several questions about freshwater setup

[dubolrr]

question1: wet/dry filter? yes or no, is it of great benefit? and why?

question2: substrate for live plants - when doing water changes/gravel vacuuming... should the substrate be vacuumed? i noticed at a lot of aquarium stores that have highly planted aquariums that it looks as if they never vacuum their substrate...???

question3: lighting, i noticed that saltwater tanks require some crazy and expensive lighting set-up, is that necessary for freshwater too? considering it will be a planted aquarium.

[Stang69]

Originally Posted by dubolrr

question1: wet/dry filter? yes or no, is it of great benefit? and why?


Yes you can use then as they help with nitrates depending on the situation

question2: substrate for live plants - when doing water changes/gravel vacuuming... should the substrate be vacuumed? i noticed at a lot of aquarium stores that have highly planted aquariums that it looks as if they never vacuum their substrate...???


Yes you can however with Live plants ya just wanna do under the surface so as not to disrupt the roots

question3: lighting, i noticed that saltwater tanks require some crazy and expensive lighting set-up, is that necessary for freshwater too? considering it will be a planted aquarium.

Not in all cases are the high lighting needed. (depending on Plants) However I found that my planted tank was as much maint as my reef was

HTH

Jeff

[krackel]

VHO's are ideal for planted tanks, but theyre not cheap, unless youre a DIY saavy type with an eye for used stuff. That is unless you just want some java ferns, shoplights will work for that.

[Awestralian]

Can you give us some tank specs?
Length and height?

I've never vacuumed our planted tanks. I almost always have a cory or two to keep the sand clean, and a bristelnose or two to keep the glass clean.
Example: On our 4 foot long, 20 inches tall, we run 2 to 3 regular fluros (i keep having to borrow tubes for other tanks lol), one actinic and one or two gro lux type, and i am constantly trimming back plants and taking cuttings for customers and other tanks. It has a bed about an inch to 2 inches deep - just washed playground type sand, 2 corys and 2 bristlenose for cleanup. (it mainly houses discus)
In all the years its been set up ive never vacuumed, or cleaned the glass.
I will mention the tank has been reset up 12 months ago after we moved, and mostly new sand was put in then. But the glass was spotless, and always has been. The sand was not full of gunk like when removing a DSB in a SW tank after a few years (peeeeeewwwww!)

[Tviokh]

Originally Posted by dubolrr

question1: wet/dry filter? yes or no, is it of great benefit? and why?

question2: substrate for live plants - when doing water changes/gravel vacuuming... should the substrate be vacuumed? i noticed at a lot of aquarium stores that have highly planted aquariums that it looks as if they never vacuum their substrate...???

question3: lighting, i noticed that saltwater tanks require some crazy and expensive lighting set-up, is that necessary for freshwater too? considering it will be a planted aquarium.

In the order asked...

1) We've used them, but have had issues with the impeller failing even though it received routine cleaning. They work very well, and I still use wet/dry on my small (like 3 gallon) tanks. For my larger freshwater tank, I've gone to canister filtration (Rena Filstars) and have found it much nicer than the wet/dry.

2) We don't. Unless there's obvious filth (and if there is, it means something else is wrong), we don't vacuum the substrate in the aquarium. It'd disturb the plants too much and it really seems to anger the cichlids when I mess up their little nests and sand 'caves' anyway.
If there's obvious filth on the substrate, most likely you're feeding too much or there's another type of quality issue going on that needs to be addressed.

3) If it is, don't tell my plants. I've just got an AquaGlo 18000k flourescent on my freshwater tank and it does just fine.

[tabwyo]

I have personally always used a canister filter on my planted tanks. With the inlet and outlet well below surface to avoid surface aggitation and out gasing. My substrate of choice is a semi coarse high iron garvel wich I do vacum on occasion. But only if it's really nasty. Planted systems are alot like reef tanks. With the right balance of animals/light/plants/water chemestry you tank shouls keep itself fairly clean. The lighting on my best planted tank is good ol' el cheapo shop lights. 2 48" lights with 2 bulbs a piece. Everything grows like mad. I also use co2 injection so that plays a big role in how green it is.