think it will work? (planted tank)

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dorkfish

dorkfish

AC Members
Jul 25, 2005
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Windsor,Ontario,Canada
well, I've been doing some reading and I have the plan. Think it will work?

setup

55g tank
DIY in-tank filters powered by aprox.275gph of powerheads
2x40w NOflorescent 5000-7000k

substrate
50-100ilbs of pool filter sand
7kg flourite

additives

seachem flourish trace
seachem flourish iron
seachem flourish potassium
seachem flourish tabs

planned plants

hydrocotyle leucocephala
saigittaria subulata
eleocharis parvula
vescularia dubyana
anubias nana
anubias afzelii
cryptocoryne wendtii
cryptocoryne x willisi
anubias barteri
bolbitis heudelotii
microsorium pteropus
echinodorus x. 'ozelot'

most of these plants are suposed to be low medium light but feel free to say if a plant needs more light than what I plan on having or any sugestions for other plant species.
 
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R

reiverix

Aye
Sep 4, 2004
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Columbus, OH
Well I'll try and help along here. Out of the plants listed I've tried

saigittaria subulata
anubias nana
cryptocoryne wendtii
anubias barteri
bolbitis heudelotii
microsorium pteropus

They will all fare well under low light except my sagittaria always comes out scruffy looking when under 2wpg. Not to say yours will though. It would be nice to add another 40w on there just to get into the 2wpg range, however I've read a lot of posts with people growing plants successfully under silly low light levels.

For dosing I would skip Flourish Trace and go for the standard Flourish. One look at the ingredients and you will see why. The Trace has virtually nothing.

Since you are on the lower end of the light scale, you might find that dosing is not required as much as you think. For example, Flourish may well provide all the iron your plants need. K may or may not be needed depending on your tapwater. It is worth scoping out http://www.gregwatson.com/ just to check out dry ferts should you ever need to be adding them. If you intend to keep a large plant mass, NO3 and PO4 might be needed.

Is there any way I could convince you to splash out a little and go for a better ratio of Flourite to sand? Your echinodorus would appreciate it. I would be a bit nervous putting plant tabs in sand. It just rings a warning bell in me.
 
dorkfish

dorkfish

AC Members
Jul 25, 2005
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Windsor,Ontario,Canada
rieverex: I'll try and get as much florite as possible but I'me on the lower end of the budget and I have a few fish In need of the upgrade. for now I'll avoid the saigitaria until I get a light upgrade I am going to be getting a lighting upgrade and getting into more demandng plants, namely ludwiga repens,echinodorus tenelus and Glossostigma elatinoides. I won't use the flourish trace, and I wont use Iron or pottasium until I get into plants that need it (and I have more lighting) and I'll just use flourish when I get the tank up.

Ranger: what kind of reply was that,no resone stated as to why. the tank won't need CO2 because I'me building the filters so the won't disturb the water surface (so the tank will keep CO2 in better) and I will eventually get more light.
 
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dorkfish

dorkfish

AC Members
Jul 25, 2005
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Windsor,Ontario,Canada
I was going to use laterite but for the amount I plan on using flourite would be cheaper. I think I may just try normal clay if that would work???
 
jhj

jhj

William Fontaine DeLaTeur Dauterive
Oct 30, 2005
182
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Columbus, OH
You do not need Root Tabs if you have a soil with high CEC content then you do not need Root Tabs.

Another cheap soil alternative is SoilMaster. It is a charcoal (very close to black) substrate which has the same properties as Flourite. The only difference is that you get a 50lbs bag of SoilMaster for close to $17. Visit this
link, enter your zip code to see if a dealer near you carries it, if not then have it shipped to the dealer and pick it up without any shipping charges.
 
dorkfish

dorkfish

AC Members
Jul 25, 2005
3,032
1
0
Windsor,Ontario,Canada
don't have a zip code, have a postal code, I live in canada and my postal code is one figure to long to enter it in. any other ideas?

maybe I could crush some charcoal to use as a substrate? if I could do that than I could have the whole substrate made of it.
 
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