[y84k]

The first part of this post is pretty much a story about how I am getting back into this so if you don't care about that skip this first paragraph.

So after moving around a lot after high school I have finally found where I am going to stick around for a while. Actually it is my hometown. Funny how that works (I guess its true you don't know what you have until you leave it) Well thats not exactly how that quote goes but you get the idea. Well I have been back a year and am working at the Mayo Clinic. A friend of mine and I are moving into a house sometime within the next month or two... I used to be quite into aquariums, even in college. Then I moved to Colorado and sold my aquariums before I left thinking I wasn't coming back... ha. and it would just be easier to sell them and buy new ones out there if I stay. Well I kept all my filters and all that stuff.
So in the Mayo classifieds (work) I find an ad "92 Gallon Corner aquarium with stand 150.00 OBO" There are always pretty good deals on aquariums in there from time to time but nothing like this before...(there are good deals in general as there are a lot of M.D's and Surgeons, etc that will sell stuff pretty cheap just to get rid of it) So even though we don't have the house yet I call on it just because I'm so interested and figure we can store it in my friends storage shed until we move. So I go look at the aquarium and the guy tells me he is only selling it because he is moving out to the east coast and doesn't wanna have it crated up and shipped out there and his new house is not big enough for it anyways. It has a black cabinet stand with it and is All-Glass brand. He says he has a few more people coming to look at it tonight and tomorrow. I tell him not to bother and I'll take it. haha. He says there are no leaks or anything like that. The only effort I am going to have to put into it is scraping out coraline algae as he had it set up as a reef tank.

So thats the story on my super good deal on a 92 gallon aquarium.. larger than I actually was anticipating on getting but oh well :smile:

So I have always dreamed of doing an all out planted aquarium, the lights, pressurized Co2 etc. and really making an awesome tank.

So my questions are starting to formulate as I want this to be a very well planned out tank. I'll just list the questions I have as of right now with a #) in order.

1) Lighting. I know the traditional you want 3-4 watts per gallon for the serious planted aquarium, and I have no problem with doing this but the problem I foresee is the shape of this tank. I'm pretty sure you use 48" lights on this thing. Should I use the normal watts per gallon with the odd shape of this tank and will one power compact 260W + say a 40W striplight (3.26W/gal) be good or does anyone have experience lighting a tank like this for planted set-ups? Also I'm open to anything so any other lighting options or whatever!

2) Substrate. Ok so here is the whole shape thing going on here again... How much substrate should I use with this odd triangle with a bow in the front of it.. I know its easy to do with a rectangle shaped tank... just not sure how to get a precise measurement with this one

2a) Right now I am leaning towards flourite or this one aquarium store in the Minneapolis area sold this one stuff they recommended for planted aquariums and was pretty reasonably priced that was similar in shape and size to flourite (just without all the stuff in it like flourite) I for some reason cannot think of what it was called but I haven't seen it anywhere else but I will give them a call tomorrow and see and post what it is. So any recommendations here are gladly appreciated as well, even if its not one of those.

3) Co2. Which Co2 system should I get. I was looking at a Milwaukee set up... http://cgi.ebay.com/Milwaukee-SMS12...oryZ3212QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

we will start with that and I know there will be more to add later but I think this is a good start!

P.S I looked for a good forum today after seeing what happened to the usenet newsgroups! (I have been out of the aquarium keeping for a 2 or 3 years now) and this is by far the better one I found for planted aquariums!

 

[y84k]

... I already thought of the other ones I was going to ask...

4) Filter. I have a Fluval 304 that I used on my old 55g. I realize this is only rated up to a 70g tank. I do have a Emperior (the smaller one) that I was thinking would work well. So use the Fluval and the Emperor and that should be over 100g rated filtration. Unless I can't use the emperior because of Co2 stuff. So just any thoughts here I guess would be appricated

4a) I have always heard of people running the Co2 right into the fluval or into the return tubing or something like that. Is this a good idea or not so much? And if so whats a good way to do it. Otherwise is a reactor a better choice? If so what one?

5) Heat. I have a 150W ebo jager... That too was in the 55g. I am thinking of just buying one more 150W ebo jager and having a heater on both sides of the aquarium for a total of 300W. Is this enough or too much? I find mixed reactions all over the internet about how much wattage to use for this and I don't remember from my working at the LFS days back in high school...

 

[Rex Grigg]

Take a few minutes and read my Guide.

1. You don't need or want 4 wpg on a tank that size.
2. You also must have forgot calculus. Saying it's just like Flourite without all the stuff that Flourite has is a contradictory statement. Read the substrate section here. You will find something that works for you.
3. Stop looking for bargains on eBay. If you have your heart set on that system you can most likely get it cheaper at a actual Etailer.
4. The HOB filter will make it harder to keep CO2 in the water. Get another canister (or larger) canister filter. And build buy a reactor.
5. You should have 5 wpg of heating capacity. 300 watts is a bit light.

Keep in mind setting up a planted aquarium is NOT cheap. Cutting corners and doing things in a half-assed way often ends up with half-assed results. And money spent on half measures is often fully wasted.

 

[y84k]

Thanks for your comments.

I know that doesn't have all the "stuff" that flourite has.. I simply said that the actual rock was the same shape and size as flourite and I know I would need to supplement in that case.

The ebay link was just an idea, I don't have my heart set on anything just yet. I just wanted to know if that is a decent system or not? Besides a lot of the stuff sold on ebay is from "etailers", even a lot of LFS sell on Ebay now-a-days. I will buy from anywhere though.

Thanks, thats what I was thinking on the HOB filter... I do have an old magnum that I could possibly use. Or I may just buy a new larger canister to ease on the mess of stuff going into the tank...

Really 5W per gallon? That comes out to over 450W!

Trust me, I'm not trying to really cut corners at all. I'd just like to use what I already have and go/add from there. I will spend money on this thing.. Mainly because I want to do it right and end up with a awesome aquarium I won't mind being in the main room of our house.

I will read your article for sure as from these boards I get that you are pretty respected! Thank for your help so far. I guess i am just looking at the odd shape of this tank and am running things through my mind.

Ah, I am getting into your guide... Your section on ferts is bringing back vivid memories of general, organic, and biological college chemistry class...