Help with new 5.5 planted

[kastotrin]

Hi all, I'm new to this site and need some help with a new 5.5g *maybe* planted tank I'm thinking about setting up. I already have a 10g nano-reef and am looking for a freshwater tank that is not as much maintenance but it still not your typical tank. I just wanted to know what exactly I would need to start and maintain a planted tank. I figured I would need something like Seachem's Flourite for substrate, I already have a HOB running AC, Stealth heater, and I was going to use a Coralife Mini-Compact 50/50 20W lamp for lighting. Besides that, what else would I need to maintain a planted tank? Is the lighting sufficient for plant growth? If using distilled water could I put plants in the tank immeadietly after setting up the tank and getting the water to the desired temperature? Sorry, I know its a lot of questions but I would apperciate any advice you could give me.

[TigerBarb12]

well, if ur going planted, what are the watts above the 5.5 gal?

[kastotrin]

the stock lighting is gone...i would be using a 20W 50/50 bulb form Coralife that I used back when it was a saltwater tank...

[Fishboy93]

Originally Posted by kastotrin

Hi all, I'm new to this site and need some help with a new 5.5g *maybe* planted tank I'm thinking about setting up. I already have a 10g nano-reef and am looking for a freshwater tank that is not as much maintenance but it still not your typical tank. I just wanted to know what exactly I would need to start and maintain a planted tank. I figured I would need something like Seachem's Flourite for substrate, I already have a HOB running AC, Stealth heater, and I was going to use a Coralife Mini-Compact 50/50 20W lamp for lighting. Besides that, what else would I need to maintain a planted tank? Is the lighting sufficient for plant growth? If using distilled water could I put plants in the tank immeadietly after setting up the tank and getting the water to the desired temperature? Sorry, I know its a lot of questions but I would apperciate any advice you could give me.

Your good as far as lighting, as to how densely you intend to plant, you might want to look at some of Seachems Flourish Excel. Also once the water is dechlorinated and the right temp you can add plants, but you may want to get fish soon after that because they help keep up nutrients...

[JustOneMore20]

I would get a bulb that is 6700K or around there. With the 50/50 bulb, you'll only have about 10 watts of light that the plants can use since actinic light isn't too good for plants. That is very low light over a 5.5g and your plant choices will be very limited IMO. I'd get a full spectrum 6700K bulb or something with a Kelvin rating around that so that you'll have more plant choices. 20w of 6500K or 6700K would give you many plant choices. I'd dose some Excel every day and something like Flourish weekly.

You can use regular gravel for a planted tank. If you want a plant specific substrate, then I'd look at ADA Aquasoil and EcoComplete. You don't have to rinse either of those and they have alot of nutrients for plants. Flourite needs to be rinsed many times or it will cloud the water.

Also, take the carbon out of the filter so that it won't take the fertilizers out of the water.

[TigerBarb12]

yeah, i have 40 watts over 1 10 gal and 30 watts over another 10 gal. The 40 watt one is well lit. Id say if you want alot of plants to choose from, you probably need 20-30 watts, maybe more.

[MyraVan]

20W of *usable* light (as JustOneMore20 points out, a 50/50 doesn't give very useful light for a planted tank, becasue the blue bit provides very little light) is a heck of alot. It will require careful fertilization and CO2 addition to avoid it turning into an algea soup. The Flourish Excel that several people mentioned is one way of adding CO2 in liquid form.

You said you were looking for a lower maintenance tank. Well, what you're heading towards here is a fairly high-tech planted tank setup, which does not make for low maintenance. You first have to make sure that your lighting and nutrient dosing is all balanced, and then you have to prune like mad because your plants will be growing so fast.

If you're looking for a lower maintenance planted tank, then shoot for more like 2 watts per gallon, so something like 11 or so watts. Then you don't have to worry about dosing carbon (CO2 gas or Excel), you have to add little to no ferts (the fish add most of the ferts), and the plants grow much more slowly, so less pruning. Yes, you will have a more limited selection of plants, just like with reefs: the more light and current you have, the more demanding corals you can keep. But it's a good place to start with planted tanks, and it's a good place to end, if you want a nice-looking, easy maintenance tank.

[redpaulhus]

My 5.5 planted tank is standard gravel, driftwood, anubias, java fern, and java moss, and a breeding colony of cherry shrimp.
All of the plants do great with low/moderate light, and the shrimp love to nibble on algae.
I've got a dirt-magnet jr. style sponge filter in there, but more for the infusoria I hope it will provide the little shrimplets
Since this is in my office at work, its under a flo. strip light about a foot over the tank - this allows me to have pothos growing out of the tank and across the desk (and up the cubical walls, and across my neighbors cube - its taking over the whole office ! )

I figure the pothos is my biggest form of nutrient export, and the roots make a nice background (the shrimp love to climb them).

Very low maint tank - I try to take out a gallon of water once a week, and replace with dechlorinated room-temp tap water. I also add about a gallon during the week - the pothos drinks alot of water !
The tank isn't heated, and stays about 72 - perfect for the shrimp, just warm enough to breed but not warm enough to breed too quickly and overwelm the tank.
No other additives.

It certainly my simplest tank, and easiest to maintain - and other than people who ask "where's the fish" because they just can't grasp that not all aquariums are "fish tanks" - it gets rave reviews from my co-workers

[girth vader]

have a read. it will shed some light, pardon the punn, on how to light a small tank. It takes a lot of light for small tanks.

http://rexgrigg.com/./light.htm

http://rexgrigg.com/mlt.html

[MyraVan]

You know, I'm not really convinced by this need for smaller tanks to have more watts per gallon. The thing is, smaller tanks are generally much shallower than larger tanks, and so the light is much less attenuated by the time it gets to the bottom.

I have a 10 gallon tank lit by 22 watts of T8 bulbs. (I'm quoting the actual power consumption of the bulbs, not what they are *supposed* to consume. The lighting is actually two "14W" bulbs, but they obviously don't actually use 14W each!) It's not the brightest tank on earth, but plants do grow well in there, and it looks nice. Sure I can't grow riccia sumberged, but I'd don't have a burning desire to do this anyway.

I also have a 2.5g tank which I have currently set up with no light at all. Well, no artificial light; it sits right next to a south-facing window. Still, the plants are growing, slowly. Except for the dwarf sag, which is doing its usual thing of trying to take over the tank.

So I really am not convinced that 20W of usable light would be a good amount of light over a 5.5G tank, unless you are after a fast-growth, high-tech tank. If you (kastotrin) are, then go for it. If you have reef tanks, then you know something about nutrient management, etc, so you'd probably have better luck at it than someone who's only kept freshwater fish before.