want to start 2 planted tanks, 20L and 29. lots of Qs

Start out with some low light plants. Mgamer2000 has them for sale usually. You don't need CO2 for them and don't need to add ferts.

Then ahsupply.com for light kits
DIY or pressurized CO2 is required
I use dry ferts that I get from www.rexgrigg.com
I use Eco-complete planted as a substrate. It's mostly black, so it looks really nice.
Fordtrannyman has great plants.

Anything is the 5000K-10000K for bulbs. Ahsupply.com has great reflectors and kits to retrofit lights. You won't find too much better in the way of price and performance. Their lights are CFLs.

As far as CO2, you can either go pressurized or DIY. DIY is much cheaper at first and is pretty easy to replace about every 3-4 weeks. Pressurized is more expensive, but it last way longer than DIY and is cheaper in the long run. You will need to get a drop checker and make a 4kh solution to put in the drop checker's bowl along with some ph reagent to measure the amount of CO2 in the water.

cam191919 said:

after seeing too many nice planted tanks here on AC, i want to start my own. well two of my own. planted tank are a hole in my knowledge of aquariums, so im lost in trying figure out a plan.

in short, i want to know lights, CO2, and ferts and how i would use them.

how would you set up a 20 long and a 29 gallon tanks for high light plants if they were yours?

i want to forget the lights i have, and get new fixtures and lights. id also be willing to change the substrate if i had to. tahitian moon in the 29 and run-of-the-mill white aquarium in the 20

whats up with CO2, if i make DIY setup do i have to keep changing the mixture every week?

whats the balance between lights CO2 and ferts?

if you have a similar setup, what are the specs?

im not willing to spend all my money on extreme luxuries, but that doesnt mean im gunna skimp out on the good stuff

please help if you can, this is somthing i really want.....:help:

Click to expand...

There are no easy answers to these question because 100 different people can give a 100 different answers so I'll speak of personal experience.
Lighting- On a 120Gallon
A.) I've overdrive (4) 40w florescent bulbs with Lowes fixtures- descent growth out of Amazon plants, Javas.
B.) I've done (4) 55w PCs AhSupply retro-fit kits- descent growth on low-medium side crypts, ludwigia, rotola
C.) I've combined (2) 80W T5 Tek II reflector sunlight retro-fit kit and (2) 55w AHSupply PCs- better growth of the above and capable of high-medium plants and was enough to grow everything in the tank now.
D.) I'm now running 2 fixture 2 80w T5 bulbs each with shared reflector in each.

I was most pleased with "C" setup and now believe I would've gotten better results with 2 80w TekII retro-fit kits with individual reflectors.

Co2-
After doing a lot of research on DIY Co2 I took the leap right to pressurized Chemistry was not my thing :headshake2: Actually I read some of the horrors of DIY exploding bottles and the smell were deciding factors for me.

Substrate
The expense I never saw coming. I spent a small fortune on Flourite and I think personally that money would've been better spent on lighting from the beginning. During my 120 redo went with SMS Charcoal and I can't say I regret it but like anything it has it's pros and cons.

I also used inert sand which gave me by far the most problems in a 55 gal but that was my attempt at a low tech tank. A few grains of sand can distroy power filters. I had to replace impler shafts at least 1 a yr but was able to extend it further by putting a sponge on the intake.

Ferts
I too use dry ferts and mix in 248ml bottles to dose only what I need. Be very cautious and dbl check you calculations.

Test Kit
Spend the money on a good test for GH, KH, Po4, No3, No2, and Fe I use NutraFin.

Plant Selection
This area will pretty much determine what equipment you'll need. If you perfer more demanding plants it will kinda lead you where you need to be with lighting, ferts, and Co2.

My apologies for the long response but I think this is the kind of info you are looking for.