Hey all. A buddy gave me his Red Sea max 130d (34 gallon) reef tank setup and I plan on turning it into a planted tank. Firstly, I need to buy a circ pump. The pump that comes with it pumps 300 gallons per hour. Is this too much flow for planted? I plan on going low tech, medium density planted.
Don't think a lot of folks on here have experience with it, but it should work out well. If you're doing low tech, you may want to take a look at the light. If it comes with a light, most likely it's way too strong since it'll be a reef light. 300gph is fine for a 34 gallon tank, might be a little weak, I'd go for a 400gph pump.
I just read your post. I don't have this setup, but I converted a 45 gallon salt-water tank to a planted tank. It was an old-school tank so the first thing I did was rinse it with water and vinegar to take out the salt residues. I then placed the substrate: dirt and eco-complete. I planted the tank and added the water. I do have a mechanical filter so it's technically not a true Walstad tank. I have the filter on one end and a pump for water-flow on the other side. It has grown nicely. I do have to agree with previous post, after 2 months of low growth, I bought new lights (4xT5 at 6500k range with close to 200 watts) and the plants began growing quickly. I don't have a CO2 rig, but I do add glutaraldehyde (excel) daily. I also add dry fertz (micro and macro using the PPS+ method).
If you're going to retrofit a light into the hood, you might as well go with LEDs. PC bulbs are old technology. You can go w/ something w/ similar PAR as a 55w bulb for far less wattage.
Did you ever get this up and running? I have an empty RSM130 in the garage and would love to use it as f/w.
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