Starting up a 20 gallon long

[Phantomlink]

I'm starting up a proper 20 gallon long low tech planted for corydoras and kuhli loaches and I had a few questions.

After doing some reading, I plan to use CFL lighting because I can clip it onto the back and go without a lid, letting my Wisteria grow out of the tank. I know the spiral bulbs are affected differently for the Watts Per Gallon rule, so in a 20 gallon long with 2 lights, what kind of wattage am I looking for?

Co2 - None, not experimenting with that yet, if this 20 long works out well, I might convert my 75 gallon into a planted and try co2 then

Plants - Water Wisteria, Water Sprite, Java Fern, various Crypts

Substrate - Playsand, I'm keeping this low cost for now so I wont be using special plant soil

Ferts - I have liquid ferts I bought from Big Als ( A Canadian chain ) its their own brand (http://www.bigalspets.ca/fish/plant-...-32-fl-oz.html) for 32 ounces, it was pretty cheap. I also plan to buy some fert tabs for the crypts and any Sprite or Wisteria I dont float. I've been suggested to crush some up before adding the sand to get a good boost when the tank is fresh. Since I plan to have some floating, is it ok to use both liquid and tabs without poisoning the fish? I know too much iron can be bad

Any inputs or thoughts? I'm excited to start this tank once I get some plants off Ebay

[thebuddha]

Hey phantom,


Have you read the lighting sticky about PAR? that will probably help you decide what wattage/how many CFLs to use.


But I wanted to comment on your substrate. If I were you, I would try to find a silica-based sand (like pool filter sand) instead of using play sand. Its much cleaner in my experience, and doesnt cost much more.

And yes, it is okay to use liquid ferts and root tablets together, although you may not even need much ferts with the plant list you have selected. (my crypts and jfern grow fine with just osmocote+ root tablets) And I have no experience with crushing up root tab, I thought it they were supposed to stay intact so they release the ferts slowly over time.

[Phantomlink]

Which lighting sticky? I saw one about PAR but I think it was off-site but I couldnt really understand the graph they had.

I can look around for pool sand, Its pretty bright compared to play sand and it'll show off the plants better and the black kuhlis and pepper corys but I cant find any in my town. I can look around though.

The tabs do release the ferts over time, but on another forum I posted almost the same thing and I was suggested to crush one up to give the tank an initial boost for new plants after the travel of a few hours. Big Als is 2 hours away from me so I can only go there when I know I can make the trip worth it

[thebuddha]

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=184368
theres the sticky, i guess there isnt a ton of info on CFLs. Looks like 15w or 9w are your best choices. :/
Hopefully someone with experience with a 20l and CFLs will chime in


And for silica sand, you can look at pool stores, or try like home depot/lowes/menards, or maybe even tractor supply co, or walmart.

[Phantomlink]

Home Depot only has playsand and concrete, Walmart has nothing ( I live in a town of 25000, we just have the basics ) I went to a water store my neighbour works at who sells hot tubs pool stuff, but they dont have filter sand, he suggested another place on the other side of town but I'll have to ask again. I still got a few days to research.

Hoping someone with CFL does chime in, according to that post a 15 watt CFL bulb 15 inches from the light to the bottom of the tank is ~110 PAR, and they stat anything over 50 PAR needs co2 :/ I hope I'm reading it wrong

[PeterN1986]

Originally Posted by Phantomlink

Home Depot only has playsand and concrete, Walmart has nothing ( I live in a town of 25000, we just have the basics ) I went to a water store my neighbour works at who sells hot tubs pool stuff, but they dont have filter sand, he suggested another place on the other side of town but I'll have to ask again. I still got a few days to research.

Hoping someone with CFL does chime in, according to that post a 15 watt CFL bulb 15 inches from the light to the bottom of the tank is ~110 PAR, and they stat anything over 50 PAR needs co2 :/ I hope I'm reading it wrong

Read this on CFL's, it helped me out greatly when I had two 23W CFL's over my 20g (I now have a FInnex LED):

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...2&postcount=21

[Phantomlink]

Thanks I'll give it a detailed read soon, trying to get my video driver fixed :<