what is the best set up for my tank

[pauly]

Hello people , I'm writing this all the way from New Zealand . We do everything in metric here , so I hope you can still help . I have a 120 litre tank , 75cm X 45cmX 35cm , so it is more like 105 litres . I have 3x , 20 watt biolux lights above it .It also has a shop bought medium (Ie . some sort of soil clay fert mix) , with fine gravel over it. I have a millinium 2000 wet/dry filter on it and give it regular doses of flourish excel .If you had a tank this size , what would you do to it , to get it more like a dutch tank (ie. plant based ). Dont be scared to strip it and start me of again from scratch , as I want the super flash planted tanks I have seen on here . Also what fish would you have in it , I currently have pair of turks in it ,2 corys and 2 bristtle noses . Any help would be very appreciated thanks .


Pauly.

[rdeis]

For super-lush, flashy, heavily planted tanks most reccomendations include CO2 injection. Some folks say that CO2 and wet/dry filters don't mix well becasue the aeration action of the wet/dry actually allows CO2 to escape.

However, I've seen a number of nice planted tank pics that don't do that. Their growth is slower, but that just means you need more patience for everything to fill in, and less time pruning. (Also fewer fish..)

I'm starting mine with a very similar setup to what you are using. My tank is closer to 60cm square and 75cm high, and it's begun with 3 red hygros, water sprite, 4 java fern, a moss, amazon sword, some val and spiral crypt, and 2 red melon sword.

It's no jungle, but I really like the look of it so far. It's been up just over a week, and the plants are starting to develop really nice color and they are growing a little. Water tests show they're consuming stuff, sh they're growing. BUT: It's only been a week, so I can't verify how stable/good this is going to work in the long term.