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I am planning by late August this year that i would plant my 75 gallon tank. Its just that i am trying to gather as much information as i can to be ready mentally, emotionally and financially. Actually, i posted a similar question in another forum in this website but no one seems to like to pay it a visit.

Just like what i've said, i've read over the internet a lot of information about planting one's aquarium and their seems well at least for me some areas which i dont completely get. Now, If you may fellow aquarium enthusiasts i would just like to get some information about certain things. thank you in advance for any information.

1) Can i use ordinary flourescent lights just like the ones we use to light up our homes? Are compact lights different from flourescent lights and actinic?

2) What is the real challenge when it comes down to having a planted aquarium?

3) Can i use an overhead filter?

4) I've been to Diana Walstad gallery and i was very amazed by the sight of her planted tanks. And i've read somewhere that she uses soil as substrate then top it with a gravel. This is the part where it gets me confused. Can i use ordinary soil as substrate or are there specialized mixes for planted aquariums? Can i use soil-less potting mixes just like the ones i find in hardware stores for potted plants? Actually, this is where i usually buy my soil mixes www.greenhearts.com. I use enrico or plantastic, the question is can i use it as substrate for my water plants?

5) Is there a cycling period for planted aquariums?

For now, these are the questions that i really really need your responses. Again thank you so much and i'll keep you posted.

Godbless


Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

since i live in the Philippines and its a tropical country would i need a heater for my tank? and is an UGF an essential part of a planted aquaria? would an overhead filter would do?

thank you in advance for any response

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

Well, I'm new here too, and have just gone through what you are about to experience. I'll try to answer your questions with what I have learned over the last few weeks.

1. You are going to want to find a flourescent bulb that can give you about 2.5 watts per gallon in the 6700K colour range. From what I've read you can use 8800K as well to good effect. I'm running a 77 gallon tank and have a 4X65 watt coralife fixture running 6700K bulbs. That gives me a bit more than I need but I have a tall tank so I believe it all works out.

2. There are many challanges to overcome such as algae problems, fertalizing issues, maintaining the tank, co2 systems etc. Be prepared to give the tank a good deal of time.

3. You can use an overhead filter or hang on basket if you can reduce the flow of the water so as to minimize any surface agitation. Better yet would be a canister filter with a spray bar. Some people here have good results with UGF's but that may come down to personal preference, the type of substrate used and what kind of plants your are planning to have.

4. I've heard of the use of soil but I believe it is very difficult and e to issues. Not best for the beginner. I'm using an aquarium specific planting substrate called florabase. Lots of the guys here are using something called ecocomplete which I think is a similar product. For me, the substrate alone cost me around 170$ Canadian. Thats a big chunk of change. One thing here - common consensus is to not skimp on your substrate layer. 3 inches in front and 5 in back to support your larger plants.

5. Yes there is a cycling period just like any other tank. I suggest the fishless cycle which can be found by searching on google.

6. This is one that I asked a few weeks back, so you can look in the forum for the answers, but as I said earlier, it seems to be a matter of personal preference, but I would opt for a canister filter with a spray bar.

Hope that helps from one newbie to another.

Good luck!

Jay

thank you so much plankton, i remember spongebob with your nick.

1) 4X65 watt coralife fixture running 6700K bulbs---does this mean you have 4 bulbs and with 65 watts each? sorry im slow in understanding things....huhuhu

2) are test kits essential for a planted aquaria?

hmmm, here in the Philippines i guess its not that popular when its comes to planted aquaria thats why some of the things that i need can only be bought at specific spaces.

again, thank you and keep on posting.

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

Yeah, I was surprised that nobody here had my nick yet

And yep, that means that I'm running 4 65 watt coralife 6700K compact flourescents.

And as far as test kits go, the answer is yes. A test kit is essential in keeping a healthy tank, both for the plants and the fish.

Jay.

Four bulbs with 65 watts each and two separate plugs and cooling fans, which allows you to turn them on and off following your own schedule, eg a midday burst of full power followed by 130 watts only,etc. Look for coralife freshwater online - thera are good offers out there and it is a reputable company.

EcoComplete is an excellent substrate for planted aquaria, another option is Flourite, made by Seachem, which is available in different colors (red -dark brown red- black). Quite frankly and in hindsight, I prefer Flourite to Eco Complete as it is much easier to clean. The draw back is that you have to rinse it before you put it in the tank and some folks don't like to do that. it is also not very comfortable for Cories. For the sake of completeness, there is also AquaSoil by ADA and from what I read it is fantastic but EXTREMELY pricey.

thank you so much for the info.

gosh, if i may ask, how much did you spend on your initial set up of your planted aquarias? at least that would give me an idea on how much am i willing to burn (that is if i have something to burn, maybe myself..ahahaha)

is a timer a necessity or can i just turn on all the lights and turn it off when i get home? and then when night time comes can i just use ordinary light? Usually i get to work around 8am and get back home around 6pm.

is there such a thing as low-cost planted aquaria? hihihihiii

Since, i can feel that i wont be able to buy everything at one time, what do you think are the firsts that i need to buy? I already have an empty 75gallon tank and a metal stand that can support 2 75 gallons. Actually, my other tank houses my snakehead of 7 years. I can feel that i would be able to set up my tank late December against my August target date.

thank you again for any information. I'll keep you guys updated.

Godbless










Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

good evening to all,

Mabuhay!

I just went today to a place where pet shops are everywhere, we call it CARTIMAR. And i started to window shop on gadgets that i would be needing for my planted aquaria. Actually, i was able to speak to one seller there her name is Nanay Rebecca (nanay means mother in english) and she told that i can use their "river sand" as a substrate for my aquarium. And she has lots of aquarium plants there too.

I've also seen a cheaper version of aquarium lights. 40 watts with 10000k spectrum (if i read it right) its length is suitable for a 75 gallon tank. If ever i would use the 40 watts flourescent light how many 40 watts should i buy?

Well, that's all for now, thank you in advance for any response.

Godbless

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

Well as far as I know, sand isn't the best substrate for plants. It can compact too much damaging the root system, making it hard for the roots and plants to grow. That being said, I have a sand and gravel substrate in my small planted tank (33g) and while not flourishing, the plants seem to be doing allright. So if you are on a tight budget, who knows. There is no comparison to a substrate that has been specifically designed to promote plant growth. The plants in my 77 gallon are growing like crazy. Also, river sand will have lots of unknown bacteria in it which can make your fish sick. Make sure you boil it before use.

As far as the lights. The wattage will depend on the plants you choose. Lower light plants will need less light, but as an average you can shoot for 2-2.5 watts per gallon. If you have a 75 gallon tank, and say 15 or so gallons are taken up with substrate and hardscape you would be looking ate 120-150 watts total. 10000k will grow your plants, but that colour range is not the best. A lower colour temperature such as 6700K or 8800K would be preferable and make your plants and fish appear more natural.

Starting costs can be expensive, at the very least you will want a filter, substrate, lights, heater, test kit, water conditioner, florish excel and ferts. Oh, and don't forget the plants

BTW-> Keep in mind that I'm a newbie and may not have the complete picture here. If I've made any mistakes I hope some of you other guys will point them out.

HI there,
There is lower cost ways to grow planted tanks.
I too have a 75g tank, but I couldnt afford one of those 4x 65w lights, so instead I bought the cheaper option, 2x 65w, or 130 watts. This allows me to grow many "low" to "medium" light plants with little effort, however fancy plants that are red in color, or small tiny ground cover plants wont work in my tank.
I currently am growing Java Fern (the main plant in the tank at 60% of all plant growth), then Onion Plants, Cryptocorne Wendtii brown, java moss, and Anubias Barteri "GIgantea" and Anubias Barteri sp. Nana Petite.

If you choose low light plants, you could still have a lush green aquarium without spending a fortune on lighting.
It would be definitely worthwhile to buy a good quality aquarium light. 40 watts over 75g - you wouldnt be able to grow many plants, if any, very well at all.
You want to go to at least 1 watt per gallon (divide total watts into tank size so 40 divided by 75= 0.53 watts per gallon. Id recommend the Corralife 2x65w lamp, or 130 divided by 75= 1.73 watts per gallon.

Stick with bulbs that are 6500k, not 8000 or 10,000.
I paid roughly 200 dollars canadian for my plant light, this is a very affordable price for aquarium lighting.

As a substrate for aquarium plants, I have found regular aquarium gravel works just fine. I enrich the gravel by adding fertilizer sticks for houseplants buried in it.
For a plant type substrate, if youre willing to spend the money, look for Eco Complete. Its the best plant substrate out there, plus its black, and looks just super in a large planted tank. Its quite pricey though. You will need probably close to 100 pounds of it for your size tank.
Aim for a substrate 3 inches deep minimum, for plants to thrive.

A planted tank will cycle like any other tank. H owever, since plants use up nitrogenous wastes, and also ammonia, a planted tank is safer for cycling with a few hardy fish, than a non planted one.

Here are a couple of links, to help you see what I have been speaking about.

here is a link to the light I use on my tank

http://www.petsandponds.com/securestore/c64280p16512138.2.html

Here is a link to Eco complete

http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/pf/PFCS-00770.asp?E+scstore

A great site for aquatic plants, their needs, and light requirements, so you may plan your plants ahead of time, depending on your lighting.

http://www.tropica.com/default.asp

Finally, Here is a picture of my planted 75g tank, so you can see how a medium level light, with aquarium gravel base, can still result in lush, beautiful plant growth.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v359/SneakyPete79/PicsNewPC43117.jpg

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mujacko2002,

It seems like most of the info people have given you has been very helpful in leading you down the right road. I will attempt to give you a little more info and things to think about.

1) Ordinary fluorescents are fine as long as you use the right K range and have enough watts. For K range I recommend bulbs around 6700K or something labeled Daylight or Full Spectrum. K ranges up to 10,000K seem to work just fine for me. Aim for about 2-3 Watts per Gallon. Anything above 3wpg is the line where you should start running CO2.

The major difference with compact fluorescents is that they give you more watts and take up less space. Most four foot lights come with 130 watts or 260 watts.

Actinic lights are something you don't need for plant growth. They do make some of your fish look really sweet though. If you do want to run some actinic lights the wattage for them don't count towards your growing lights.

2) The biggest challenges I have seen is finding the right plants for the right fertilizers and lighting. Then makings sure you have the time to take care of everything.

3) You can use an overhead filter but if you want to use CO2 then I would recommend a canister filter as you wont lose CO2 due to surface agitation.

4. Everyone here has given you some good info so I wont get into this one much. I would either go with one of the major planted tank substrates like Eco or Flourite. Or use regular aquarium gravel. If you wanted to you could use one of the good ones under the regular gravel to save on cost.

5. Everyone has hit this one pretty good too.

6. How warm does it stay where you are at and what type of fish do you plan on doing. If it stays 75-80F then you probably wont need a heater.

7. Use a hang on style or better yet a canister.

8. Timers - I highly recommend them. It is much easier to keep your lighting consistent this way.

9. Cost - I have about 350 US into my set up before fish and plants. (Tank, light, Sub, CO2...)

10. If you try using the 40W bulbs I would say to use at least 4 of them to get you to 2wpg.

A couple other things for you to look into...

Estimative IndeEI)~ this is a way of dosing ferts many of us here use.
http://www.barrreport.com/estimative-index/62-estimative-index-dosing-no-need-test-kits.html

EI much simpler
http://www.barrreport.com/estimative-index/2819-ei-light-those-less-techy-folks.html

Dry Ferts are much cheaper
http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/store/aquaticplantfood.php



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thank you so much for the information. Now at least i have available information regarding my next project.

Now, i will start buying one by one the products that I need. Thank you so much and I will surely keep you updated guys on what i've done. Though, i still have some questions : and again thank you and Godbless for any response.

1) For example, 10 hours have passed and night time comes can i use ordinary fluorescent to light up my tank in the evening?

2) if ever i would buy or make DIY CO2, should i turn off my filter when its on? or can both be running at the same time?

thank you po

Godbless



Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

@very sneaky

i love your aquarium, does it have any fish? and how deep is your substrate?


@wingsdlc
can i get a picture of your tank?

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE INFORMATION. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

Yep My Aquarium does have lots of fish.
The substrate is about 3 inches deep, regular smooth rounded gravel in natural color.

The tank is 75g, filtered by a Rena XP2, an Eheim 2217 and a 40g sponge filter. It has 2x 200 watt heaters. Its lit by 135 watt corallife lamp. The lights stay on approximately 14-16 hours daily.

The current fish in the tank are:
1 Blue Discus
1 Black Angelfish
3 Boesmani Rainbowfish
1 Irian Red Rainbowfish
1 Turqouise Rainbowfish
6 Guppies
2 keyhole cichlids
1 leftover pristella tetra (6 years old now!)
5 Buenos Aires Tetra
1 Weather Loach
3 Yoyo Loaches
1 polka dot loach
1 queen loach
4 kuhli loaches
1 bristlenose pleco
1 striped raphael catfish
1 imitator catfish
4 assorted remnant cory cats

Lowest stocking the tank has had in a long time.
Im shifting slowly now into rainbowfish, as other fish pass on due to old age.
Id like to eventually have 12 rainbowfish of assorted types, add a couple medium size peaceful cichlids, and I may trade my yoyo loaches off in favor of a more peaceful loach variety - I suspect my yoyos are killing fish off.

Anyway, thats my tank! Heavily filtered with quite a high stocking, and lots of live plants and real driftwood, plus tons of stacked slate caves in the back corners.


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hi there,
Mabuhay!

I am just wondering if a hang-on filter or an overhead filter will do for a 75 gallon tank? I mean as of now i could not afford to buy those sophisticated filtration system.

for heaters, i guess i wouldnt need it because sometimes it gets 40 celsius here in my country.

keep on posting guys and i want to see pictures of your tanks to so that i can get ideas when it comes to decorations.

Godbless



Star of the stormy sea of my mortal life, may your light shine upon me so that I do not stray from the path that leads me to heaven.

Hi there,
gets up to 40 celcius in the summer here. I still need heaters though, for cool days and during the winter.
Its important to maintain temperature stability for the fishes health.

Honestly, with a tank as large as yours, I wouldnt use Hang on the Back type filters at all. I would highly recommend using Canister type filters. My 75g tank is filtered by 2 canister filters - one for tanks up to 175g, one for tanks up to 60g, plus a 40g sponge filter, so it gets 270+gallons of filtration.
I run an Eheim 2217, and a Rena XP2 on my tank. Canisters are easier to run and maintain, needing more thorough but less regular cleaning. Id highly recommend Rena's XP series as the best. The XP3 or XP4 would be perfect for your tank, and they are very reasonably priced.

If you consider, on a tank like yours, you would need somewhere around 2x Cascade 300s (50 dollars each here),
or 2x penguin 350s (55 dollars each), or something in the nature around there, a canister like a rena xp3 costs about 180 dollars, but provides more filtration than 2 of those HOBs put together. I have found HOB filters to be not very good, they dont have long lives, and they need frequent cleaning and maintenance. The filter media options are very limited with HOBs as well, most as built for a single modular plastic filter peice of carbon + sponge, and dont have room for options like bioballs, peat moss, or other filtration. Its really a small tiny amount of filtration in comparison to the huge volume of filtration a canister provides.
If I could make the choice - buy cheap hobs now, or save for awhile and buy a big canister - id save every time.
My 75g and 25g tanks are both canister filtered, and my 10 will eventually be as well.
Heres a link to a Rena XP3, so you can see what it includes and the quality of filtration provided.
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17898/si1316996/cl0/aquariumpharmaceuticalsrenafilstarxp3canisterfilter

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Hi,

Just thought I'd jump in on the heater question.

I live in the northern tropics of Australia and I do not use heaters in any of my tanks. I find that I have no need to. My home is not air conditioned and thanks to the ambient temperature the temperature of the tanks stay fairly stable.

During the wet season (summer) my tanks stay between 28 and 30 C (82-86F) and during the dry season (winter) between 26 and 28 C (78-82F). The gradual transition between seasons mean that my fish have the opportunity to slowly acclimatise to the change in temperature and I have not yet had a case of fish or plant illness that I can in any way attribute to a lack of heater.

If you experience drastic temperature changes, or your average daily temperature drops lower than about 24/25 C (77F) at any time of the year then I wouldn't suggest even attempting to run a tropical tank without a heater to regulate it. But I suspect that like me you are in a climate that does enjoy a fairly high, stable temp year round, with only a couple of degrees variation between seasons so I would say that you would be fairly safe to go without a heater... or if you wish to be cautious, have a couple of suitably rated heaters handy to keep the temp stable in the tank in the event of an unusually cool snap.

Hope his helps and that you new tank gives you many hours of enjoyment.

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Hi Trop,
Your first link to the 180G tank comes back
"Page Not Found." You might want to reset it.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

It really depends where you live.
In BC Canada, in the summer months (may-sept) it gets hot, up to 35-40 celcius a lot of the time.
In the winter though the temp drops down to 0 celcius or below, and so a heater is definitely needed.
Not sure where Mujacko lives, or what winters are like.


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Thanks Frank - link fixed now

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.