We'd like to remove our 55-gallon tank's under gravel filter and create a nice substrate for aquatic plants. Who all here enjoys a planted tank? Any suggestions? I've been reading up on the subject, and there's such a range of suggestions, ranging from the simple to the verrry technical. I guess it's just like in any subject one researches!
Right now, all we have is one 48" strip light, but eventually we'd like to make a lid which would hold four bulbs and allow for plants requiring more light.
We just got a few tropical fish to start out with...
2 dwarf gourami
5 tiger barbs
1 striped Raphael catfish
...They'll have to go in our 20-g tank briefly when we're ready to make the 55-g plant-friendly.
Any indoor water gardeners with planted aquariums?
I have had aquariums for about 15 years now, sometimes many and sometimes just one. I did the plant tank thing a couple years ago and enjoyed it very much.
The first thing is light-more is better. As I recall, you want a minimum of 3-5 watts of light per gallon, more for a deeper tank. There are a lot of high light fluorescent bulbs these days for fairly reasonable prices.
There are a LOT of opinions about substrate. I always used plain old aquarium gravel and did just fine.
You want to add CO2 to the water for best plant growth. There are a bunch of pricey and complicated systems. I used a 2-liter pop bottle reactor. Fill with 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 cup sugar, warm water, shake once, run an airline through the cap and into the tank. Replace monthly, or when the whole mess smells like alcohol.
I am always on a limited pet supply budget and I tend to go with what works for me, so I don't always do things in a real technical way.
If you haven't seen the Amano books, get the library to interloan them for you, they are beautiful. I also always subscribe to Fresh and Marine Aquarium and Aquarium Fish Magazine. They have great articles and there is always more to learn about fish.
Hope this helps some. Happy fishing!
Sylvia
Back in the early to mid-1990's we had several 20-gallon tanks of fancy goldfish and were always reading up on aquaria. Goldfish are so hard to keep up with and maintain (maintain well, that is) in aquariums, though. When you lose big, unique goldies to tuberculosis and dropsy, it really sucks...You get attached to their friendly faces! At least with tropicals, there are a billion more available identical to the ones you have, LOL.
THANK YOU for that info on a homemade CO2 injector! I was reading about them and wondering if there was a cost-cutting way to do that. One thing that kinda bums me out is that we'll have to discontinue using our bubbler since that will cause the CO2 to be released from the water and negate its benefits. Can't have everything!
But when I see a setup like this one, I don't think I'll miss a bubbler...
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2637/index.html
This is the lid we want to make, by the way:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/2637/canopy.html
I meant to include a link to a couple of Amano's photos.
http://www.vectrapoint.com/main/photo/aquascape/aquascape.html
I love the look of the lush green tanks he designs. You'll never notice your bubbler is gone, and really happy plants will release little gas bubbles from their leaves making them look all shiny.
Looks like good plans for a lid. See if you can get some compact or high output fixtures instead of just shoplights. They will be more expensive but will really pay off in wattage.
The one thing I would think about with these plans is to consider a vent or small fan (like in a computer) for the lid. An amazing amount of heat can build up inside a closed space like this and may cause overheating of the tank and shorter life of the fixtures.
I will look around at home and see if I have any photos of my tanks when they were heavily planted. Mine weren't as nice as Amano's, but I think they came out pretty well.
I was thinking that - I've seen the little fan units you can put in them. I was thinking we could cut slits in the lid to allow for hot air to escape, too.
Hope you can find your pictures - I'd love to see them!
I just found an excellent tutorial on making a DIY CO2 for plants - has pictures, too. http://fish.orbust.net/carbondioxide.html