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learning it from scratch

angelfishguy

angelfishguy

Member
Joined
12 Jan 2010
Messages
61
okay so i have decieded to start from scratch on my planted tank knowledge beacuse i seem to do everything half arsed(not just in fishkeeping) and i really want to end up with something that i can be proud of.

so the tank is a small 45ltr aqua one tank as pictured below
large-61706120AQUA20ONE20START20KIT20GOLDFISH2050.jpg


what i am hoping to achieve is a nice Iwagami with a little shoal of micro fish. i have pressurized Co2 and plan to filter the tank with an eheim classic 2217 with an inline diffuser(UP atomizer) and inline heater.

substrate-wise, i have never forked out for expensive plant substrate but i will do it now, as i said i want to do this right. can anyone recomend me a good one? but try keep the price reasonable lol.

i will also need recomendations for lighting and ferts...please lol

i know that journals by newbies often go unanswered but i promise to see this through till the end and provide lots of pics and updates as i go along, so any help or advice will be greatly appriciated,

Jay
 
Hi Jay, good looking plan here I look forward to seeing the development. Substrate wise you could get Colombo flora base. I got some for christmas and its great, it's like ADA aqua soil but a little cheaper. There are some nice T5 lighting units on eBay and allpondsolutions. If you're using CO2 and ferts you can aim for 3WPG+ of lighting. For fertilisers you could try the EI method. This site will show you the amounts of chemicals you will need for this http://blog.fluidsensoronline.com/calcu ... ive-index/ There is also a UKAPS article on an introduction to EI dosing. Sorry, I would Post more links and go in to more detail but I'm on my iPod! Hope this helps, Callum.
 
hey, angelfishguy

And don't worry i'm also a newbie... :D just to get your brain juice flowing, here are some articles you should read http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com ... hting.html, this one is about lighting and PAR and PUR should help you understand the basics and why the watts per gallon rule is actually quite redundant and once you figured that article out you could read this http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... 5HO-lights, it'll clear up your mind even more..., and to get you slightly more addicted to the hobby, if you aren't already... heres some food for thought http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=2430.0... very very interesting article worth the read

that should keep you going for a while

i'm sure you know this already, but the hobby has a lot to do with fun research... basically stalking the forums :shh:
 
Thanks for the info and the links, i had a read of them but i'll have to read them another 2 times before i start to grasp what i'm actually reading as all the termenology has me slightly confused lol
 
First one looks good, as long as it will fit the length of your tank. You will also have to make sure you get the right bulbs as you will often get blue bulbs with these units. An advantage is that is has 2 power switches so you can vary the lighting as you may find 3 bulbs too much for your tank (or you may not!).
 
Yeah they do come with one blue light :(

Im pretty sure the answer is "hell no" but i'll ask anyways. Is it possible to use a 150w MH on a 10g lol
 
I am wondering if the Ehiem 2217 might not be a bit much for roughly 11 Gal tank?
I think the inline heater, and possibly atomizer might slow the flow a bit but still would be quite a bit of water movement for micro fishes that one might be considering.
Maybe it's just me,,I run one Eheim 2217 on 80 U.S. Gallon low tech and the small tetra's,harlequins,pencilfish, prefer to frequent the area's with less flow from return .
I understand those who inject CO2 want good movement to help disperse the gas, but am wondering if next size smaller filter would not be sufficient for this smallish tank with fishes in mind?
 
I'm not familiar with the Ehiem model numbers and flow ratings but, you can always reduce flow a little by fitting a tap/valve on the outflow, but increasing it, (if required) means another piece of hardware. I think having a little more wouldn't hurt and may turn out to be just enough once all the other inline components are fitted.
 
Off hand i think that the 2217 is rated 1000lph so that would be about 20 times turnover, it has tap valves on both the inlet and outlet but i wonder would closing these a little would reduce the life of the filter?

Any thoughts on the 150w MH?
 
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