Matthew savant
New Member
Hello, I’m new to the forum and (sort of) new to keeping planted tanks, although this new tank will be my 3rd planted tank I’ve had over the years I still consider myself a bit of a novice.
I just finished cycling my new tank and I need a little help before I order plants and begin the aqua scape.
It’s a 36 gallon bow front and I plan on keeping mostly relatively easy plants although I do plan on planting it very heavily. I’m using c02 and dry ferts (I’ll have questions on fert calculations later I’m sure) and for filtration I have two large HOB filters, one is full of bioballs/cylinders and I never touch it and the other has both fine and coarse foam on the inside and they both have foam on the filter intakes.
As far as my lighting I’m a little confused as to what my PAR levels are with my current set up. My previous tank was a 20 gallon high and I used the Fluval planted 3.0 24in LED light on it and it worked really well. So I’m using that same light on my 36 gallon now but I’m having a hard time finding info on PAR levels for this light with tbe 36 gallon tank (which is significantly deeper than the 20h)
I’m looking to get into Medium/high PAR range so I don’t have to limit which plants I end up ordering. My plan was to use the Fluval planted 3.0 24in along side the Fluval planted 3.0 36in, Do you guys think that will be enough and could anyone provide some insight on what my PAR levels would be with those two lights combined?
I was also wondering are there any other test kits or measuring devices I could or should get in addition to the API master test kit? My last tank succumbed to black beard algae after about a year and a half and I still don’t know why it happened, I wasn’t sure if there was a way I could measure other parameters besides the basic ones in the API test kit.
I’m looking to go all out with this 36 gallon and I want to get it right. I have the tank a set up I already have one of my lights, the hardscape, the filters, heater, c02, master test kit, all the GLA dry ferts and all the basics ready to go and now I have about $500 set aside to invest into the tank for plants, an additional light and any kinds of other test kits or gadgets I may need.
I’m using an app called Fishbox on iOS to monitor and document all of my levels, tank progress etc which is what put the idea that there may be other test kits I need in my head since there’s parameters in the app that I don’t know how to test for (like iron and phosphate etc).
i haven’t decided what I want to keep for fish yet I was considering doing all nano fish so I could have a busy tank. Maybe a small group of sparkling gourami’s would be the centerpiece and then I could base other fish around their needs that way I’d also be able to keep shrimp without them getting eaten. I’m not sure yet but I want to get the plants and the aqua scape situated first.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
-Matt
I just finished cycling my new tank and I need a little help before I order plants and begin the aqua scape.
It’s a 36 gallon bow front and I plan on keeping mostly relatively easy plants although I do plan on planting it very heavily. I’m using c02 and dry ferts (I’ll have questions on fert calculations later I’m sure) and for filtration I have two large HOB filters, one is full of bioballs/cylinders and I never touch it and the other has both fine and coarse foam on the inside and they both have foam on the filter intakes.
As far as my lighting I’m a little confused as to what my PAR levels are with my current set up. My previous tank was a 20 gallon high and I used the Fluval planted 3.0 24in LED light on it and it worked really well. So I’m using that same light on my 36 gallon now but I’m having a hard time finding info on PAR levels for this light with tbe 36 gallon tank (which is significantly deeper than the 20h)
I’m looking to get into Medium/high PAR range so I don’t have to limit which plants I end up ordering. My plan was to use the Fluval planted 3.0 24in along side the Fluval planted 3.0 36in, Do you guys think that will be enough and could anyone provide some insight on what my PAR levels would be with those two lights combined?
I was also wondering are there any other test kits or measuring devices I could or should get in addition to the API master test kit? My last tank succumbed to black beard algae after about a year and a half and I still don’t know why it happened, I wasn’t sure if there was a way I could measure other parameters besides the basic ones in the API test kit.
I’m looking to go all out with this 36 gallon and I want to get it right. I have the tank a set up I already have one of my lights, the hardscape, the filters, heater, c02, master test kit, all the GLA dry ferts and all the basics ready to go and now I have about $500 set aside to invest into the tank for plants, an additional light and any kinds of other test kits or gadgets I may need.
I’m using an app called Fishbox on iOS to monitor and document all of my levels, tank progress etc which is what put the idea that there may be other test kits I need in my head since there’s parameters in the app that I don’t know how to test for (like iron and phosphate etc).
i haven’t decided what I want to keep for fish yet I was considering doing all nano fish so I could have a busy tank. Maybe a small group of sparkling gourami’s would be the centerpiece and then I could base other fish around their needs that way I’d also be able to keep shrimp without them getting eaten. I’m not sure yet but I want to get the plants and the aqua scape situated first.
Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
-Matt