Need some advice.

[aquanewb]

I just got a used 72G Bowfront tank. It has an overflow and a Fluval 404. I washed out the Fluval since it looks like it had never been done before. I realise that there may have been bacteria present, but I dont know how long the pump was dormant (it still had water in it). ANYWAY it came with the bio-max rings in two of the trays and charcol sacs in the lower two. Should I reuse any of this or get new stuff? I am going for a community tank with some hardy FW fish and some live plants, what media should I use?

Next is substrate, I did a search and I think that I want to use the eco-complete substrate since I want it dark and I want live plants. Any particular reason not to use this? How many lbs should I use?

Next is lights. The tank came with one Aqua Rays 40W F40T12-AR-FS and one Coralife Actinic 03 F40 T12 Be. As I understand it the Actinic is for SW and will wash out the colors of FW fish and will not benifit the plants. So my question is what bulb should I use to help the plants?

Last (for now) is the plants. I would like a moderatly planted tank. Can anyone point me toward some fairly hardy plants that will work in these conditions?

Sorry for all the questions, thanks in advance.

[happychem]

Well, there probably wasn't any bacteria left alive in the filter unless it was only a couple hours since turned off, so you're fine, rinse away. In fact, give it as good a cleaning as you can, as I understand it, canisters rarely need cleaning, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't start it out as well as possible.

If the carbon had been used, toss it, it's of no use anymore. Fill the filter with biomedia and maybe some mechanical stuff upstream, you may also want to place a filter sponge over the intake to help keep out the big stuff, this will need to be cleaned weekly.

I can't tell you exactly how much you'll need. First decide on how deep a layer you want. Since you're low light and only want a few plants, about an average of 2" is probably plenty. Buy a bag and see what kind of coverage you get then buy however many more are necessary. Others may be able to be more precise.

Full spectrum bulbs are a good choice, find 'daylight' bulbs and look for 6500K light temperature. PowerGlo makes a good bulb, it's a little purple, but it's good accompanied with a lower spectrum bulb. The purple colour is from the very blue spectral profile of the bulb's output, this travels well through water, so it gets better depth penetration than redder spectrum bulbs. 6000-6500K bulbs look bright, white, and natural.

You'll likely want/need to double the amount of light you've got on your tank for even slow growth/low light plants, btw, but let's start with what we've got and work up from there.

Crypts, java fern/moss, anubia are all good low light plants. You should also spend some time perusing the plant lists at http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php you can select plants to be listed by light requirement, so that's perfect for you.

[aquanewb]

Thanks for the tips!

Just to be sure then, I will end up with the following in the filter. (In order)

Sponge around the intake. For the big chunks :D
Filter Input
Sponges in the cannister (Before the trays)
Tray 1 (Filter Floss)
Tray 2 (Filter Floss)
Tray 3 (BioMax)
Tray 4 (BioMax)
Filter Output

Also what wattages = Hi light tanks vs Low light tanks?

[happychem]

Looks good.

I'm not too sure what you're aking about wattages, but your tank is definitely low light.

[aquanewb]

I guess what I am asking is what makes a tank High Light or Low Light? I was on plantgeek and I saw the 2W per Gal guidelines but I saw some other posts that say that it is bogus. I am not sure what plants I want yet so its hard to figure out the lights.... :confused:


BTW What is the lighting like in your 33 Gal tank. I like that.

[happychem]

I'd guess that <1.5wpg is low light, 1.5-3wpg mid and >3wpg high light, but even then it's a little hand wavey. Also note that the watts per gallon rule of thumb applies of T12 fluorecent bulbs run on magnetic ballasts. Bulbs like T8s, T5s, power compacts (PC) all put out more light per watt than T12's. Using electronic ballasts also increases the amount of light.

Add to that that a better reflector also gives you more bang for your watts and the "rule" starts looking pretty flaky.

That said, my 33g has 4x25w T8s on electronic ballasts. So about 100w on the 33g. It started out with less though, I started it with 2 4ft. T12s (2 tube shoplight) and a 2ft. fixture (came with the tank)