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The 55 gal tank in the office where I work is pretty at the moment and my boss keeps complaining about it. I would really like to make it a real nice planted show tank but I dont even know where to begin.
It has about .5 wpg at the moment (one bulb on a light strip, but its old and I know needs to be replaced), no CO2, 2 emperor 400s, 3 pieces of fake driftwood and a bubble wall across the back(this has to stay because the guys at work really like it.
Money really isn't an object (within reason), I work with 9 carpenters so anything I need can be built (as in a new hood which I know I need to get more/better light). I did read a post that Frank made which helped me a great deal, but I guess I need a little more hand holding!
Things I know I need:
1. Fertilizer (what is the best kind to get/easiest to use?) I do know that some plants feed by roots and other by leaves so will I need both kinds.

2. Some kind of CO2. Should I try DIY or store bought?

3. Lighting I understand the basics of it but I dont even know where to start building a new hood, how many bulbs etc
(like I said above, I work with carpenters but I need to give them something to go on)

4.plants, they will be all purchased online, most likely a package deal

I know there is more that I want to ask, but just cant think of it at the moment.

Steph

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Hi there,

I will try to answer your questions here.

1) Fertilizer, a liquid one is good for water feeders,
Flourish Excel is very good.
For root tabs, I use Jobes Plant spikes for lush houseplants and ferns. Im sure you can find something similar where you are.

2) c02 isnt really necessary unless youre planning
a tank with lighting of 3.5 wpg or more.
There are TONS of plants that can be grown with less
without co2.
If you really do want to go with c02,and youre planning more than 3wpg, then Id go with a store bought c02 canister and all the goodies.

3) Lighting, for a 55g, to acheive the light necessary to require c02, or 3.5 - 4 wpg, that means a total light wattage of around 180-220 watts total.
The best lighting for this would be Compact Flourescent.
Im sure you can get a single cf fixture of about 200 watts.
Go for bulbs with a full spectrum, or about 6500-6700K.

4) Plants can easily be packaged in a big bunch
according to lighting. Check www.tropica.com for more information on individual plants in your package.

5) Yeah I know theres no 5 but I have to ask, what kind of
fish are in the tank?

Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

I just set up an office tank today, so I am in the mood...

Hevily planted, high-light tanks require a fair bit of maitenance, IMO. There's the normal water changes, plus trimming overgrown plants, replanting, dealing with DIY CO2, dosing ferts, etc. Actually, that's about it, so if that doesn't sound like too much work, then by all means go for lots of stem plants, and a good 2.5 WPG lighting.

If you want to go the low-light route, I have some suggestions, too.
I created a very low-maintenance 65 gallon tank using lots of bogwood and planting with all anubias.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/p1010036.html
It has almost 2 WPG, requires no additional ferts, no CO2, and I only do water changes every two weeks. No trimming, no fussing with the plants at all. And my huge pleco can't dislodge them or dig them up either, because they're all tied to the wood. And I personally think it's very pretty in it's own way. I have a bunch of salvinia floating on top to suck up nitrates and keep algae at bay, but that's the only other plant in there.

For a more traditional but still low-maintenance look, sword plants, crypts, and certain stem plants like hygrophylia, rotala indica, and water wisteria will also thrive in 2 wpg or there abouts. Java fern, bolbitis ferns, and of course mosses can also be tied to wood or rocks for a more varied look.

If you do increase the wattage for a more lush heavily planted tank, two 2-liter bottles of DIY CO2 mix hooked up to air stones should be sufficient up to 3 wpg. After that for a tank that size, it might be worth it to go pressurized.
You can suplement DIY CO2 with Seachem's Flourish Excel. I find that it works pretty well, especially in conjunction with the other Flourish ferts. I use the whole Flourish line in my planted tank (30 gallons, 3 wpg) and while they do not produce the kind of super fast constantly pearling growth of some of the amazing planted tanks here, it does keep the balance between available nutrients, light, and CO2 so that my tank looks good. I use Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potasium, Iron, and regular Flourish for micro-nutrients (not flourish trace) with good results. I also use Seachem Equilibrium for calcium and magnezium because I have very soft water and crypts like a bit of calcium. Seachem even makes good root tabs for substrate fertilization, but SVS's plant spikes are much cheaper.
I know it sounds like a lot of bottles, but one thing Seachem got right is the concentration, so you only have to dose a few ml per week. For my 30 gallon tank, one 8.5 oz. bottle of each lasts nearly a year. I've even mixed them up into one single bottle in the right porportions for my tank for ease of dosing.

What kind of fish are in the tank? Make sure you get a nice dark background if you go heavily planted. You should post before and after pictures.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Everyone his given you great advice, so I'll only say a few things:-

1. DIY CO2 is a bit of extra work. You will need to be monitoring the bubble rate, constantly mixing up fresh yeast mixtures & you still may not be making enough C02. I tried this on my 43G, I had 2 DIY bottles running & it wasn't ever enough. Afterwards, the advice I got here from the planted tank gang was that 20G is really the biggest tank you should try DIY C02 on. You can give it a whirl & see if it works for you.

2. If you pressurised C02, this will work great - but you give yourself extra work with the trimming. I have to remove my fast growing stems almost every week, trim & then replant.

3. Your wall of bubbles will disperse your C02 anyway. With C02, what you want is a minimum of water surface disruption.

All things taken into account, if this is a work place tank where you may not have the luxury of time to spend on a lush & fast growing C02 tank. If it were me, I'd be looking low maintenance. The tank illustrae shares with us in her pic is very nice & if I was setting up a work place tank - that's what I'd be basing the tank on.

Anyway, good luck & have fun.

Cheers
TW

I see you're alive. email me :-p

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions! Illustrae, your tank is gorgeous! I think I may try something like that.
As for the fish in the tank, it is pretty lightly stocked (2 gouramis and a handful of cories) right now, I'm waiting to get it planted before I add anything else. Most likely some angels, more cories, rasboras and maybe some cherry barbs.
Bayou, you should have gotten my email by now.

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I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West