planted tank from 10g to 40g -- questions on bigger tank (and pics!)

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biggie357

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Dec 18, 2008
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i just spent the better part of 5 hours swapping all my plants and filter from my 10g into my 40g. the 10g was so overgrown i dont know how the fish had room to swim.

Now im going from 26watts over 10g to 72watts over 40g. i had DIY c02 before. ive always dosed excel but thinking of skipping that now with 3x the dosage.

my questions are:

1. Can i still run diy C02 on a 40g? will i need to use the 2 bottle method? Will stopping the c02 for a week or so cause some sort of CRAZY algae bloom? i removed all of my staghorn and clado (both of which were just starting) before i transferred the plants.
2. Is my lighting still sufficient or will losing the 0.5ish WPG be bad for my plants?
3. Anything particularly different about having a larger planted tank vs a tiny one?

Heres some pics of the transformation :) once again its hard to believe ALL of these plants (did not remove any except 5-10 algae ridden leaves) were once in my 10g

EDIT: the FROM pictures are not from today, just showing what they were like.


FROM:



TO:
 
timwag2001

timwag2001

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Apr 25, 2009
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from and to are both beautiful tanks. good job!
i run 5 diy 2 liter bottles on my 55. 2 might not be enough.
i think that 1.8 wpg shouldn't be too bad. i dont see anything that requires more light than what you have. you might lose a little bit of red on your cabomba.
 
NeonFlux

NeonFlux

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Oct 16, 2005
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biggie357 said:
i just spent the better part of 5 hours swapping all my plants and filter from my 10g into my 40g. the 10g was so overgrown i dont know how the fish had room to swim.

Now im going from 26watts over 10g to 72watts over 40g. i had DIY c02 before. ive always dosed excel but thinking of skipping that now with 3x the dosage.

my questions are:

1. Can i still run diy C02 on a 40g? will i need to use the 2 bottle method? Will stopping the c02 for a week or so cause some sort of CRAZY algae bloom? i removed all of my staghorn and clado (both of which were just starting) before i transferred the plants.

Yes, you can still run DIY co2 as long as it can maintain itself. One week will probably get you some algae, but not a invasion.
2. Is my lighting still sufficient or will losing the 0.5ish WPG be bad for my plants?
It's okay. You could try a longer photo period.
3. Anything particularly different about having a larger planted tank vs a tiny one?
Of course, you get more room. You can keep many different types and kinds of aquatic plants.
Heres some pics of the transformation :) once again its hard to believe ALL of these plants (did not remove any except 5-10 algae ridden leaves) were once in my 10g

EDIT: the FROM pictures are not from today, just showing what they were like.


FROM:



TO:
Click to expand...
Good luck.
 
DSR

DSR

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Apr 10, 2009
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Tim, what are you using to monitor your co2 levels? Just curious. I have a 29 gallon with one DIY co2 and my levels are inline. I would be afraid of using 5 even on a 40 gallon. But if the levels are inline then obviously it works, was just curious. Maybe i am not setting my drop checker up correctly or something.
 
Dopehand

Dopehand

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Running DIY CO2's works just fine on lower tanks. I only run a couple of them on my 55, so it doesn't make too much of a difference, but I have PH sensitive fish in there, so not much of a choice really.

When I switched over to my 20 from my 55 (which I've also since replanted :p) I just let the plants grow really long so that they would be suitably close to the lights in such a deep tank with lower wattage.

P.S., Your tanks are hawt
 
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K

KarlTh

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Feb 15, 2008
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Dopehand - what fish have you got? They're generally nothing like as pH sensitive as people think.
 
timwag2001

timwag2001

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DSR said:
Tim, what are you using to monitor your co2 levels? Just curious. I have a 29 gallon with one DIY co2 and my levels are inline. I would be afraid of using 5 even on a 40 gallon. But if the levels are inline then obviously it works, was just curious. Maybe i am not setting my drop checker up correctly or something.
Click to expand...
i use the kh ph reference chart. i have a prety low kh. i change out 2 bottles every week to make sure that my co2 stays as constant as possible. i would think that 2 bottles would be good for a 29. what kind of solution are you using? is it 4 dkh? i dont have a drop checker yet but i think i've read its the only one thats accurate.
 
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