Monkeyfish
Active member
I'm thinking of setting up a 75g planted aquarium and am looking for some 1st hand inforegarding lighting, substrate and if co2 is really necessary.
Anyone keeping planted aquariums?
- Thread starter Monkeyfish
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Josh40996
New member
Anyone keeping planted aquariums?
I no longer have a planted tank as I traded them all for reefs but I also sold plant cuttings.
For lighting, I found that almost any bulb would grows plants, but to bring out the true colours and get real growth, T5HO's or VHO 6500K would do the trick.
For substrate, I always went with an inert top gravel/sand and a soil underlayer. It sounds crazy but a lot of planted tank lovers do It an a quick google search of "Dirted planted tank" will brig up more info. It's a great substrate that makes the colours come out great and growth explode!
As for CO2, I'm a BIG fan. I ran planted tanks for many years without CO2 and got decent growth and colours, I then decided to dabble with a DIY reactor and was instantly hooked. It promotes amazing growth and colours and also surprises you with oxygen bubble streams coming from every leaf, this is also known as pearling. However, using CO2 has a danger, if not controlled properly, you can easily gas your fish from an overdose or cause drastic pH swings.
In my old forum, we used to see who get get our plants to pearl first after lights on. Plants pearl when they are photosynthesising at a rate so great, that the oxygen cannot dissolve into the water quick enough and so a pearl like string of bubbles spew from the plants.
I no longer have a planted tank as I traded them all for reefs but I also sold plant cuttings.
For lighting, I found that almost any bulb would grows plants, but to bring out the true colours and get real growth, T5HO's or VHO 6500K would do the trick.
For substrate, I always went with an inert top gravel/sand and a soil underlayer. It sounds crazy but a lot of planted tank lovers do It an a quick google search of "Dirted planted tank" will brig up more info. It's a great substrate that makes the colours come out great and growth explode!
As for CO2, I'm a BIG fan. I ran planted tanks for many years without CO2 and got decent growth and colours, I then decided to dabble with a DIY reactor and was instantly hooked. It promotes amazing growth and colours and also surprises you with oxygen bubble streams coming from every leaf, this is also known as pearling. However, using CO2 has a danger, if not controlled properly, you can easily gas your fish from an overdose or cause drastic pH swings.
In my old forum, we used to see who get get our plants to pearl first after lights on. Plants pearl when they are photosynthesising at a rate so great, that the oxygen cannot dissolve into the water quick enough and so a pearl like string of bubbles spew from the plants.
Last edited:
George_G
New member
Had planted FW tanks all my life. But like Josh, I, too, switched completely to SW about 6 years ago.
I never went high tech with CO2, or used dirt beneath gravel, but I'm sure that stuff does give great results. Another trick the serious guys use is to heat from below -- keep the roots warm.
But what I did find made a difference with my simple setups was black gravel. And I have about two buckets of it here if you'd like to have it. LMK. My phone numbers are:
hm: 516-731-5844
cell: 516-316-2356 (text is good)
George
Hicksville
I never went high tech with CO2, or used dirt beneath gravel, but I'm sure that stuff does give great results. Another trick the serious guys use is to heat from below -- keep the roots warm.
But what I did find made a difference with my simple setups was black gravel. And I have about two buckets of it here if you'd like to have it. LMK. My phone numbers are:
hm: 516-731-5844
cell: 516-316-2356 (text is good)
George
Hicksville
Monkeyfish
Active member
^Appreciate it. I think I'm going to go with a dirt tank with eco cap.
Salinity01
New member
A friend of mine had one. He used just a standard 20 gal hood lamp with sand. He got good growth and it always looked sharp. He used native plants he got from a pond here in texas.
cthedaytrader
Active member
I never started one, but I was close to at one point and I did a lot of research.
I found this forum helpful http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/
If I cant post that them I appologize
I found this forum helpful http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/
If I cant post that them I appologize
Monkeyfish
Active member
Thanks Chris. I've been spending a lot of time there and a few other sites. My hardscape is pretty well sketched out, I just need to figure out if I wanna go lower light or invest in a co2 injection rig. I'd prefer to keep things inexpensive and simple so I'm researching the lighting options at the moment.
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