i am planning to set up my 65g tank as a densely planted tank (hairgrass carpet, the whole deal!). The setup I am thinking about is a 96 watt compact flourescent light and 2 hagen co2 injectors. I plan to fertilize the plants at least for a month. Will this setup be enough to get a good plant tank going or will I need to spend more? This tank is costing me a fortune...
adequate plant set up?
- Thread starter beavertayl1
- Start date
If you're growing hairgrass, that might not be enough light. I calculate 1.4WPG, and although that will be higher for actual volume (you won't really have 65G in the tank), you may want to supplement that slightly, upwards of 2.5-3WPG.
And, IMHO, I wouldn't use DIY on any tank bigger than 30G if you're going for bright lights. I'm a big CO2 injection fan, so it seems it would be more stable if you used a canister instead of DIY for a tank that large.
I don't understand when you say you're going to fertilize the plants for "at least a month." What do you mean by that? Only ferts for a month, once a month, it's not quite clear.
Load that sucker with Flourite/Onxy, man. The hairgrass will love you for it.
And, IMHO, I wouldn't use DIY on any tank bigger than 30G if you're going for bright lights. I'm a big CO2 injection fan, so it seems it would be more stable if you used a canister instead of DIY for a tank that large.
I don't understand when you say you're going to fertilize the plants for "at least a month." What do you mean by that? Only ferts for a month, once a month, it's not quite clear.
Load that sucker with Flourite/Onxy, man. The hairgrass will love you for it.
is the Hagen Plant Grow Natural System a good canister c02? and about the fertilizer i'm going to fertilize the water for a month's time but then have to stop because it is too costly...will the plants be able to grow on natural fertilizer (fish crap) from then on?
A suggestion:
Load it up with cheapie, fast growing stems and floaters and don't fertilize anything for 3 weeks. Don't start planting hair grass or any low growing foreground plants until you get the tank stabilized. This will take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months depending on lighting and how you set it up.
1.5 watts/gal. may not support Hair grass, IMO.
Timm's suggestion for substrate is a good one. I like Flourite. To save money you can supplement the Flourite with Turface, AKA Schultz Soil Conditioner or Schultz Aquatic Soil.
I have started two beautiful tanks using a ratio of 2 parts Flourite and 1 part small grain natural gravel that most LFSs carry. They mix well and look nice and I've had great results with that mix. Before you put any substrate in the tank, lay down a dusting of fine peat moss. Two or three handfuls sprinkled over the bottom glass will do the trick. Then about 1/2" of substrate, followed by siphoning some mulm from another tank over it, and then laying in the balance of your substrate over that. This will get your tank up an running and maturing much quicker.
DIY CO2 is not the ideal way to go for a tank of your size, however it might be adequate with 1.5 watts/gal. I would look into learning how to set up 2 or 3, 2-liter bottles of yeast/sugar mix. This will be cheaper and probably just as effective as what you have in mind at present, with proper filtration and reactor.
Your fish might support your plants at that wattage, without the need for much supplemental dosing. I would not count on having a great deal of success with ground covers at that wattage, however.
Len
Load it up with cheapie, fast growing stems and floaters and don't fertilize anything for 3 weeks. Don't start planting hair grass or any low growing foreground plants until you get the tank stabilized. This will take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months depending on lighting and how you set it up.
1.5 watts/gal. may not support Hair grass, IMO.
Timm's suggestion for substrate is a good one. I like Flourite. To save money you can supplement the Flourite with Turface, AKA Schultz Soil Conditioner or Schultz Aquatic Soil.
I have started two beautiful tanks using a ratio of 2 parts Flourite and 1 part small grain natural gravel that most LFSs carry. They mix well and look nice and I've had great results with that mix. Before you put any substrate in the tank, lay down a dusting of fine peat moss. Two or three handfuls sprinkled over the bottom glass will do the trick. Then about 1/2" of substrate, followed by siphoning some mulm from another tank over it, and then laying in the balance of your substrate over that. This will get your tank up an running and maturing much quicker.
DIY CO2 is not the ideal way to go for a tank of your size, however it might be adequate with 1.5 watts/gal. I would look into learning how to set up 2 or 3, 2-liter bottles of yeast/sugar mix. This will be cheaper and probably just as effective as what you have in mind at present, with proper filtration and reactor.
Your fish might support your plants at that wattage, without the need for much supplemental dosing. I would not count on having a great deal of success with ground covers at that wattage, however.
Len
Good Grief! Len will pass out - I agree with him completely!
Excellent advice to get yourself started out right. There are more things in life than a neat hair-grass carpet, no matter how impressive they look in photos.
If you already have the Hagen units, keep the CO2 "ladders" - they fascinate me and I think that they are too cool. Positive feedback seeing theCO2 dissolve is fun. (I really need to get a life).
Excellent advice to get yourself started out right. There are more things in life than a neat hair-grass carpet, no matter how impressive they look in photos.
If you already have the Hagen units, keep the CO2 "ladders" - they fascinate me and I think that they are too cool. Positive feedback seeing theCO2 dissolve is fun. (I really need to get a life).
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Light is the single most important factor in determining everything else. What you have in mind is completely do able. Nothing wrong with that, but you will need more light. Two 96 watts would be perfect. If you are spending the money for one, adding one more is certainly within reach. AHSUPPLY.com has very reasonable prices for retrofit kits.
Hairgrass is very easy to grow with enough light. Cramming the tank with fast growing stem plants is a great idea if you have enough light. Without the the light it would be a disappointing endeavor.
Hairgrass is very easy to grow with enough light. Cramming the tank with fast growing stem plants is a great idea if you have enough light. Without the the light it would be a disappointing endeavor.
And by the way, no one's mentioned it yet, but fertilizers are actually quite cheap. I used to go the entire Flourish route: Trace, Iron, Potassium, Flourish, etc. Admittedly, that was at the beginning of my planted career and I had money to burn. However, if you take a look at the stickies at the top of this forum, you'll see that ferts can be had for quite a bit less than you'd pay Seachem for... especially traces/iron. I won't go into detail here about what common and obtainable chemicals equal what fertilizers, but the info is here in this forum.
I say this mostly because you said you were only going to fertilize for a month. You'll need to do it as long as you keep the plants, but it can be very cheap. For instance, I am running a 240G-4.75WPG-CO2injection tank. It may seem big, but I pay less than a three dollars a day for ferts and electricity for all (4! of) my tanks combined.
I say this mostly because you said you were only going to fertilize for a month. You'll need to do it as long as you keep the plants, but it can be very cheap. For instance, I am running a 240G-4.75WPG-CO2injection tank. It may seem big, but I pay less than a three dollars a day for ferts and electricity for all (4! of) my tanks combined.
And for my 55, I figure $8 worth of fertilizer (plantguild green-- k,n,and traces) will last me 2 years, and I pay $0.09 per day for electricity. fertilizing doesn't have to be expensive. It's just a drop in the bucket compared to everything else if you do it right. (not to mention very necessary for really healthy plants) If you're interested in formulating your own fertilizer, www.plantguild.com has trace mixes, clay (for pellet making), pellet making tools, and other chemicals at decent prices.
HTH