jcardona1's Aqua Forest: The Beginning

[chonhzilla]

yeah moving with a planted tank would really suck! but lemme know how it goes with the setup. and lemme know if you see any jumbo clown loaches! they usually have the small ones there but i want some at least 3~4"+

Whities has some....yes i know whities is a usual rip-off but they got some at about 3" for i think 10 bucks each...i saw them there last week..

 

[Guerillah]

Updates!! Thinking about doing my own small scale aqua forest soon. YOu got 4x54w t5 ho?

 

[jcardona1]

8/18/08: Ok here's a quick update, 5 days and later and im already starting to see some growth!!!!!

you can see in the pics where the bright green areas are. the new leaves are tiny, but there is some growth going on. the brown parts are what melted after the shipping. hopefully this will start to really take off soon. the HM is doing great too!

more pics in about a week

 

[jcardona1]

yup, running 4 54w T5's

 

[dhgyello04]

Hey Jose,
Thanks for the update… it is looking great. Did you ever go and get the loaches? About the light, I have a question…

In my minny tank (compared to yours) 46 gallon bow… I am going for a low tech planting. I just don’t want to get into CO2. I found a 2 bulb T5 with two 39 watt bulbs. It runs about 1.7 watts a gallon. Do you thing this will work? By the way the wood is soaking as I type for the new tank…. Screw waiting. Ha ha ha

Don

 

[Caoboy]

Hey Don, you are definitely going to need Co2.

A 'high wattage' bulb like that, along with fertilizers, are going to make your tank an algae haven without even DIY co2 setups.

Even low tech tanks need SOME co2 supplement (besides fish breathing) to grow well.
(DIY setups are only good for about 20-30g as well)


Look into it, even on a low tech tank, co2 does wonders, and it's a cheap addition that will pay off in the long run.

-Steve

 

[jcardona1]

hey don,

no, i didnt get a chance to head out to tropical haven before they closed. the fish look good in the pics though. hopefully theyll still have some when i get there. dont go to modesto too often, and its only on the weekends.

but as steve said, the T5 lights are gonna be too much if youre not gonna try and run co2. if you dont wanna get into co2, id avoid running T5, they are super bright. look at T8's or T12s

 

[dhgyello04]

Hey Don, you are definitely going to need Co2.

A 'high wattage' bulb like that, along with fertilizers, are going to make your tank an algae haven without even DIY co2 setups.

Even low tech tanks need SOME co2 supplement (besides fish breathing) to grow well.
(DIY setups are only good for about 20-30g as well)


Look into it, even on a low tech tank, co2 does wonders, and it's a cheap addition that will pay off in the long run.

-Steve

Hey Caoboy,

It just scares the hell out of me knowing that I can kill my fish during the night. I know nothing about CO2. I just don’t know where to start, or what to do, or when to do it… Can you help? Pm me and let me know of a good DIY Co2.

Thanks
Don

 

[jcardona1]

ha! there really is no need to kill your fish. if youre going DIY co2, setup up a pump/airstone on a timer. set it so it will come on at night after your lights go off when your plants start consuming oxygen rather than producing it.

i actually decided today that im not gonna run a ph controller and ill save the money for a better regulator. im gonna use a timer for my regulator/solenoid and have it come on/off with the lights.

that way, i have NO co2 being injected when the lights are off and it wont starve the fish of o2

 

[oOMO3NOo]

i still run an airpump at night even with presurized co2 just to be safe because at night both the plants and fish need the O2 if you run diy CO2 you are not putting that much in, the airpump will out compete it easily the problem you can run into with diy is not having consistant co2 levels. another option is excel but it can get expensive to use excel in a large tank