First time set up with lots of questions

[hungryhound]

Hello everyone,

I have stumbled on this site and have found it very informative. I have found the answers to some of my questions but still have some really stupid questions that I would like to get some help with.

As mentioned this is my first time setting up my aquarium and am currently in the process of acquiring all of the pieces.

My wife and I decided that if we did this that we wanted to do it right. So i figured I would ask the experts before I got way in over my head. Thanks for all of your help.

Here is the background on my tank that i purchased and some of the other equipment that i have purchased so far. Feel free to let me know where i went wrong. We are planning on having live plants as well as fish in the aquarium

Tank is a 46 gallon bow front glass tank.

36 inches long by 20 inches high.
The wideth varies between 14 to 16 inches long

I have a 350 gph marine land power filter

I am planning on using 60 pounds of eco complete substrate mix.

Now on to the questions.

1. One of the biggest questions that I have is with the lighting. The aquarium came with your standard aquarium light with one slot for a florescent bulb. From what I can tell this will only pump out about 30 watts of light. This will come significantly below one watt per gallon, which correct me if I am wrong will not allow the plants to grow. The guy at the aquarium store recommended that we get the compact power fluorescent lams which has two bulbs at 10,000 kelvin each and 96 watts. I am sure that this will work but is this needless overkill on my plants and my wallet? I have already purchased it, but can return it if there is a better alternative.


2. The Second question I have is if I am growing plants do I really need to supplement the CO2 with carbon dioxide. I understand that if I don’t CO2 will be the rate limiting step in the photosynthetic pathway and will slow down plant growth, but will it harm the plants or cause any unwanted problems in my setup. IE will the plants be healthy, but grow slower, or will it cause a slow death and increased alge blooms? The problem is that I am not sure that I can really afford to pay outrages prices for a C02 system, and if I can get along without them I would love to try. If not then I might have to bite the bullet and pick up or make my own CO2 system.

Now to the stupid questions that have to do with tank set up.

3. I have read that multiple ways to set up a plant tank: you put plants in before you add the water, you put the plants in after you add the water, and you add the water, and let it run for a few days before you add the plants. Which way is the best? I am leaning towards adding the plants before I add the water, except for the stem plants, but this leads me to another question. When adding the water after the plants are in. Do I need to add the dechlorinator to each bucketful I add to the tank or can I add 10 gallons of water to the tank, the full dose of dechlorinator for all 46 gallons and then the remaining 36 gallons of water? Will this second process have any bad impacts on the plants?


4. When it says to fill the tank. How full is full? How much dead space should be left at the top of the tank?

5. I understand that it takes a while to get your tank bacteria growing, but what is the common rate for adding fish?

Thank you for all of your help.

[*Sarah*]

Hi and welcome to A.C. I would be able to help with a couple of your questions, but I think I'll let someone more experienced help you out, since I'm pretty new and I don't want to say the wrong thing. Sounds like a beautiful tank though :)

[KneeKickLou]

Sorry I dont know a lot about plants, but I can say it usually takes 2-4 weeks to cycle your tank. Also do it fishless its easier on you and you fish. Ohh and welcome to the AC.

[hungryhound]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Am I to assume that if I do it fishless I would be adding glorified fish waste to the tanks.

[cocoa_pleco]

1. One of the biggest questions that I have is with the lighting. The aquarium came with your standard aquarium light with one slot for a florescent bulb. From what I can tell this will only pump out about 30 watts of light. This will come significantly below one watt per gallon, which correct me if I am wrong will not allow the plants to grow. The guy at the aquarium store recommended that we get the compact power fluorescent lams which has two bulbs at 10,000 kelvin each and 96 watts. I am sure that this will work but is this needless overkill on my plants and my wallet? I have already purchased it, but can return it if there is a better alternative.

If its a low light plant like java moss, its okay


2. The Second question I have is if I am growing plants do I really need to supplement the CO2 with carbon dioxide. I understand that if I don’t CO2 will be the rate limiting step in the photosynthetic pathway and will slow down plant growth, but will it harm the plants or cause any unwanted problems in my setup. IE will the plants be healthy, but grow slower, or will it cause a slow death and increased alge blooms? The problem is that I am not sure that I can really afford to pay outrages prices for a C02 system, and if I can get along without them I would love to try. If not then I might have to bite the bullet and pick up or make my own CO2 system.

A co2 system and fertilizer sticks is a good idea.

Now to the stupid questions that have to do with tank set up.

3. I have read that multiple ways to set up a plant tank: you put plants in before you add the water, you put the plants in after you add the water, and you add the water, and let it run for a few days before you add the plants. Which way is the best? I am leaning towards adding the plants before I add the water, except for the stem plants, but this leads me to another question. When adding the water after the plants are in. Do I need to add the dechlorinator to each bucketful I add to the tank or can I add 10 gallons of water to the tank, the full dose of dechlorinator for all 46 gallons and then the remaining 36 gallons of water? Will this second process have any bad impacts on the plants?

I put gravel in, then water, then the plants. You need to add dechlorinator at each bucket change


4. When it says to fill the tank. How full is full? How much dead space should be left at the top of the tank?

i leave about half an inch so nothing overflows

5. I understand that it takes a while to get your tank bacteria growing, but what is the common rate for adding fish?

You can start out with one or two starter fish, like 2 platys or 3 zebra danios,
etc. add that packaged stuff called cycle to speed things up.
After a week, there should be an rise in ammonia, a few days later, there will be less ammonia and more nitrite. Do lots of water changes to protect your fish and to get rid of the high ammonia/nitrite

[hungryhound]

If its a low light plant like java moss, its okay


So with the standard light i would be limited to low level plants. That makes sense. So then I probably did not make a mistake getting the higher powered light. Thanks.



A co2 system and fertilizer sticks is a good idea.

Does that mean that it is needed or that it is recomended. Will the Higher end light cause more problems if their is no CO2 in the tank allowing the plants to outcomptete the alge?


I put gravel in, then water, then the plants. You need to add dechlorinator at each bucket change

Thanks



i leave about half an inch so nothing overflows

Seems like a good rule of thumb. Thanks


You can start out with one or two starter fish, like 2 platys or 3 zebra danios,
etc. add that packaged stuff called cycle to speed things up.
After a week, there should be an rise in ammonia, a few days later, there will be less ammonia and more nitrite. Do lots of water changes to protect your fish and to get rid of the high ammonia/nitrite

Okay I have the dried bacteria, and understand that i will need to let it cycle, but at what rate can I add fish. After the tanks cycles. About how many fish can I add per week?


Thanks for all of your help you have been most hlpful.

[Lady Hobbs]

Welcome to AC. First I'd like to direct you to the left hand menu on the Free Ebook. Lots of good information there. If you want a fast read, check out Tips for Newbies in the Tank Setup thread.

Always read up about your fish prior to buying them. Often they tell you nothing in a petstore and you end up with a fish that may grow to 24 inches! Read the compatiblility sites to see what fish go best with another.

Fishless cycle! Save yourself and save your fish. A link to fishless cycling is also in the Tips for Newbies.

If you plant heavily, you may get away without having to cycle at all but I believe it requires planting at 70%.

You need not get everything at once. You can make your own CO2 system from plastic soda bottles and use your own receipt of bakers yeast with warm water. All you do is run an airline from a hole in the top of the plastic cap to your tank. Online are also portable outfits for about $20 each.

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
Most plants do well at 2 watts per gallon. I don't think it was necessary to go as high as you were sold unless you have a saltwater tank with live corals.

If you want better answers and more of them, post your individual questions in the proper threads and you will get more responses.

Always check out online prices. You can get some very good deals online for
usually much cheaper than the stores. In the site given above, for instance, this is $10 cheaper than same outfit sold at PetSmart online so shop the different sites and compare.

Good luck.

[hungryhound]

Thanks Hobbs,

I will check those links out.

If the light is overkill then I might be able to return it and purchase the CO2 system and a new light for less than what i payed for the first one. That would surely make my wife feel better.

thank you.

[Lady Hobbs]

There's a bunch of sites to buy from.

Big Als
PetSmart
PetCo
Aquarium Guys
Drs Foster and Smith
PetMountain to name a few

[Sasquatch]

Welcome to the AC. I'd suggest downloading the E-book on this site, it'll answer a lot of your questions.

But here's my go at answering them.

1. One of the biggest questions that I have is with the lighting. The aquarium came with your standard aquarium light with one slot for a florescent bulb. From what I can tell this will only pump out about 30 watts of light. This will come significantly below one watt per gallon, which correct me if I am wrong will not allow the plants to grow. The guy at the aquarium store recommended that we get the compact power fluorescent lams which has two bulbs at 10,000 kelvin each and 96 watts. I am sure that this will work but is this needless overkill on my plants and my wallet? I have already purchased it, but can return it if there is a better alternative.

The extra light won't hurt and it'll make sure that there is enough light for any low growing plants on the bottom of the aquarium. It'll also perk up the coloring on the fish.

2. The Second question I have is if I am growing plants do I really need to supplement the CO2 with carbon dioxide. I understand that if I don’t CO2 will be the rate limiting step in the photosynthetic pathway and will slow down plant growth, but will it harm the plants or cause any unwanted problems in my setup. IE will the plants be healthy, but grow slower, or will it cause a slow death and increased alge blooms? The problem is that I am not sure that I can really afford to pay outrages prices for a C02 system, and if I can get along without them I would love to try. If not then I might have to bite the bullet and pick up or make my own CO2 system.

If you don't have enough CO2 (aka carbon dioxide) your plants will grow more slowly because they don't have enough carbon to grow. But this will only happen if there is already too much of the other things plants need like light, nitrogen, phosphates and minerals (potassium, iron etc...........) If you have fast growing plants and you fertilize, a CO2 system will let you get the maximum out of your plants, but I don't think it's absolutely essential.

Now to the stupid questions that have to do with tank set up.

There are no stupid question.

3. I have read that multiple ways to set up a plant tank: you put plants in before you add the water, you put the plants in after you add the water, and you add the water, and let it run for a few days before you add the plants. Which way is the best? I am leaning towards adding the plants before I add the water, except for the stem plants, but this leads me to another question. When adding the water after the plants are in. Do I need to add the dechlorinator to each bucketful I add to the tank or can I add 10 gallons of water to the tank, the full dose of dechlorinator for all 46 gallons and then the remaining 36 gallons of water? Will this second process have any bad impacts on the plants?

I'd probably add a little water (5-10 gals) and then plant, then fill the aquarium. Make sure to put a plate on the gravel to splash the water so it doesn't disturb the gravel when you fill the tank.

4. When it says to fill the tank. How full is full? How much dead space should be left at the top of the tank?

I'd leave about an inch. Enough so it doesn't show under the aquarium cover.

5. I understand that it takes a while to get your tank bacteria growing, but what is the common rate for adding fish?

Cycling can take as much as 6 weeks. If you're using fish to cycle, use a few hardy fish (platies, zebra danios) and check your ammonia every day or two. When it starts to get high (over 1ppm), start checking nitrites along with your ammonia, when the nitrites spike start testing nitrates too. When your ammonia and nitrites are back to 0, you can start to slowly add fish.

I would recommend fishless cycling. You don't risk killing fish, don't need to do water changes ('cause there are no fish) and when it's done you can usually introduce a larger amount of fish since you already have an excess of bacteria.

[cocoa_pleco]

lowlight plants are not to demanding for co2 machines or fertilizer or light.

Others should have good light/ fertilizer/co2

As for stocking, when nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all good, slowly add fish.

1 inch of fish per gallon is the rule.

But you have to have some common sense, you cant put a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon, since it would have no room. The rule applies mainly to fish 4 inches and under.

So, in a 20g for example, you could have 10 neon tetras, 3 cory cats, and a dwarf gourami. The inch rule works, because neons are about a inch each, corys about 2 fullgrown, so thats 16 total, and a dwarf gourami 4, so that adds up to 20 inches nicely

[Lady Hobbs]

hungryhound.......check this out
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

All you really need is the bubble counter. Run the line right from this into your coke bottle and your own receipt.

[cocoa_pleco]

thats what i did. You buy what hobbs said, then i just bought some fizzies for plants, kept the container from the hose to put the fizzie in, and it worked

[hungryhound]

The extra light won't hurt and it'll make sure that there is enough light for any low growing plants on the bottom of the aquarium. It'll also perk up the coloring on the fish.



If you don't have enough CO2 (aka carbon dioxide) your plants will grow more slowly because they don't have enough carbon to grow. But this will only happen if there is already too much of the other things plants need like light, nitrogen, phosphates and minerals (potassium, iron etc...........) If you have fast growing plants and you fertilize, a CO2 system will let you get the maximum out of your plants, but I don't think it's absolutely essential.



Thanks a lot. Between you hobbs and cocoa-pleco you hve given me a lot to think about.

It seems that if i keep the high powered light and don't go with the CO2 I can be sure to have a nice bright tank, but slightly slow growing plants.

Or

I can return the light and pick up a less powerful light that still will function and have some money left over for a CO2 rig.

Or I keep the light and find the money for a CO2 Rig later.

thanks

Thanks to hobbs i was able to locate the fishless cycling protocal. i think that you have me convinced that that is the way to go.

lowlight plants are not to demanding for co2 machines or fertilizer or light.

Others should have good light/ fertilizer/co2

As for stocking, when nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all good, slowly add fish.

1 inch of fish per gallon is the rule.

But you have to have some common sense, you cant put a 10 inch fish in a 10 gallon, since it would have no room. The rule applies mainly to fish 4 inches and under.

So, in a 20g for example, you could have 10 neon tetras, 3 cory cats, and a dwarf gourami. The inch rule works, because neons are about a inch each, corys about 2 fullgrown, so thats 16 total, and a dwarf gourami 4, so that adds up to 20 inches nicely


Thanks for the info on adding the fish. That is what I needed to know, and yeah I understand the common sense thing. I will keep that in mind. Thanks for all of your help.

[Chrona]

I have a 350 gph marine land power filter

Does this have a biowheel? Plants do not tend to do well with power filters that disturb the water a lot, as it causes the CO2 in the water to get released. You can compensate by using CO2 injections, but the stability of the system....eh

1. One of the biggest questions that I have is with the lighting. The aquarium came with your standard aquarium light with one slot for a florescent bulb. From what I can tell this will only pump out about 30 watts of light. This will come significantly below one watt per gallon, which correct me if I am wrong will not allow the plants to grow. The guy at the aquarium store recommended that we get the compact power fluorescent lams which has two bulbs at 10,000 kelvin each and 96 watts. I am sure that this will work but is this needless overkill on my plants and my wallet? I have already purchased it, but can return it if there is a better alternative.

2 watts per gallon is pretty much a minimum for growing plants well in a medium sized tank. I have 1.5 watts per gallon in my 10 gallon, and it does fine, but only because the light is much closer and it penetrates all the way to the bottom. So yes, a 96 watter is a solid investment. If you wanted, you could even splurge and get 3 watts per gallon, which would give you a REALLY nice look when combined with CO2 injections and fertilization

2. The Second question I have is if I am growing plants do I really need to supplement the CO2 with carbon dioxide. I understand that if I don’t CO2 will be the rate limiting step in the photosynthetic pathway and will slow down plant growth, but will it harm the plants or cause any unwanted problems in my setup. IE will the plants be healthy, but grow slower, or will it cause a slow death and increased alge blooms? The problem is that I am not sure that I can really afford to pay outrages prices for a C02 system, and if I can get along without them I would love to try. If not then I might have to bite the bullet and pick up or make my own CO2 system.

CO2 is a limiting factor only when there are plenty of nutrients and light. Even then, your plants won't die, but the faster growing varieties will kind of outcompete the slower growing ones. I would highly recommend forgetting the CO2 deal until all of your plants are growing well, and then adding a system, whether DYI or store bought, on. You can make a DYI soda bottle reactor for cheap, but keep in mind that you water has to be well buffered, as CO2 levels can dramatically change pH (like 2 or more points on the scale) over the course of a day in very soft water. Algae blooms are easily controlled with a clean tank, proper lighting periods, no overfeeding, and a phosphate remover if applicable. As an alternative to CO2 injections, you can use Seachem Flourish Excel, which is an organic carbon source that doesn't mess with your pH. It doesn't work as well, but it's safe, and easy to use


3. I have read that multiple ways to set up a plant tank: you put plants in before you add the water, you put the plants in after you add the water, and you add the water, and let it run for a few days before you add the plants. Which way is the best? I am leaning towards adding the plants before I add the water, except for the stem plants, but this leads me to another question. When adding the water after the plants are in. Do I need to add the dechlorinator to each bucketful I add to the tank or can I add 10 gallons of water to the tank, the full dose of dechlorinator for all 46 gallons and then the remaining 36 gallons of water? Will this second process have any bad impacts on the plants?

Fill the tank half full. It's a royal pain trying to set up plants of any decent size when there is not water in the tank. especially with plants with small root structures. You can put all the water in and then add the dechlorinator. Most people do this for big tanks anyways, since they put water back in straight from tap. The plants will be fine. In fact, some people dip their plants in 10-1 bleach solution to remove algae from time to time, so the trace chlorine in your water is not a problem for a few minutes.

4. When it says to fill the tank. How full is full? How much dead space should be left at the top of the tank?

I actually jacked my power filter up so I could fill the tank to the bottom edge of the top trim, but most people would say leave 1/2 to 1 inch of space between the water line and the said trim for better oxygen exchange. Later on, you'll have so much oxygen being produced by your plants that unless you tank is very overstocked, it doesn't matter so much.

5. I understand that it takes a while to get your tank bacteria growing, but what is the common rate for adding fish?

With a planted tank, you can usually add more fish quicker, because the plants will absorb a lot of the ammonia spikes, but I'd say with a moderately planted tank that is established, you could add like 4-5 inches a week? I added 6 inches of fish into my planted 10 gallon before it even cycled, and there was virtually no ammonia spike. I'm sure it took longer to cycle with all the plants in there, but my ammonia and nitrite levels all stayed pretty low, so it didn't really matter.

[hungryhound]

I have a 350 gph marine land power filter

Does this have a biowheel? Plants do not tend to do well with power filters that disturb the water a lot, as it causes the CO2 in the water to get released. You can compensate by using CO2 injections, but the stability of the system....eh

it does ahve a biowheel. That was one of the things that the book i had said to look for. Will the 350 gph powerfilter with two biowheels work or will I need a different type of filtration system.

Alot of what I read stated that as a newbie i should start with an undergravel, but with my tank being an odd shape i could not find an undergravel filter that fit it. Gratned I did not look online and could take the time if this is what needed. Furthuremore the guy at my aquarium store did not think that i should a use a undergravel filter with plants.

Or do I need to go to a canister filter?


2 watts per gallon is pretty much a minimum for growing plants well in a medium sized tank. I have 1.5 watts per gallon in my 10 gallon, and it does fine, but only because the light is much closer and it penetrates all the way to the bottom. So yes, a 96 watter is a solid investment. If you wanted, you could even splurge and get 3 watts per gallon, which would give you a REALLY nice look when combined with CO2 injections and fertilization

I really splurged, I bought the one the aquarium guy recomended. It has two 96 watters in it. So it should be nice and bright. I was more worried about this being too much. The fish tank is replacing a floor lamp and it actaully put off more light than the lamp did (of course this is without water).:ezpi_wink1:

CO2 is a limiting factor only when there are plenty of nutrients and light. Even then, your plants won't die, but the faster growing varieties will kind of outcompete the slower growing ones. I would highly recommend forgetting the CO2 deal until all of your plants are growing well, and then adding a system, whether DYI or store bought, on. You can make a DYI soda bottle reactor for cheap, but keep in mind that you water has to be well buffered, as CO2 levels can dramatically change pH (like 2 or more points on the scale) over the course of a day in very soft water. Algae blooms are easily controlled with a clean tank, proper lighting periods, no overfeeding, and a phosphate remover if applicable. As an alternative to CO2 injections, you can use Seachem Flourish Excel, which is an organic carbon source that doesn't mess with your pH. It doesn't work as well, but it's safe, and easy to use

Thank you. It is a lot to think about.

Fill the tank half full. It's a royal pain trying to set up plants of any decent size when there is not water in the tank. especially with plants with small root structures. You can put all the water in and then add the dechlorinator. Most people do this for big tanks anyways, since they put water back in straight from tap. The plants will be fine. In fact, some people dip their plants in 10-1 bleach solution to remove algae from time to time, so the trace chlorine in your water is not a problem for a few minutes.


I understand that the point of long plants being a pain to plant in no water, But the book I had recomended planting the shorter varietys without any water. and this seemed like a good idea. Plus i found a slide show of a proffessional doing this. of course the link is on my howm computer so i can not share it at this time. But I was concerned about adding the straight tap water to the plants. what you say makes sense about the chlorine.


I actually jacked my power filter up so I could fill the tank to the bottom edge of the top trim, but most people would say leave 1/2 to 1 inch of space between the water line and the said trim for better oxygen exchange. Later on, you'll have so much oxygen being produced by your plants that unless you tank is very overstocked, it doesn't matter so much.

Gracious


With a planted tank, you can usually add more fish quicker, because the plants will absorb a lot of the ammonia spikes, but I'd say with a moderately planted tank that is established, you could add like 4-5 inches a week? I added 6 inches of fish into my planted 10 gallon before it even cycled, and there was virtually no ammonia spike. I'm sure it took longer to cycle with all the plants in there, but my ammonia and nitrite levels all stayed pretty low, so it didn't really matter.

Danke

Thanks. You also have given me a lot to think about.

[Chrona]

Yes, a canister filter would be ideal. Most people recommend canister filter for anything larger than 30 gallons or so anyways.

I didn't realize you meant TWO 96 watters...lol. With that amount of light, I would most definitely think about getting a CO2 system down the road. Careful not to leave it on for more than 10-11 hours though, or else you'll have a huge algae bloom. Some fish don't like that much light either, so you could look into some floating plants so your fish don't need sunglasses :)

[hungryhound]

lol. So then i should get some water lettuce :)

I may have to price the canisters. With the Powerfilter on the tank and the mega light. I cannot fully open the lid of the tank. If the canisters will be mroe beneficial and give me the extra room to move the light back a third of an inch. That might be the way to go.

There are just so many questions to figure out and all i want to do is fill it up. Oh well, I guess the tank will continue to look nice and empty until i figure out all of these hardware issues.

[Chrona]

lol. So then i should get some water lettuce :)

I may have to price the canisters. With the Powerfilter on the tank and the mega light. I cannot fully open the lid of the tank. If the canisters will be mroe beneficial and give me the extra room to move the light back a third of an inch. That might be the way to go.

There are just so many questions to figure out and all i want to do is fill it up. Oh well, I guess the tank will continue to look nice and empty until i figure out all of these hardware issues.

Well, you've got 2-3 weeks before it cycles, so you might as well get started (assuming you get your filter soon that is)

[wijnands]

Couple of things come to mind from this experienced beginner.

1. Those wattage calculations often neglect the effect of your room lighting (not sure if this one does). There will often be light in the tank from the front and sides so if you keep your room bright most of the time you can get by on the lower end of the recommendation.

2. Needing CO2 or not. Well, I've personally never used it in a tank and one of my regular maintenance chores every other week was pruning back the plants in the tank.

What is important is letting the whole tank settle a bit with plants in it before you add fish.

[hungryhound]

thanks for the suggestion wijnands

Since i am going to do the fishless cycling I don't think letting the tank sit for awhile will be a problem. Hopefully that will be long enough.

[hungryhound]

With all of your help I think that i am pretty clear on the questions that I asked before.

Now I am trying to deal with the question of the filter. Most of you have recomended a Canister Filter over the current biowheel 350 that i bought.

In looking online it seems that overall Canister filters do not clean as many gallons per hour as a powerfilter for similar sized tanks. Am I correct in assuming that i do not need to have a filter with as high a gph rating with a canister than with a powerfilter?

IE. the book i had recomended that you have 6 to 8 times the turnover of your total tanks capacity. Hence the reason that i went with the 350 gph biowheel powerfilter which is rated for up to 75 gallon tanks.


But when you look at canisters that push 350 gph, they are rated for 150 to 200 gallon tanks and cost an arm and a leg.

So does the formula of 6 to 8 times the gph go out the window when you start looking at a canister filter?


Does anyone have any suggestions on a canister for a 46 gallon tank?

thanks

[cocoa_pleco]

canisters are by far the best IN MY OPINION.

They force water through and do a very good cleaning job.

My 20 had no new tank syndrome because of how good the canister filter was

[cocoa_pleco]

fluval is a very good brand for canisters

[Sasquatch]

Your HOB filter will be fine for your aquarium. With it's high pump rate and two biowheels, it'll have more than enough filtration for your tank. Just a guess, but is it an Emperor 400 by Marineland? If so, it's a great filter, despite what hobbs says! :ezpi_wink1:

Chrona was right that surface agitation does cause a loss of CO2, but if you fill the tank so that the lip of the filter's water return in below the water surface, it'll greatly reduce the agitation. Also, to reduce agitation, limit the amount of aeration in your tank.

If your light mount has two 96W bulbs, I'd only install one, or get two lower output lights. 192W in a 46 gal tank is a lot.

[hungryhound]

Your HOB filter will be fine for your aquarium. With it's high pump rate and two biowheels, it'll have more than enough filtration for your tank. Just a guess, but is it an Emperor 400 by Marineland? If so, it's a great filter, despite what hobbs says!

Chrona was right that surface agitation does cause a loss of CO2, but if you fill the tank so that the lip of the filter's water return in below the water surface, it'll greatly reduce the agitation. Also, to reduce agitation, limit the amount of aeration in your tank.

If your light mount has two 96W bulbs, I'd only install one, or get two lower output lights. 192W in a 46 gal tank is a lot.

It's a marineland 350. Comes with two biowheels.

as to the lighting issue, are you saying that their will be problems if both bulbs are on. if so what kind?

[Chrona]

Mostly an issue of algae, if you leave your lights on too long. In time, as your plants grow into a dense forest, it'll choke out even the algae, but in the beginning phases, you are probably better off doing what Sasquatch recommended and using only 1 bulb.

[hungryhound]

okay that makes sense, thanks

[Lady Hobbs]

If so, it's a great filter, despite what hobbs says! :ezpi_wink1:


BE nice. I didn't say it filtered badly. Just is a PITA to prime.

[*Sarah*]

I've heard the Eheim canister is the best for filtration, but I've never had one. I have a Fluval 305 for our 40gal and it's been great so far, but a bit of a PITA to prime. We've had a HOB in the same tank, and it was alright, but we had to make sure to keep the water level up or it would make an annoying waterfall sound.

[cocoa_pleco]

i think bio-wheels are okay, not great, but okay.

Actually, kinda great.