# new to forum, new to planted aquaria...



## the_anti_honda (Aug 19, 2004)

Hi all
i was just letting you know you have another n00b to watch make some mistakes. i have done FW aquariums for as long as i can remember and I'm going on 4 years in marine and reef aquariums of all different shapes and sizes. but not until recently i had started an 80gal planted aquarium with my boss. now my plan is to start one in my own home with a 125gal or 135gal sized tank. i have most of my filtration including 2x Fluval 404 canister filters and lighting i was going with 2x55watt power compacts of 10k and 2x96 watt power compacts of 6700k and 2x40watt NO fluorescent lighting sponsored by Hagen I'm not to sure on what lighting spectrum and kelvin but i think those will be more in the blue range to bring out the color in the fish and take out the yellow in the water. i will be using a pressurized co2 system but not sure on the specifics yet. the substrate is still a debate and i am still planing out an aqua scape. but any suggestions or ideas you might have feel free you post them up. i know sometimes we don't have enough money to do what we want or would like to do. so you can pretend you are spending someone elses money. so please post some ideas for this aquarium including plants, fish, rock, wood etc.......

John


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hi John,
You've come to the right place to get off to a good start with your planted tank, and keep progressing.  

If you ask me about fish, I'm always biased to saying the same thing. In a large tank like that, huge schools of Rummy's, Cardinals, or any of the other true schoolers look great flowing back and forth through the plants.
A good sized group of Cory's for the bottom are always nice too.

You have a lot of room for different options, so if you give some sort of idea on your preferences, I'm sure you'll get all kinds of suggestions on the layout of your tank.


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## the_anti_honda (Aug 19, 2004)

what i was trying to image was a very large piece of drift wood covered in _vesicularia dubyana_ slopping from the far back left side of the aquarium toward the upper to mid maybe more right area of the tank. a few clumps of _microsgarium pteropus _along the wood. i want some sort of short plant to cover the substrate but not thin, maybe go with the slope of the wood dense on the left and fade to a shorter trimmed up area on the right. maybe more like grass. i had in mind _elegharis parvula_. and where the woods begins and ends create and island effect with some smaller plants up to larger like _echinodorus amazonicus_. i would also like to add in some color with maybe _ammannia gracilis _of the pink variety. i do like _ludwiga repens_ also.

but as you said a school of rummys is a must have. i think i will do that. those fish for sure thank you for the advice. i like a little bit of everyones taste in my aquarium.


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## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

I really like large schools on Rummy Nose Tetras, their just so cool all moving at once. 

2x55w at 10K are not a good plant bulb. You need to stay around 6700K or 6500K. All thou I have had very good growth with 9325K. 

I use 2x Fluval 304 on my 75gal. so you should be fine on the filtration. You might want to use a external CO2 reactor on one filter. I do and I am very pleased with it. It all so keep hardware out to your tank and out of sight. 

If you can stand the cost I would use Eco-complete for your substrate. Its made just for planted tanks. I use it in all my plant tanks now and I am totally sold on it. 

Don't skimp on your CO2 system. A good pressure system with a PH controller will save allot of aggravation in the long run on a tank that size. 

Can't wait to see some pic of your tank all set up.

Hawk


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## the_anti_honda (Aug 19, 2004)

Eco-complete is what substrate we used at work on our 80gal and i like the looks of it much better then Flourite, seems so clay like and messy. maybe i will switch the 55watters to 6700k also. and use the 2x40watt NO lights for color of fish only.


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## Corigan (Mar 15, 2004)

Just to add in, plants can benefit from k ratings of 5000-10k roughly. Some people around these parts do use straight 10k's on their tanks and have no problems growing plants. I have all 6700k's on all my tanks right now and as the bulbs wear out I am going to start switching them out and mismatching bulbs. For instance in my 2x65w strip I plan on trying an 8800k and a 6700k, or maybe a 9325k and an 8800k. I would try to mix some bulbs together to try to get the best spectrum as possible.

Matt


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