Possibly adding plants...

Beeker

Beeker

Aquariaholic
Oct 8, 2004
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Adding plants to my 75 gal...

I have been thinking about adding plants to my 75 gal. tank. It is about 4' long, 2' deep, and 1 1/2 feet wide. I was thinking about putting plants on one end of the tank and at the other end leaving one of the bubble bars because my fish love the bubbles. Will that be okay for the plants?
 
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What's you lighting situation? In other words, how many watts of light are supplying and what type of light?

Len
 
The only problem with adding a bubbling device (using air) is that it creates surface agitation which promotes gas exchange. This allows CO2 in the water to escape at a faster rate, counter productive if you're trying to save as much CO2 as you can for your plants. I THINK you can get away with it by over dosing/injecting CO2, but again, it's counterproductive.
I THINK what Len is getting at, is wether or not you need to inject CO2 in the first place. If you have a low lighting, low plant mass and/or low light requiring plants, the equilibrium CO2 (between the atmosphere and the water) may be enough that you won't have to worry about it...?
 
Right now I only have two 15 watt bulbs. I am working on finding the proper hood for the tank and lighting it better. Any ideas?
 
You may want to look for a light strip (like a shop light) that uses fluorescent tubes. Since your tank is 4 feet long, you could just get a 4 foot shop light that uses 40W T12 bulbs. Of course, having two of them would put you at the 2wpg mark, which isn't too bad at all
 
Thanks! That sounds good. How about the bubble bar? I would like to leave one in there because the fish love the bubbles. Is it safe to leave one on the opposite end from the plants?
 
A bubble bar will create surface agitation and gas off CO2 - where it is in the tank doesn't make a difference. My advice is if you want to keep it, try things out - if you find the plants aren't growing well, take it out.
 
Thank you, Blinky.
Who knows, maybe the fish would prefer the plants over the bubbles. Any ideas about plants that can grow with low CO2?
 
I will also have to change my filters, right? I have two Penguin 330 bio wheels which cause surface agitation. On my 10 gal I have a Penguin 170 bio wheel. I'll have to change that one too. Does anybody have any suggestions for a decent, yet inexpensive filter that can be used for a planted tank?
 
You don't necessarily have to change them if you don't want to, I use a Penguin 170 on my 10g, and with DIY CO2 I manage to keep the levels around 10 - 12ppm. I use two 2L bottles, which is much more than I'd need on a 10g without a bio-wheel, but I didn't want to purchase a new filter, and this seems to work :)
If you want to change the filter, a canister type is probably best. Placing the outflow/spraybar below the surface will provide lots of water circulation without much surface agitation. IMO, the best canisters for the money are Rena FilStars - easy to clean, quiet, large media baskets. I love mine :)
 
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