Critique wanted

[KnH]

I want to do things the first time instead of redo; I come from a SW reef point of view.

Starting point, shoot for the moon goal, instead of viewing sand I want to use foreground plants

Jeffrey Senske, Houston TX USA
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2004.cgi?&Scale=514&op=showcase&category=0&vol=3&id=141

Tank is 175 bow front with corner over flows, 72” x 24” x 28” tall

Sump,
A Big Not sure what to do, Multiple 5 gallon buckets, cut down plastic barrels, used tank, Tote box, Filter bags, foam inserts, wet dry or submerged media lava rock or ceramic media, deep sanded, more plants?

Water flow,
I have a Mag 24, 2400 gph with zero head, 1800 gph probably through the returns, to much flow through the sump?
For in the tank. I have a couple of the Hydor Koralia Magnum #8's, 3250 gph somewhere. Or i can get what i need

Light T-5’s G-man’s, 300w

Substrate, Pool sand mixed with frets (Just ordered 8 bags of Aqua Soil- NEW Amazonia)

Rocks and Manzanita wood

Plants
Echinodorus bleheri mixed with the Manzanita wood in the back ground

Foreground plants
Staurogyne repens
Anubias barteri var. nana

Ok, Co2 or not to use Co2n not sure what way to go, I want my plants to look the best, I plan on a dense planting whether or not I use Co2, the more reading I do the more confused I get.

I have spare time to use, what do you think the amounts of time would be for the three options?

1. Non CO2 fully planted tanks with lower lighting
2."Excel" planted tanks
3. Low light CO2 plant tanks

Fish
Discus and all others
Plecos, again lots of options, not sure what to do
Shrimp and snails, I would like it if they were able to breed in the tank

Help, opinions, give me the good, the bad, and the ugly

Thanks
Ken

 

[Gerryd]

I want to do things the first time instead of redo; I come from a SW reef point of view.

How do you learn if it all works right the first time every time

Starting point, shoot for the moon goal, instead of viewing sand I want to use foreground plants

That is a nice benchmark you chose....

Tank is 175 bow front with corner over flows, 72” x 24” x 28” tall

Sweet, but I hope you have long arms...

Sump,
A Big Not sure what to do, Multiple 5 gallon buckets, cut down plastic barrels, used tank, Tote box, Filter bags, foam inserts, wet dry or submerged media lava rock or ceramic media, deep sanded, more plants?

Get a large a sump as you can stick under the cabinet...A wet/dry seems to prove better for fish and plants overall...they are easy to plumb as well..if you build a sump to handle about 1200-1500 gph would be more than enough I think. Really depends on your FISH load....

Water flow,
I have a Mag 24, 2400 gph with zero head, 1800 gph probably through the returns, to much flow through the sump?

An 1800 would be fine as you may need to throttle it back. The 2400 can be used (overkill?) but I would use muitiple outlets to better distribute the flow.. Really again depends on your fish and plant species...Will it drive a heater, or UV, or c02 reactor? That will all factor in as well.

For in the tank. I have a couple of the Hydor Koralia Magnum #8's, 3250 gph somewhere. Or i can get what i need

Sounds like plenty. You may want to point a smaller model at the surface for extra 02. May cost you more c02 but safer overall.

Light T-5’s G-man’s, 300w

More details on the fixture, # of bulbs and type, HO/NO, how mounted, etc?

Substrate, Pool sand mixed with frets (Just ordered 8 bags of Aqua Soil- NEW Amazonia)

Are you going to use the ADA?

Ok, Co2 or not to use Co2n not sure what way to go, I want my plants to look the best, I plan on a dense planting whether or not I use Co2, the more reading I do the more confused I get.

You may need c02 for the stauro but have no experience that way with stauro..You can have dense planting and no c02 for sure....you do not NEED c02 to grow plants, but they will grow larger, better, etc with it if USED PROPERLY. It is also important/vital to supply macro and micro nutes like N/P/K and iron, etc when injecting c02.

A lot depends on the LIGHT you are providing to the plants..The more light the more demand for c02 and other nutrients...

I have spare time to use, what do you think the amounts of time would be for the three options?

1. Non CO2 fully planted tanks with lower lighting
2."Excel" planted tanks
3. Low light CO2 plant tanks

All 3 are good options and nice balances. Low light and c02 produces a nice garden IMO/IME and is not too demanding. Lower light is really the key to controlling plant growth...

Fish
Discus and all others
Plecos, again lots of options, not sure what to do
Shrimp and snails, I would like it if they were able to breed in the tank

Too many options to suggest, sorry...your tank, your fish...

Help, opinions, give me the good, the bad, and the ugly

I think I did what I could.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

You may also want to check out the EI dosing section and use a light dosage even if using the ADA. Plants can take nutrients from both the water column and the substrate, so may as well supply both locations...

There are several threads/stickies on this.

Note that EI is designed for use with C02 injection.

 

[KnH]

Thanks for the reply
O, I have made many mistakes, mostly not doing enough research, or changing directions on a whim
I’m not sure there is only one right way but I am going to try to muddle through anyway.

For lights it will be a Retrofit T-5’s, individual reflectors with Giesemann Midday 6000K, the tank is 72” so not sure what length of lights will work out, or how high to mount them, I just need to make sure that I don't have too much light,

Sump will be a DIY also, hard part will be figuring what I want to do, building it is the easy part. Plus picking up used parts on the cheap.

After reading "Super easy method to start a new tank without any algae, any issues, dosing etc." I thought I would give it a try with Aqua Soil, Plus there was a great sale with part of the proceeds going towards the earth quake victims in Japan.Hopefully I wont have to have my hands in the tank that much. My reef setups always did better when I kept my hands out of them.

Still have to decide on what method to do, probably option 2."Excel" planted tank or 3. Low light CO2 plant tank. Downloaded the Greg Watson Dosing Guide and see where that takes me

Hopefully I won’t make too many mistakes along the way, but how will I learn without making mistakes

 

[Htomassini]

Well I have a 210 discus planted and I have gone through lots of ups and downs. Once fully grown you can throttle the temp down to 82 but that is still high for some plants. If you will be buying 2.5 inch discus and you want them to grow up nice and big (jj you saw my tank how would you describe my discus?) then commit to doing 3 40% w/c a week to rid the tank of the alpha discus growth limiting hormones. Sump yes, look for my thread on a DUI sump I made from a 55 gal tank

[video=youtube;GuJnMcJKYEc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJnMcJKYEc&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7afxEJZUOo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I also have in series an nuclear 25micron filter with purigen running on a mag 2400

I running my tank with 3 x 80w ho t5's suspend about 40" from the substrate.

Please feel free to ask any questions we don't want you to do what we all did at one point or another

Spend on stuff we don't need or is the wrong hardware