Need help building out a plant storage tank

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snickle

AC Members
Jan 4, 2007
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Okay, anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to over-buy plants. So I always have more plants than fit well into my scapes.

So I need to setup a plant storage tank. Cheaply! The plan is as follows:

30G Breeder tank 36x18x12 from Craigslist
Penguin 100 Filter (Since this will not have fish, or at least not generally I figured this would work and I have a spare)
I piece of plexiglass as a canopy notched for the filter.
A DIY stand (Just 2x4s, no need to be fancy it is my workshop)
A quick DIY Hood with 10 incadescent fixtures, to hold various compact fluorescents, hood painted white inside.
CO2, tank will sit next to my 20# cylinder, so why not.
Schultz Aquatic Plant Soil and Pea gravel substrate

Since the goal of this tank is keeping the plants alive and healthy, not rapid growth, I have a few questions:

  • How many spiral lights and at what wattage? They will be daylights.
  • How to fertilize? I will not see this tank every day. So PPS-Pro is out.
  • What temperature should I keep the tank at?
  • Is the Penguin 100 enough filtration?
  • Easiest way to inject the CO2
  • What am I missing?

Any suggestions would be very welcome.
 
Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
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New Orleans, LA
Why 10 incandescent fixtures? There are 20 watt and 30 watt daylight spirals, although with more fixtures and lower watt bulbs you would have more flexibility in adjusting your wpg. You'd probably want 2.5 wpg to maintain the plants without having them need frequent fertilization.

The Penguin 100 would turn over the 30 g at least 3x per hour, so that should be good.

I'm no expert, but it looks like you've got most of it covered. Only thing unsolved is fertilizer.
 
S

snickle

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Jan 4, 2007
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Incandescent fixture because they are cheap and I can ensure good coverage. I can go down to 9W if needed. And cover every inch of the tank well.
 
Nolapete

Nolapete

Monster Tank Builder
May 29, 2007
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New Orleans, LA
I got that they were cheap and agree. 9w in each will give you 3wpg which is good. It's a very smart idea. Now that I've seen the 30w are available, it opens options for my tanks. Have to crunch the numbers.
 
FishyMatty

FishyMatty

FishKiller
Jan 30, 2007
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Milford,CT
I have a plant storage tank. Its a ten gallon with 20w fluorescent and a small HOB filter. In the tank I have about 30+cherry shrimp and 1 oto cat. The tank is in the window. I use it to plant clippings and plants I decide to remove. I use it just to grow a minimal root structure before brining them to my LFS for credit. The substrate is gravel mixed with some eco-complete. I do a water change every other week and barley feed the fish. I don't add any ferts or co2. I get decent growth and no algae. If theres one thing I know is if you don't want rapid growth a low tech tank is the way to go. I never loose any plants from lack of nutrients or light.
I have 3 High tech aquascaped tanks so I am constantly clipping the stem plants and pulling bits of Glossostigma, dwarf hairgrass and HC. The best way to go is the easiest.
 
S

snickle

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Jan 4, 2007
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Built the stand when I got home today, took about 45 minutes. I already had a stack of 2x4s in the garage. I only made the stand 2' tall, so with the tank on it it is only 3'. Easy to reach in and plant.

I washed the tank, added the Schultz Aquatic plant soil and filled. Then siphoned off the dirty water and filled again. Still cloudy but better. Hooked up the penguin 100 filter. No bio wheel at the moment.

I treated with prime and a double does of PPS-Pro ferts hoping to saturate the substrate. I did dump a few plants in tonight , but nothing significant.

Tomorrow on my lunch break I am going to try to hack together a canopy with lights. I think the setup I am using will allow for about 10 fixture, but I will only put in 4 for the moments. Aiming for about 80W.

Nice that I do not have to worry about looks only function.

Carbon will have to be excel for a bit while I figure my whole house strategy.

I am still trying to figure out a low maintenance fert schedule. Any help would be appreciated.
 
FishyMatty

FishyMatty

FishKiller
Jan 30, 2007
876
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Milford,CT
honestly if you just want the plants to stay healthy and not worried about there growth don't add anything and keep the light low 2wpg.
you need three things to grow plants, co2, light and ferts.
they are all equally important. So say this is on a scale from 1-10.
light-5
nutrients-5
co2-2
your plants are only going to grow at a 2
and your leaving your self open to severe Algae problems.
unless its going to be high tech keep it low tech.
 
S

snickle

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Jan 4, 2007
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CO2 is easy it is sitting next to my 20# Cylinder.
Lights are easy, since this tank is in my work shop and not meant to be seen, I will be hacking together a quick hood today and put about 80W or so in it.

Just need to figure out a fert schedule, and I should get some growth.
 
Squawkbert

Squawkbert

Senior padder
Oct 3, 2006
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I'd stay away from plexiglass. If any UV hits it, it will craze over time. You will also see warping w/ a breeder shaped piece. I'd go for glass or nothing at all.
 
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