New to the hobby!!!

K

Kid_Robot

AC Members
Nov 3, 2009
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So heres my story lol everyones got 1 right..... So ive kept cichlids arowanas pretty much all the run of the mill freshwater fish at some point pretty successfully i also have a 30g saltwater nano thats been up and running for about a year doing great. Now for some reason planted tanks have always scared me lol. But recently my grandfather decided he wanted to ressurect his 120g tank and told me to have fun with it so ive decided to take the leap into planted tanks. Now i have a few questions for 1 he has 2 rena xp4 canisters im assuming those would be adequate do i just run them with carbon and sponges?

As for substrate ive been reading and im thinking of jus using potting soil and groiwing out a nice carpet of some lower to moderate light plant any suggestions? Im going to try the dry start method it seems easy enough

now the thing that has been confusing the hell outta me is the co2 systems are they as necessary as say a protien skimmer in a SW aquarium? Any suggestions for a decent 1 for about 100-150 bux? Again its a 120g tank




Sorry for so many questions any other advice would be greatly appreciated
 
well welcome to ac you will certainly find your answers here

got any pics of your gramps tank when he ran it
 
potting soil could be disastrous but i dont really know... there is a way of mineralizing top soil that could be very beneficial to you... it is also a cheap alternative for a substrate but you would need to collect a few things to give it a go and it takes some time for the soil to go through the mineralization

co2 is beneficial to a planted tank and is the cheaper alternative to using products like excel

when you have enough light over a tank you really need to inject co2 as you do not want co2 to become the limiting factor in plant growth
 
I have done the potting soil substrate before with some gravel over top of it. One problem with the potting soil is you can never get all the trapped bubble pockets out of the soil. This can cause issues with root development. Not to say I had great results using it but over time my substrate started to rot. When I cleaned the tank I about died it smelled like rotten eggs so bad and nasty.
Would I ever use Potting Soil again..No
Another cheap substrate though that I currently use is Shultz Clay Conditioner. The color though lot of people do not like because it is a brownish color. But a 40lb bag runs $15 or so.
 
Im not to worried about the color because i wanna grow the carpet over it. Sorry no pix of the tank its been empty for years lol any suggestions on a good co2 system? Also what is the rule for lighting i kno for a reef tank generaly u want 4-5 wpg im hoping i dont have to pull out one of my old t5 halide combo fixtures lol
 
it depends on if you want to HAVE to inject co2 or not

lighting is going to be your main determining factor in this decision if you have enough light you will surely need to add a carbon source and injecting co2 is the cheapest in the long run
 
WElcome to AC :D . I am starting a planted too so I think I will just follow along.
 
Injecting Co2, in my experience, is the single most important factor in growing healthy plants. If you plan on having 2-3watts per gallon, then you'll DEFINITELY want to start injecting Co2.

Fertilizing with low light levels and no Co2 seems superfluous. Plants in low-tech tanks grow so slowly that they don't seem to need mineral supplementation.

Good luck! Sounds like a fun project. (I'm jealous).
 
J-gens i want this to be as low maintnence and cost effective as possible seeing as how its not at my house....i love my gramps but i dont wanna visit everyday lol i have a 250w t5 fixture in my garage i could use
 
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