# How To? 46 Gallon Planted Tank?



## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

I just picked up a great deal on a 46 Gallon Bow Front Tank. I don't have anything other than the tank and the stand. 

I'm thinking of doing the natural tank per Walstad. Top Soil w/Oyster Shell's. I have some very fine sand where I wanted to aquascape a dry river bed. For the rest of the tank I wanted to use black gravel on top of the soil. After that I need help, I'm very new to this.

Does anyone have any links or references online I could use? How-to's or personal success stories?

Which plants grow best? I'd like ground cover & Tall plants. With the following profile in the tank.

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I'm also thinking of using a powerhead with the input for CO2. On the other side of that I was thinking of trying a DIY CO2 Yeast setup. 

Lighting? Looking for something cheap, but doesn't look cheap on the tank. Do I need special grow lights or will any light work from Wal-Mart?

Thanks in advance. I plan to post photos as I progress through this. 

It has to look fairly nice otherwise I'll be in the dog house!


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Even without CO2 supplementation I have not yet met a Cryptocoryne or an Echinodorus I didn't like. Plus plants in either genus come in a variety of sizes and color forms, from very short foreground specimens to the tallest of backgrounds.

Nymphoides sp. 'Taiwan' is very light green to almost yellow-green and is a good offset if you use dark, rich colors otherwise.

If you are looking for a carpet-like plant in the front Marsilea sp. 'minuta' or the larger leaved Marsilea both do well. I've heard Sag.subulata is a good one for grass-like appearance, but I have not had success with it. I have some Lileopsis, but it's just kind of there and is begin out-competed by Marsilea. Then again, a lot of my issues come from the height of my tank (23-24 inches) and some plants just don't do well that deep unless they start off kind of tall to begin with or relatively shade tolerant.

Anyway, start with a good variety, as it really depends on your water.


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## Wunderkind (Dec 14, 2004)

Start by filling the tank with cheap basic plants.

Examples would be things like Wisteria, Anacharis, Cabomba, Foxtail and such for the larger stem plants. Swords and Cryptocorynes do well for a spreading leaf plant. I am trying Dwarf Sagitaria in mine, but it is a new NPT, so I am not sure about long-term viability.

The nice thing about the basic stems is that you may end up liking them and if you don't you aren't out much if you decide to replace them.

A store that I like, Aqua Botanic sells two good starter packages that are designed for more modest tanks. Here is the link to them.

http://www.aquabotanicstore.com/Hard_to_Kill_Plant_Assortment_p/passort1.htm

First is the Hard-to-Kill package. This is designed for simple, moderate light tanks with a nice assortment of plants. It is designed for a 20-30 gallon, so pick up two.

http://www.aquabotanicstore.com/product_p/passort2.htm

This next one is the Starter assortment. Similar to the Hard to kill with a couple of differences. This one is designed for a 55 gallon, so you would only need one.

Even if you don't order these specific packages it is a good jumping off point for plants that should work in an NPT.

Good luck and happy planting!


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## boink (Nov 29, 2006)

Another option is to check the Sale section for someone during a huge trim. You can get a lot of plants that way.


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

boink said:


> Another option is to check the Sale section for someone during a huge trim. You can get a lot of plants that way.


+1!!! I got all of my plants in the for-sale-or-trade forum or from APC members nearby and paid verrrrrry little (sometimes absolutely nothing) for most of my plants.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Sagitaria Subulata is doing very well in my NPT without CO2, filter, fan/chiller/heater. So I highly recommend you to try it. Mine is in fact growing like a jungle as you can see in the photo. No other plant has done as well as Sagitaria in my NPT. I lost a large number of plants in my experiment of looking for the right plants actually, but I got them free or charge from friends.


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## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

Thank you all very much for the input on the plants. 

I have another set of questions for you. I'm trying to figure out what is the cheapest but yet most effective way to come up with lighting. The person I purchase the tank from said the bulb for his hood uses a 96 watt bulb which are normally around $50. It uses a square plug with 4 prongs. The local store said they could order one for me, but $50...

I'm curious if any of you know of a cheaper alternatives that work great. I've thought about building something that uses compact florescent bulbs that screw in. Again I have to make it look presentable, so shop lights, etc are out of the question. I've thought about just buying one of the fixtures online that are around $200... 

But I was figuring I could wire up a hood for about $50 with parts from Menards or Home Depot. 

Also I'm not sure which online supplier is the most reputable I've read some bad reviews about customer service at aquarium guys but I have also read some that are good. 

Thanks in advance.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

totziens said:


> Sagitaria Subulata is doing very well in my NPT without CO2, filter, fan/chiller/heater. So I highly recommend you to try it. Mine is in fact growing like a jungle as you can see in the photo. No other plant has done as well as Sagitaria in my NPT. I lost a large number of plants in my experiment of looking for the right plants actually, but I got them free or charge from friends.
> 
> View attachment 11340


Why did you label yourself "Good Bye"(totziens)? :biggrin:


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## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

I use light fixtures and lights from fishneedit.com. Some people I have read posts from are extremely happy with the product for the price, others not so much. I have never had a problem with my fixtures (I have 4 36" fixtures and 1 24" fixture) and am one of those extremely satisfied, especially for the price.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

bosmahe1, oh...you can understand Dutch? It was one of the few Dutch words I remember by heart (I have a Dutch friend that I have known for about 24 years. I learned the language from her). I am stuck with totziens since I took it as my email address more than 10 years ago. It's easy for me to remember 

Sorry for the unrelated topic.


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## Tuiflies (Jan 21, 2010)

My Sag. is growing great in my NPT but it's creating a carpet about 5" deep. Some of the blades are over 8" long but they bend over under their own weight. If you have strong enough light they won't grow so tall but you might want to consider Echinodorus tenellus (or Helanthium tenellum as I believe it's called now), aka. Pygmy Chain Sword.


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## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

totziens said:


> bosmahe1, oh...you can understand Dutch? It was one of the few Dutch words I remember by heart (I have a Dutch friend that I have known for about 24 years. I learned the language from her). I am stuck with totziens since I took it as my email address more than 10 years ago. It's easy for me to remember
> 
> Sorry for the unrelated topic.


I know Nasi Goreng too! My mother was born in Indonesia.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Wow! I am unrelated to Indonesia but I my great-grandfather and his family migrated from Indonesia to Malaysia not too long after they migrated from China I believe. 

"Nasi goreng" means fried rice in Malay to those who are curious.


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## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

Hi All,

Another quick question. I have some play sand that I used in another tank as a substrate. I thought of putting a 1/8th to 1/4 inch layer of sand between the inch of gravel I'm going to put in and the 1.5 inches of soil w/ crushed oyster shells I already have in the tank. The thought being that it would initially help keep the soil from mixing into the water knowing that it will probably just mix into the soil over time.

I'm actually waiting for the light fixture I want to come in stock so this is giving me some extra time to probably over think this.... Let me know if this is just a waste of time. 

Thanks.


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## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

So I grew tired of waiting for the light fixture that I wanted to come in. Instead I order two 96W light fixtures that fit very well. 

I vacumed out most of the play sand that I had put on top of the soil. I figure once it's wet the remaining sand will mix with the soil. 

I took you advice and ordered the "Hard to Kill Package" From aqua botanic. So my plants are on the way and they include the following. 

5 of : Amazon Sword 
1 of : Crinum calamistratum 
6 of : Dwarf Hairgrass 
2 of : Giant Sagittaria 
1 of : Hard to Kill Package 
6 of : Lobelia cardinalis small form 
Hard to Kill Package:
2 Java Fern 
2 Anubias nana 
3 Java Lace Fern 
4 Cryptocoryne spiralis
6 Cryptocoryne wendtii small
1 Hornwort 
2 Wisteria 
10 Dwarf Sag (1 bunch) 
1 Java moss

Any advice or recomendations on this list? 

Thanks!


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## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

Well I am having some trouble with my setup and hoping you can all give me some advice.

The soil is releasing alot of tannins as the generic potting soil I used had many small twigs and peices of wood. I tried to get all of the big peices out from the start, but it has been two weeks and the water is not clearing so I think there is a bunch of this matter in the soil.

Additionally after three days I started to notice alage forming on the sides of the glass and in the water column. It looked as though it was setting up for a bloom. I turned off one of my light fixtures so I'm operating on 11 hours of light per day with a break over the lunch hour with 96 watts. This is just over two watts per gallon. 

I added an internal filter that has active carbon to try and cut out the tannins. It seems to clear the water a little after adding new carbon for a day or two but then it contues to get darker and darker.

My Moneywart is taking off. Everything else for the most part is stagnent. 

Without much plant growth it seems that I am starting to see small amounts of green hair alage forming on some of the plants. I've tried to clean that off as much as possible, but I'm really struggling as I feel this tank is taking a turn for the worse.

I have 17 glowlight tetras, 6 cory's, and a handful of ghost shrimp. The fish are all doing great and appear very healthy.

Thanks in advance.


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## Tuiflies (Jan 21, 2010)

The tanins won't hurt anything but if you don't like the look, you'll either have to do lots of w/c's for quite a while or start over. Algae's pretty much the norm for new NPT's so I wouldn't worry about that. There's usually a break in period when the soil's releasing lots of organics (leading to algae) but you can help control that with w/c's as well. I wouldn't give up for atleast 4 months. Just keep up with weekly (or semi-weekly) w/c's and you might reduce the tanins to an acceptable level and keep the algae in check at the same time.


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## nebusa (Mar 16, 2010)

I took out the Powerhead that I had in the tank for water movement and have added a canister filter. 

I couldn't be more happy as I added Seachem Purigen to the filter and it has completley cleared up the tannins. I was using an off the aquarium filter with active carbon only prior to that which helped, but the purigen really seems to have done the trick. 

My forground plants are getting much more light and appear very happy. For the most part every on of the plants are showing signs of new growth.


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