Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I'm considering starting a large heavily planted fw tank. I was wondering if anyone had a similar set up and what equipment you were running.

Which direction were you heading in? High-tech or low-tech? My old 20 had 96w of T5s, 20 lb tank of CO2, large canister filter (cleaned regularly), and daily fertilizer (which was a trace element mix, potassium nitrate, and monopotassium phosphate). It was a HUGE hassle, to be honest. Unless you are prepared for the huge N:P:C demand, don't go high tech, lol. The growth was fantastic, plants were healthy, fish didn't have room to swim. It was nice, but a pain to keep up with.

I just set up a 29 bowfront low tech planted tank. It is low tech for sure. I have 3 T8 15w bulbs, an extremely small wisper hob filter and thats it. I've gotten a bunch of cheap/free plants from on line and some are doing well and others aren't yet. To be honest I didn't know what I was doing when I started out and still probably don't. My plants look good for the most part and are growing so I must be doing something right to start. I did put a few things into the substrate and topped it off with onyx sand which might not have been the best idea as it does slightly buffer the water. I guess the peat moss i put in the bottom is suppose to offset that. I have had 3 fish dies so far though. 3 of my 5 asian rummynose rosbora died.

Not sure which way I'm going yet, thats what I am trying to figure out now. I have a 120g tank with a 5 bulb T5 fixture for lighting. The tank is RR but I really dont see much need to a sump so I will likely just cap the holes. From what I read you really want to dose CO2 with high light to avoid mass algae growth but I was wondering what was working for everyone else. I am planning to go heavy on plants with a few schools of small schoaling fish like tetras and barbs.

I'm no expert with this stuff but from what I've read over 1.5 wpg and you might need to go with the CO2. With a full planted 120 you should be able to get some rather nice large schools of tetras and barbs. From what I read with the natural method I should be able to find the ballance where my fish make enough waste for the plants and then not need to add fertilizer or not very often.

With a low tech tank you wouldn't want a sump becuase that will remove CO2 from the water. If you are adding CO2 you could get away with the sump I would imagine.

Yea I think I will go sumpless, quieter if nothing else. Do the plants provide enough biological filtration or does it need supplementing? I will go with a large canister filter for mechanical and carbon. I can always back off the lights if need, fixture does 3x54 and 2x54. How would all 6700k bulbs look? Think I should add some "white" to the mix?

You could use a sump with added CO2, but you'd be wasting the gas you paid for, too. I found that minimal surface disturbance (at least actually breaking the surface) makes a huge difference. You can still have surface movement to get rid of films, but not actually breaking the surface tension of the water itself. The 1.5-2 wpg range is what is generally recommended before actually having no choice but to use CO2. Some tanks can't even go that far, whereas others can go ever so slightly further. Larger tanks can get by with slightly less wpg than smaller tanks, so you shouldn't need a ton of lighting, but that will also influence what kind of plants you want. Like without intense lighting, you can't have very short foreground covers like Glossostigma, Hemianthus callitrichoides, dwarf hairgrass, or even micro sword (which needs less than these others). Some red plants won't be as red or grow as well in lower light, as well, though there are exceptions (Barclaya comes to mind). It not only depends upon how much maintenance you want, but also the plants and the aquascape you want.

6700K is good, but I wouldn't go higher. I think one of the few exceptions would be more specialty plant grow lamps or things like Aquasuns (great spectrum for plants, btw), etc. Otherwise, stick to GE 3000K, 6000/6500K or thereabout.

Looking at one of these:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=16744

The 360 has a good price for the features. Obviously run some floss and carbon but should I add something for additional bio filtration like the ceramic media?

I also see no breaking surface tension to keep CO2 in is recommended, is there a concern about gas exchange for the fish or do the plants give off enough oxygen?

Stocking list I am thinking:

30 Neon Tetras
20 Tiger Barbs
20 Serpha Tetras
8-10 Cory Cats
Maybe 4-6 larger peaceful fish like gouramis or ram cichlids

Or:

20 Tiger Barbs
20 Serpha Tetras
8-10 Corys
3-4 Pairs of Angels

Live Aquaria also has some nice looking fw shrimp I might try. Maybe an exotic pleco for algae.

That filter is fine. You may even want a small powerhead hidden somewhere to give a bit of supplementary flow. You want reasonable flow (of course nothing like in reef tanks), as it helps with growth and keeps detritus from settling on the leaves. Just no breaking the surface. Fish options look good, but if you want shrimp, the second option won't work well. You may also want to reconsider the tiger barbs, though they may work out okay in a large group like that. I'm more concerned for the neons, as the serpae tetras can handle their own. Maybe consider rasboras or another barb species? A pair or two of rams would be perfect, but make sure the pH and hardness stay low (especially the hardness). As far as gas exchange, you don't need to worry too much. My tank would supersaturate with oxygen on a daily basis. Healthy plants will either come close to saturation or surpass it in most tanks. It's called "pearling" and you'll literally see oxygen beading off the plants. It is really cool to see in things like Riccia. As far as the plecos go, just shoot for one of the smaller species, like clown plecos, etc. I'm having trouble remembering some of the better fish, since it has been a while since I actively looked for them, though.

If at some point you decide to order fish let me know. Unfortionatly the fish I want are not that easy to find but i have one site that has them. I'm looking for the Ember Tetras. This site has them: http://www.invertzfactory.com/stocklist.htm

Don't wait on me to order. I'm still very much in the planning and deciding if this is even going to happen stage.

I'm trying to decide on doing this or a rimless 48x20x16 sps tank...sps is winning right now!

I set up a 120 gallon planted fresh water tank. Have mostly small tetras now but will buy the Congos and likely Rainbowfish next week. I have C02 that comes on during the day and goes off at night. Will post some pics soon.