Bigger Tank with Plants

[Terrance]

I currently have my turgidus in a temporary 20g and will be transferring him to a 40g breeder soon after I finish moving to my new house.

I also have a 75g and want to get a ceylon puffer. I'm having a hard time getting one, so I think I'll just put my turgidus in the 75g instead of the 40g. I need to get a bigger tank for a ceylon anyways since I feel like a 75g seems too small for an adult.

I will also put in some java moss and fern in the 75g. Since the volume of the tank is bigger and the plants will be soaking up a little bit of nitrate, could I do 50% pwc every 2 weeks or could I do less pwc every week? I would also try to get gunk off my filter pad every week and remove visible waste with a net/siphon every week.

[MightyJunky]

Sorry about going off topic, but are you from Seattle? (judging from your seahawks icon and signature).

If so, can you tell me where the best LFS is around the area? I've been to Denny's Pet World and The Fish Store (u-district). Thanks

[Terrance]

Pet-Pourri in Everette is great.
A Place for Pets in Burien is ok.
Sierra Pets and Fish in Renton is decent.
Midway Tropical Fish in Des Moines.

I have bought my puffers in each of those places.

[MightyJunky]

Nice.. never been to those places. Thanks!

[RTR]

Keep up the weekly water changes. The plants and fish will both benefit. The plants may and should remove significant nitrate if healthy and growing well, but nitrate is the only dissolved pollutant we can easily measure. We use it a crude indicator of total pollution in unplanted tanks. In a healthy heavily planted tank we cannot use nitrate as a pollution indicator anymore, so we need to do the same water changes as we would in an unplanted tank to get rid of the DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) and other unmeasured pollutants and to replenish minerals lost to normal metabolism (KH especially is depleted over time and needs replacing routinely by water changes).

[Pufferpunk]

I personally feel a 75g is a waste of space for a turgidus, since they spend 90% of their day, hidden in the plants or a cave. Unless you like the look of a wonderfully-planted tank with no fish swimming around. Of course, the puffer will love it.

I do not think 75g is too small for a single ceylon.

[Pufferpunk]

I personally feel a 75g is a waste of space for a turgidus, since they spend 90% of their day, hidden in the plants or a cave. Unless you like the look of a wonderfully-planted tank with no fish swimming around. Of course, the puffer will love it.

I do not think 75g is too small for a single Ceylon.

[Terrance]

I personally feel a 75g is a waste of space for a turgidus, since they spend 90% of their day, hidden in the plants or a cave. Unless you like the look of a wonderfully-planted tank with no fish swimming around. Of course, the puffer will love it.

I do not think 75g is too small for a single Ceylon.

Hmm ok well I guess I can keep waiting until I find a ceylon. Turg can get his 40g breeder as planned and it has started cycling today.

I got another question: The flow of my tank is around 16x the volume of the tank per hour with 2 HOB filter and 1 powerhead filter (filter attached to powerhead). The tank will be well oxygenated with such good flow, which is a problem for planted tanks. I will try to buy some aquarium-mounted-light-fixture HO T5 lights. Is there anyway to grow better plants than ferns/moss/anubias? These easy plants will have slow growth due to the low CO2 level. If I bought plants that require better lighting, I'm afraid the low C02 and high lighting will cause major algae problems.

[Pufferpunk]

You can offer great lighting with the right T5 bulbs. Let me know which ones you pick out, I'm considering them for my next tank. Check on Amazon.

[sevenyearnight]

If you get high light plants, and have high lighting, without supplementing CO2 and fertilizers/supplements, there really is no way to avoid algae problems.

[RTR]

Flow rates and CO2 are easily linked, but good interior flow without surface disturbance or dead spots does not mean low CO2. Heavily plant high light tanks absolutely require flow throughout the tank, but not so strong in any area as to flatten the plants. Learning to control and fine-tune internal flow is to me basic to learning to grow submersed plants.

IMHO and IME, HOBs and CO2 supplement just do mot work together. They do blow off CO2. External canisters are far better for planted tanks w/CO2 supplement. Their return flow can be used for a CO2 reactor quite easily.

[Terrance]

Ok so if I go out and buy a canister, then I should be able to keep the co2 in the water for a longer period. Then buy HO T5 lights. If I can get both, then I should be able to keep higher lighted plants.

How about fertilizers and sand? Should I still keep substrate under 1 inch or should I keep thicker sand? How long does the fertilizer last until I need to replace it? Should I still stir fertilizer/sand to prevent toxic pockets from forming? Would I have to uproot some plants to do that? Anything else I need to consider? I might drop this high-lighted plant idea if if none of them like high current.

Heavily plant high light tanks absolutely require flow throughout the tank, but not so strong in any area as to flatten the plants. Learning to control and fine-tune internal flow is to me basic to learning to grow submersed plants.

Seems like most plants like slower current. Is dwarf hairgrass recommended for a high current aquarium? Or will too much waste get trapped in the grass? I still want high current since puffer tanks needs great filtration to collect waste (and its easier during weekly pwc).