# New to planted tanks - just bought some lights



## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

I recentlly got a 150 g tank and want to set it up for plants. The problem is it had a saltwater lighting setup of 2 6ft actinic vho t12's and has slots for 2 other 6 ft long bulbs that may be compacts- they have a square plug on either end with 4 holes 2 on top 2 on bottom- anyway I went everywhere looking to replace the actinic bulbs but can only find cool white in the 6 footers- i tried all home improvement stores,electric stores,and LFS with no luck, Going nuts I said screw it and bought 3 shop lights for a total of 6 four foot flourescents. I plan on running 3 40w plant bulbs and 3 40w full spectrum bulbs which will only be 240 w in a 150g tank. If the four hole square plugs i have are for compact flourescents how can i tell? Can i switch the plugs to the more standard four in a row plug??? I already have sand in the tank should i swap that out with something else? 4 reds are in the tank, basically i need suggestions - help.


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

deezdrama said:


> I recentlly got a 150 g tank and want to set it up for plants. The problem is it had a saltwater lighting setup of 2 6ft actinic vho t12's and has slots for 2 other 6 ft long bulbs that may be compacts- they have a square plug on either end with 4 holes 2 on top 2 on bottom- anyway I went everywhere looking to replace the actinic bulbs but can only find cool white in the 6 footers- i tried all home improvement stores,electric stores,and LFS with no luck, Going nuts I said screw it and bought 3 shop lights for a total of 6 four foot flourescents. I plan on running 3 40w plant bulbs and 3 40w full spectrum bulbs which will only be 240 w in a 150g tank. If the four hole square plugs i have are for compact flourescents how can i tell? Can i switch the plugs to the more standard four in a row plug??? I already have sand in the tank should i swap that out with something else? 4 reds are in the tank, basically i need suggestions - help.


If you have vho ballasts those would be alot better than standard flouresent. A pic of the ballast would help also. Check drsfostersmith, they have alolt of vho and pc lighting, maybe they have what you need. 240 is not even 2 wpg so you will probably need more lighting unless you get strictly low light plants.

Sand is not a good substrate because it is too compact, you will need something a little larger but not too big. I have latterite with small pea gravel over it and I also use fert tabs in the substrate, depending on how much sand you have you may just be able to put larger gravel right over the sand but if there is a lot of sand I would take some out. There are other substrates you can use, Im sure others will chime in with their advice.


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=107115

pics

Im using about 3 inches of large grain sand


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

I think I might have found you some bulbs for your setup HERE
Not sure if they are the right ones, but it is worth a try!


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

all i see in the six footers are actinic- thats what i have now- god this sucks why does it have to be so damn tuff to buy some damn lights- should i run the regular flourescents or is there a way i can make my current setup run a 4 foot vho? I dont know what the hell to do i will probablly just give up on a planted tank- im already in debt as it is and cant afford to spend money on this

and i still dont know what the hell the four pin plugs i got go to


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

Try this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...8&N=2004+113174


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

http://cgi.ebay.com/COMPACT-FLUORESCENT-LI...bayphotohosting

look at this add... that is a 4 pin cf bulb... You dont want the 18w blub or course but you want the 96w 45pin cf bulb. Buy em off ebay for cheap. Or sell me you cf system cheap


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

wonder if home improvement stores will have em- thanks for finding that for me


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

deezdrama said:


> wonder if home improvement stores will have em- thanks for finding that for me


Usually home improvement will have the small sizes of cf bulbs. You need a 21"+ bulb, they might carry cf bulbs in 26w, max. Ebay it my man... If you need help pickin out a bulb, pm me.

96w 6700k-10,000k for you =


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

so I could run 4 CF's since i have four plugs


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## Ex0dus (Jun 29, 2005)

deezdrama said:


> so I could run 4 CF's since i have four plugs


you said earlier you only had 2 cf plugs.. so you have 4x 4pin cf plugs? 
How much clearance do that have lengthwise? If there are 4 you may want to sticl with 4x 55w instead of using 4x 96w


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

yeah i have 2 72" vho's and 4 compact plugs- I found both the vho's and compacts on big als- now i just need to figure out which ones to run or if i should run both- how much do you think this lighting system costed new? including fans and stainless reflectors,ballasts???? I could setup a badass planted tank if i figure out what im doing- maybee i should keep something else in there rather than pygos- what do you think?


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Do LOTS of reading. There is tons of info in this very forum, and also on aquaticplantcentral.com. read/look around to find out what you want to do.
I used to have neons and algea eating crew in my last tank, now i'm back to p's
here are a bunch of shots of my tank over the last 9 months or so.. sorry i got picture happy








Just to give you an idea of what you can do


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## 86_Monte_SS (Nov 25, 2005)

how do you vacume a tank like that???


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

86_Monte_SS said:


> how do you vacume a tank like that???


You never gravel vac a planted tank.. it's fine


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

Wow- that second pic looks awesome!! Im just running 80w full spec on this tank for my java ferns, after i get my background built and my wet/dry rebuilt I will start ordering some kickass lights to plant the 150


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

if you are going CO2, a wet/dry is a bad idea, unless you don't mind going through tons of it.

I know a guy with a 125g with a wet/dry, he fills his cylander 1ce a month


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

thats the only thing- I love the look of planted tanks and want some but i dont want to have to buy co2 setups or have to test for a billion different water parameters- Is there a way to have a decent beginners planted tank without all the testing and chemicals? I probably could get a cylinder for free as im a welder and we have a billion of them at work


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

THIS is a good read for low light/low tech tanks.
Yes, you can have a great tank without CO2. Please read lots before you do it, it will help you out a lot!


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

good read- but i dont even know what half the things are that he talks about-like- KNO3/KH2PO4.

I have a question.... So if I setup a heavilly planted tank- i wont have to vac the gravel? what about water changes? what about fertilizers or other chemicals?

My 150 gal tank came with a huge box full of small bottles of chemicals and water testing bottle- like 50 little bottles- maybee i have some of the stuff i need already-

I dont have to have a perfect planted tank- just a decent beginners tank will work for me


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

deezdrama said:


> good read- but i dont even know what half the things are that he talks about-like- KNO3/KH2PO4.
> 
> I have a question.... So if I setup a heavilly planted tank- i wont have to vac the gravel? what about water changes? what about fertilizers or other chemicals?
> 
> ...


KNO3==potassium nitrate KH2PO4 mono potassium phosphate -These are fertilizers.. other needed ferts are Fe==iron, and micros such as Flourish comprehensive.

You can stirr up the stuff on top of the gravel, but it is not recommended to gravel vac. Water changes are only not needed if you have so many plants that they suck up all the nitrates.


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## deezdrama (Jul 9, 2005)

wow- so adding plants actually makes tank maintenance easier!!!?


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

deezdrama said:


> wow- so adding plants actually makes tank maintenance easier!!!?


I wouldn't say that. With high light, you need to add tons of ferts. To cut down on build up, you need 50% water changes weekly, and algea maintenance until you defeat it. 
No water changes are not recommended by some, but I have read that no waterchanges for a super dense planted low tech tank is just fine for fish and plants. I am trying that idea in a 75g with 1 sanchezi and tons of plants 
There is always going to be glass cleaning/decor cleaning/plant pruning/adding water maintenance of some sort to be done, though


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