2 t5 bulbs, and co2 injections. Kind of pissed me off and I let the sales person know how he lacked the knowledge of a natural aquarium. He was very quite after I asked him how in the world did planted tanks survive before t5 came out? Oh, wait they did ;-)
That will teach him:smash: . Good for you.:welldone: It pays to remind ourselves that healthy fish tanks with good plant growth existed long before we had heaters, filters and even light.

The tube I assume says Life-Glo without the "2", that's fine, it is a bit more intense actually.

Byron.
 
#25 ·
The "grass" or "lawn" type plants are what need most light, so those may be difficult. I don't even try. For my substrate I use pygmy chain sword. It is now completely covering the substrate in the 70g, I cannot even see the Flourite. In the other tanks I thin it at each water change (remove runners)to keep some open substrate, I like to see it in stream or river habitats.
 
#26 · (Edited)
That is ok, I like what you suggested. My goal is to keep the pygmy chain sword trimmed to a fairly low height and also make sure I still have some substrate showing. From what I have seen it seems like planted tanks that show some substrate gives off a better contrast. Tomorrow I will take the first picture of my tank. It should have the flourite in it a betta and 4 neon tetras. Oh, and those dang pesky fake plants. Give me some more time and those dang things will be history! I will be watching my water parameters closely
 
#28 ·
Finally got all the moving done. I got the flourite in the tank and I am getting about two inches thickness all around the tank. Is this going to be enough substrate to go with? Ive read in a few places that the back substrate should be thicker.
Larger plants with larger root systems go in the back, so yes, the substrate should be deeper than it need be in the front. With pygmy chain sword you only need an inch in front, so you can slope it or better yet use a terrace system, building up the substrate just where the larger plants will be with a rock or two. Sloping on its own usually levels out with water flow I find.
 
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