First Planted Tank hand holding required...!

[smithrc]

right... this is it... next weekend I'm re doing my office tank for definate

I've still got the laterite sand gravel mix from our old planted tank, the co2 is running of sorts already - just need some plants and ferts

Its looking very good nodding...

have you got the moon lights fitted yet ??

 

[nodding_dino]

hey smithrc...I had planned to do the moonlights today, but it's been one of 'those' weekends and not much has run to plan

I'm working from home tomorrow so will probably have a go at fitting them over lunch...just got to figure out where best to place the holes in the Juwel reflectors...!

 

[nodding_dino]

just out of curiosity, does anyone have an opinion on what tubes might balance out the light of the Dennerles? There are so many on the market...I just don't know where to start...(the only thing I want to steer clear of are the overly blue or overly pink tubes).

I have been looking at the Hagen Glomat double electronic ballasts...these come in 20, 30 or 40 watts...do you think I'd be better to go for a 30 over a 20...this would give me an extra 60w light....(I'll work out what WPG that gives me).





EDIT - maybe one of these?

Hagen - Life-Glo 6700K Bright, cool white
Arcadia - Freshwater Lamp 7500K Cool white/green

(courtesy of gf255's lighting thread)

 

[nodding_dino]

OK - having taken a proper look, it would seem that a 30" tube (the max I think I can fit in the tank) is 25w. So I think I should get 30w ballast to drive them.

This will up my WPG from 1.1 to 2.7 I guess this should help out?

 

[houndour]

Hello,

I can't help with the lighting situation as I'm useless at that side of things. But I am really confused by your posts! You have 2 Dennerle tubes...at what wattage? And you're planning on a 3rd to even out the orange tinge from the dennerle? And your tank is 32 US gallons. And you have 1.1 wpg at the mo?? it's monday....I can't think!

hey houndour, criticism is just what I need now, so fire away!

phew.

I agree about the cobbles...to be honest I suddenly realised after planting everything that I had the bogwood and stones still to put in! There wasn't much room left, so I just layed them down where I could blushing.gif

ahhhhh. I find it best to put any rock work and wood in before the plants. So place your wood and design the plants around them.

It's interesting to hear that you are now down to half a dozen plant species, having spent ages gawping at the wonderful pictures dotted around the old Interweb, I have come to the conclusion that less is more...that said, I am going to resist the urge to start ripping things out just yet, and let everything grow on for a while...

Yes definitely wait and see what does best. Did you get one of the plants with the bulb thing? And any other lily type thing? If you did, don't give up on them. Mine took forever (prob 2 months) before they took off, now they are my fave plants.

1. Some carpeting...Riccia/Glosso?
2. Some floating plants...I quite like the look of Azolla(sp?)

The only thing to watch with floating plants is that they will block out the light to the other plants.

Riccia is actually a floating plant (don't know if you know already...or you may have read jimbooos posts). its held down with a hair net. I use riccia now after admiring jimbooos for a long time, I love it. You could cover a couple of cobbles with it.

 

[nodding_dino]

I am really confused by your posts! You have 2 Dennerle tubes...at what wattage? And you're planning on a 3rd to even out the orange tinge from the dennerle? And your tank is 32 US gallons. And you have 1.1 wpg at the mo?? it's monday....I can't think!

Mondays can be difficult

I replaced the original 18w Juwel tubes with 18w Dennerles to get a better light temp for the plants and even though I'm sure this is a step in the right direction, I am still woefully underpowered in the WPG stakes. My plan is to add a further 1 or 2 tubes to increase the amount of light entering the tank. I was really just interested to know if people could suggest a whitish coloured tube, as this will help to balance the (not unpleasing) yellow of the Dennerle tubes.

ahhhhh. I find it best to put any rock work and wood in before the plants. So place your wood and design the plants around them.

I learnt that one the hard way

Yes definitely wait and see what does best. Did you get one of the plants with the bulb thing? And any other lily type thing? If you did, don't give up on them. Mine took forever (prob 2 months) before they took off, now they are my fave plants.

Do you mean one that looks like it's coming out of a manky old conker? If so yes

The only thing to watch with floating plants is that they will block out the light to the other plants.

that was my only concern...I'll wait until I have the lighting sorted before I make any decisions with floaters!

Riccia is actually a floating plant (don't know if you know already...or you may have read jimbooos posts). its held down with a hair net. I use riccia now after admiring jimbooos for a long time, I love it. You could cover a couple of cobbles with it.

yes, I'd read that...I just need someone to send me a Riccia parcel in the post now oh and buy a hairnet! Covering one of the cobbles is a great idea!

Thanks for your interest houndour...It's nice to have people to bounce ideas off!

 

[zig]

Hiya

Anything in the 6500-6700k range of lighting will give you a whiter light, i would stick to

Hagen- life glo 6700k

Zoo Med Ultra Sun 6500k

Interpet Daylight 6500k

Anyway of those 3 will give you a bright white to help balance things a bit

 

[nodding_dino]

thanks zig!

 

[George Farmer]

All good tubes. Personally I love the Arcadia Freshwater too as it really makes the greens more vivid. Another good tube is the Interpet Triplus - I had great success with these although used alone they're not ideal.

Personally I now have 2 x Dennerle and 2 x Arcadia Freshwater but don't let that influence you!

 

[houndour]

yep the manky old conker!

 

[nodding_dino]

I didn't know how else to describe it!!!

I've just left it sitting on the surface of the gravel...is this OK? I already like the look of the leaves, although they are very tiny at the moment!

(do you know what it's called?)

 

[houndour]

well I was told right at the beginning that it's a dwarf lily (nymphea species). I now get comments saying "i like your tiger lily". I think they are the same thing. But not 100% sure. When I first got it I had a couple of average sized leaves but they soon died. I left it sitting in the sand (i buried about a third of it - just to kind of keep it in place). Once I got my first leaves there was no stopping it!

My leaves are a kind of greeny/red two tone effect (like the cars). But other peoples are more deeper red...i think it's to do with light, but that said I think jimbooo has 2 and the one that gets the less light is more red.

 

[nodding_dino]

nice one houndour...I'll wait until my daughters sparko and then sneak in and take a look...I think that it's a redish colour...the leaves are very small, maybe only 6 or 7 mm long at the moment...

I'm getting really excited thinking about how these plants are all going to grow!!!! My CO2 cannisters are *nearly* working properly...the bubbles make it virtually all the way to the top before they get stuck in the equivalent of a CO2 traffic jam...I hope that by tomorrow they should be bubbling away quite nicely!

I've also chucked the 'tea bag' that I got from Greenline in, so all being well, thats going to be releasing some goodness into the tank too.

 

[nodding_dino]

yep...there are four leaves...quote elongated and a deep arrow type shape. They are a dull red in colour sprouting from two points on the conker (someone please give me the proper term for that !)

Will the leaves get much bigger?

 

[nodding_dino]

just a bit of an update...

The CO2 cannisters really seem to be doing their thing now...I am getting more than one bubble in the maze at any one time, so I guess they've built up to proper pressure (I'll check the levels tonight). Am I imagining it or do the bubbles actually get smaller as they rise up through the ladder...I presume it's as the gas is being absorbed by the water?

I was working away from the office today, and just happened to drive past Maidenhead Aquatics near Woburn Sands....so came home with a new ballast and two 25w life-glo tubes...I've just got to work out how I'm going to sneak them out of the boot and into the tank before the missus finds them

So I think I'm pretty much set now...!