More questions for FrankandMaura's 125 gal system

[frankandmaura]

I figured I should move this discussion here...I hope I still get some hits!

More questions...

I am still up in the air about the plants (real or fake)...I am thinking about maybe doing like 10 -12 plants if I go real...and hopefully they will grow and fill in nicely. I am worried I am going to get into too much work. Suggestions...

With only a few plants am I ok?

If I do this much, do I need soil?

If not...do I use Flourite?

Can someone recommend good plants to use? I have done some research at the Dr's. and they seem to have a nice description, but I am just not sure.

I was thinking about getting some driftwood, is this worth the hastle or should I just go with the fake stuff?

I want it to look natural...I want to use natural looking gravel...how much do I need? Maybe like 100 to 150 lbs? What if I use soil, do I use less stone?

HELP!!!

Thanks all!

Frank

[Wiskey]

I figured I should move this discussion here...I hope I still get some hits!

More questions...

I am still up in the air about the plants (real or fake)...I am thinking about maybe doing like 10 -12 plants if I go real...and hopefully they will grow and fill in nicely. I am worried I am going to get into too much work. Suggestions...
With only a few plants am I ok?
This is opinion of course but really I think if your going to go with planted you should plant the whole thing This is visually more appealing, and really not any more work over just having a plant or two, plus the plants are great nutreant sucks.

If I do this much, do I need soil?
Inless you plan on planting it all don't use potting soil.

If not...do I use Flourite?
This is an option if you plan on only having a few plants,.. concentrating the fluorite around the plants is also not a bad plan, this means you can use lots of cheap gravel and only one bag of the expensive florite.

Can someone recommend good plants to use? I have done some research at the Dr's. and they seem to have a nice description, but I am just not sure.
That depends on what you want,.. but I always reccomend starting a tank out with plenty of fast growing stemplants like hornwart,.. there ugly but go a long way to preventing algae.

I was thinking about getting some driftwood, is this worth the hastle or should I just go with the fake stuff?
Depends,.. if you want to attach Anubious to it it's worth the hastle and water changes,.. but if not I'd go fake.

I want it to look natural...I want to use natural looking gravel...how much do I need? Maybe like 100 to 150 lbs? What if I use soil, do I use less stone?
I forget how much I used in my 180,.. but you want about 2" across the bottom if your doing plants. An LFS sells great gravel here for very cheap,.. $0.25 per pound.

HELP!!!

Thanks all!

Frank

[lemonheadmech]

If it helps hears a shot at my low tech plant, get away from reef tank tank. No Co2 or crazy dosing at all. About 100 lbs of black estes aquarium gravel, some cool looking rocks from the local nursery (cheaper than at the local fish store, where talking like 10 cents a lbs) and a piece of driftwood. The plants I got are Anubias nana, Amazon Sword, some sort of val, unidentified petsmart special, and some anacharis. I used seachem root tabs when I first set up the tank to condition the gravel and forgot about them. I have an air pump to help with Co2 (if it does anything I dont know, but still looks cool), and the only ferts I dose is trace and Potassium once a week. I have enough of a fish load with this low tech setup that I dont have to dose Nitrogen or Phosphorous.



I've only had this set up for 2 months and loving it.

[frankandmaura]

This is exactly what I am interested in...your tank looks great.

You don't have any soil?

"seachem root tabs" - what are these??? Do you just toss them in the water?

What trace do you dose? Is the Potassium necessary?

So, for the Co2...do you buy cannisters?? I am not sure I have every seen it used. I was going to just use a regular air pump...not a good idea?

Thanks for helping out. BTW...HALO rocks (I like your avatar)!! I may use some of the money left over from sellinf much of my SW stuff to get my XBox 360 (If I can talk Maura into it)...otherwise I am stuck with my regualr Xbox...

[lemonheadmech]

Okay trying this again after dreaded backspace button!

Thanks for the compliments!

No I dont have any soil in the tank. I only have the cheap aquarium gravel. However I would probobly use a substrate for plants the next time around.

Seachem Root tabs I use these because of my gravel. The gravel does not hold nutrients therefore does not provide any nutrients for the plants that are heavy root feeders to grow. Ie the Amazon Sword. Basically just push those little guys into the substrate by the plant and the plants are happy!

Trace = Trace elements or Micro nutrients. Not getting technical all these are are substances that plants use to grow that are not in abundance in the aquarium. Examples would be Flourish or Florish Trace. I use Flourish, and seem to have good success.

I just recently started dosing Potassium (K) because some of my leaves have started to turn yellow. From my reading this makes sense. K is a Macro or major element for plants. The other two are Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P). You get plenty of N and P from fish and fish food. This is the great thing about low tech. If starting to dose Co2, the plant will burn these elements out pretty quick and then you have to start dosing them into the tank when the fish cant poo enough.

I do not use Co2, and I try to stay away from it just because I think it involves more work. I use a regular air pump to pump in atmospheric air, with atmospheric air there is some Co2 and hopefully I get more into the tank without having to purposly inject it.

Couple of articles that can help with planted matierials!
Planted tank Fertilizers
Plant Deficiances

Hope this helps out a little!

Halo 3 Rocks by the way, would be well the coin to play!

[frankandmaura]

Can anyone tell me if these pieces would be ok in a tank?? They seem like nice stuff, but I am not sure what I would need to do to make sure they are safe...any reason they would not be usable?

Thanks

http://cgi.ebay.com/LG-NATURAL-DRIFT...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/fish-AQUARIUM-DR...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/fish-AQUARIUM-DR...QQcmdZViewItem

[frankandmaura]

bump

[Loverotties]

They are good specialy if you have a pletco,they love being sucked to it when their not sucking the algea away!

[lemonheadmech]

They look like very nice pieces. Dont see a reson why they couldn't be used in a freshwater setup. If you get them I would suggest putting them in a container of water to get them waterlogged and to possibly see if they release any tannins. Tannins aren't bad they just turn the water a tea color.

Another place to check out driftwood is http://www.floridadriftwood.com .

[frankandmaura]

Thanks for the info guys...

Lemon...that link is good information. Their stuff is pretty pricy though, I have seen cheaper stuff. Do you know if it is worth paying the extra to get it from them? I have even seen nice stuff on Dr's Foster and Smith for less.

[Loverotties]

If I remeber Driftwood helps regulate the Ph too!

[lemonheadmech]

I have to, the Fl driftwood is just one of those places that offers a what you see is what you get with driftwood. For some people they only want what they see because they are desinging a specific scape and therefore they are going to cost a little bit more. The stuff on the doctors is good stuff to. Personally I would only want one big piece of wood rather than a bunch of smaller ones.