Rebuilding an old Hobby

[Andreasell]

Hi guys, not much of a forum guy but i thought this would be a great way to access information and meet people of the same interest.

Background information: I live in Cyprus, a place where information and equipment about fish keeping is very limited. I used to be into fish keeping a long time ago and i used to have fish tanks since i was 12. I never had however. planted aquariums and stuff like that; only the typical fish and fake plants which was rather ugly i must say.

Plans: I currently own a 7 year old fish tank from an Italian brand called Wave. It's 100x42x53 cm long and 190L volume. I would like to create a medium-high tech planted aquarium with fish taking a secondary priority and plants, first. To be honest, I don't want to spend a huge amount of money on this one since I am planning on starting a nano reef tank soon. I would like to track my progress in this forum and whatever mistake I might make, I would really appreciate it if you could help me correct me and guide me through the process!

So for starters:

Fish Tank: Wave 100x42x53 cm 190L

Lighting: So this was a big one for me... I did a lot of research but I just got even more confused. My fish tank has currently two T8 of 30w each. I know this is not enough for a my plans so I was considering either something with 2x45W T5 like the Juwel High-Lite (http://www.juwel-aquarium.co.uk/Pro...nits/HiLite-Light-Unit-55cm-UK-55cm-24-W.html). Is this enough or will i need to get something with 4 T5s like http://www.fluvalaquatics.com/uk/pr...ple-fluorescent-lighting-system/#.VMYgqUeUeCk ?
I don't want to spend the extra money on getting the led system although it's cheaper in the long run. I don't have a problem with cash flow but the initial cost is important to me.

Filtration: I already bought an external canister filter eheim 2073 and i have a couple of sponge filters as well.

Substrate: I don't really have a choice in this one... Basically, tropica substrate.

Water: I have a RO/DI Home system so i will be using that with the necessary minerals added.

CO2: I will be adding a pressurized cylinder CO2 system. But i don't know the amount as of yet because i don't know what plants i will be using.

Plants: Tropica Plants.

Ideas For Layout (incl. plants): http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout79/5283
http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout46/5041
http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout80/5284
http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/layout/Layout82/5286

Sorry for the long post.. I will be taking pictures and uploading them as I go along.. My current question is about the lightning as of now... So if you could help me, I would really appreciate it!

Thank you for your time and consideration!!

Andreas

 

[kirk]

Hi Andreas, I always try to keep the cost down too on a set up,but there's always something shiny new or what is believed to be more efficient, I've lost count how much I've wasted on different methods of getting co2 into the tank, I even have two glass diffusers on the way from China.......these are the ones deffinaley the ones this time I've told my wife amazing the words co2 can be as annoying to your wife as algae can be to a scaper. don't worry too much about lighting for now get your flow and co2 right. That said I'm still trying looking forward to the pics too.

 

[ian_m]

I started with 2 x 25W T8 tubes over 180l works fine, not super high light but adequate for most plants with CO2. When first starting I rotated the reflectors round to lower light levels even further to prevent any algae issues.

My 180l gets through a 2Kg fire extinguisher in about 100days.