The plan.....comments/suggestions???

[curleyk2.0]

So this will be my first "intentionally planted tank", I had a bunch of various fish tanks with plants, but this will be my first intentionally planted tank from the get go.

Not discus planted, just planted. That said this tank will be in my discus fish room, and the temps out there get hot. I regulate the rm temp, because the room is fairly small, plus I live in FL and in summer I don't have to heat much of anything. But what I'm getting at is even though this tank will not have discus I want to choose plants that can handle Discus temps. Fish will more than likely be, a school cards and cories, maybe a GN Pleco.

Here is what I plan to put in, and a rough ideal of how it will look. Keep in mind, I "winged" it as far as the drawing goes, don't kill me, I know the leave shapes and colors are not spot on, its just a rough plan. Any suggestions, comment please.

I want to do this right, but on a limited budget. I don't really want o go CO2 but it may be something I add later if needed. Definitly not in the budget right now. The tank, lights, and filter are FREEBIES. I got the tank from some dude, literally as he was putting it to the curb for the trash men (45g). The lights are freebie from my father (used on his old SW tank). And the filter is just an extra one I had laying around cycling the bio wheel at the moment, this might get switched to a fluval or magnum canister (both filters I have already, fluval is cycled)


So without further yakking here is what I want to do, your feedback means a lot.

Coral Life PC with 2x 65W (1@ 10000K, 1@ 6500K) Bulbs are also debateable, since it currently has 1 actinic, and one 10,000K in it. I was thinking of just taking out the actinic and adding a 6500K

45g tank (36L X 24H X 12D tall tank)

Substrate (Gravel/Shultz mix, pfs in front SMS is hard to find in my area and again, modest budget for this project)

M.L. Penguin Bio Wheel 200(Carbon pads removed, replaced w bio media only)

Plants:
Anubias Nana
Crypto Wendtii Red
tiger lotus Red
amazon Sword Large
java moss

Thanks,
Kevin

[Brian Mc]

Hi Kevin, I haven't done planted tanks in awhile but I found that CO2 on a budget can be done with yeast reactors, some may scoff but I noticed a marked improvement with my plants using them. Also I found the bio-wheel degasses too much and will blow your CO2 out of the water, I would recommend a canister type for this application. HTH.

[curleyk2.0]

I know CO2 would have a great benefit, and the DIY route is something I have considered, but I'm really hoping CO2 is something I could add later IF needed.

Do you think this would work without. Please keep in mind I really want to do this right, but I was hoping I could give it a shot without going CO2 right off the bat, more so I can get a feel for things without adding too many variables to figure out from the get go.

So bio wheel filter is out if co2 is added. I think that narrow it down to the Fluval 404(405 maybe I forget), don't think it matters.

[Dissident]

At 3w/gal you should go with some kind of CO2, it is right on the boarder. Yeast method will work fine on a 45gal with a canister filter. Or you could supplement it with Flourish Excel + DIY CO2 (my choice if i was in your position). None of the plants you have listed require high light and are primarily root-feeders (except the moss). Root-tabs and minimal water column ferts would work fine.

[curleyk2.0]

Sounds like for my amount of lighting I may need to go CO2, you think alge might be a problem with that much light, and no CO2

Any suggestions as far as lighting?

Anybody got a favorite link for DIY CO2?

The light setup I got, can run either bulbs indepently or both 65W each. 130 total, I need to do more research on photo periods, I've heard people mention it. Could I run one bulb for the bulk of my lighting and spike it with some sort of photo period, I'm not really clear how that works. I know 1 bulb is about 1.5WPG but I'm not sure exactly how successful I would be with that. Why do people do photo periods, and would that be something that may work for me?

[Dissident]

You can run both bulbs on separate timers if you like. I run 2x150W for 10hrs and have an additional 2x96w running for about 8hrs with the 300w. With any planted tank it will take time to find balance when it comes to lighting periods, fert regiment, etc

If you do a DIY CO2 with a canister you should be fine with the lighting you have on the tank. You can use flourish excel as an algae-control and as a carbon supplement.

With the plants you have a single bulb would be ok, you wont see good growth but should keep the plants alive. I did a low-tech planted 45gal with 2x30w with a lot of the plants you mentioned. It never filled in well but did ok.

If you want to really get into planting a tank I would recommend starting with a DIY CO2, it is cheap and easy.

[happygirl65]

In my opinion it is too much light for no CO2. If you just ran one of the lights it should be ok, but then wouldn't it just be half of the tank?

You could do what I did on my 55 and that is use 50/50 bulbs instead of full spectrum that cuts your light down but still gives you some on both sides. I also like the look of the added blue :)

On my 55 I do not use CO2, and with 2 x 65 w (50/50) I don't have any algae issues. I also do not inject CO2 into that tank at all, but I do use a canister filter. If you are not doing CO2 your surface agitation wont matter much, but if you do inject it, even DIY I would get a canister. I use a HOT magnum (hang on tank) on my 46 and it is perfect, doesnt disturb the surface and is an excellent filter.

I also wanted to add that your plan looks stunning! Good luck with everything! And lets see pics when it's up and running! :)

[curleyk2.0]

Thanks HappyGirl, Actually what I have now for lights has a 10k bulb and an actinic, maybe I'll run that for a while until either I can come up with a DIY solution, or store bought for CO2.

After reading everyones posts I think CO2 will be added, for now I'll try it out with the one bulb and start planning for CO2. I really want the plants to fill in and from what I'm hearing it seems like they won't without CO2 addition

BTW, the bulbs are in parallel to each other, as opposed to end to end, so the whole tank will be light using one bulb. Happy girl I think thats what you were eluding right?

[curleyk2.0]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to substrate, comments on the Shultz? I can't find Soil Master select anywhere, I was thinking of mixing the shultz with gravel, I read its really light.

Also what about the addition of peat under the substrate, what are the benifits of this?

[GrillMaster]

Hey Kevin...With the pc lighting you have now you wont need c02. The actinic buld does absolutely nothing for the plants. A 65W 10000k bulb would be just fine for a low tech 45G planted tank. If you replace the actinic bulb with a a 6500K bulb that will in fact give you to much light and c02 will be required.

If it were me, I would do the tank just like you designed in your attachment. Add fert tabs under the root feeders(Swords and crypts) an dose flourish excel. You can supplement with flourish iron also.

I wouldn't run your lights more than 8 hours a day until your plants have established themselves. Add ferts sparingly for the first month or until you see plant growth. Adding ferts to the water column with unestablished plants might pose problems. Your anubias an moss however will utilize the ferts right away.

While DIY c02 will help in faster plant growth and keeping algae at bay. It is not needed in this type of tank. Dont over fertilize the tank and you will be just fine.

You can get SM at Lesco. Look in the yellow pages under fertilizers.

hth
Mark