46g Bow.. Set up End of Jan [General Questions] [Archive]

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ohhmernn

03-05-2007, 9:24 AM

Hi there,

The more I read throughout these threads, the more it becomes apparent that so far I've just been lucky in not losing any fish..

I have some general questions for any experienced and successful fish keepers (no newbies please!)

I can double check and edit the things I'm not sure of when I get home today.

My tank is a 46g bowed tank, I believe the hood that came with it and that I am using, is fluorescent, I'll check the bulb when I get home.

I have an Eheim 2215 classic canister filter, thats got (I don't recall what order, whatever was on the box) white noodle type things, a blue sponge, white floss pad and charcoal in it that I haven't touched since I set it up.

I've got about 2.5 inches (65LBS) of gravel in the tank.

I have live plants, that aren't doing very well, the leaves of a large sword plant are going see through and turning brown.. The plants in general don't seem to be growing much... I've got I think 4-5 different types.

Fish: 1 beta, 5 Zebra Danios, 1 adult male guppy, 3 adult female guppies, and 2 fry. 5 Lemon Tetra, and 1 Salt and pepper catfish.

Water temp stays at 80. Light is generally on from 6AMtill 10PM.

The last time I added any fish was 2 weeks ago when I added the catfish and three Zebra's, and a week before that I added the 5 Lemons. I have had no fish die since starting it up.

Questions are:

Lighting: What do I need to keep a 46g heavily planted. Am I able to just buy a different bulb to use in the hood I have, or would this likely mean I need a different hood (which I'm open to, but it'd be better if it just meant a different bulb). The tank is set up in my living room, so I don't want some ugly/ghetto looking light setup.

Water changes/filter: How often should I be doing water changes/cleanings... I haven't yet done one. Do I use tap water, or is there a product I should be treating my water with before adding it to the tank? I recall something about removing the charcoal from the filter, what effect is this going to have... should I wait until I'm done adding fish?

Fish: I plan to add 3 more catfish of the same type for the one I have. My original plan was to have Angel's and Gourami's and whatever went well with them.

Angel: Which fish are not compatible with these, that I have? (catfish, guppies, beta, zebra, lemon tetra).

Gourami: Which fish are not compatible with these, that I have? (catfish, guppies, beta, zebra, lemon tetra).

Don't get me wrong, I have read up and researched different information regarding the tank and fish... but so much of it is conflicting. One site says yes, one says no, one says use caution, you get the idea. I'd like to get a hold of it before my fish are harmed!

My main goal is a healthy heavily planted tank with Gourami's and (angel's optional) and some nice schooling fish that are compatible.

Thanks for any input/help/suggestions!

[Edit]... Questions also about water movement.. good or bad? My Eheim tube letting out filter water is below the water level.. should I have some power head or something moving water around? I heard this was good for plants?

Subliminal

03-05-2007, 9:43 AM

Water movement is key. The way most of the aeration in your tank happens is from duisruption on the surface of the water.

If you haven't yet done a water change, I'd suggest it. Everyone has their opinions on how water changes should be done, and how often. Personally, I'd suggest you invest in a Python (http://www.amazon.com/Python-Spill-Clean-Fill-ft/dp/B000255NXC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6759608-3632048?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1173105558&sr=8-1), as they REALLY help make water changes a lot easier.

Now, if I were you, I'd do at least 50% of the water every month or so. With the Python and a sink, this really should only take a few minutes. And when you do the water changes, make sure you syphon through the gravel on the bottom. Since you're using a HOT (hang on tank) filter, the gravel you have is just a catch all for food and poop, and also a decoration..and to a certain extent, a home for the bacteria you have in your tank. You can take it out or leave it or whatever...just make sure you clean it on occasion, or it'll start to function the opposite of a filter.

As to the lighting and the plants, I'll let someone else answer that.

ohhmernn

03-05-2007, 9:58 AM

50% Once a month... direct tap water? Is there any chemical I should be adding to the tap water, if I'm adding half a tanks worth of it.. won't that agitate/ kill my fish?

Hang on tank.. as opposed to under gravel filter? I'm really open to suggestions on whatever works at giving me a healthy planted tank with fish.. The largest I've owned was a 20g with plastic plants with guppies zebras etc with an aqua clear filter.

This was a decent $ investment, I'd like to do it properly.

Marinemom

03-05-2007, 1:19 PM

I have a 46 gallon bowfront tank that is heavily planted for my discus. If you want a lot of plants in the tank lighting is key. For most plants on the low tech side and low lighting side you will want between 2-3 watts of light per gallon of water. This holds true for the standard light fixtures and power compact lighting. If you get over 3 watts of light per gallon then that is considered a high light high tech system. With that you will most likely need co2 injection and the addition of regular ferts for the plants. Most people start out a planted tank on the low light low tech side first before venturing into the high tech stuff. You mentioned you have a hood. Is that a canopy? If so you can put a bowfront glass top on the tank itself and have it hidden with the canopy. Then you can put the lights on the glass top and they will not be in view. If not you can have the bowfront glass top with the lights sitting directly on them or slightly raised. This is the way I have mine but I have t-5 lighting which kind of throws the watts per gallon rule out the window since the spectrum of lighting is so different and the plants are able to utilize this kind of lighting better. These kind of lights are very low key and pleasing to look at. They also do not run hot and are easy to handle. I think they are not overly expensive either. The fish and plants look lovely under this spectrum of lighting.

As far as the water changes are concerned, I think once a month of 50% is quite drastic. I do water changes once a week because there are discus in the tank and they thrive on very clean and pristine water conditions. If you have discus in this tank like I do then 50-60% once a week is fine. However, if you are not keeping discus then a water change of around 20% once a week will be fine for that situation. Tap water is fine to use and actually perferred in most freshwater set ups if there is not a high content of heavy metals in your water. Just make sure that you use a declor such as "Prime" when adding the water during a water change or even when you are replacing water that has evaporated.

Filteration? I have an eheim classic 2215 canister filter on this tank along with an aquaclear 70 HOB(hang on back) filter and I could not be happier with this setup.Most people tend to shy away from UG filters these days especially in a planted aquarium since the roots of the plants can eventually become entangaled in the under gravel plate. However I do not see a reason not to use an under gravel system these days if that is what you want as long as they are properly maintained and cleaned. I think they still have a place in home aquaria.

I do not see a problem with the list of fish you want to keep except for the fact that I would not put a gourmai in the same tank as an angelfish. The gourmai will most likely terrorize the angel and tear up her lovely long fins. On the other hand it is possible that you might get away with a dwarf gourmai. Just stay away from the regular gourmai if you want to keep angels. Also the betta may or may not get along with the angelfish.

Water movement is fine in the planted aquarium as long as you do not have a raging tornado going on inside the tank. Also if you do decide to grow some high light plants and do go the route of injecting co2, then I would try to keep the water movement as miminal as possible. Otherwise the co2 will be gassed off too quickly and the plants will not be able to use it.

I hope this helps. Keep us updated as to the progress in your planted tank and pictures are always nice once you get the whole thing set up and running. The main thing is to have fun with it and enjoy your planted paradise.

Marinemom

ohhmernn

03-05-2007, 4:34 PM

quadpants

03-05-2007, 4:56 PM

I have a 46 bowfront full of plants. You won't be able to grow much of anything with your stock light, it is probably 40 watts. I got a retrofit kit from ahsupply.com and now run 1x96 watts on my tank, it grows most stem plants. I also run 2 2L of DIY CO2 which is pretty important if you have lots of light.

I agree and wouldn't do 50% monthly water changes, I myself do 50% weekly but more for the plants benefit using EI dosing. 50% once a month is a big water parameter change and may stress the fish.

Hound

03-05-2007, 7:36 PM

For water changes I generally suggest a 20% change every week is a good habit. I myself am one of the 40-50% per week types. With a python gravel vac it really isn't that big a deal and you should be able to take care of it in less than 30 minutes.

As for your lighting I'm thinking that a 46g bowfront is a 3' wide aquarium. As such I would second the idea of using ahsupply (http://www.ahsupply.com). A 2x36 watt kit should be fine for a low / medium light set up. The 1x96 watt would also work, but I believe you may need to invest in a co2 system if you go up this high or higher. With either light set up you should get a timer and start off with say 9 hours of light per day.

If you are using plain gravel as a substrate adding some laterite should help your root feeding plants. Also if you don't fertilize at all you should probably get a micro nutrient fertilizer. I have always liked seachem flourish for this in my low light aquarium. If you do decide to get into a higher light aquarium you should also do some research into macro fertilizers. Rex Grigg's Guide (http://www.rexgrigg.com) is fairly good reading for planted aquariums.

Marinemom

03-05-2007, 11:57 PM

Hi there Marine Mom,

Thanks for the informative post.. I'm still a bit confused with the whole thing, especially the lighting part.

I bought my tank at Big Al's it is their 46g Promo. In pretty certain it's the same as this one displayed at Walmart in terms of what it has for a lid/lighting...

http://walmart.ca/cms-portal/cmscontroller?size=2&width=500&height=500&command=filetransfer.ServletgetScaledLargeThumbnai lFile&imageid=18515

2-3 watts per gallon.. so is this meaning if i have one light bulb it would need to be a 100 watts? Does the water disperse light? What exactly should I be looking for if I go into a store for lighting for a planted tank?

Gourami, I did mean dwarf ones... just have a habit of calling them "Gourami"

What type of fish do you keep with your Discus, or is it solely Discus you keep?

What's a good testing kit, I haven't tested my water at all nor do I know if my water has a high level of metals in it...

Thanks for any insight

In my 46 gallon bowfront tank I have a small school of rosy tetras and a small school of glo-lite tetras too with my discus. I also have a bristlenose pleco and a clown pleco with them. Everyone gets along fine and the plants are growing like crazy.

A dwarf gourmai should be fine but watch the tank and at the first sign of trouble you should remove him.

As far as the lighting is concerned, some people will try using a retro kit but in the end most of the time most people will replace the fixture since in that way you are sure that the plants will get what they need.

Marinemom

P00rColl3geBoi

03-07-2007, 1:33 AM

Yeah, you'll want to add some kind of dechlorinator to the tap water before you add the water into the tank. The most recommended dechlorinator on this website is called "Prime" just because the amount you use per gallon of water is very small (two drops/gallon). Remember to keep your ammonia low...sounds like you haven't cycled your tank yet. On my 46g bow front, I'm running a Rena XP2 along with an AC50 HOB filter and my water is crystal clear. I only have fake plants in my tank, so I can't say anything about that. The best test kit (that I know of) is the AP Freshwater Master Test Kit, it's about $35 at Petsmart but can last a long time.