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Newbie

copdodger

copdodger

Seedling
Joined
15 Oct 2012
Messages
18
Hello from Wigan,not new to aquariums but just starting out in the plant department,I have two 30 gallon tanks and intend to plant up..
 
Welcome to the board mate. Plenty of helpful people here with advice. First things first I guess with you coming from a fish only background, forget everything you have learned up to now :) All jokes aside a lot of things you have learned from keeping fish only don't apply as much to planted tanks. Mainly from the point of nutrients, stuff you strived to get out of your tank are beneficial in a planted.

Read through the Articles to get a good starting point to work from.
 
Ur not wrong there big learning curve ,and aquascaping interests me a lot.
 
:D Yeah a lot of advice in here seems at first counter intuitive. Quicker you change your way of thinking about things like nitrate and phosphate the quicker success you'll have. Not your fault of course, in a fish only system commercial companies have made a fortune selling you things to get rid of them :rolleyes:

In a planted tank with moderate lighting you will probably end up needing to add more at some point.
 
So true pal..built a DIY co2 setup with stuff I had around just looking into the design I want and go from there this site is awesome and will b a great help..
 
I have a 30 gall as well, DIY co2 is a starting point. Once past the original set up when the tanks have matured you may find that the majority of Algae problems come from either fluctuating co2 levels or not getting enough co2 circulating around the plants. DIY has the problem of not being very controllable. Temp, amounts of sugar or where abouts in the fermentation process the mix is at will all affect the output of co2. In a tank that size maybe DIY won't be adequate depending on the lighting you have above.
Good thing is pressurised co2 is not as an expensive as it used to be and in the long run may actually be cheaper than the sugar mixes you have to make up. There's people with second hand gear in here and there's always Hong Kong :D or if money is no object get some decent gear from our sponsors.

I found DIY wasn't stable enough on my tank and the problems that it causes take an eternity to solve. Algae is easily started and a pain to get rid of. I built up my equipment a bit at a time as money allowed but I wish I had just got it all at the start and saved myself months if not a good year of fighting problems.
 
Makes sense was just looking at the fe set up and thinking go that way as u said easier to prevent than cure a problem ,first I need to move some fish around change gravel ,there is substrate on bottom but coloured gravel on top just wouldn't suit plants..
 
I live In Prestwich and can get fire extinguisher 2 kg if its any help I actually have 2 full ones as we speak
 
Please ask questions about fire extinguishers in the fire extinguisher section of the forum and not in the Member Introduction section.

Cheers,
 
No need for you to apologise copdodger someone asked you a question :D It would have been ignorant not to answer. Some posts do have a tendency to go off topic, no harm done :thumbup:
 
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