Help on New Setup 5 feet (150x60x60cm)

[barmby]

Hi,

Basically I have got most of my equipments: Ehiem 2228; 2 x 150W MH; CO2 system; substrates 8cm (front) 15cm (back).

Ready to roll but I still need some direction to link me to the right articles on cycling of new tank as I understand that alot have been written and answered on this query.

1)And I am thinking of UV, what brand to recommend?

2)Also, I got 2 MH (150W; OSRAM). How far away shall I position my lamp from the surface of the water. Is 20 inches too near to surface of the water?

3)Link me to cycling of new planted tank?

Thanks in advance

[Sleepy_lancs]

----------------
On 12/30/2003 1:04:19 AM

Hi,

Basically I have got most of my equipments: Ehiem 2228; 2 x 150W MH; CO2 system; substrates 8cm (front) 15cm (back).

Ready to roll but I still need some direction to link me to the right articles on cycling of new tank as I understand that alot have been written and answered on this query.

1)And I am thinking of UV, what brand to recommend?

2)Also, I got 2 MH (150W; OSRAM). How far away shall I position my lamp from the surface of the water. Is 20 inches too near to surface of the water?

3)Link me to cycling of new planted tank?

Thanks in advance

----------------

Hello,

With my limited knowledge, you might think about the following:

1. UV does help to keep the environment clean but not neccessary in a planted tank. If you want a brand just don't get Kema Keur (UV-C x). The support is horrible and they only warranty your uv tube which means if your uv tubing is leaking... its hell. I have experienced it twice!

2. Try 2ft off the water surface. Too near your water, it might get too hot for your tank thus bring the temperature of the tank up which is not too good.

3. This is rather good article for cycling your tank ----> click here

[chua]

Hi

Why waste money on buying UV?

People only used UV during the initial stage of the setup when they encountered green water. In addition, green water can also be solved using other means. You can perform a search under green water. There are a lot of things on it already.

On top of it, UV not only kill algae but other beneficial bacteria and trace elements as well. Maybe you want to think twice about it.

Thks.

[barmby]

Hi,

Thank you! Everything is in place. I bought the UV light. What next? I guess the headache will be on fertilization on newly planted tank.

[Simon]

[quote:9eeb241a54="barmby"]Hi,

Thank you! Everything is in place. I bought the UV light. What next? I guess the headache will be on fertilization on newly planted tank.[/quote:9eeb241a54]

colin, I thought you had a planted tank before? It shouldn't be any different.. fertilization will depends on how heavily planted the tank is and the type of plants

[barmby]

Simon,

Yup. I always had a "low-tech" tank (2 ft w/o CO2 fertilization) which I keep in my room for many years. Dwarf Saggi, Hornworth, H. Deformis and etc.

My orginal 5 feet Java Fern tank broke in Oct. So I decided to buy a new 5 feet tank and might as well venture into a heavily planted tank equipped with CO2 (W/solenoid), MH lighting and UV. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE so I am as good as any newbie..

I've been reading alot of past articles written by varoius AQ members. But the new search engines are not helping

The following plants are in my new tank:

Background:
Aponogeton crispus (5 stalks)
Crinum calamistratum (2 stalks)
Echinodorus osiris (2 stalks)
Echinodorus uruguayensis (5 stalks)
C. Balansae (10 stalks)
Vallisneria spiralis (occupied one row of 5 feet)

Middle:
Rotala rotundifolia (10 stalks)
H.Stricta (occupied 1 foot square)
Hydrocotyle leucocephala (ocuppied 1 feet square)
Ammania (8 stalks)

Foreground:
Echinodorus tenellus (occupied 2 feet square)
Sagittaria subulata (occupied 1 foot square)

All plants bought from Teo's place.

Advise will be much appreciated.

[PeterGwee]

Colin, forget about the UV but keep it in case you have "green water". For a big tank like yours, the key is loads and loads of plants for a start and good mixing of CO2 throughout the tank. Nail this two and you would have an easier life ahead of you. Good luck.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[lorba]

barmby, still remember me, in the BBS of NP?

anyway, if you have kept a low tech planted tank, the cycling process should be pretty the same as a high tech one.

Very briefly :
- Put in gravel, plant and do other usual stuff.
- Switch on lights starting from perhaps 8hr/day and gradually increase it over 1 to 2 weeks to 10-12hrs.
- Maintain good co2 level to encourage growth, even over dosing a little.
- After a week, introduce fish batch by batch. For a 5ft, I guess a little more cycling fishes would not do much harm.
- Measure NH3, NO2 and NO3 as per the nitrogen cycle over the weeks.

Am i repeating what you already knew?

[vinz]

[quote:8258a896c1="barmby"]
...

I've been reading alot of past articles written by varoius AQ members. But the new search engines are not helping

...
[/quote:8258a896c1]

The search engines are not working well at the moment as the forum is having problems generating the search tables for the threads migrated from the old forum. I am working on fixing the bug.

I did mention this here, but it seems no one reads my posts...

[barmby]

Thanks everyone for the kindly advise.

Lorba, yes! I am the guy you referring to. You've got PM...

[barmby]

This is an update:

My tank is already 2 weeks old and I only added six caps of JBL Ferropol liquid fertilizer (big bottle) last Thurs. Because I observed:

Everything grows like mad in the first week until the 2nd week where Hydrocotyle leucocephaa, some older leaves have holes and dying. newer leaves seem pale and veins can be seen. As for Ammania - its not green but pale yet pinkish.

Am I doing the right dosing?

Btw, I bought KNO3, PO4, LushGRO Aqua & LushGRO Micro

This is my first time using Dr. Mallick's product. How should I go about dosing it into my 2 weeks old 5ft planted tank?

Kindly advise, thank.