First planted tank attempt

How are you planning on using CO2?

Pressurized systems need regulators.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...185324616786&itemNo=11&In=Fish&N=2030065&Ne=2

plan on using something like that? is there any way around the regulator or the pressurized system? how about those flourish tabs?

for a 20 gallon Excel is sutable also a Diy co2 reactor could be sufficent.

is the link i posted above a pressurized system? or are those the ones with huge canisters that look like helium tanks. if i make a DIY co 2 do i need a regulator. sry for all the questions. im just not to knowledgeable in this area:help:

chotaadmi said:

is the link i posted above a pressurized system? or are those the ones with huge canisters that look like helium tanks. if i make a DIY co 2 do i need a regulator. sry for all the questions. im just not to knowledgeable in this area:help:

Click to expand...

No, the link is a Yeast CO2 system. Much like all the DIY CO2 systems you'll see mentioned(No regulator needed for any DIY CO2). Compressed are the canisters like the helium tanks, however, I believe the big helium tanks you'll see are like 50lbs cyclinders.

Nelson

The Hagen kit is all you need. Includes everything to get you started and I believe gives you three batches, so it should last you about 3 months or so. (Each batch last about 1 month). Follow directions and its self explanatory.

Your plant list looks fine. Lots of good beginner plants there. One suggestion would be to hold off on the HC for a while, this will give you the oppurtunity to play around and move the plants to get comfortable with how they all grow and the speed of how some of those will grow. Once the HC is in there as your foreground, you will really limit yourself to where you can move things. JMO though...do what you want.

As far as lighting...this is really dictated by $$$$. What are you looking to spend?

I have a 40W Flourescent light already. I might spend up to $50 if needed for lighting.

40 watt standard fixture?? Might be enough to start off with. you can always add more light later. Just make sure the bulb has an acceptable K rating...around 6500 kelvin.

Or...if you want to spend a bit more that 50 bucks...you can get a 55 Watt AH-supply retrofit kit. really nice reflector and that will definetly give you more than enough light. You can retrofit these right into your existing fixture.

www.ahsupply.com