# Hello. goals and set-up



## Hurricane (Aug 7, 2005)

Hello everyone!
This is my first post and my first attempt to stock my tank with a variety of plants...ie not just Java moss or Java fern.

First, my goal is to use plants to help highlight my fish. At this time I don't want a 'dutch' tank or a tank heavily planted (I know some of my fish may like that). My 'style' is water changes and a variety in diet. I would like to choose plants that will not require CO2 or fertilization.

Second, I have a 20 gal long tank with 130watts of PC lights. Currently the lights are two 65w bulbs with a 6700/10000 and a 420/460 and a moonlight, but I will be changing the 420/460 to a 420/7,200 or something similar. I like th actinic b/c of the effect it has on fish color. I have normal 1-3mm gravel/sand that has a natural color. I have a Fluval 304 for filtration.
If you are wondering, this use to be my salt water tank.

My live stock consist of endlers live bearers, guppies, Formosa, bushy nose albino pleco, a frog, sparkling gouramis, glo lite tetras, and a pearl danio. I don't have a great grasp on the scientific names yet, but I am working on it. 

Any thoughts on my set up or goals or any recommendations on plants I would appreciate it.
Thank You,
Harry


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

That will probably be too much light for a lightly planted non co2 tank. You should probably shoot for about 1.5-2 watts per gallon, otherwise you will probably be over run with algae very quickly.


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## Hurricane (Aug 7, 2005)

*too much light*

Yeah, this light was great for my reef tank, but maybe overkill for a natural tank. One bulb is 65 watts which give a 3.2 watts per gallon. That is about the best I can do. My next question is: If i kept the actinics do you 'count' that light as part of my overal watts per gallon? It is not usable so will the algea use it?
Thanks,
Harry


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I wouldn't use them. They add energy to the system, so yes they count. Unfortunately, the wavelength isn't what you want for planted tanks.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

If you do not want to use C02 then I would suggest less light (not over 2wpg), even with the 65watts (3.25wpg) you will need C02 injection in the tank.

_Of the fish listed, which one's do you plan on putting in the 20G long?_


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## Hurricane (Aug 7, 2005)

OK, what if I used one 65 watt bulb but had it a 50/50 (10,000/Actinic) would that help with the need for CO2? Even though it is 3.2 watts per gallon, with the actinics would it be more like 1.6 watts per gallon of usable light?  
As far as the fish, I had them all in another 20 long two days ago. Had to change tanks.
Harry
may have to consider a CO2 system....should I start reading about them :-s ?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Although the plants don't get full benifit from the actinic blue bulb you will still have enough wattage that you will need C02. So yes I would look into C02, here is a couple of links to get you started....

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/

or

http://sammyxp.tripod.com/html/id23.html

_Don't you think that is a lot of fish for a 20G tank?_


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## inspirational (Jul 8, 2005)

Since you wanted to keep Formosa, bushy nose albino pleco, a frog and etc. Iwould strongly advise you to grow red tiger lotus, narrow leaf Java fern(more beautiful than normal Java fern), Anubias barteri ''coffeefolia''. Try to get those hardy plants since you do not have a CO2 system.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

Hurricane said:


> OK, what if I used one 65 watt bulb but had it a 50/50 (10,000/Actinic) would that help with the need for CO2? Even though it is 3.2 watts per gallon, with the actinics would it be more like 1.6 watts per gallon of usable light?
> As far as the fish, I had them all in another 20 long two days ago. Had to change tanks.
> Harry
> may have to consider a CO2 system....should I start reading about them :-s ?


Or you could stick with non CO2 and put your money into retrofitting your light to 1.5 to 2 wpg. It would be cheaper and more in line with what you were originally talking about doing ie. no fertilizing.

Good luck, bill


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## Hurricane (Aug 7, 2005)

Everyone,
Thanks for the comments.
Bill, your right, that was my original idea/goal. Its easy to get carried away, make excuses, or get distracted. I love the lights I have, they look great color wise as well as unit wise. But.....there seams to be a big price to pay if I want to use them. I am not sure if I want to pay that price....the jury is still out.
Inspirational, thanks for the plant suggestions, I will do some research on them this weekend. Do you have Formosa's?
Trenac, thanks for the links, that is some good info. AFA my stock I have:
3 Formosas 3/4 inch max
3 Sparkling Gouramis 3/4 to 1 inch max
1 frog
1 albino bushy nose pleco not sure on the max size 6 inches
3 endlers live bearers 3/4 to 1 inch max
3 glo lite tetras 1inch to 1 1/2 (?) inch max
1 pearl danio 2 (?)inch max
5 fancy guppies 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch max

That puts me pretty close to the limit of one inch of fish for one gallon.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Don't go by the one inch rule, it only works on fish 2" or smaller. You need to be more concerned about how much waste that the fish will produce, for example a small Goldfish will produce more waste than say a Tetra of the same size. So I would not put all the fishes you have listed in a 20G long tank, that will be overstocked.


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