Am I Crazy....

[ghbrewer]

I have seen some really nice planted tanks recently, and I have really been considering taking some of the left over glass that I have from my 100g and setting up a ADA style FW planted tank. I used to have a small planted tank at the office, but switched over to purely SW/Reef Tanks a couple years ago. I always said that if I set another one up that it would be larger, say btwn. 75-100 gallons.

How many of you guys have a planted tank in addition to your reef tanks? Do you get as much enjoyment out of them? What are you doing for filtration? Having ran reef tanks for a while, I could see how a drilled tank would have its benefits for hiding equipment and such, but are there any drawbacks?

 

[hiimsean]

I had few planted tanks in the past (before reefing) and loved them and I really would like to do another. They're super easy. I ran a canister filter on mine with T5s. You could really set it up filtration like a sump. I had some filter pads in my canister and matrix, that's it. I had a trio of black angels, some apisto cichlids and corys. It was a fun tank.

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Actually now I think I might go ahead with setting one up

 

[hzheng33]

i have a 65gal planted tank in addition to the reef tank. it's slightly easier (relatively speaking) with less equipment. if i were you, i would run the planted tank just like how you would with a reef: sump to hide all equipment and filtration through canister filter. i would also add algae scrubber in the sump to outcompete nuisance algae.

depending on how high tech you want to go, you can go with some LED light, some (but not too much) current flow. co2 regulator with solenoid is a must for high tech tank. also dosing ferts to grow those red plants or high demand plants require iron, trace elements, etc.

hardscape-wise: you can go with malaysian driftwood or rocks such as dragonstone/ or the japanes stone (forgot how to spell it)

plant wise, if you want to challenge yourself. grow some HC and GU.

fish: discus are the most beautiful fish you can have IMO. but there's also freshwater pipefish if you're up for the challenge.

the easiest part of planted tank is water change. no need for filtered water. most cases, tap water is good enough.

 

[ghbrewer]

You say no need for filtered water, but I was thinking about using RODI water. Would this be an issue?

 

[hzheng33]

ghbrewer;995166 wrote: You say no need for filtered water, but I was thinking about using RODI water. Would this be an issue?

if you're doing planted tank, plants need phosphate for nutrients. that's why if you use rodi water, make sure you have some phosphate source such as dirted soil. that's also where PPS or EI method for planted dosing comes in handy.

 

[hiimsean]

Water in our area is perfect for FW.

 

[ghbrewer]

How about the size of the tank? With the glass that I have left, albeit odd dimensions, would equate to roughly a 95 gallon (55Lx26Wx16T) tank. Is this too large and/or shallow of a tank?

 

[mcphock]

Grant, I use a drilled 90 tank in my kitchen as a freshwater planted tank. Under the tank, I have a "sump" (27g tall) that I use to add water volume and keep heaters. I also run a monster eheim canister filter. Yay eheim.

RODI isn't a great idea because it contains no elements to buffer the water. Marine salt adds those back in. Without those buffers, the water is prone to dangerous pH drops.

 

[skriz]

Well done planted tanks are awesome. I wanted to do a Takashi Amano style tank, but couldn't dedicate the time needed to pull it off.

I'll post a pic of what it ended up like. It still needs a good bit of work, but it's getting there.

 

[hiimsean]

ghbrewer;995177 wrote: How about the size of the tank? With the glass that I have left, albeit odd dimensions, would equate to roughly a 95 gallon (55Lx26Wx16T) tank. Is this too large and/or shallow of a tank?

You can really do any size you'd like.

Check out

 

[ghbrewer]

Thanks for the heads up on RODI use in planted tanks guys! I guess it will just have to be tap water with a dose of prime, just like I used to do with my previous FW setups.

In regards to canister filters, what media are you running? I have read that GAC is a no-no as well, since it will clean out nutrients that the plants can and will use. Are canisters just used for biological media? How about using pond matrix as a primary biomedia in a flow-through setup in a sump? Would a fluidized media reactor with ceramic pellets be more efficient? I never liked the idea of algae scrubbers in reef use, but maybe it is something to consider in the FW realm.

I agree, discus are beautiful fish, and would likely be at the top of the list for tank inhabitants if the tank were taller. I am afraid it will be too short though... I have also read that discus require higher tank temps, and that it would eliminate a lot of really cool potential plant species.

Amano's tanks are gorgeous, and the inspiration for this thread. I would like to try and mimic his aquascaping techniques, but I am sure that it is more difficult than it looks.

Seems like I have a lot of research to do on this subject... suggestions of good(reputable) forums or sites would be welcomed and greatly appreciated.

 

[hzheng33]

canister filter provides both biological and mechanical filtration. just keep in mind that every now and then you need to clean the filter by get rid of all the poop that it has trapped. i have a purigen inside my Eheim 2217 for the 65gal planted tank for getting rid of bad chemical.

if you decide to go with discus, some immediate companion fish i can think of is the ever-so-hardy cardinal tetras/neon tetras. around 78-80 degrees are good for them.

 

[wineman]

Here is a picture of my Planted Discus tank from a few years back, it has since been taken down.
As much as I enjoyed it, to be honest it was more work then my reef tank is now.
50% water changes every 2 weeks, Those Discus like their water clean!!!!!
It had 2 ehiem canister filters, Co2 injection, VHO lighting and I used RO water. I found the best substrate to be Seachem Flourite, also supplemented with Seachem Flourish, Flourish Iron & Flourish Trace.

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[matt7]

I've done a few planted tanks. lightly planted 29 gallon, decently planted 55, and a 10 bowfront that I had as a higher tech setup but I never really got the enjoyment I desired from them. the 10 was the best though. my favorite freshwater tank. had 5 designer yellow pingu guppy babies in it and a bristle nose. really loved the tank but once 2 of the guppies died I got kind of mad and the pruning got to be too much. only had it up and running like the picture about 6 months then it got overgrown and I sold the plants and the last 3 guppies and BN.

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[j_b_]

Here's my 60g when it was planted. This is close to the size you are talking about (48x24x12) and I used a 6-bulb bathroom bar with 6 6,500K cf twist bulbs. The bathroom bar was mounted so the lights were vertical rather than horizontal. I had to Rena XP3s filtering it and used a mixture of black sandblasting sand and pool filter sand as substrate.

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This one is my 75g when I had it planted with a dual substrate...kind of different look

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All I ever did my FW tanks is use tap water and prime...keep it simple!

 

[jennm]

I would still recommend using RO/DI to get rid of chlorine, fluoride and such.

Seachem makes a product called Replenish, that will add back the elements your tank needs.

Fish will die in straight RO/DI without reconstituting some of the minerals etc.

Seachem also makes some of the best supplements for planted tanks, including their AquaVitro freshwater line.

Jenn

 

[mcphock]

Grant, I actually have 2 15lb bags of fluorite I'd trade for a frag or something. It's that nice red color.... looks natural, especially if you mix it with their black fluorite.

 

[ghbrewer]

Thanks Steven, but I am still just considering if I even want to do it. It seems like it might be just as much work as a reef tank and probably about the same cost.

 

[willie1983]

I always wanted to do a planted tank with a school of neon tetras in my fw days

 

[mcphock]

Eh, my wife changes out 30% of the water 2x monthly in her goldfish cube, and its by far and away the nicest planted tank I've ever personally seen. Way way nicer than mine.

Clearly I wouldn't be maintaining your tank, so that's easy to say from here.