Tank is set up and running now.

[Woodyofstoke]

I thought i would post this tread in here as its mainly a planted question....

well my tank is set up, and running, it has been running for about 2 months now, it has taken me this long to decide what to do with it and what type of fish i would like.

i would of liked about 3 tanks but my wife won't let me bless her...

my set up....

Jewel rio 180 (with standard internal filter)
eheim ecco 2235 external filter
2x 30w arcadia freshwater tubes

decor is....

loads of bogwood (shapped with loads of nooks and crannies)
good quality gravel
a sparce scattering of plants
2x terracotta pots behind the bogwood as caves

What i need to know is, the plants that i want and have so far (given to me from friends and family) are :

java fern (althought i dont think it is java fern) (it's the plant that is on the bogwood 2 large leaves) (i thought java fern was small leaves)
a small piece of java moss (which aint too good) (awaiting a nice supply from PYO thanks friend)
cryptcoryne wendtii "green"
anubias barteri var. nana (only have 1 plant, i will get 2 or 3 more next week)
onion plant
amazon sword
and some long green grass stuff (sorry i don't know its name)

i need some more small forground plants and something to plant on my bogwood.

the fish i hope to get are:

cockatoo dwarf cichlid
german blue rams
Also some other dwarf cichlids that have not caught my eye yet

oto's
bristle nose
a few shrimps

cardinals
lemon tetras
congo tetras

and i have not checked up on this yet but as a interest fish a puffer...

as for numbers of fish i have no idea...

now i want a planted aquarium but not to go over board, do i need to add a further tube if so i was thinking of getting a Arcadia Original lamp would you agree with me ?.
i will tie it to the front tube on my Rio lamp set...

Do i need to buy a co2 unit ?

if so should it be a cheap 1, or should i get the jbl version, my lfs said i should get the jbl 1 for less hassle, he said it costs more at first but is less hassle and very easy to use...?

I am open to your view, as i class you fine people as the experts...

here are a few pics if they work that is....?

 

[zig]

Hiya Woody

First off I cant really make out whether the Java ferns are auctually Java ferns, maybe somebody else can confirm this.

The best place to start with planted tanks is the lighting, your tank is 180 litres or approx 47.50 US gallons, we measure light for planted tanks in watts per gallon or WPG, at the moment you have 60 watts over the tank and this gives you approx 1.3 WPG (the watts divided by the volume of the tank in US gallons = WPG) at the moment you do not need co2 if you choose to stay with this amount of light, when you start going above 2 WPG you would need co2.

I would recommend you read gf225s pinned article on lighting at the top of this section of the forum, it will answer a lot of your questions about light and the plants you will be able to grow, its a good place to start, gf also gives good recommendations for tubes if you wish to add more to your setup.

At the end of the day it really depends on what plants you want to grow and the amount of maintainence you want to do on the tank, if your happy with no hassle and and low light plants then the setup you have is fine, if you want to grow more demanding plants and are prepared to maintain a highlight tank thats really the choice you have to make, to go this route would require upgradeing your lighting and co2, and yes pressurised would be best if you can afford it.

Btw thats a massive piece of bogwood, very nice, you can plant the Anubias bartei var on the bogwood or onto a stone just tie it down with a some fishing line or something like that until it takes root, if you plant them in the gravel make sure you dont bury the rhizome of the plant as this will eventually rot and the plant will die.

Anyway i hope ive answered some of your questions, but ask away if you want to know anthing else, good luck with the tank, nice start, when your wife sees how georgous it is in a short while she will probably ask you to get a bigger tank

 

[Woodyofstoke]

Hiya Woody

First off I cant really make out whether the Java ferns are auctually Java ferns, maybe somebody else can confirm this.

The best place to start with planted tanks is the lighting, your tank is 180 litres or approx 47.50 US gallons, we measure light for planted tanks in watts per gallon or WPG, at the moment you have 60 watts over the tank and this gives you approx 1.3 WPG (the watts divided by the volume of the tank in US gallons = WPG) at the moment you do not need co2 if you choose to stay with this amount of light, when you start going above 2 WPG you would need co2.

I would recommend you read gf225s pinned article on lighting at the top of this section of the forum, it will answer a lot of your questions about light and the plants you will be able to grow, its a good place to start, gf also gives good recommendations for tubes if you wish to add more to your setup.

At the end of the day it really depends on what plants you want to grow and the amount of maintainence you want to do on the tank, if your happy with no hassle and and low light plants then the setup you have is fine, if you want to grow more demanding plants and are prepared to maintain a highlight tank thats really the choice you have to make, to go this route would require upgradeing your lighting and co2, and yes pressurised would be best if you can afford it.

Btw thats a massive piece of bogwood, very nice, you can plant the Anubias bartei var on the bogwood or onto a stone just tie it down with a some fishing line or something like that until it takes root, if you plant them in the gravel make sure you dont bury the rhizome of the plant as this will eventually rot and the plant will die.

Anyway i hope ive answered some of your questions, but ask away if you want to know anthing else, good luck with the tank, nice start, when your wife sees how georgous it is in a short while she will probably ask you to get a bigger tank

[snapback]909631[/snapback]​

Hi...

the bog wood is about 8 pieces, i just wanted that sort of effect, i looked everywhere for a root system, but i could not find any, so i settled for a wall of bogwood...

i don't know what i want from the planted tank side of things, i just want some plants so the tank does not look bare and that there is still a lot of room for mid swimmers....

so if i put another 30w tube in mainly for the fish colours, like a 30w arcadia original tube, that would not hurt matters and i would not have to buy a co2 system, my calcs are..... 3x 90w = 2.1 wpg

 

[zig]

Yes i think you would be ok without co2, i make it approx 1.9 WPG if you add another 30 watt tube, so i think that would be fine.

 

[George Farmer]

when your wife sees how georgous it is in a short while she will probably ask you to get a bigger tank

[snapback]909631[/snapback]​

I wish

 

[RYO]

Nice wood m8 lol , ill get prunning again i think,didnt think you had that much hard scaping.
I own a record 120 which is about the same lenght as your tank but not as wide, and 3x30w are spot on. the tropical tube isnt the best of tubes but gives a warm colour compared to the freshwater tube. Together they give a nice colour setup imo. I found it was better to put the warmer tubes to the rear of the tank.
If you need any more moss pm me m8, ill see what i can dig out .

 

[houndour]

Hi,

I've been researching puffers...there are quite a few species and I don't know for 100% cos I've really been concentrating my efforts on dwarf puffers, but I think puffers are a species only fish. They can be aggressive towards other fish and eat them! Best to ask in the Oddballs forum.

Sam

PS lovely tank btw. I love all the wood.

 

[Woodyofstoke]

Hi,

I've been researching puffers...there are quite a few species and I don't know for 100% cos I've really been concentrating my efforts on dwarf puffers, but I think puffers are a species only fish. They can be aggressive towards other fish and eat them! Best to ask in the Oddballs forum.

Sam

PS lovely tank btw. I love all the wood.

[snapback]910352[/snapback]​

I had a feeling the puffer would be a problem, i just wanted 1 to show people an unusual fish, not to worry they will like the shrimp just as much....