New planted tank!

Marinemom

Marinemom

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Apr 8, 2006
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O.K. so I have this 125 gallon tank that I am in the process of turning into a planted aquarium. It used to have south american cichlids in it but after more then four years it was time for a change. Now this aquarium has three bosamoni rainbow fish, three diamond tetras(there were six to start with but three are left)which I plan to increase in numbers because I think they are really cool fish, nine bloodfins(again I plan to increase the numbers on these guys too), six rosy barbs, two pictus cats, a striped rapheal, a galaxy vampire pleco, and a common pleco. Everyone of these fish are doing fine in this tank. The filteration on this system is two eheim classic's 2215's and an aquaclear110/500. The lighting is four 36 inch t-5 lights each with a double bulb. This setup offers a lot of light so because of the lighting and the size of the tank I know that co2 injection is a necessity in the very near future. I looked into this the other day and initially this is going to cost some serious money so I have to wait until I get paid again which is in about a week. At the moment there are mostly fake plants in the tank with about ten real plants mixed in. I plan to pull the fake plants when I get more of the real plants and they start to take off and grow for me. The real plants include wisteria, anubias,ludwigia,and alenteria renikki(Sp).

Now my question is this and please forgive me if this sounds basic. I had an air wand going in the tank which I just pulled out because it is my understanding that the plants will do better without it. Is this true? My son said that he really likes the bubble wand thingy. If I leave it in the tank or in this case put it back, will I be jepordizing the plants?

Any thoughts? Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Marinemom
 
If you are not adding co2 it won’t make any difference at all. Some people argue that the added surface agitation actually increases the co2 a little because the air is slightly higher in co2 than the water you used in the first place. When you start adding co2 the opposite will happen. You will be losing the co2 in the water to the air.

Maybe in the long run you can trick the kid by using a few airstones to bubble the co2 into the tank.
 
The bubbles from the wand disturber the surface increasing the rate at which CO2 leaves the water. Since you are not injecting CO2 and you are using an HOB filter already I wouldn't worry about it for now. However, once you get CO2 I would stop using both the bubble wand and the HOB filter.
 
The HOB filter is an aquaclear which does not have a bio-wheel. Instead it has a sponge with carbon that I only use when necessary,and some bio-media that sits on top of the sponges so the water can pass through it. I know that the bio-wheel is not the best in a planted aquarium but this set up does not have one. My concern with removing the aquaclear HOB filter is that I think there will not be enough filteration in the tank with just the eheim classic's 2215's. Also this tank is six feet long and I do not want to have any dead spots where the water does not circulate well.

Thoughts?

Marinemom
 
On my tank I have very little desturbance of the water surface. My smaller snails actually walk along the bottom of the water surface. To make sure I have no dead stops I bought a smaller canister filter that sits inside the tank. It was only about $10. However, I only have a 20 gallon. Simply investing in some power heads to move water around might not be a bad idea if you are worried about dead spots.
 
Poweheads? Now I am confused. I just removed a powerhead from this tank because I was told this is not a good thing for a planted aquarium? Actually with the two eheims and the aquaclear minus the powerhead and the bubblewand thingy there is way less surface aggitation then before. Should I put the powerhead back?

Marinemom
 
I use powerheads in my planted tank to distribute CO2. If you have them below the surface (so its not causing alot of agitation and making the CO2 leave the water) then I don't see why you couldn't have them in your tank for more movement.

When I removed the AC70 from my 55g planted (it also has a Rena XP3), I needed more water movement on one side of the tank, so I added a powerhead, which I also plumb my DIY CO2 into to distribute the bubbles.

HOB filters cause constant surface agitation, so thats why they aren't good for tanks where you are injecting CO2.
 
Filters are for filtration, powerheads for water movement. If you are just trying to avoid dead spots I'd be using a powerhead. Just make sure they are not aimed at the surface. I use a powerhead to diffuse co2 into my tank. I also have 2 additional powerheads for circulation. Many have still used the HOB's with co2 injection but keep the water level at max so there is no splashing and some even place a sponge across the outflow so little current is imparted on the waters surface. I am not familiar with the 2215's but with a thriving plant tank there is much less demand on bio-filtration, or even none at all. The problem is when everything isnt thriving, which it wont be at first, and wont be if something happens in the future (algea outbreak, neglect, etc. etc.). BTW, you'll need a powerhead or air stone on a night timer so your O2 levels dont drop to much at night, if you didnt already know this.
 
Like I said, I think that the two eheim classic's 2215's are not enough filteration for a 125 gallon tank. These two filters have a gph of 164 max for each one which I think does not turn the water over enough even in a planted tank. I have other planted tanks, namely three of them but they are on a smaller scale, those being a 46, a 25, and a 10 gallon. These three tanks are thriving and I really want this big tank to do just as well. The aquaclear is a relatively new filter that was just added to this tank last fall. Do I really not have to use it or will it be horrible to use it? I have a powerhead I can diffuse co2 through, but do I have to trash this filter?

Marinemom
 
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