Future Planted Tank Question (now with pics:)

[MalawiCich]

Hello aquatic horticulturists,

I have an empty 72 gallon bowfront tank that I'm considering turning into a planted tank (with maybe a couple of Discus) and I was wondering if my lighting is sufficient for such a tank. I have a 4 bulb 48 " T-8 fixture with 3 Power-glo (I think it is 40W each) and 1 flora-glo bulbs...is that too much/too little lighting for this tank?  I'm just looking to have a ground cover all over the bottom and some wood decoration (minimalistic look ...do I still need to increase CO2?

Thanks!

[MalawiCich]

Oh, and any recommendations for ground covers (that would cover the whole bottom of the tank)?

[fischkopp]

Generally speaking, your light are good to grow plants. Most ground covering plants like HC, glosso or hairgrass , however, have quite high demands on light (over 3W/gal approx.). Other options that will grow in medium light are Marselia, Microsword or E. tellenus, but it will take as while to grow in and won't be as dense as under high light. CO2 would be very beneficial in my experience.

[MalawiCich]

Just started my new set up this morning and thought I'd post a couple of pics, though as you can see there's not much to look at yet. I picked up some hairgrass from Petsmart yesterday and didn't plant it until today. They were not the best quality, I had to wash off some algae that was growing on them, but I'm having a hard time finding good plants in Ottawa (BAs is a big disapointment in that department).

Anyway, just some rockwork I picked up at a landscaping place and hairgrass for now...hopefully some Discus and Cardinal Tetras soon.

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[Jeff1192]

I've been really happy with the plants I've ordered from FishTails in Orleans. They're one of the club sponsors. They will send you a list of available plants and you can order from that (they don't really keep any in the store).

Jeff

[bojon]

did you try to look for plants from the classified section in this forum? I found there is always someone selling plants and the quality and price are usually better than you buy it from local fish stores.

btw, how deep is your gravel? is it deep enough?

[MalawiCich]

Thanks for the tips. I added a Discus and 10 Neon Tetras today.

Not sure if I have enough gravel, will be watching the hairgrass to see if it likes it...

[MalawiCich]

Quick update (bad quality pics)...plants are growing and thriving, added some plants in the back corner where the tetras and shrimp like to hide. 4 discus now and 5 on the way.

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[Zigot]

Looks like the hairgrass's doing good.
Is that the algae I see on top of the rocks?

[MalawiCich]

Yes, my amano and ghost shrimp crew have already eaten it up, though I actually like the look of the green algae on rocks, it looks like moss. Oh well, it is gone now. What I need is to get rid of the ugly hair algae.

[toribio]

Hi, if you  talk about the green hair algae you can finish her with h2o2, it will get burned, then you can put phosguard (seachem) in your filter, and put less light (for exampe if you have 12 hours a day,put only ,, like this ,in a week, the algae will disappear, i did it like that and was a great solution.


And maybe doing water changes of 30% every 3 days will help too.

[bojon]

hehe..just wondering, do u afraid the discus eat the shrimp?

[MalawiCich]

They haven't so far...but again, I feed the Discus 4 times a day (flakes-worms-pellets-beefheart).