Soil I best for foreground carpeting plants. You can get away with sand but you’ll need to dose a lot.
Hairgrass will require high light in that tank. Cryptocorne Parva will be better.
Tank Upgrade 450-550g Planning
- Thread starter nzafi
- Start date
Hairgrass will require high light in that tank. Cryptocorne Parva will be better.
I was under the impression that there are several low light carpeting plants? I did some digging and it looks like PFS might be big enough grain size for low tech plants.
Couple other things I need to figure out:
1) I’m looking into is light requirements and how much power they will consume. I’m trying to avoid getting an electrician to run more lines to the tank plus I’m trying to avoid a skyrocketing monthly electric bills.
2) I was planning on having close to 10,000gph of in tank flow and I am not sure if this will cause a disaster with the PFS.
3) My intakes will be bottom drilled and I need to decide how high to have them off the substrate and how to make that look decent.
Hello; here you have a catch 22 situation. Fine substrate deep enough for plants that might keep detritus on the top is also likely to compact enough to form gas pockets. In my experience I have over a few decades used a substrate at least 4 inches plus deep.
Hello; With a substrate of particle size large enough to avoid compacting and the troublesome gas pockets there will be significant migration of detritus into the substrate. I have small gravel substrate and do use a gravel vac at each WC. I usually get plenty of detritus out of the gravel even with lightly stocked tanks. In my experience the dream of little maintenance just does not happen.
Hello; I have done the swords in pots a few times. It can work well enough. A couple of things have happened for me.
One is I tried plastic pots. I made holes in the bottoms and used soil. Worked well enough for perhaps a year or two until the swords depleted the nutrients from the soil. When I went to pull the plastic pots in order to replace the soil, the plastic fell apart. Made a big mess. I have gone back to terra cotta pots for my swords and the use of plant tabs in place of soil.
Hello; Yes to the crypts with low lumen lights or with shorter lighted periods.
Hello; For my planted tanks I use at least 4 inches of substrate, often more. I also gave up on sand decades ago with plants. I like a substrate of roughly from bb size to very small pea size. If you happen to like the look of sand such particle size can be had with a lot of work.
There aren’t many low light carpeting plants save for cryptocorne parva. The rest need at minimum low tk high with high being better. Your 30” depth will require significant lighting. Plus, given the flow in the tank, it could make it hard for the plants to take hold.
As for your substrate, I’m going to stick to sand with root tabs and go low tech root feeding plants or use epiphytic plants and attach them to wood and rocks. I would just ensure your water jets from your pumps or power heads doesn’t point into the substrate. Soil should be out of the question. With your flow and depending on what fish you get, that soil will make it hard to keep your water clear.
Lastly, I would use pendent LEDs for the tank given its depth if you hope to have live plants.
You are doing a good job of convincing me not to do plants 
If I toss the carpeting plants, do you think I can get away with using my finnex 24/7 for the amazon swords? Yours are really big so its not like the light needs to go to the bottom of the tank. Due to the aimara getting big quickly, I actually need lots of open area. I think using 2 amazon plants to hide the corner filters along with drift wood should be plenty. I can get second finnex and place them like a inverted V so that I make sure they go over the swords.
My budget won't support getting the type of lighting you mentioned. I went big on getting a new tank and stand.
From a flow stand point, the pic below outlines what I am doing. The 2 HMF jetlifters will be moving ~1,000g each. The ultima will be connected to reeflo super dart aiming for 2,000gph, however, I am adding eductors that will increase intank flow up to 4x. By placing the ultima intakes at the bottom of the tank I am looking to create a circle/gyre motion that pulls all waste/debris to those intakes which will eliminate my need to clean substrate. Right now I am thinking I will have them raised about 6 inches off the substrate to minimize sand getting into the filter.
If I toss the carpeting plants, do you think I can get away with using my finnex 24/7 for the amazon swords? Yours are really big so its not like the light needs to go to the bottom of the tank. Due to the aimara getting big quickly, I actually need lots of open area. I think using 2 amazon plants to hide the corner filters along with drift wood should be plenty. I can get second finnex and place them like a inverted V so that I make sure they go over the swords.
My budget won't support getting the type of lighting you mentioned. I went big on getting a new tank and stand.
From a flow stand point, the pic below outlines what I am doing. The 2 HMF jetlifters will be moving ~1,000g each. The ultima will be connected to reeflo super dart aiming for 2,000gph, however, I am adding eductors that will increase intank flow up to 4x. By placing the ultima intakes at the bottom of the tank I am looking to create a circle/gyre motion that pulls all waste/debris to those intakes which will eliminate my need to clean substrate. Right now I am thinking I will have them raised about 6 inches off the substrate to minimize sand getting into the filter.
Finnex led strips look bright but their intensity is limited. My tank is 24” high and I’m using four strips staggered for my plants...all of which are considered low to medium light. This is on a 80” long tank. In my previous 225 with a 30” height, I had trouble using four finnex lights to grow plants that were in the substrate. Even emerged plants that were right beneath the bulbs didn’t flourish like they did when I was running 4x54 watt T5HO lighting. They simply lack the intensity.
You would need 6-8 48” finnex fixtures to get the lighting you want for plants unless you go with cryptocorne, anubias, or java fern. Swords do better with medium lighting. The pendants will be a better option in the long run since they use larger more intense, and focused LED bulbs.
I switched from T5HO alights to LED strips to save on electricity and on the cost of replacement bulbs. I started with two strips and had to double up. That’s why this time around, I’m getting the pendants. Tough pill to swallow from an initial cost standpoint but well worth it long run.
I hope to have this tank up and running in a month. I’ll be posting pics of the lighting so you can see what your options are. On a tank this big, pendants are the way to go for live plants. Wait until a holiday sale and buy them on discount. I got mine on Black Friday in anticipation of this build. Saved a ton.
As for flow rate and your ultima piping, it can be a hit or miss with sand. I always get sand into my filters. I just accept this as fact. I can never do bare bottom because scaping is one of the big draws of this hobby for me. For my ultima, I’ll be running six inches above substrate as well and plan on a 2” substrate. I accept that I’ll have tk gravel vacuum my tank every so often.
You would need 6-8 48” finnex fixtures to get the lighting you want for plants unless you go with cryptocorne, anubias, or java fern. Swords do better with medium lighting. The pendants will be a better option in the long run since they use larger more intense, and focused LED bulbs.
I switched from T5HO alights to LED strips to save on electricity and on the cost of replacement bulbs. I started with two strips and had to double up. That’s why this time around, I’m getting the pendants. Tough pill to swallow from an initial cost standpoint but well worth it long run.
I hope to have this tank up and running in a month. I’ll be posting pics of the lighting so you can see what your options are. On a tank this big, pendants are the way to go for live plants. Wait until a holiday sale and buy them on discount. I got mine on Black Friday in anticipation of this build. Saved a ton.
As for flow rate and your ultima piping, it can be a hit or miss with sand. I always get sand into my filters. I just accept this as fact. I can never do bare bottom because scaping is one of the big draws of this hobby for me. For my ultima, I’ll be running six inches above substrate as well and plan on a 2” substrate. I accept that I’ll have tk gravel vacuum my tank every so often.
Here is an example where you can see how the finnex compare to T5HO. The first clip is the 225 with the T5HO. Notice how much brighter it is than the second clip with the four finnex led strips. That’s why on a tank this deep, I’ll go with the pendants that’ll offer much more intensity.
This is the same tank. Different fish and plants of course but the difference in lighting is clear.
This is the same tank. Different fish and plants of course but the difference in lighting is clear.
You are giving me a lot to think about. I originally got the finnex a couple years ago because I strictly wanted some light and loved the 24/7 capability. I was not concerned at the time with growing plants. From a maintenance stand point bare bottom is the way to go and gets rid of so many worries. I just really do not want an empty tank with an aimara sitting there. And I am sure a bare bottom acrylic tanks is going to get scratched very fast.
