Softies or planted tank?

[Navyblue]

A while ago I custom made a tank. It is a 24x18x12" rimless shallow tank with ADA style minimum silicone joints.

Right now it is plumbed to my main tank housing a bunch of LR that I don't want in my tank. I am not happy with it because it uses an overflow box that made a bit of noise and I don't think it can be easily silenced. I did that to minimise maintenance.

Although I don't rule out overhauling the plumbing, I prefer an undertaking that is easier, which is to like to disconnect it from the main system. The question is, what to do with it?

If it is to be a SW tank, it would be either a softies tank or an anemone tank, no calcium consuming stuffs. I have a grossly over sized skimmer (Tunze 9005) lying around but I prefer not to use it to minimise noise.

If I were to turn it into a FW tank, it would be a low tech "natural" concept tank. Low light, no filter, no CO2, housing easy plants and fishes.

If I build this into a reef, and placing it next to my main tank, my concern is it would look kind of lame. A planted tank would at least be something different. The downside is I am more familiar with SW, more work, and all my existing equipments are geared for it.

Of course there is also the get-rid-of-it option. Whatever the case is, the setup would be minimalist, low maintenance and cheap, but not an eyesore. Let's face it, tanks ruin our lives. Being a slave of 1 tank beats being the slave of 2 tanks.

 

[HUNTER1]

Why not try a planted tank. Tank is not that big to maintain but be able to make it a descent planted tank. But of course without co2 you're limited to plant selections and will not get good growth. I would do amano style tank rocks and hair grass or glosso. I had planted tank, just got tired of trimming and cleaning dead leaves.

 

[Navyblue]

Planted tank is actually very tempting for me, I am also interested in breeding FW shrimp.

I have a CO2 cylinder, but no regulator. And for a tank of this size, sugar/yeast method is also quite feasible. But I would prefer it to be to be as low maintenance as possible.

Or may be I can start with high tech to get the growth and convert it to low tech once it is done growing. But would there be die off during the transition? But of course I need to have the appropriate plant selection, and an appropriate bio load.

 

[salty joe]

I have had real pretty planted tanks with nothing more than gravel and flourescent lighting back in the day. I had Amazon swords that got big and beautiful, lilys, various Cryptocorns, Apotogetons. A friend had the same sort of setup and he grew a Madagascar lace plant that was unbeleivably gorgeaus from a bulb. I think the key to a Madagascar lace is starting from a bulb. You don't need high tech anything to enjoy a very nice planted tank. Not knocking CO2 injection or anything-just saying.

 

[Navyblue]

So you don't need fancy substrate and CO2 for those? Do you have a heavy bioload?

 

[Reeferz412]

I just started with planted tanks and tbh, its more work than a softy tank. Pruning and making sure the plants stay put (I have angels, they like to clean the leaves to breed on them). I dont use special substrate or CO2 but next tank I will. My planted tank makes no noise. I have a fluval 304 and a marineland powerhead and my heater with a two bulb T5 fixture. Pretty basic.

 

[Khemul]

So you don't need fancy substrate and CO2 for those? Do you have a heavy bioload?

I've run some very heavily planted tanks without any form of CO2 supplement.

It all depends on plant selection. CO2 is like the calcium of the planted world. Where calcium supplementation in a reef tank depends heavily on what you stock, so does CO2 in a planted tank. You can get fast growing plants that need CO2. You can get slow growing plants that don't need CO2. And then you can get fast growing plants that don't need CO2 but will grow like crazy if given it. It's also a balance of lighting. Take a fast growing plant that doesn't need CO2 and blast it with too much light and it may suddenly need CO2.


Really it all depends on what you want to keep. Personally, I think planted tanks can be worse then reef tanks when it comes to overstated requirements and equipment. Lighting is often vastly overstated. Supplements are over blown. CO2 is overblown (unless you want to keep certain carpeting plants, which is effectively the planted version of an SPS tank).

 

[salty joe]

I've run some very heavily planted tanks without any form of CO2 supplement.

+1
And at least in my case, with just a simple normal output flourescent gro lite. No fancy substrate-no fancy anything.

 

[Steve Wright2]

My opinion is, you should do whatever you feel will make you happiest
and bear in mind that your not stuck indefinitely with whatever decision you make

both types have their relative merits
as stated above, some of the hardier plants seem capable of managing without CO2 injection, and even that is available in convenient liquid or tablet forms these days

with soft corals - one major benefit is, that you probably have most of the things you need already, either in use, or stuck in the cabinet somewhere

Steve

 

[joejoe1055]

what keeping it a saltwater planted tank? plenty of seagrass and/or other macros to add

 

[Navyblue]

I did thought about planted/macro SW, in fact that was my first idea. I googled around to see how they look like, I have yet find one that made me "wow, I want my tank to look like this". Let's face it comparing, FW plant to SW is like comparing SW fish to FW. And stuffs like halimelda consumes calcium.

But SW is easier, the sand and LR are already in there for years. All I have to do is remove the overflow box and plumbing, cover up the back part of the tank to house chaeto, skimmer and powerhead. and build some kind of LED pendant. May be not less work, but I am familiar.

For FW, I have to drain everything and clean the tank, remove the overflow box and plumping, find a place to house those LR in the sump, get an appropriate substrate (this is going to cost unless I go inert), and also build some kind of pendant (but much cheaper). Actually it seems to have less work, just less familiar ones.

 

[Navyblue]

I have ordered a 12W screw in day light LED bulb, I hope it is just right for "low light" planted. Unlike reef, it seems that planted tank can have too much light. If I am going softies I would have to order more. But at this point I am leaning towards planted.

If I am going softies, it would probably be a mushroom dominated tank. It seems that nice colors in softies pretty much are only found in only mushrooms and zoas. I also love ricordeas (pricey!). But whatever I put in, they would cost more than plants.

Either way would make me happy, that is if it looks good. If it looks bad I would be unhappy, either way.

 

[joejoe1055]

some of the guys/gals down in the marine plants and macro algae form here have some nice tanks, look into some of the red macros