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Hi,
Your comment about CO2 kinda bothered me. Not a bad
bother, but I probably should mention this...

CO2 injection is NOT necessary to have beautiful,lush,
green, tanks full of plants. In fact, tanks that run
low to medium light and plants don't need CO2 injection.
When you start "driving" plants with greater than normal
amounts of light, then you need to give them the raw
materials necessary for the accelerated growth or
deeper lusher greens that the increased light will cause.
You can have a beautiful tank with 2 watts, but you can
have an even more beautiful tank with 2 watts and CO2
injection. In some respects its like adding "nitro"
to your car engine. It runs just fine on gas, but adding
Nitro to the gas, makes it go like heck. Same with adding
CO2.

Frank


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

Well,

I know that I am breaking my own suggestion of leaving this thread alone ,

But 2 things with regards to your last entry (all non fish related):

- What a great attitude you display with your reason of becoming a premie (and I am not getting anything for this)
- There is no such thing as a dumb question, there are only dumb answers! Well, maybe there are a few dumb questions .

Now, on to read the &#8220;real&#8221; thread ,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo
Thanks for the advice. I'll copy my posting from this thread, as a new thread in the "General Freshwater" forum &amp; see what advice I get back others. Re: the platy's spawning - as a new hobbyist, I'm not sure I'm ready for this (I don't have a spare tank to use for the fry). Will the platy's be happy if all male? Re: the premium membership - I've already asked a fair few questions &amp; was pleased to receive help. I'm sure I'll have a lot more dumb questions in the coming months - so I thought it was a small price to pay in support of the site.
Cheers Robyn

Cheers
TW

Robyn,

First &#8211; Congrats on the Premie membership

Next &#8211; You should really start your own thread about this one, it will require quite a few conversations and it is more likely that others will chime in if the thread topic has actually something to do with the problem at hand.

Very briefly &#8211; Adding 3 platies and working your way up to 5 will be easier than you think. Before you know it you will have 15.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi Frank. Thanks for your great advice. Since I discovered FP, I have so many questions, so I&#8217;m sorry to be a bother &amp; I really appreciate there are people out there giving their time to help me. This question may be lengthy (sorry &#8211; grab a coffee), but I&#8217;m not sure what is best procedure. Yes I'm transferring water &amp; plants to new tank &amp; I&#8217;m worried about recycle period. My old tank is being traded in &amp; I won&#8217;t have any time when both tanks are running &#8211; so no luxury of a leisurely approach to the new setup. Plan is, pick up new tank, take home &amp; set up, &amp; tfr things across from old tank to new. I don&#8217;t think I can transfer the filter, as both tanks are the type where it was a package deal, with filters being built into the hood, together with lights. The water, after being uplifted, drips down through a horizontal pipe with multiple holes, passes over 3 layers of filter media (white floss contained in a frame, a black sponge type thing &amp; then cream coloured noodles). I could tfr over noodles &amp; black sponge (would need extra though, as new tank is longer) &#8211; leaving the actual hardware in place. Would this help? As you suggest, my 1st plan was to tfr all gravel from old tank to new, but last night as I scoured FP looking for ideas &amp; reading other people&#8217;s Q &amp; A&#8217;s on the forum, there was a long detailed response from someone regarding plants &#8211; I thought this was you, but I can&#8217;t find the reply again today. Whoever it was gave a lot of good advice &amp; included some other websites (eg one that calculated how much gravel you need to purchase for a given sized tank). Was this you? By memory, I think it said good size gravel for plants was between 1/8th to 1/16th inch &amp; that larger gravel is not as good for anchoring plants &amp; also is harder to keep clean. My gravel is much larger than this, so my latest thought is to replace all gravel with new appropriately sized gravel, &amp; maybe just add a handful or so of old gravel to help kick start recycle process. I may not have fish at this stage, probably not keeping my gouramis, who seem very aggressive. I want to make sure this time around, I take my time with layout of substrate, etc. When I tfr my old water to new tank, this will approx &#189; fill new tank &amp; hopefully be enough to cover plants I&#8217;m transferring &#8211; but probably won&#8217;t be enough to cover the filter impeller. How long do I have before good bacteria in my old water starts dying, if I don&#8217;t turn filter on for a day or so (or don&#8217;t have fish in tank), while I play around with substrate layout. It will be easier to do this with tank only half full, but if this takes me a few days, am I better to &#189; fill, tfr plants I know I&#8217;m keeping, then fill nearly to top so I can turn filter on (still no fish) while I plan improvements to layout. Then add fish when I&#8217;m happy with all?? I think this time round, my 1st fish will be platy (maybe 3 &#8211; gradually building to shoal of say 5). What do you think?
Thanks, Robyn

Last edited by rjames1 at 16-Jan-2006 18:06

Last edited by rjames1 at 16-Jan-2006 18:06

Cheers
TW

Hi James,
Welcome to Fish Profiles.Com!!

First, to start a new thread, click on the button,
"Start New Topic" fill in a title, and then move your
cursor down to the large blank area, and type in your
questions giving all the information that you can to
support the question or help us answer your question.


As far as the new tank is concerned you kinda have a
small problem. Since you seem to indicate that you
are going to tear down the current tank to make room
for the new one you can expect that you will have to
recycle the new one. You can shorten the time it will
take by simply taking the filter and moving it over to
the new tank. As short a time as you have had the current
one running, I would just unplug it and swap it over, and
then plug it back in.
Expect the plants to undergo a setback. When you uproot and
move plants from tank to tank, they have to re-acclimate
themselves to their new environment. They will use their
stored nutrients to grow new roots especially suited for
the new substrate and to grow new leaves. To make things
easier, I don't think that I would clean the gravel or do
anything. I would simply siphon off the water uproot the
plants and leave them soaking in a tank of old water along
with the fish, and then remove the gravel into another
bucket. Swap tanks, and then add the gravel, add water
(1/2 full), replant the plants where you want them, and
then finish filling the tank. Start up the filter, and
then catch the fish and place them in plastic bags, float
the bags to get the temperatures equal, and then start
acclimating the fish to their new tank. Open the bag(s),
and add a cup full of the new tank water to the bag, wait
a half hour, and watch the fish for signs of distress,
and then add another cupful. After doing that, simply
tip the bag(s) to the side and allow the water and the
fish to swim into the new tank.

Because everything is so new, we (I) short cut some
things, but I don't think you will have any troubles with
this procedure. Just do expect the tank to recycle so keep
an eye on the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates and take
appropriate action as they develop.

Frank


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

Thanks Ingo. such a quick reply. I'm new to both this hobby &amp; this site, so I don't know how to create a thread, but I'll tell you about my tank. At the moment, I'm using a transitional tank. It is an Aqua One 75 litre tank &amp; it's dimensions are:- 51cm long, x35cm wide x54cm deep. It is only in it's 2nd week since setup, but after setting it up, I decided I'd like something bigger - particularly I wanted longer. I have an Aqua One 155 litre on order. It measures 82cm long x44cm wide x58cm high. So all will be tfr to new tank when it arrives (substrate, plants, etc). I have about 7 small Amazon Swords &amp; 2 other larger stemmed plants - but will get some more plants for the new tank. I don't have many fish - only 3 gouramis (a blue, a pearl &amp; a gold) but I'm seriously thinking of returning these to the LFS, as the blue &amp; the pearl constantly chase, harrass &amp; nip at the gold. The gold spends most of it's time hiding &amp; has a particularly hard time at feeding. Not sure when to do the return of fish &amp; whether I should leave it empty for a couple of days after I set up the new tank. My current tank has 2 fluro lights built into the hood, but each of these fluro lights seems to consist of 2 tubes, one with a reddish glow, one white. Markings on tubes say: "PL-11W Red/White". Fairly sure the new tank has 3 fluro lights, &amp; I'm guessing the tubes will be in same set-up. I'm using a timer, &amp; I'll change it to 10hrs. Is that enough? If I operate the tanks manually, I can turn each set of lights on individually, but with the timer, I can only choose to either turn one on, or both. Can't do a staggered start finish. Thanks again for your advice.

Cheers
TW

Hi there, rjames1

A very quick intro to CO2. Plants need 3 things to grow (besides water) &#8211; nutrients, a carbon source, and light. If you have lots of light and fertilizers you should add carbon in some form, most of us do that with CO2 injection via either a pressurized system (bottle) or a sugar &#8211; yeast DIY solution.

The question here is &#8211; do you have high light?

Why don&#8217;t you create your own thread and introduce your tank to us. Give us the tank parameters like size, light, plants, fish, and what not.

But in the meantime, for sure reduce your lighting period to no more than 12 hours, all else will definitely help the algae and not the plants. I have no idea where you read the 14 hour thing but it is way off &#8211; burn that book .

Hope this helps,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hello. I'm also new to planting and I'm not sure what CO2 injection means and how to go about it. Also what is the correct amount of time to have the tank lights on for good growth of plants (but not alge). Different books I've read tell me different things. I bought a timer for the light &amp; set it up in accordance with one book, which said I need 14 hrs of light - but reading comments here that seems too much. My 155 litre tank is still maturing (entering into it's 2nd week)and has quite a few plants in it. What does everyone think is the right no. of hours light &amp; how do I know if I need to C02 injection and what is it. Thanks.

Cheers
TW

I have a 46 gallon bow front I am thinking about planting. At this point I am studing up on how to plant an aquarium. The first thing I need to consider is lights. Currently the light that came with the tank is a 36" 25 watt floresent. From reading the back of the light hood it appears that its rated for up to 38 watts which I can see is not near enough. From my calculations I figure I need 93 watts for low light plants and around 140 watts for low to moderate light plants. Dose this seam right? I will probably stay with low to mod light plants if I can get enough wattage. I have seen some light hood for sale but not sure exactly what I am looking for so any help would be appriciated. Also I see some upgrade kits which appear to be the ballast and double light bars but these seem way over prices. I was thinking I could buy a cheap shop light and take the guts out of it to rewire my hood. So any ideas on the best way to procced would be helpful. By the way electrical work is not a problem for me, at least I have not burned anything down, yet.

Thanks Jim S.

So I guess my question is do you adjust the lights so they are on when you want them on or not?

Yup, absolutely. Hook them up to a timer and have them on for 10-11 hours per day. If you want to watch your tank in the evening, have the lights go on at 10 or 11 am, that way they'll be on until 9-10 at night, giving you plenty of time to view the tank. Actually, it's probably preferable to have a steady timing system, th eplants will time themselves to it, as in nature. If anything try to keep the tank out of sunlight period, and even keep the room dim while the lights are off. Our tanks receive more light than we necessarily give them, ya just dont want to saturate them with daylight and then 11 hours of CF lighting - that may prove to be too much and will allow algae to bloom much easier.

If you have any other questions about planted tanks please feel free to ask around here, especially before you start up - we may be able to help you prevent some common mistakes off the bat... if you read through a lot of these posts you'll notice that a lot of us love talking about planted tanks, there's always people willing to help.

---

Back in the saddle!

Dogs,

There is generally a full or half-page, color advertisement in Tropical Fish Hobbyist for one of the light manufacturers. The add shows you the appreance of fish or the tank under different light spectrums (K). It will give you a better feel for spectrum or wave length and how your eye perceives color.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Great guys. Thanks for the help, I think I am getting a better understanding of this hole light thing. So to recap what all has been stated I should be looking for between 60 and 110 watts of light depending on what plants I choose and a daylight, sunlight, 6700K lamp. I don't need moon glow or Actinic lighting. Dose this sound right? For some reason the light deal kinda has me confused. I do however think I understand the CO2 at least at this stage but I am sure I will have a few question once I get to looking into it more.

I would think if I am going to spend the money on new lights I will get the 2 compact flo lights so I have some flexability on plant types.

And yet another question. I assume that you would want your light source to some what mimic natural sunrise and set. I like to have the aquarium lighted in the evenings when I get home from work so I can watch the fish. So I guess my question is do you adjust the lights so they are on when you want them on or not?

I thank each one of you for the help. Its great that people will still take the time to help a total stranger over the computer.

Hi,
Actinic Blue lights are lights that are over 10,000K
in temperature. They give off a bluish tinge light that
by itself, will wash the greens out of plants (to the
human eye) and make them unappealing. Generally, when
using these bulbs you also use a "white" light to moderate
the effect of the Actinic light.

Lights ranging from 10,000K and above are generally used
only on saltwater tanks, especially those housing
invertebrates. They require the intense light for growing
various forms of algae on which they depend upon for food
and coloration.

Moon Lights are a recent addition and are designed to
add a little extra to your tank. They serve no purpose
for plants, but do give your tank a kind of moonlit
appearance once the regular lights go out.

Personally, I would recomend that you run your light
on a timer(s) and:
If you have one compact flourscent, you run it 10
hours/day.
If you later decide to run two compact flourscents, that
you run one for 10 hours and the other for four hours
(simulating direct, overhead, tropical, noonday sun)
in the middle of your 10 hour session.
Then run the moon lights for, say, two hours after the
"day" session, leaving the remainder of the 24 hour period
without light for plants and fish to rest.

Frank


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

muddydogs,

Yey for real plants peoples!!

So far people are on the right track helping you. If you do end up getting a power compact you could always change the bulbs to 6700K. The moon lights wont really help or hurt your fish or plants. They are kind of neat to have on at night time for a couple of hours. It will give you a chance to watch your night time fish.

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

hi muddy dogs,

I have the same size tank. Right now I'm running 110 watts over it, and that gives me enough to grow most kinds of plants. I consider that medium light, and to be honest it's an ideal range for me right now.

However, once you get into this range of lighting it's just as important to have proper CO2 levels and other nutrient levels available to the plants. Light on its own is not enough to have a healthy flourishing planted tank - you need to be prepared to balance the amount of light you provide with CO2, macro and micro nutrients. If you're not willing/ able to get that much into it, a 60watt low light set-up may be more your speed.


EDIT: whoops, just saw the other question. Actinic and moon lights are used over saltwater tanks to replicate different aspects of the tropical sun/ lighting atmosphere, and to penetrate to greater depths to grow corals. They will not do much good for freshwater plants. Whatever set-up you get, make sure to also buy a 6500K freshwater bulb, this will give you much better results, and will also make your tank look nicer

Last edited by NowherMan6 at 05-Jan-2006 08:50

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Back in the saddle!

Another question. I have been looking at compact flo lights. One I have been thinking about comes with one 96 watt day light, one 96 watt actinic 03 and led moon lights. So what is a actinic light? and what the heck are moon lights?

Thanks for the help Jim S.

Hi Jim
Welcome to FP!

Generally speaking, low demand plants want between 1 and
1.5 watts/gallon. Medium plants run around 2, and high
demand plants want 3+ watts/gallon.

With the setup (dual bulb, shop light)you mention
you would be around 1.7 wpg (2x40=80 divided by
the tank capacity [46]= 1.739) and ideal for
the low light plants, and maybe, some of the medium
ones as well.
When you purchase the fixture and bulbs, purchase two bulbs
that are marked DAYLIGHT or SUNLIGHT. Those are ideal for
viewing fish, and growing plants.

Later on, you could rip out the T-12s/T-8s, and install
compact flourscent bulbs for even higher watts/gallon.


Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 05-Jan-2006 00:23

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