210 planted

[Htomassini]

Hello. First of all I wish I would have known of this site a year ago. I would have saved a lot of money and aggravation on my 90gal!
Thank you for this great resource
The specs on the tank are 72x24x29
I have an HO-T5 8 x 80watt with 2 banks of 4 apiece.
Currently has 4 10k bulbs (waiting on light co to send me 4 6700k bulbs to replace the aticnic bulbs)
What do you think on lighting, should 1 run with 4 (its a tall tank) and burst 2 during midday (once the tank is set up?)
I am now setting up a 210 to replace my 90. I am on day two of planting the tank I would like your suggestions on how to dose it. I know I have to limit the light to 6 hours daily, I am dosing with co2. The substrate is as follows:

rear of tank with stem and rooted plants:

layered substrate from to bottom to top:
flourite
aquariumplants.com clay substrate(high in iron)
ecco complete
ADA aquasoil amazonia
quartz gravel to cap it.

front of tank planted with glosso and dwarf sag
flourite
ADA As soil
ADA AS soil (powdered)

I would like to follow the EI dosing and I am ready to do 40-50% wc weekly, I use ro/di water buffered with seachem alk buffer and acid buffer, seachem equillibrium

once tank is ready for my fish i like to keep the tank around 6.5-6.8ph as I keep discus, rummy nose tetras, cardinal tetras, clown loaches

These are the liquid ferts i have at my disposal now, i can always change them as I use them up to your recommendations:

brightwell aquatics FLRORIN-FE 12000ppm concentration
brightwell aquatics FLRORIN-K 50000ppm
brightwell aquatics FLRORIN-MULTI
excell


Thank you for your time!

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

IMO you will not need that much light even for a 210 gal. I think 4 bulbs is more what you will end up with.

No need to limit to 6 hours daily.. Why do you feel the need to do so? 8-9 hours is plenty. It is more the AMOUNT of light than DURATION that causes most issues. However, a 12 hour photoperiod is also not required

Could you please provide some details on the following?

1) c02 diffusion method
2) filtration
3) additional flow. Pumps, powerheads, etc.
4) do you have to use RO water? Using c02 will keep the ph lower anyway. Maybe hard to generate 50% for your weekly WC.

You may want to investigate using dry powdered macro ferts. These are much cheaper and are not diluted with water as store products are. Your liquid ferts will be mostly water...

http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/

 

[Htomassini]

I think so onthe 4 bulbs. Should I mix 6700 and 10ks?

Right now the tank is not full so I cannot run the normal hardware. I use Rodi because I have discus and the water here is absolutely horrendous.
I also have compressed c0 2 with a small temp reactor and a 1200 powerhead distributing during the time the lights are on. In the next week I'll have my sump running with my aquariumplants.com reactor running it.

How can I use up those ferts? And should I right away?

50 gal is no prob for me as I have a 45 gal outside storage tank for di water

Currently I have a magnum 350 with the micron cartridge running to mover the water and clean up the tank.

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

I think you may need some upgrades

A single magnum 350 is IMO totally insufficient for your FILTRATION needs, let alone flow required for the plants and fish....I have one on a 45 gal and I tossed a Rena II in with it

Second, a sump and overflow, tend to offgas a lot of c02. I know from experience lol So, you need to think about that and deal with it. We can provide ideas on sealing the sump to make it more airtight. Overflows however can be a huge loss of c02.

Not sure if your reactor (got a link to it?) will be sufficient for your needs even keeping low light plants with a sump.

Mixing bulbs is fine. The temps are more for YOU than the plants, as they will do fine in almost any temp. I have used 6500 to 14k with no issues..

You can start dosing right away if the tank is planted and running....

 

[Htomassini]

Thanks for the reply. What I failed to mention, (I was replying on my phone last time) is that I will be moving hardware from my 90 to the 210. Eventually this will be the setup:
overflow 1:
23gal sump with sock with stem plants on reverse photo period => pump => nuclear cannister with 25micron filter => co2 reactor (http://www.aquariumplants.com/AquariumPlants_com_s_Own_External_Reactor_p/ext5000.htm) => to tank

BTW, this reactor is very good, i have to be careful because it can flood a tank with co2 very quickly.

overflow 2: renaxp4 in parallel with eheim 2217

As far as degassing I do need more oxygenation due to the livestock ill have. I currently have an 02 issue in my 90 ever since i got rid of my wetdry and went for closed loop. (ive been running 2 airstones to keep the 02 levels in check.) (I also run the tank at 83degrees F) I will be stocking with 9 (maybe11) full grown discus (most of them are 6-7 inches), 50 rummy tetras, 30ish cardinal tetras, a couple of raimbows, and 3 grown clown loaches.