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Thread: Hi

  1. #1
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    Hi

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    Hi to all of the "lao jiao" of tis forum. I am new to the planted tanks and i have some question in mind. As i am going to set up a 8ft by 3ft by 2ft planted tank for my new hse but i do not noe how to start and wat are the equipment to use. The tank is now seating in my hse looking veri empty. I have only bought dennerle's substrate and dupla laterite. How to put these thing into the tank. Is a substrate heater a must coz i am purchasing a Teco chiller from aquatechnics.

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    hello seal

    welcome to the forum and congrats to you with your new tank...I am so jealous of the tank size you have

    anyway just to bore you with the details, here goes

    One thing i must say is that for a successful planted tank, the initial setup cost will tend to be high so you need to make a commitment (which you have already gone half the way) if you are in it for the long haul. Even with the right stuff, it does not guarantee that you will be successful....as experience comes into play.....so here goes.....

    The Tank
    The tank you have bought is a very good dimension for any planted tank at 8x3x2ft. However careful planing is still the key to a beautiful tank and perhaps you may want to ask Jacian about it.

    Base Fert
    Substrate base fert is the key or rather the foundation for any successful long term fertilisation. with this base, your planted tank has the ability to last from 5 to 10yrs. Since you have already bought a soil based fert, I would not elaborate on it. This level should be of 1in in height all round the tank...wich may equate to 50 to 60kg worth of fert(estimated).

    Substrate Heater (Optional)
    The primary function of a substrate heater are:

    1. To create water circulation in the substrate level so that nutrients can be transported to the rooting system.

    2. It turns the whole substrate section and becomes a huge biological filter. This is important as O2 oxides readily with most nutrients rendering them useless to the plant life. With the biologial system at work, the O2 will be absorbed by the bacterial colony and the oxidised nutrients is reversed back to usable nutrients to plant life.

    3. If the substrate section is not sufficiently warm enough, the plants may be stunted.

    4. Preventing the substrate base from becoming anaerobic

    Do note that there are specific wattage to the given amount of water volume.

    4 Watts - 40 - 70l
    8 Watts - 60 - 120l
    25 Watts - 80 - 250l
    50 Watts - 150 - 500l
    75 Watts - 200 - 750l
    100 Watts - 300 - 1000l

    Do consider this very carefully as this has to be placed in a zig-zag manner on the base of your tank before the base fert. If you choice not to have it, there is no way to place this equipment there after.

    The Gravel

    Again you have choosen a good gravel for your tank and the thickness(excluding base fert height) should be 2in front and 5in back. the slope will give your tank a better pespective. Foreground plants usually have a shorter rooting system hence the shorter front.....bigger plants require more depth.

    CO2 injection

    If you want to have planted tanks that you see in aquatic magazines, then this is a good investment. you will need to have:

    1. A CO2 cylinder (between 3 to 5kg)
    2. A regulator with solonoid and needle valve
    3. A One Way Valve
    4. A Bubble counter
    5. A Diffusor or reactor
    6. A CO2 indicator
    6. CO2 tubing

    With CO2 injection, your choices of plants opens up. However with CO2 injection, you need to understand KH, PH, and how CO2 changes the value of PH. When injecting CO2, the dissolved gas alters the PH value of the water from alkaline to acidic. This means the more CO2 is injected the more acidic the water gets. KH or Carbonate Hardness, acts as a buffer that determines how much dissolved CO2 can be held with a PH crash. In a planted tank, a good KH value should be holding between 4 to 5. In order to have CO2 rich water, the correct PH should be:

    KH3 = PH6.3
    KH4 = PH6.5
    KH5 = PH6.7

    With a CO2 indicator, it will help you determine your dissolved CO2 level through PH.

    Lighting

    When considering light, the general guideline is estimated at 2.5 to 3 watts to 1 gallon of water. on this part, bulb choice from Flouresent, Compact, and Metal Hylide is critical to acheive the right wattage.

    Flouresent
    Or FL is the most commonly used bulb in the planted aquaria due to the price as well as versatility in Kelvin choices...Kelvin is the laymans way of determining light spectrum or CRI(color rendering index). For a planted tank it is best be daylight at 6500 to 8500 kelvin. The on
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  3. #3
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    David,

    Your reply can be copied into a new article already
    "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled" - Richard Feynman, 1986. Rogers commission into the Challenger disaster

  4. #4
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    huh?....better not cause think jacian can give a better comment than i can.........
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    David, very familiar, like wat u told us during the planted workshop at GAn!!![]
    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
    Understand that friends come and go,
    but with a precious few you can hold on.
    ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤

  6. #6
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    hi derrick

    not really....this is me babbling at another forum......[]
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    David I know U are a babbler but a bloody good one at that-looking forwad to see U again[]

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    Hey David,
    Just curious, dun u have algae boom problem when u use metal halide for freshwater??? another thing, what other brands of metal halide (from Taiwan) are there in the market? are the replacement bulbs cheap? i recently replaced my bulb at $150. know of any place to get it cheaper? i got mine from Sim Lim Towers.
    kelvin
    Let us work together to preserve the world for our children to inherit by being responsible to our surroundings. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, bubbles and memories.

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    ----------------
    On 1/2/2002 10:28:52 AM

    Hey David,
    Just curious, dun u have algae boom problem when u use metal halide for freshwater??? another thing, what other brands of metal halide (from Taiwan) are there in the market? are the replacement bulbs cheap? i recently replaced my bulb at $150. know of any place to get it cheaper? i got mine from Sim Lim Towers.
    kelvin
    ----------------
    Algae problem will appear anywhere, even if FL tubes are used if the tank is not properly maintained. MH lights do increase the chance of getting algae b'cos of the bluish spectrum. Having said that, more care should be put in if you're using MH.

    What is the rating for your MH bulb, 150W?
    Cheers!!

    Sherwin Choo
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    yeah..150W... my parents are killing me over the electricity usage from the marine tank.. thinking of changing the lightings to that of those flourescent tubes from Arcadia.. i can have 4 of them @18W each.. and in terms of cost.. comes up to be ard the same, plus minus..
    Let us work together to preserve the world for our children to inherit by being responsible to our surroundings. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, bubbles and memories.

  11. #11
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    That means you're reducing the lighting by slightly more than half. Will that be sufficient for your tank. Not sure about marine tank requirements.....
    Cheers!!

    Sherwin Choo
    [email protected]

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    i'm new to the forum but old to the hobby...

    congrats on your new tank and i'm just as envious as the others in the forum of your tank!

    as i am moving into a new house soon and would like to fabricate a tank like yours, could i have your opinion on the construction quality and rough costs on your tank and cabinet?

    I was last quoted about $2000 for a 6 by 2 by 2/cabinet from a local manfacturer to a $25k tank at Aquatechnic (inclusive of control gear and 2pumps).

    I always feel that the beginning phase of this hobby is the best because a new tank brings a lot of chalenges both to novice and green-fingered hobbyists as well as the budget range...
    Teddy Ang
    "...equilibrium is a state of mind."

  13. #13
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    Eh.... where is SEAL...r u there? Anyway, I'm interested in the cost of your tank (8ft)too. You "one night stand us".... hee heee joking.[]

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    Hi

    David thanx for the reply but can u explain it more in a layman term cos I can only digest it partially. The way u explain to me that is alot of work man.. preparing the substrate alone I giveup liao. I have this in plan but do not know if it right. Oh did I mentioned that my tank is using the overflow system.

    1) how many substrate heater do i need? 2 units? I need a controller or something right? Why some ppl say this thing is not that important.

    2) Co2 tank? what is the biggest? I heard u say solenoid what is that?

    3) Is dupla laterite good?

    4) Teco chiller? I think of getting the 2000 series, is it enough?

    5) I also heard about biotope, what is that? Amano, what is that and dutch, what is that?

    As for the price of the tank, i do not wish to disclose it but can tell u that is in 5 digit

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    talk about envy, I always fantasise about that 12 footer at Pet Safari
    why I don't do garden hybrids and aquarium strains: natural species is a history of Nature, while hybrids are just the whims of Man.
    hexazona · crumenatum · Galleria Botanica

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    sherchoo,
    those metal halide produces abt 10k kelvin while i have 2 x 9500Kelvin white lamp and 2x blue lights.. all from Arcadia. should be enuff lah.. i think...

    thanks for your concern.
    Kelvin
    Let us work together to preserve the world for our children to inherit by being responsible to our surroundings. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, bubbles and memories.

  17. #17
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    hi kelstorm

    whether using a FL or MH, the algae problem will still exist..as what sherwin has pointed out. For a planted tank, you only need to get a normal osram uv stop for about $70.00...the $150 dollar bulb you bought is because it is a 10000K bulb with zero color shift which is critical if you are having a coral reef tank.

    hi seal

    it is not really not as difficult as it sounds....even for a tank of your size, planning is very important and my suggestion is that you setup your tank slowly (to reduce margin of error). Running an overflow system is fine just that you will probably have to inject more CO2 to keep the desired amount in the water column.

    1. Substrate heater is an optional item which you need to seriously consider very carefully especially in a very large tank setup. The benefits are already explain to you and I will guess is that you may need 2 75watts cable. At the present moment, you dont need to have a controller since you are considering a chiller. Leave it on 24/7 is fine. the substrate heater issue has been debated many times over. As for myself I have seen the benefit of using one. If you have the extra cash to burn.....I will advice to place them in.....at least you have an option of using it....

    2. For the CO2 tank, the serious consideration is the weight of the tank that one can handle. For your tank, you may want to get 2 6kg tank. Any bigger may not fit your customised cabinet. A regulator is fitted onto a CO2 tank which basically acts like a 'step down' pressure controller to the main CO2 tank. the standard regulator comes with a needle valve adjuster. With a standard regulator, everything is manually controlled right up to the turn on and shut off of CO2. This is a very tedious practise especially when one does not have a fix time schedule. this is where a solenoid comes into the picture. A solenoid is basically an electrical device that turns the on/off of the CO2 system electrically. This means that a timer can be used which in turn makes your job less manual.

    3. Dupla laterite is good!....

    4. For the chiller thingy is concern, you have to check if the 2000 series cooling capacity is enough for your water volume. I would think that you should get one that is slightly over-rated as with any equipement, the effectiveness(not considering efficiency)will dip as it ages.

    5. Biotope tanks, priority is given to the fish that is being choosen withing a given region. Aquascaping, plant choices are planned according to the fish's natural enviroment. Dutch tanks are completely a 180 degree reflection of the Biotope tank. Preference is given in scaping the tank with lots of terracing and plants to give maximum beauty of an underwater garden irregardless of region. fish becomes the last priority in a dutch tank.....Amano's concept is based on the idealogy of the 'Zen' idealogy....to create a natural concept.

    Incidentally did you use the calculator thingy which I have created the link for you......

    Hope all the blabbering above helps.......
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  18. #18
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    Seal: remember to plan what u want for the tank, coz there isnt no room for errors or u dun really wanna rescape the whole tank over again.. so, best is to know what u want, what u expect, what concept... and of coz, what fish u intend to keep will oso play a part in yr decision

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