# Brand New To Planted Tank



## Tehpwner (Aug 29, 2010)

Hey guys. So ya I'm brand new to planted tanks and I'm looking for a little guidance. I have a 90 gallon tank with 4 4foot 54 watt life glo T5 HO Lightbulbs and 3 7kg bags of flourite.


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## Murphy18 (Oct 17, 2008)

I'm not very experienced but you have some nice equipment to start there, are you planning on any co2? what plants you goin for? Have you seen any in particular that you like?


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## Tehpwner (Aug 29, 2010)

Murphy18 said:


> I'm not very experienced but you have some nice equipment to start there, are you planning on any co2? what plants you goin for? Have you seen any in particular that you like?


I don't think I am gonna do a fully planted tank I'm just gonna start out small just do partly planted so I don't really need co2. And a far as what kind of plants I want I don't know I'm just starting


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2010)

Crypts, java ferns, Anubias, Vals are all good beginners plants. Just make sure you also purchase some Excel, Flourish and root tabs


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## I Can Mate (Apr 8, 2010)

I will tell you that if your going easy plants to start you will only need 1 of thoe t5 bulbs because all 4 is highlight and you will require co2 if you don't want to be battling algae every minute


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## Murphy18 (Oct 17, 2008)

Hygrophila are an excellent started plant too, really hardy with low demands. You cant go wrong with a couple amazon swords either.


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## CuzIsaidSo (Oct 13, 2009)

ksls said:


> Crypts, java ferns, Anubias, Vals are all good beginners plants. Just make sure you also purchase some Excel, Flourish and root tabs


Don't use Excel if you get Vals


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## Tehpwner (Aug 29, 2010)

I Can Mate said:


> I will tell you that if your going easy plants to start you will only need 1 of thoe t5 bulbs because all 4 is highlight and you will require co2 if you don't want to be battling algae every minute


So what if I use two of those lights without reflectors could I do that without using co2and if so what are the best plants to get for that?


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

CuzIsaidSo said:


> Crypts, java ferns, Anubias, Vals are all good beginners plants. Just make sure you also purchase some Excel, Flourish and root tabs


Don't use Excel if you get Vals
[/quote]
Agreed. My jungle vals did fien under excell but my corkscrews all declined.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Tehpwner said:


> I will tell you that if your going easy plants to start you will only need 1 of thoe t5 bulbs because all 4 is highlight and you will require co2 if you don't want to be battling algae every minute


So what if I use two of those lights without reflectors could I do that without using co2and if so what are the best plants to get for that?
[/quote]
If you don't use reflectors you are just wasting light. Use reflectors. You could do something like 1 fiture on in morning then both for a peak then one on untill it goes off if you wanted two fixtures so you could do a bright mid day yet not have a ton of light on for the whole light cycle.

For plants look into crypts, java moss (most mosses are pretty easy though java is common and cheap), anubias and java fern. These plants are pretty much bullet proof and should do good. Swords and vals should also do fine and are easy to keep if you have a good substrate like you do.


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## Tehpwner (Aug 29, 2010)

CLUSTER ONE said:


> I will tell you that if your going easy plants to start you will only need 1 of thoe t5 bulbs because all 4 is highlight and you will require co2 if you don't want to be battling algae every minute


So what if I use two of those lights without reflectors could I do that without using co2and if so what are the best plants to get for that?
[/quote]
If you don't use reflectors you are just wasting light. Use reflectors. You could do something like 1 fiture on in morning then both for a peak then one on untill it goes off if you wanted two fixtures so you could do a bright mid day yet not have a ton of light on for the whole light cycle.

For plants look into crypts, java moss (most mosses are pretty easy though java is common and cheap), anubias and java fern. These plants are pretty much bullet proof and should do good. Swords and vals should also do fine and are easy to keep if you have a good substrate like you do.
[/quote]
Ok so if I use 2 lights with refectors and just get beginner plants ( low light, easy maintenance ) around how many plants could I put in (tank size 48Lx18Wx24Tall) so I won't be fighting alge all the time? The thing is to my ballast it only work with two lightsbulbs that's why I have to have two lights. Like I was planning on getting 20 some plants will that work or will I need more or less I don't want to use co2 unless necessary.


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## I Can Mate (Apr 8, 2010)

Tehpwner said:


> I will tell you that if your going easy plants to start you will only need 1 of thoe t5 bulbs because all 4 is highlight and you will require co2 if you don't want to be battling algae every minute


So what if I use two of those lights without reflectors could I do that without using co2and if so what are the best plants to get for that?
[/quote]
If you don't use reflectors you are just wasting light. Use reflectors. You could do something like 1 fiture on in morning then both for a peak then one on untill it goes off if you wanted two fixtures so you could do a bright mid day yet not have a ton of light on for the whole light cycle.

For plants look into crypts, java moss (most mosses are pretty easy though java is common and cheap), anubias and java fern. These plants are pretty much bullet proof and should do good. Swords and vals should also do fine and are easy to keep if you have a good substrate like you do.
[/quote]
Ok so if I use 2 lights with refectors and just get beginner plants ( low light, easy maintenance ) around how many plants could I put in (tank size 48Lx18Wx24Tall) so I won't be fighting alge all the time? The thing is to my ballast it only work with two lightsbulbs that's why I have to have two lights. Like I was planning on getting 20 some plants will that work or will I need more or less I don't want to use co2 unless necessary.
[/quote]

the more the better


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## nilocg (Apr 5, 2010)

To be honest, if you dont go with co2, even two 54 watt t5ho bulbs is likely going to cause some serious algae issues. Most likely the only way you could make that work is if you kept the photo period down to 5-6 hours per day, even then you would likely have problems. If I were you I would just bite the bullet and get co2 and enjoy the tank instead of the headache that all the algae is causing. BTW I have a bunch of dwarf sag that I am looking to sell if you are interested, as well as several amazon swords. Let me know.


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## I Can Mate (Apr 8, 2010)

nilocg said:


> To be honest, if you dont go with co2, even two 54 watt t5ho bulbs is likely going to cause some serious algae issues. Most likely the only way you could make that work is if you kept the photo period down to 5-6 hours per day, even then you would likely have problems. If I were you I would just bite the bullet and get co2 and enjoy the tank instead of the headache that all the algae is causing. BTW I have a bunch of dwarf sag that I am looking to sell if you are interested, as well as several amazon swords. Let me know.


i think he should be fine with 2 t5s... if he starts seeing to much algae then raise the light fixture a bit


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## nilocg (Apr 5, 2010)

I Can Mate said:


> To be honest, if you dont go with co2, even two 54 watt t5ho bulbs is likely going to cause some serious algae issues. Most likely the only way you could make that work is if you kept the photo period down to 5-6 hours per day, even then you would likely have problems. If I were you I would just bite the bullet and get co2 and enjoy the tank instead of the headache that all the algae is causing. BTW I have a bunch of dwarf sag that I am looking to sell if you are interested, as well as several amazon swords. Let me know.


i think he should be fine with 2 t5s... if he starts seeing to much algae then raise the light fixture a bit
[/quote]

Ya hopefully, but I would still bet that he is going to have algae problems without co2. Lifting the lights up could help though.


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

More plants are always better to fight off algae.


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