40 gal breeder newbie

[tjwatson]

hi all first post here i have a 40 gal tank sitting around and i want to make it a planted tank. i made the stand myself out of 5/16 frameworld i had sitting around

Things i have questions on..
filtration
I think im going to go with the fluval C4 MAY eventually go with 2 of these down the road
Substrate
Not sure here whats the best?
http://www.amazon.com/U-P-Aqua-D-550...8182365&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Bonsa...8184184&sr=8-8
from waht i have read here these are 2 good ones i do like black substrate tho
Lighting
Not sure waht to do here i have read there was LEDs you can use BUT are they as good as the coralife ones made for planted tanks? hit the same spectrum?

[halffrozen]

It is not lush AT ALL, its actually one day old.. lol

I have a 40GB as well, and I run a Fluval C3 and a Quiteflow 30 on it for filtration. More then enough IMHO.

Lighting I bought from eBay for about $80 and it works very well for the price.

Substrate I used was just a Petco black sand(inert) with root tabs.

[smokaah]

If I were you I would go with a t5 of some kind. In my opinion LEDs will be very pricey and not as good. Black Diamond blasting grit works if you are going to dose fertilizers. Very cheap too. I used it on my newest tank. Works well do far.

[tjwatson]

http://www.amazon.com/Fluval-E-300-W...220832&sr=8-27

thats the heater i was going to use good bad? overkill?

[tjwatson]

what lights? i amazoned T5 and came up with a TON of stuff but my tank is 3ft they are all 4ft i was lookin at the 6bulb one i know coralife has some that are very thin

[wakesk8r]

catalina lights has a nice retro fit kit. You build a canopy and just screw them in. I have 2 dual bulb t5s on my 40 breeder. One pair of ho one of no.

[jeremyTR]

Originally Posted by tjwatson

what lights? i amazoned T5 and came up with a TON of stuff but my tank is 3ft they are all 4ft i was lookin at the 6bulb one i know coralife has some that are very thin

Search for the Odyssea 36" 78W T5HO fixture for $45! I'm using it now and it's working great.

[tjwatson]

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssea-Aquari...8230459&sr=8-3

or

http://www.amazon.com/Odyssea-Aquari...8230459&sr=8-7

[jeremyTR]

That's a lot of light. I suggest sticking with the 2x39w

Here -

http://www.aquatraders.com/36-inch-2...re-p/52122.htm

[Noahma]

This light fixture is a pretty good one. I have one 5" over the top of my 21" tall tank. It comes with a hanging kit, or legs for the tank. It is inexpensive, and looks pretty goo. more than enough light for a 40B application, with my 36g being tall with the light, I can grow just about any plant I want to.

http://www.petco.com/product/111939/...t=OnSiteSearch

[jeremyTR]

That light doesn't stretch across the entire length of the 40B though.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by jeremyTR

That light doesn't stretch across the entire length of the 40B though.

if you get the 36" version it will, the 36" fixture houses dual 34" long T5 bulbs. Petco only shows the picture of the 24" fixture, if you look on the right down a little they list all of the sizes they carry.

[jeremyTR]

haha yeeeaaaa my bad. I feel silly now <_<

It is more expensive than the Odyssea, though.

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by jeremyTR

haha yeeeaaaa my bad. I feel silly now <_<

It is more expensive than the Odyssea, though.

LOL not a problem!

the bulbs in the odyssea seem to be crammed together in the fixture, the spacing in the zoomed fixture has a nice spacing between the bulbs, as well as between the bulbs and reflectors. not sure how much better, but I know that when you cram things together close, you loose a bit of light output.

[jeremyTR]

Not really an issue when the light will only be about 15 inches from the substrate.