New tank

[Fiori]

I am getting a 180 l tank on Tuesday and plan to set it up with lots of plants, but I'm not sure about CO2 and its relationship to kH and pH and how to work out what to set the diffuser to. Can anyone help?

Also the tank will have 2 x 30W bulbs - is this enough?

Cheers

 

[Ob1]

Hi Fiori

Have just got my head arounf KH Ph and Co2 check out the my other posting under Ob1 - hard going but got there in the end

I'll be happy yo help where i can - i am still learning but this is a great place to get the information you need.

ps

do you know which fish you will be keeping if any? also what are there ph ranges? this is a great place to start.. please post your thoughts once we know the fish your be keeping we will then need to know 1 your tap water PH and Kh plus your tank PH and KH if they are different (mind is)

there are a great number of links to a Co2 / Kh / Ph matrix before you start looking post your reading here it will help us to help you make sense of the matrix and any target Kh or Taget PH suggested

 

[Ob1]

Hi Fiori

Have just got my head arounf KH Ph and Co2 check out the my other posting under Ob1 - hard going but got there in the end

I'll be happy yo help where i can - i am still learning but this is a great place to get the information you need.

ps

do you know which fish you will be keeping if any? also what are there ph ranges? this is a great place to start.. please post your thoughts once we know the fish your be keeping we will then need to know 1 your tap water PH and Kh plus your tank PH and KH if they are different (mind is)

there are a great number of links to a Co2 / Kh / Ph matrix before you start looking post your reading here it will help us to help you make sense of the matrix and any target Kh or Taget PH suggested

 

[Ob1]

Sorry forgot to include your lighting query

180l = 39.594462237784 (39 uk gallons) less a bit for graval ect say 35 gallons in total

there are two schools of through regarding lighting one is the "watts per gallon" rule and the second is the lumes per sq meter rule

i am still trying to get my head around the later.. rough guess you will have about 1.71 watts per gallon.

I have a very tall tank over 20inch height and I understand tall tanks break the rules when is comes to watts / gallon however 1.71 is not ideal for co2 I understand you should only have co2 at 2 to 3 watts per gallon - i might be wrong maybe someone can confirm this?

all it not lost - do you use replectors? can you upgrade your lighting? do you want too?


sorry for going on - but i do enjoy this subject

cya

ob1

 

[Fiori]

Hi Ob1

Thanks for the reply - I have read your thread Need to read it again I think

I have 3 small tanks at the moment with the pH sitting at 6, (due to bog wood) so I have decided to go for fish which like slightly acidic water e.g. marbled hatchet fish, harlequin rasboras, diamond tetras, blue rams , plec and corys. Wellll - thats the plan at the moment

Will need to get a kH test kit, as I have'nt a scooby what my water is! My tap pH goes between 6.8 and 7 on the times I've tested it. Its also soft.

I'll post the final readings when the tank is set up as it will take a while to cycle anyway, so no fish for a wee while.

 

[Fiori]

I thought that the lights wattage, that come with the tank, were a bit low, so I will have to either use reflectors or upgrade, if I want lots of plants.

Hah - I'm new to fishkeeping - there's so much to this - and its costing me a fortune Love it tho

 

[Ob1]

For what is worth I have started to see a lot of people with the same problem - i was one of them - you know every one tells you "your lighting to not above 3watts so you are not going to grow anything haha" they forgot to tell you about the algae at 3 watts per gallon....

heard it soooo much I had to upgrade but i am starting to see posting regarding plant which only reqiure low light.... i'll keep you posted on what I find

but from what I have read so far there is no reason to just grow low light plants ...

cya ob1

 

[Fiori]

Cheers Ob1 - I will set my tank up, and choose my plants - I'm not wanting it to be too bright anyway, and I've managed to keep the plants I've got so far alive in my small tanks . I'll start another thread when I'm ready.

Thank you and look forward to getting any updates.