Making the change

[ZeroChalk]

Hey all,

I'm thinking of giving a planted aquarium a try and I need your help. Currently, I have a reef tank (about 4 years old) and I have decided that I'm going to part it out in the next 3 weeks. I need your advice as to what to keep....

The tank is a 110 gallons drilled with an corner overflow that runs to a 30gallon sump below.

In terms of lighting:
[keep] 2 x 250watt 6500k Iwasak Metal Halide
- from what I've read this is ideal lighting
[sell] Icecap ballast running 2x140watt VHO
- perhaps sell the MH and keep the icecap ballast?

Equipment
[sell] Obviously the skimmer and calcium reactor
[keep] pH monitor?
[keep] Co2 Tank and regulator
[unsure] 15watt UV sterilizer - do I need it? I read someone's elses post that they were using one.
[unsure] Sea Swirl: it's like an oscillating return - makes like a wave maker.
[sell] powerheads and wavemaker device
[unsure] return pump from sump
[unsure] RO/DI water filter
[unsure] automatic water top off switch / pump

From what I have briefly read - a canister filter is prefered because less Co2 gas escapes by keeping a "more" closed system. I would, however, prefer to use a sump since it would avoid: a. a puchase of a new canister filter. b. allow me to use the sump to maintain the automatic water top off. c. save some costs.

My goal, gotta to do a lot of research, is to keep schooling fish like neon tetras and other tropics. Don't know as to plant types as I gotta do some research. I've had a lot of freshwater experience when I was younger but not planted aquaiums... my local water supply is a bit hard - don't know if that will be a problem.

Thanks. I appreciate all the help.

 

[plantbrain]

" In terms of lighting:
[keep] 2 x 250watt 6500k Iwasak Metal Halide
- from what I've read this is ideal lighting
[sell] Icecap ballast running 2x140watt VHO
- perhaps sell the MH and keep the icecap ballast?"

I'd keep the MH's personally. It's a personal preference to what you want to keep and the light level you want. More is not better often times.

"Equipment
[sell] Obviously the skimmer and calcium reactor"

[keep] pH monitor?"

Definitely, you use pH to measure CO2 content and a monitor makes it easy.

"[keep] Co2 Tank and regulator
[unsure] 15watt UV sterilizer - do I need it? I read someone's elses post that they were using one."

Keep it in case. Hook it up but don't turn it on unless you need to.

"[unsure] Sea Swirl: it's like an oscillating return - makes like a wave maker."

Keep it.

"[sell] powerheads and wavemaker device"

Might want to hang on to a couple of PH's.

"[unsure] return pump from sump"

Keep

[unsure] RO/DI water filter

Keep. taste great, use for you, not the plants.

"[unsure] automatic water top off switch / pump "

Keep. Think Vacations.

"From what I have briefly read - a canister filter is prefered because less Co2 gas escapes by keeping a "more" closed system."

No, this was disproven by myself, Steve Dixon and George Booth many years ago(see APD archives). Wet/drys if set up right, will not influence the CO2 level.

They(canisters) are quieter, they use less electricity than a big old sump return pump, but the surface skimming/prefilter cleaning/constant tank level make up for it perhaps.

Noise is a huge personal issue for me so I use canisters but I used both for many years.
If you wanted to use these: I'd get two Via Aqua's, Rena's, Filstar 300gph range or a couple of the Ehiem pro's(Cost more). Alternate cleaning.

" I would, however, prefer to use a sump since it would avoid: a. a puchase of a new canister filter. b. allow me to use the sump to maintain the automatic water top off. c. save some costs."

I'd recommend this action as well.

"My goal, gotta to do a lot of research, is to keep schooling fish like neon tetras and other tropics. Don't know as to plant types as I gotta do some research. I've had a lot of freshwater experience when I was younger but not planted aquaiums... my local water supply is a bit hard - don't know if that will be a problem."

Not at all. If it's very hard, the fish, NOT the plants might feel better if you decide on some species.

check here at these sites:

www.sfbaaps.com
www.aquatic-plants.org

You will find plants much less expensive, easier in most respects than reef keeping of SPS's etc.
Plants grow fast and all species can be kept together without issue.

You have good lighting, you have CO2, you need a good substrate(say Flourite etc) and nutrients.
Nutrients consist of 4 main things if you have water with some GH and KH(above 3 degrees).

Fish waste contributes a little but too many fish will cause algae and issues with the tank. But we top off the nutrients needed for good plant growth with inorganic salts.

K2SO4 for K+
KH2PO4 for PO4
KNO3 for NO3
Traces

You never want any NH4 present, NO3 is okay as long as you keep it around 5-10ppm or so.

So you dose these 4 things(2-3x a week with your set up), CO2 you do not mess with much once set and that's about it beside pruning, water changes, cleaning etc.

Folks want to complicate it(I am good at that), but it's the same old thing over and over. It quickly becomes old hat fast.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Leopardess]

If you use both those MH fixtures you're gonna have REALLY high lighting. Almost excessive for most plants. So, be prepared for the need for more exact knowledge of fertilizers, high co2 saturations, and lots of wierd algaes.

Edit: And, many plants do not like to have a strong current, which may make that oscillator return a bad thing. Plus, more surface movement = less Co2 that stays in the water.

 

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by Leopardess
..... .... And, many plants do not like to have a strong current, which may make that oscillator return a bad thing. Plus, more surface movement = less Co2 that stays in the water.

The Wet/Dry makes too much movement, it's much easier to sell it and get a good canister like the Rena xP-3. I know PlantBrain has a 'proven' design, but it escapes me as to how a Wet/Dry is as good as a Canister at preventing 'gassin off' of CO2. Guess the Sump is totally sealed off, but what about the water-fall-like flow back into the tank? ...
Good Luck.. Plants add to the beauty of the aquarium!

 

[ZeroChalk]

hey all,

Thanks for your responses thus far. I just wanted to clarify something, the sump is not a wet/dry. Aside from housing the protein skimmer, I have no mechanical/chemical filtration. The water enters the overflow, gets channeled down to a glass tank below (sump), then back up through the return pump.

I really want to keep the sump since it utilizes a lot of benefits mentioned already above. One thing I forgot to mention is that since my aquarium is drilled the overflow cannot be removed. (closed off yes - but it seems like a waste and will force me to clutter up the tank with heaters, etc.).

One thing I'm worried right now is the lighting. My plan right now is to be able to keep very light intensive plants. However, here are the pros and cons to my MH so far.

Pros:
- Amount of light: 4.54 watts per gallon
- Point light sources: gives that shimmer effect

Cons:
- 6500K is a bit too yellowish for my taste with out actinics to supplement the colour.
- Could be too much lighting

I really want to get a crisp white colour for this set up so I don't know if the 6500k MH will work.

Perhaps I can use one MH bulb in the middle and supplement it with lower wattage VHO's perhaps 110watt. Thus bringing it down to 4.27 watts per gallon? The tank is 60' and 18" deep so I don't know if that would be a good solution.

hmm..

 

[plantbrain]

125 gal joe(hey you got a bigger tank!), you can check the APD archive and also George Booth's site on how and why the CO2 is not lost in our systems.

Sumps work fine also w/o bio towers but it's good to have some biomedia, whether or not it's wet/dry is of no concern unless you plan on high bioloads.

Bag filters are nice also.

There are no light intensive plants FYI, the highest light anyone would ever need is perhaps 2-3 w gal, name a plant that needs more and I can tell you all about growing it just fine at much less.

More light IS NOT BETTER. More light for a new person often means more work and headache. It certainly means more work.

18" depth is not that deep.
I'd stick with the VHO's, run some 6500K ranges, get a timer dimmer etc and run them 11 hours.

The main question with the MH's vs the VHO's: open top or closed top.

Also selling the lights off is easier for the MH's.

Regards,
Tom Barr