Setting up a planted 55 gal. advice please?

[MyLifeAsAFish]

Ok, here's what I have:

220 watts of vho flourescent lighting.
2, Nutrafin Co2 systems (yeast type, with difuser rated @ 20 gal. ea.)
30 pounds flourite
30 pounds aquarium gravel

My plan so far is to build a terrace using wood or stone, mixing the flourite with some of the gravel if necessary, or if you think I should use straight flourite I can buy some more. I saw a post about adding peat under the gravel. Does this feed the plants in some way or is it just to make the water softer? Will it decay and affect nitrates? Is 200 watts too much light? I suspect I may be light on the Co2. What ya'll think? :?:

Spring

 

[aspen]

what type of filter are you planning? fish?

rick

 

[MyLifeAsAFish]

Right now there are two emporer 270's on the tank. I moved my africans from this tank to a 90 gal. yesterday. Planning on dwarf sa's. I might move a pair of adult discus that I have that have shown no breeding interest in there too, if they'll do allright with the dwarves. I'll fill the tank with 1/2 ro and 1/2 tap.

Spring

 

[aspen]

he he, that is why i asked. keeping a planted tank is quite different from keeping a 'planted discus tank.' you will be quite limited as to how many more fish you can keep with 2 discus in a 55 gal. the bio-load from 2 discus is quite high.

discus do very well with dwarfs, ime. the discus like the open part, and the dwarfs like the hiding part, and will come out when they want to. i would consider carefully before adding more than 2 discus, a pair or trio of a dwarf species and the inevitable algae eating species you will need. that tank should have a lot of plants to balance the bio-load of the discus, and also the discus need some open area. a bit of a balancing act. but, that could be very nice.

is an emporor a hob box type filter? i would not use this type of a filter on a high light co2 injected tank. rather i would opt for a canister, or even an internal type filter, like a fluval 2 or 3 internal. i run a fluval 1 (cheap little tiny guy) in my 35, with a single sponge from an ac mini. there's a pretty high bio-load, although no discus (5 adult dwarfs, 17 tetras, 3 small plecos). during the day, o2 will be no problem, but i run a small air pump for 2- 1/2 hour intervals during the night to ensure decent oxygenation.

get your discus hand feeding before they go in there. you will be much happier with the lower maintenance of cleaning up uneaten food, or the dwarfs becoming big fat pigs. when i had my discus in a community type setting, they would hand feed, and the rest of the fish would hang out under them. no food hit the bottom.

as for the co2 system you have, well, i hope that you do well with that. i would have gone to straight diy, with a proper method for diffusing the co2 into the tank. or a pressurised system. a 55 gal is a pretty big tank to try and get decent co2 levels with a yeast activated system. but, it should work moderately well. the test will be when you get things set up, and watch the ph shift after aerating tank water. you may have to fiddle about with that.

as for substrates, well, have fun with that. there are more theories and methods than i can name, and they all have their fans. i use plain sand, with little pieces of jobes here and there. a simple approach for the simple minded i guess. but i don't like turning up stuff when i pull out plants.

rick

 

[MyLifeAsAFish]

Thanks Rick, Yes the emporer 270's are hob box filters. I have a fluval 404 canister I can move to this tank., although it seems to have a strong output. Maybe I can restrict the flow somehow. I am aware that there is Co2 loss with excessive surface aggitation. The yeast Co2 is temporary. I'll buy a real pressurized Co2 system as soon as I have this stuff figured out a little more. The Co2 kits were only $23 each, and have a good difusing system. Considering the time and aggravation that most diy projects entail, I opted for the easy route.

I have two timers available, I'll need to find more pins in order to set up the air pump like yours. I hope Home Depot has them. The other timer will be on the lights. How many hours a day are recommended?

I'll probably skip adding the discus. You're right, they are messy critters.
Which plecos or others are the best algae eaters? The problem I have hated most in the futile attempts of having plants in a tank before has been the algae that forms on the plants. Was this due to not enough light ? Should I expect the same in a well lit and planned tank?

I considered using sand, but in the end I bought flourite. I have normal coarse grade sand in another tank I have and the ph and hardness keep rising even when I do water changes with pure RO. There are also 5 or 6 small sandstone rocks in there, but I don't think that they are the problem as I have them in another tank without the sand where the ph drops. Thus, the flourite. Will I still need to add plant food? What type of Jobes do you use?

Thanks for the info,

Spring

 

[aspen]

hey spring. does the fluval 404 have the valves on the input and out output? if so, just turn down the valve on the return line (back to the tank), to restrict the flow a bit. whatever you do, you need to keep the co3 in the tank. surface agitation is not good. i doubt that you will be able to move your ph .2. that will not be enough.

as for the air pump, it is not totally necessary, i just like the idea of using one on a tank with some of my nicest fish. the o2 should be pretty well used up before the lights come on, if you have a decent fish load. maybe on 1/2 hour, 3 hours before lights on? but, lots of people seem to disagree with me, so wth do i know? i use an 11 hour lighting time cycle.

>>'problem... algae that forms on the plants. Was this due to not enough light ? Should I expect the same ...'

battling algae is something we planted tank owners all deal with. i have a system that works for me, others do what they do. how to stop the algae growing is anyone's guess, but i think most would agree, that getting the plants thriving, with a limited amount of extra nutrients in the water, is a great start. my tank has 0 phosphates, 0 nitrates and 0 iron in the water column and has been this way for a week- and at the same time, the tank has grown a nice beard of algae on the front glass that my bushy's cannot eat fast enough. so there you go. i added fert today, under the plants (jobes fern and palm) and tropica master gro, and fed the fish 3 times but didn't scrape the algae. i 'm not sure whether i should have, but normally these things seem to run their course and are gone. we'll see about that...

i consider buying algae eating fish, that are strictly targeting hair algae, to be a waste of time. the reason is, if you treat your plants first, these types of algae won't be there to bother with. i use 'lime it', and have not seen hair algae in my planted tank. this allows me to get away with plecos only. no american flag fish, or sae's needed. i also get my plants growing well in a q tank. this seems to work better. adding thriving plants seems to be the best thing- looks better faster too! this also means i have no snails. (yippee!) i hate those buggers.

i can't say flourite is not good, many use it, and are quite happy. imo, though, when algae breaks out, it is nice to be able to limit nutrients, and with a flourite base, how do you do that? just a thought. if your sand is raising your kh, and ph, ditch it. a softwater low ph tank, shoud not be hampered, by a kh raising base. it is a waste of time, ime. use it in your african tank.

rick

 

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Until you get your pressurised CO2 system, keep half the lights off
otherwise you're asking for algae. Maybe turn the rest of the lights
on for a couple of hours during the middle of the day.

 

[farm41]

What is the Ph and Kh of your aged tap water?

 

[MyLifeAsAFish]

aged tap is 7.8 and kh is about 550.

Spring

 

[MyLifeAsAFish]

thats 550 on the conductivity monitor.

 

[farm41]

Now I see why you use the RO on a planted tank.

Could you get a Kh test on the tank water, it's necessary to estimate the co2 levels by the co2 chart .

 

[MyLifeAsAFish]

Farm, I rechecked my water values this morning. Tap water aged for 2 days resulted in these readings.........

Ph - 7.05
Conductivity - 483
Kh - 70mg

 

[farm41]

12 ppm co2, get that up to 20 and you will be able to see the plants growing