Just got a new tank!!!

[fish_gal77]

Just looking for some ideas here... I just purchased a 44gallon tank. It came with a Penguin 170 filter and a UGF setup with 2 powerheads. I would like to try my hand at a planted tank and so I am leaning toward NOT using the UGF. I know some have had good luck, my father always had conventional UGF and never had any trouble with plants. I'm not sure how far I will go with planting, it depends on my success rate I suppose. I like the look of a lush, well planted tank but am unsure if I want to put in the work to upkeep it (trimming etc). I would like to have a few live plants though, will probably start with low light...

I have read a little about RFUGF and might consider this but the opinions are so varied, I'm just not sure what would be best. Any opinions are welcome.

Also, if I decide not to use the UGF, is there any other use for the power heads?

Thanks!

[slipknottin]

Honestly, trying to just use a few plants is far more work than heavily planting it from the start.

[webbie]

Honestly, trying to just use a few plants is far more work than heavily planting it from the start.

What was the point of typing that sentance and not stating why you think its more work to have a few plants than to have a heavily planted tank?

[cohazard]

First of all...........Slip is right. You'll have less problems starting with a heavily planted tank (even if it's low light) than with a sparsely planted tank.

Second, he gave some advice. If fish_gal77 would like to know more, she could just ask as to why that is.

If I sound like I'm being a jerk, please don't take it that way. I'm just trying to aleviate what seems like a simple misunderstanding.

In all fairness, slip's style of posting can seem a little stand-offish (new word! ;) ) at first, but you get to recognize that and not be bothered by it. He's just trying to help after all.

As far as why a heavily planted tank is better.......one reason is plants absorb nutrients. The more you have, the more nutrients are consumed. Algae absorb nutrients too. The more nutrients your water has, the more algae you have. More plants = more nutrients absorbed = less nutrients for algae = less algae.

HTH,
Serg

[fish_gal77]

webbie, slipknotin - no worries, I didn't take the short reply harshly. I think those short replies start some dialogue and it's ok by me :)

Hi SoCalSunset. Thanks for the advice. I'm sure I had read that before (on these boards of course) but in my excitement over my new addition, I guess I forgot. I have kept aquariums in the past but I have learned more about fish and plant keeping in the last 2 months than in the last 15 years. I think I have the fish keeping figured out, now it's down to the stuff that makes the tank REALLY beautiful!!!


I currently have two fluoresent strip lights with one "Sun-Glo" 15W bulb EACH. This is just what came with the tank. I do not want to do the CO2 injection at this point but would like to have lushly planted tank. What might you suggest? It will be a community tank with (and this is only a preliminary list) rainbows, gouramis, corys, rams, perhaps a couple cats - bristle-nose and/or?... ideas are welcome!

I love the look of java moss and would like to incorporate that. I also like plants that are/can be rooted to driftwood. What are some other easy plants? I'm really open here as I have not even put water in the tank. I want to really take my time and plan this out well. I already purchased some gravel and plan to get some fluorite to mix 50/50 with gravel. How long after cylcing and adding fish should I wait before adding plants?

A few other questions have come up in my mind... this is a pentagon 44g tank and is quite deep. Do I need to get a longer intake tube for my filter? It came with a Penguin 170 which is supposedly good up to 50g, should I upgrade to the larger Penguin? Go with a larger Emperor?

Would a reverse flow UGF be beneficial in that it would push the waste up to where the filter can easily take care of it? Is this how they work? Would flourite/gravel mix be ok with a RFUG? Forgive my total newbie questions - today is the first time I have read about RFUG and it's all very new. I have also never kept a tank with ANY UGF, just power filters.

P.S. SoCalSunset - I assume from your name you are in SoCal... where abouts? I'm in Irvine - would love to find some GOOD LFS in the area!

[slipknottin]

Sheesh. Allow me to explain. Having just a few plants means they will not use up all of the avaliable nutrients. Considering you usually have decently bright lighting to grow the plants, you're going to get excessive amounts of algae. If you plant relatively heavily from the start, the algae will never get a foothold. I, like many others, learned that the hard way.

[cohazard]

fish_gal77 - Add the plants the day you setup the tank. The cycle doesn't affect them in any adverse ways. In fact, they'll help cycle the tank.

What's the height on that 44g? Two 15w bulbs (depending on the height of the tank) should be able to grow jmoss, jfern, anubias, anacharis, crypts, dwarf lillies (one of my fav low-light plants), and IME melon swords. *Note* the melon swords don't grow the same in low light as they do in bright light. IMO, they look better in their low-light growth.

High-light growth:
http://www.thatpetplace.com/images/p28987b.jpg

Low-light growth:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y46/SoCalSunset/ozelotsword.jpg

HTH

BTW, as far as socal fish stores.........I highly recommend Petown in Lake Forest (the OC). They're truly a hardcore tropical fish store. They focus mainly on SW, but they do have a lot of plants and tropicals.

Pet World in Long Beach is also one of my fav's. It may not look like much on the outside, or inside for that matter, but Steve (my friend who owns it) has the best prices for his fish and aquariums (my 180g tank w/stand and extra goodies was $800). He also gets a lot of rare stuff which always has me saying: "What in the world is that?" As a matter of fact, he recently got a shipment of fish from Korea ("they're getting into the biz" as he puts it, lol) which I have never seen before. Basically, they look like emperor tetras, but they grow to 12"!!!!! Beautiful.

Further down Long Beach blvd. is another fish store (I always forget the name). They have a good fish selection, but the prices can be steep.

Here in West Covina, there's a store I go to called "Hacienda Aquatics" they've got stuff that not many people have i.e. amano shrimp all year long, recently, they got a shipment of cherry shrimp, so I gotta go pick some up before they're gone. They also have gold rams and tigrinnus cats right now. They have good prices on some things, average on others, and some overpriced items.

I know of about 4 more stores between LBC and west covina, but I haven't checked them out yet.

HTH

[fish_gal77]

Thanks slipknottin and SoCalSunset! The details came back to me as I was reading them again. Like I said, I've been doing crazy amounts of research lately and some details slip by in all the excitement of a new tank :D



What's the height on that 44g? Two 15w bulbs (depending on the height of the tank) should be able to grow jmoss, jfern, anubias, anacharis, crypts, dwarf lillies (one of my fav low-light plants), and IME melon swords. *Note* the melon swords don't grow the same in low light as they do in bright light. IMO, they look better in their low-light growth.


The tank is a full 24" deep. Do either of you run an UGF? I would assume probably not since you haven't mentioned it... Just looking for as much info as I can find so that I can make an informed decision.

Oh and thanks a million for the store recommendations! I've been to a couple around here but they were pretty abysmal. I was spoiled in Vancouver, I had a Big Al's very near to me... ah those were the days...

Cheers!