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Getting started

halibut

Seedling
Joined
15 May 2013
Messages
21
Location
North Wales
Hi all,

I’m about to set up a new planted “jungle” aquarium (plants + fish) and some hardscape items like wood, rocks and roots. I’ve kept fish for decades but my one brush with a small planted tank ended years ago in algal disaster so this time I want to get things right.

I’m doing my best to get up to speed on modern thinking and approaches to planted tank but would really appreciate some guidance from the more experienced members of the forum to help get me started.

My current plans are:
  • 91cmX38cm (36"x15") tank foot print, 51cm(20") water depth. I make that roughly 176 litres (39 imperial gallons) without hardscape. It’s a deep tank and I’m stuck with it.
  • Fitted hood with about 10cm (4”) headroom above the cover glass, 89cm(35") wide for tubes, etc.
  • Eheim 350T Pro 3 Thermofilter (1050 litres per hour) + possible additional pump/powerhead (not sure yet. I know about the high flow requirement, but I’m trying not to pin the fish to the glass…)
  • C02 injection if advised to (I still have the reg from last time).
  • ADA Aqua Soil Powder Amazonia + Either Tropica AquaCare substrate or some ADA Power Sand.
I’d like some advice on the following. All are presumably interconnected.

Plants. I want to start out with some beginner plants for that set up. Easy to keep and fairly rewarding. They need to be hardy enough to survive my initial mistakes, and share a tank with small placid fish and a few substrate routers like loaches once the plants are well established, so good roots are probably a must. Some suggestions for larger background plants to ‘fill’ the background water column (swords?) middle ground mid sized plants and a few smaller foreground species and “carpet” type plants greatly appreciated. Something that looks visually appealing that any numpty can keep in that setup :)

Lights. I know the old watts per gallon has gone out of the window now. I also know that lighting is considered by many to be the most critical aspect to get right. So what should I be installing for that water column? I don’t think I have the budget to go as far as LED, but T5 should be affordable. I’m not looking for cheap, just a sound return on the investment. Also, this is going to have fish in it so I don’t want it so overpoweringly bright that it leaves them half blind. Is there a happy medium I could shoot for, given I want to grow easy, hardy plants to begin with? Both the Osram Lumilux 880 Skywhite + Osram Lumilux 840 combo and The Sylvania Grolux + Osram Lumilux 880 Skywhite combo results look very nice in Cheap HO T5 fluorescent tubes - Update with photos | UK Aquatic Plant Society but which tubes would you advise and how many for that water column. Also, advice on sizing of suitable ballasts would be great.

Dosing. I’m thinking of dosing liquid C02 along with the injected C02 to try to limit algae, but is this really beneficial? Also would I be looking at needing water column dosing with that substrate, or just some root tabs as it matures?

Any advice you could give me to get me up and running would be fantastic. I bungled it last time and the only thing I grew successfully was algae. I really would like to get it right this time.

Cheers in advance,

H.
 
Hi H, and welcome.
Great to see your having another go at planted :)

The advice I would offer is to pick whichever lights you like the colour of such as those in the thread you linked, and go for a twin t5 lighting ballast which will be more than enough light for your starter set up now and anything in the future. to start I wouldn't add reflectors in your fixed top hood, as keeping lighting less intense at the start will help you succeed. A jungle tank is a great idea and to keep lighting subdued you can add floating plants which will work well. Also if you keep your lighting intensity lower then you should be able to achieve good co2 levels, safe for livestock without the need for liquid carbon supplementation which can effect some plant species such as vallisinera which look great in a jungle tank imo. If you get the balance of lighting and co2 right along with good tank husbandry hopefully you won't suffer any algae issues so won't need an algaecide.....prevention is always better than cure.
What I would say is that in a deep narrow tank like yours flow and distribution will be your biggest challenge. Getting co2 to the lower regions will be best achieved by trying to get near the 10x turnover rule, maybe even more might be needed, so additional power heads will be needed if you are going the high tech route, especially in a jungle tank which has many obstructions from overgrown plants and hardscape. I'd go for a full length spraybar along the rear glass with the additional circulation pumps below it pointing forwards in the same direction. Because of the style of tank the plants will offer plenty of shelter for the fish from flow if your worried about that, although I'm sure they won't mind the exercise at all :)
Even with ADA substrate I would always advocate a comprehensive fertiliser addition, and macro and micro solutions are available from several of our sponsors with mixing and dosing instructions included and are very cost effective. Alternatively all in one mixes are also available to make life even simpler :) if you dose water column ferts then I doubt you will need root tabs as the ADA soils have a high CEC, which means they will adsorb nutrients from the water to keep it topped up......plus water column dosing if done correctly is sufficient in even inert substrates.
As for plants, a jungle look means you can try anything you like really and will help you see what works for you and what doesn't. Have a look on the tropica website for inspiration in their 'easy' category. Larger Echinodorus sp, aponogeton, Lily's, vallisnera, hygrophila, microsorum will all work and should be relatively trouble free. Pygmy chain swords will be nice in the foreground and maybe some cryptocoryne sp in the midground too.
Anyway, that's a bit of food for thought, but have a read around the site and use the search function as there is loads of info on all sorts of things to help you out.

Also for some great inspiration for a jungle tank set up take a look at this journal from George Farmer....
120cm - George of the Jungle pg.5 new pics | UK Aquatic Plant Society
It will cover many of your questions I'm sure :)
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Hi H
I have a deep tank, around 2 foot. Just as another suggestion to the background plants Gymnocoronis Spilanthoides is a super easy stem plant. I have it in mine and to give you an idea it likes to grow to the top and then grow out of the water. It's easy to just cut back and you can replant the tops. I got mine from Aquaessentials and can also vouch for the quality of the plant they supply.
Flow in a deep aquarium is a problem, but is achievable. I have a central heating pump attached to a spraybar with a co2 reactor in between. Though there are other options, and as suggested powerheads are popular.
Dont be afraid to ask lots of questions on here, that's what this site's all about.
Keep us updated with how you get on, post some pics if you can too.
Best of luck.
 
Thank you very much for the feedback.

Wow. So there I was worrying about lights, but from both your posts it's apparent that the biggest concern I have is flow.
When I tried this last time people were trying to keep surface disturbance to a minimum to stop Co2 off-gassing. I take it that is no longer the case?
 
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