Starting a plant tank

J

jbomber

Registered Member
Jun 27, 2005
1
0
0
Hello All,

I'm not sure if this is "newbie" material, but I had to start somewhere and I hope someone will point me in the right direction.

I have a 75G glass reef tank that I'd like to convert to a plant tank (two young children have taken away most of my reef maintainence time -- most of my free time for that matter). Here's my current set-up:

75G All-Glass Tank with overflow.
20G sump/refugium
240W of assorted T5 lighting
Lifeguard high-head pump running through a heater/chiller and then a Sea Swirl.

Of course I've cleaned the salt out and rinsed the system a few times over. it's clean.

So here are my questions:
Are there great books that will get me started and guide me through set-up?
Can I use my current equipment?
Is my lighting too strong? Too weak?
Do plants like a little current, or should I "lose" the Sea Swirl?
What else do I need?
Will the little bit of coraline stuck to the overflow hurt a plant tank?
Are plant tanks easier or harder to keep than reef tanks?
Is there a retailer in the SF Bay Area that you might recommend for great selection/prices/service?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

jBomber
 
I'm not fimiliar with marine tank set-ups at all or the equipment, so I can't really help you with your previous stuff.

Most lights on marine tanks are high K or they are blue actinic bulbs, which are ineffective in growing FW plants. You just have to buy bulbs that are for growing FW plants, such as one that is 6700k full spectrum. Aim for at least 2 WPG so you can have a variety of plants to choose from.

Sorry I can't help with more, but good luck on your project!
 
Hi jbomber,

Before I started my FW tank, I thought it'd be easy since I have a green thumb, well...stupid me didn't realize the differences between tropical FW plants and the colder brackish type plants, so I had a few meltdowns of Ananubis in my 80° tropical tank.


It's exciting to have so many plants to choose from though, so if I were you, I'd go plant shopping and see what I liked.

I've also shopped with Aquarium Plants.com

and they've got a great selection (they're based in MS) and they take extra, EXTRA good packing and shipping care.

The stuff's small, but you won't find alot of what they have in any lfs, and they are by the book when it comes to what they get. Small company, nice people.

-get us some pictures when you get it set up!!!

Good Luck & Take Care,
¤gïñ§ïng§¤
 
Is you filter a wet/dry? you want a filter that allows for the most c02 to remain in the tank. This is accomplished with a canister filter as it barely disturbes the water surface. Lighting from a reef tank would be great. you need at least 1.5 watts per gallon to do low light, 3 watts per gallon is good and you don't NEED co2 at the light. Anymore than that you need co2. You don't need books... the best and most up to date info u can easily find online. look at past posts in the forum. Websites like the planted tank, plantgeeks.net and others are great resources. A planted tank is not hard. You need god light, adequate substrate (eco complete, flourite, shultz's aquatic plant soil (cheapest) ), and then flourish fertilizer and then if you want u can do co2. DIY co2 is easy all u need is a soda can, water and yeast.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom