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I'm in college at Purdue and have a 10g in my dorm room. I want to turn it into a planted tank, but I would have to make a three hour car trip with it four times a year. The fish do fine in a seperate container, but I take about 2/3 of the water out of the tank, and the water obviously moves around quite a bit.

Should I go for it or just wait til I'm our of college to start my first planted tank. If so, what's the best way to transport it?

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

It depends on what kind of planted tank you want to do... the difficulty that is, not the ability to do it at all.

Check out plants in the anubias family or java fern. These plants are very hardy and often compared to tanks. You can't really kill them, and a little ride in the car certainly won't hurt them.

If you're going for higher light, CO2 enriched tank then it's certainly possible to transport the tank, just a little harder. It'll take a good deal of pulling up stem plants and replanting etc while moving, and it can be a pain to have to uproot and clean every few weeks.

So, it all depends on what you're going for - any ideas?


p.s. Welcome to FP!

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Back in the saddle!

You're at Purdue too! Wow...

Anyway, it depends some on what kind of plants you have, to determine if it's possible/easy to do. If you go with java fern and anubias, you shouldn't have too much trouble, but you'll want to avoid cryptocorynes at all costs.

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Hi,
Personally, I would skip it. Transporting a tank with
the gravel and some water puts a real strain on the joints
and could easily lead to leaks. Even with half the water
gone, that still leaves the wet gravel and remaining water
which is about 30-40 pounds. Getting it in and out of the
vehicle without torquing the tank and stressing the joints
is actually very difficult, and as the tank ages the joints
will become more brittle.

Frank


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

I was thinking of not having that many plants. I like the idea of anubias, and I was also thinking of java moss to encourage breeding. I'm not too worried about the tank breaking. It has done fine so far, and I'm very careful with it. I'll probably have about 40 watts over it, except not extremely close to the tank because I'll be using the light for bonsai trees too. I'll be changing the substrate in about a week and I'm thinking of Flourite with some peat mixed in to help lower the pH for my serpae tetras. I'll be taking some decorations out and adding drift wood soon too.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Hi,
Sounds nice... Keep us all posted... and - Pictures!

Frank


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

I don't think I can put pictures. I'm not a premium member. Maybe I'll post a link.

Oh, and I had another question about my tank. About how much peat would you mix with the flourite? I was gonna add about 70grams (that's 2.5oz).

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

I would love to help out if you would like... I'm feeling fish-deprived (no fish, taking them the 2000+ miles home is a little much)

Unfortunately I haven't heard of adding peat to flourite, so someone else will have to help you out on that.

><>

For some reason, I can't PM you, so here is what I tried to send.
That's awesome that you're from Purdue as well. What year are you and what is your major? I'm a freshman in Nuclear Engineering. I know you don't have fish here at Purdue, but have you come across any LFS's in the area? The only one I have found is called "Aquarium World" in Lafayette. It's pretty good, but I don't think it has a very good selection of plants. I may have to order off the internet to get my plants.
Thanks for offering to help. I might need it when I plant them. I've never had a planted tank before. However, I might wait until the summer to get my plants. We have better stores in Louisville.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Thanks for letting me know. My PM box was full. I'm a junior in wildlife, but I still live in the res halls (work in McCutcheon even). I would find it really funny if you lived here in McCutcheon...

As for LFS, I think Buckles Feed in Lafayette has fish, if you need a ride I'd kind of like to go scout it out myself. There's also a pet store in the mall, but I haven't been in there. I don't actually know where my phone book is, haven't seen it since the beginning of the semester So besides that, I don't know (WalMart only has a couple really shabby plants whenever I look). There is also Uncle Bill's in Indy that I've been meaning to check out. It's supposedly really huge and nice, and that'd only be about an hour away.

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Actually I live in Earhart. I just called Aquarium World and they say they pretty much have a little bit of everything. My girlfriend is taking me up there this weekend to get the substrate. No one else replied about the peat and flourite mixture. I'll probably talk to the people there and see what they know. Got any other sugestions on a substrate good for plants that I can mix peat with?

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Why is there the need to mix peat? Do you want to lower the pH and soften the water? You might also consider putting the peat in a filter if it's just for water quality issues.

PS - SpringFest is this weekend and you might have trouble with heavy traffic from that...

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Yeh, I really need to soften the water and lower the pH. Purdue water is extremely hard (haven't actually measured it, but it is). Right now it's in a filter mesh bag hidden in my aquarium. It won't fit in my filter.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

I'd believe it. We're sitting on limestone (under a lot of gravel). I guess I've just never heard of mixing peat with gravel before. I don't see anything wrong with mixing peat with flourite, and a layer of flourite, if you can put it under your gravel (otherwise it's pretty "muddy" ) would be great. Plain gravel will work too, especially with such slow-growing plants as anubias...

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That's a good idea. I'll make sure its all under the flourite.

-Eric
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."