I am in the process of putting together a 55 gallon planted aquarium. These are my intentions however, I’m not too sure if it will create a problem down the line.

1. I purchased ADA Aqua Soil – Amazonia Normal, is it advantageous to use a layer of laterite underneath the Aqua Soil? I know it isn’t necessary but won’t the laterite provide the rooted plants the opportunity to feed from there roots? I mean it wouldn’t hurt, would it?

2. I would like to gas off the co2 in a mist using a venturi by installing it on the return line of my eheim 2028. Does that filter have enough pressure to push the gas through or do I need a dedicated pump. I will be using pressurized co2.


3. I plan to use two eheim filters, one 2028 the other is the 2217 or another 2028 (not sure yet). I can alternate cleaning the filters and if one stops working, I still have another one to carry the load. Can I use the secondary filter as a dedicated means of injecting co2 into the tank? Would a reactor be a better choice over the venturi?

4. Also, is it safe to use purigen and zeolite together in one of my filters to try to tame the ammonia spikes during cycling? I will also do 50% water changes every other day for two to three weeks.

5. I will be following EI for dosing. I have purchased TMG and Flourish Iron so far. Where can I purchase the macros that I need? What am I missing?

6. As far as lighting is concerned, I will purchase the Tek light fixture 4x55 T5HO. I really wanted a light fixture that would allow me to use four T5 or T8 30w to 40w fluorescent tubes but I haven’t been able to locate any.

7. I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank for the fish. I’m using Tupperware to give my plant a “bath” with potassium permanganate before planting them in the aquarium. Does anyone know the recommended measurement of potassium permanganate for one U.S. gallon of water to soak the plants in?

If I missed anything please chime in. I’m trying to carefully weight my options and cover my bases. In about a year I would like to purchase a 75 gallon tank and sell the 55 gallon but keep the equipment to use in the 75 gallon so my equipment will have to work in my upgraded tank.

I haven't had an aquarium in years so any advice is welcomed.

Dan

We planted tank enthusiasts are lucky! Now we have two sources of fertilizing chemicals, Rex's fertilizers for sale, and Aquarium Plant Food - hobbyist taking care of hobbyist … | Planted Aquarium Fertilizer. Buy a pound each of KNO3 and KH2PO4 and you will then have a complete supply of all of the fertilizers you will need.

Thanks VaughnH, so I don’t have to order K2SO4? I’m about to place an order at Gregg’s site so I appreciate the feedback.

Rex Grigg has a combo pack that will save you $. He is one of our top dogs and I would like to say that I have bought from him before and he rocks.

Ok, now that we have the nutrition solved and out of the way, any other advice or suggestions about the other question posted?

Well, I haven’t heard much from anyone else and the only thing addressed on my list was the nutrition I was missing for the plants so I’ll take that as a sign that I’m on the right track. Basically, I’ll continue with what I’ve listed above for my 55 gal. that will be running in a few weeks.

I have 4 – 9liter bags of ada amazonia. I purchased laterite, driftwood and rocks. I also have the Eheim 2028 Pro II Canister Filter. This is what I have coming, a 10 lb. Aluminum Co2 Tank. I’m still not sure about the regulator I want to use. I still have mix feelings about the tek light fixture and I’m still researching a few things before making the purchase.

I’m in no rush to get things going, although I am very excited. I just want to make any unnecessary mistakes.

1 - there is no reason to add Laterite under AS. ADA actually makes another product called Power Sand for this reason, but if you are dosing your water column following EI - you will not need it.

2 - Not sure about your Eheim, but I use 2x Rena XP3's - with a reactor plumbed into the outline of one of them. Works great.

3 - Not sure, but I -HEART- my reactor

4 - I am not familiar with Purigen, but my guess would be that this is fine

5 - -----

6 - That is an awesome light. You will be very happy with it.

7 - Dunno, never used the stuff, but I am sure Google could help you if you don't hear from anyone here...

Welcome back to the hobby! Tom has a good forum going here, but you don't get as much attention as you would posting on: The Planted Tank Forum - Powered by vBulletin

Well, no need for laterite as said.
Zeo and Purigen work well
Water change routine will do well.
I'd do perhaps a split system for CO2. A DIY CO2 in line Reactor, not hard to make, cost 10-15$ and then a disc in the tank near the out flow of a filter.

Then blast the mist around etc.
CAL Aqua labs makes an in line disc diffuser that's pretty cool and runs on 160 gph or less.

Venturi might be a bit over kill for smaller tanks and not get the best usage.

The disc only cost 10-20$ for a Rhinox 1000-2000 model.

Lights: I hope you can turn off 2 of the T5's there. 2x 54 w T5's over a 75 is plenty of light for many designs and layouts.

It's fine to have more, I just want you to have the option to reduce/increase lighting.

The permangnate dip is fine that you use for fish for plants.
I'd do an alum dip as well.

(Alum)Aluminum sulfate can be bought at most bgarden centers. They sell it in liquid form as water clarifier in our hobby(Eg Mardel Labs etc). 1 table spoon per liter ought to kill most things. It's somewhat acidic. If you do the dip, then dip in lime water, that will kill most things, do this for 1 minutes or so.

I tend to not bother.
I rinse the plants in tap without the dechlorine, leave in there for 2-6 hours.
Then add the plants.

Fish: I feed them the medicated food to kill the parasites in a quarantine tank.
3-4 weeks: add them.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Laterite:
If there is no need for it, then I won’t use it. One less thing to worry about.

Zeo and Purigen:
Thanks, I thought the combination of using both Zeo and Purigen would work well. Although they do the same thing.

Water Changes:
O.K. I'll stick to this routine until it cycles.

CO2
Tom I have a two year old son, I don’t think a DIY CO2 would be the best idea (especially with his constant “hands on everything” attitude), however I did think about it. I decided on a pressurized CO2 system.
Perhaps I should have mentioned that I would rather keep as much equipment out of the tank as possible. Perhaps a reactor.

(I don't know much about them... no experience with CO2 or reactors)

Lights:
That’s exactly why I was hesitated with the purchase the light fixture. I know that is too much light to leave on all day. I prefer a more controlled environment. If I can get it built where I can independently turn off two lights whenever I choose, then I’ll buy the unit.

Potassium Permanganate and Aluminum Sulfate (Alum):
Thank you for the advice and instructions. I will pay very close attention to this when I get my plants.

Quarantine:
Again, thank you for the advice. I learned the hard way, years ago, about the benefits of having a quarantine tank for newly purchased fish.

Thanks for that Joetee.

Quote:

Welcome back to the hobby! Tom has a good forum going here, but you don't get as much attention as you would posting on: The Planted Tank Forum - Powered by vBulletin

Thanks dapellegrini, although I do belong to several other forums, and with all due respect to them all, they are all good however I prefer to go straight to the source. After I read some of the post by the members of this forum, It wasn't hard to tell the difference of clientele and the wealth of knowledge that exist here.
I like the hold nothing back attitude. In other words if you are wrong the forum spares no feelings to prove you wrong.
I like that "prove it" attitude. I'm not referring to just Tom, but the entire forum as a whole.

Dan

Dan, I was running DIY C02 for maybe 6 months. I liked it, it was fun, but I had to refill 1 of 3 two litter Coke bottles every week to keep it stable and high enough to grow plants well. Now, you can grow plant without that much but I tried to get my C02 as close to perfect as possible using DIY. I have a 29 gallon tank.

When I got tired of that I did my research and found that Rex Grigg builds and/or designs these pressurized C02 systems. He is reputable and stands behind his work and I think most everyone here and on many forums would agree. I had him design my system. I told him what 2 tanks and sizes and location (distance I would need to run a second hose to my 2nd tank. (I run two tanks off of one C02 tank). He gave me a list and what it would cost and told me how to hook it all up etc. He sell Quality items that stand up.
Now you can spend more... And you can spend less... But it seems most of the time any way,People who post on these great forums, who has had problems with their equipment, usually, it is because they had the cheaper items. Rex's choice of equipment is good quality stuff. I don't think he is making any money off his help, He just loves the hobby and enjoys helping others.

So I would suggest you give him a try if you need help. No... I'm not making anything off this advertisement. My system works great and I just like to share my experiences with others.

Joe