150g FW planted advice appreciated

[iwantone]

I'm an old hat with reefing, but a newbie with FW plants.

My current reef tank that is being converted is a 150 gallon 48x24x30inches tall
with a corner overflow
Lights are 2x75watt pcs and 2x 250 DE HQI 14k bulbs
I have a CO2 reactor system for the reef

I love the amano style tanks but am looking for something a little more natural and less artistic (less work), so I was thinking of going for a biotope style as I want this tank to be little maintenance and mostly FUN. This is a deep tank so I am going to keep pruning to a minimum.

Can someone point me in the right direction????? What would be their ideal set up.

Thanks

[Mario]

with that corner overflow your going to lose alot of co2....the 14k is to high you need to be in 6700-7000ks i would suggest a fluidized sand filter as you will no co2 with this type of filter. Are you using a sump as well? that good for a fresh water fuge.

[iwantone]

I haven't put water in the tank yet. I may plug the overflow and not use it, but the tank is eurobraced so its hard to clip things like overflow filter to the tank. I guess a canister filter would work just fine. I will change the bulbs as you suggest.
What type/brand of fluidized sand filter would you use?

[Mario]

i would build one like i did....heres mine it will handle a 600gallons

tank.....http://mediamail.boostmobile.com/sha...PB7zYXuzXo7888

i made this for free at work but im sure it wouldnt cost more than 70$

no heres a commercial one
http://www.dtpetsupplies.com/catalog...oducts_id=1664

[Mario]

are going to do a ground cover type plant? ie baby tear drops, if so i would recommend buying your choice of plant substrate then seeding the plants and filling water till hiegth of soil, this will maximum light to "fast start your plants"
check out aquaticplanrcentral.com i think or apc.com

[SoCalBoo]

Good advice so far. You can use the overflow and sump, you are just gonna lose some CO2 in the turbulence.

The CO2 canister is great, but it really comes down to what you are using to diffuse. I have had my best luck with a direct feed into the intake of a pump and then some dwell time beyond that. With a tank that large, I can't see any of the store bought diffusers working for you.

FSF will work well, and so would a tube filter. An issue with both, particularly FSF, is that it is a major nitrate generator. So if you are keeping anything sensitive to nitrates, you are gonna have problems.

For lights, like water tech said, you are hunting the wrong spectrums. You want something in the 6000s as far as Kelvin values go. And PCs won't do you that much good - for the amount of electricity that those MH and PC will burn, I would look for a 4x or 6x T5 set up. You can save a ton of dough by using hydroponic T5 bulbs (I get my 4' long T5 bulbs, 6500k, for about $8/ea. shipped).

Substrate is important. A tank of that size (I have the same dimensions on my 120, except I am 6" shorter), it will take some $$ to get the substrate right. You can save money on using pond soil, which is typically clay based (laterite). I've never been a huge fan of high end soils, like ecocomplete, ADA, etc.

[Mario]

i think 2 diffusers should work even spaced from the middle with powerheads on top...
general rule of thumb for planted tanks is 2.5 to 4 watts per gallon so your mh will give you 500 watts / 150 gallons =3.333333..... 6t5hos will be 54watts 6x54 equals =324/ 150 =2.16..not enough minimum of eight bulbs required....

[Mario]

your choice, mh makes the water shimmer, but runs hotter

[SoCalBoo]

watts per gallon guideline is outdated and not very useful, having no real bearing since there are SO many different variables...intensity of light...spectrum of light...quality of reflectors...age/degradation of bulbs...

I had a 4x54 over my 120 and could (and did) grow anything, and my reflectors weren't nearly as good as Teks or similar. He is 6" deeper, but I think that a 6x54 would be all he needs, and I really think he could grow 80-90% of readily available FW plants with a 4x54.

MH over FW plants have issues that hard to overcome. Expensive bulbs, coverage issues over a 4' tank and heat are those that come to mind immediately.

As for a diffuser, if you are gonna have a pump for either circulation and/or filtration, why not use it as a diffuser? Save some dough... But, yes, if you get two of the big ladder diffusers and place them real low in the DT, they would probably work. But I'd prefer to have the CO2 line on the intake of a pump in a sump. Just easier and safer (avoid siphon from DT).

I love that monster sand filter though. Wish I had thought of that when I was setting up my tank.

[jaysonsd]

I'm playing around w/ FW while I wait for the new tank to come in, socalaquascapers.com has a lotta good local people to bounce Qs off of.

I agree w SoCalBoo, that's a lotta light.

Low maintenance is a relative thing, its a big tank in general. Once everything is grown in, you can cut off the co2 and slow the growth. I find stems more annoying in trimming than snipping leaves off rosette plants. Amazon biotope that size would look awesome with a bunch of congo tetras swimming around. However, what makes them school is a more barren scape.

[iwantone]

I'll be posting some pictures in the next few days. I have a giant piece of drift wood and a few long blades of grass plants in the back and one side of the tank that go to the surface. I placed a few small plants in the driftwood crevices with some gravel/fertilizer. That black fertilizer sand is EXPENSIVE. The 14k lights look suprisingly very white so I'm not going to change them out yet.
Fish are as follows: 7 congo tetras, 7 green barred danios, 4 pleicos, 5 cories and a dozen ghost shrimp (12 for 3 bucks), 2 medium striped angelfish
So far I am very happy with the tank and it is a lot less stressful than my reef tank which I consider tearing down every other day.

[Mario]

it may look good but you will not get the growth from the plants..... you could just add lights to the current setup to suppliment

[DaveMorris]

Here is what you want for a great CO2 diffuser:

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=158

They work extremely well and diffuse the CO2 into extremely fine bubbles. On a tank 24" high the bubbles won't even make it to the surface because they are so small.

[SoCalBoo]

Here is what you want for a great CO2 diffuser:

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?m...roducts_id=158

They work extremely well and diffuse the CO2 into extremely fine bubbles. On a tank 24" high the bubbles won't even make it to the surface because they are so small.

Those are great, but $220-$330 for his 150g? That's a lot of dough!

[Dan Knowlton]

I'm using a Danner needle wheel pump and have the venturi on the inlet hooked up to the CO2 - works REALLY well for me. The other was is to do a "Rex Grigg" reactor - there is a picture at http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...1&d=1099597504

Oh, my tank with the needle wheel pump is a 125.

Dan K.