# 5 foot planted tank - hints and tips needed!



## Claire (20 Dec 2019)

Hi all,

I currently have a 5x2x2 marine tank with sump. I am in the process of selling all the livestock as we are moving house and I don’t want the stress of moving all that along with everything else on the day. Our new house needs some renovations but once they are done I plan to set the tank up again but likely as freshwater for a change. 

I have kept low and high tech planted tanks in the past but they were more “normal” sized, biggest being a 3 foot juwel vision. 

I was just wondering if anyone had any pearls of wisdom for running a big freshwater tank in terms of dissolving CO2 and avoiding gassing off lots of CO2 in the sump, best flow etc. I have plenty of big wavemakers (I have 3 MP40s at the moment) and a return pump capable of packing a decent punch if needed, it’s DC though so can tune right down as well. I have dosing pumps that I’ll use for dosing ferts. I have an Evergrow IT5012 LED unit that I can hopefully turn blues off totally to give a freshwater look.

I hope to have a natural style aquarium with densely planted jungle type scape. Probably mainly rhizome plants rather than stems to avoid too much pruning. Then thinking a small group of rams, either German blue or Bolivian along with shoals of rummynose, cardinals and hatchets. Dunno! Stocking suggestions also welcome!!

I am in central Scotland - where is best to get large pieces of hardscape? Contemplating phoning someone like aquarium gardens to see if they can put something together at their shop and then just send it up as we’re quite limited here for good shops.


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## david boden (20 Dec 2019)

Hi Claire----I'm not qualified to advise you on the aquarium set-up, ( I'm mainly a shrimper ),  but I am qualified to advise you on one thing in particular.
------- When you do the renovations on your new home,  please make sure the floor where you're putting the tank is sufficiently load bearing !
There's a fair drop of water in that there tank.


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## Dadofthree (20 Dec 2019)

Personally because you say less trimming and you have a sump why not go low tech and slow things down a bit no co2 
Also i think because you have 2ft.depth you may need some stem plants to get the height
Good luck and get some pics up


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## dw1305 (20 Dec 2019)

Hi all,





david boden said:


> There's a fair drop of water in that there tank.


About 600 kg.





Dadofthree said:


> Personally because you say less trimming and you have a sump why not go low tech and slow things down a bit no


My suggestion as well. 





david boden said:


> Also i think because you have 2ft.depth you may need some stem plants to get the height


Once they are actively growing rosette plants would still do, some of the bigger <"_Aponogeton">_ and <"_Echinodorus">_ spp. might work, there are also <"_Vallisneria americana "G_igantea">, <"_Cryptocoryne crispatula_ "Balansae"> etc.

We have members with large tanks, @Edvet, @Zeus., @Filip Krupa who might make suggestions for suitable plants, for both the starting stage and longer term.

cheers Darrel


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## Filip Krupa (20 Dec 2019)

E. CORDIFOLIUS

Keep it happy, and it will look amaze-balls.

Here is one I prepared earlier 



Fil


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## Claire (20 Dec 2019)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,About 600 kg.My suggestion as well. Once they are actively growing rosette plants would still do, some of the bigger <"_Aponogeton">_ and <"_Echinodorus">_ spp. might work, there are also <"_Vallisneria americana "G_igantea">, <"_Cryptocoryne crispatula_ "Balansae"> etc.
> 
> We have members with large tanks, @Edvet, @Zeus., @Filip Krupa who might make suggestions for suitable plants, for both the starting stage and longer term.
> 
> cheers Darrel



Tank with stand and sump filled weighs about a tonne. Luckily we’re on solid concrete slab flooring both here and at our new place. 

Yeah balansae and vallis has defo been on the list. I used to have some nice red aponogeton in my old tank too. Hoping I will also be able to achieve height with ferns on wood etc. 

My concern with low tech would be battling the dreaded black hair algae. I could use liquid carbon through the doser as a substitute I guess.


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## dw1305 (20 Dec 2019)

Hi all,





Claire said:


> My concern with low tech would be battling the dreaded black hair algae. I could use liquid carbon through the doser as a substitute I guess.


Ramshorn snails stop BBA growing, but they don’t eat the mature tufts.

Cheers Darrel


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## alto (20 Dec 2019)

LED details
https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-48-v2/

Don't forget if you run Channels 4, 1 & 2 at 100%, adding in a bit of the blues, the light wattage is less than half, so keep this in mind when selecting plants, also look at the positioning of the “Freshwater” LEDs 
I’d be surprised if you get decent (even) light distribution across the front to back tank width (depending on the internal reflectors and lens design), so keep this is mind when planning the scape

If you already have a CO2 set up, I’d use this rather than liquid carbon


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## Claire (20 Dec 2019)

alto said:


> LED details
> https://www.reefbreeders.com/shop/photon-48-v2/
> 
> Don't forget if you run Channels 4, 1 & 2 at 100%, adding in a bit of the blues, the light wattage is less than half, so keep this in mind when selecting plants, also look at the positioning of the “Freshwater” LEDs
> ...



Running only channels 1, 2 and 4 still gives output of 124w which is more than the biggest twinstar at full chuck. I get the twinstar is more “suited” to freshwater but I’d rather try and reuse existing equipment if possible rather than spend another £500 on lighting. I also run 2xT5s at the moment to give more light front and back and avoid coral shading, so would likely continue this. 
Obviously if it’s not right it’ll be changed but don’t think a shortage of light is going to be the main problem, it would actually be better to help with going a little lower tech and reducing CO2 demand which from reading other journals is the biggest difficulty.


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## alto (21 Dec 2019)

Not sure where you get the notion that I’m suggesting you buy alternate lighting 
- the 100* lens  (vs the more typical 120 - 150 for a freshwater LED) will have some impact, suspending the light higher and running 100% intensity will help balance this (vs running lower intensity with tank mounted light)

You hadn’t mentioned the additional T5’s, this will obviously extend the light spread and should balance out any (possible) deficits in the LED spectrum re CRI etc



Claire said:


> I’d rather try and reuse existing equipment if possible rather than spend another £500 on lighting.


Definitely


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## Zeus. (21 Dec 2019)

Think most of your kit should work well in a planted tank and the DC pumps should be great as you can adjust the flow to suit, Ive had Maxspect Gyres on my tank for over a year and being able to have different pump/flow profiles is a major plus IMO/IME. As for injecting CO2 and having a sump the CO2 used database will help give an idea of how much CO2 the setup may use esp considering @Filip Krupa sump Beast uses half the CO2 per litre of my 500l tank and nearly a third of what @ceg4048 used



Claire said:


> Probably mainly rhizome plants



Then can attach to rocks and DW  my kind of thinking too to get the plants higher in the water column, relay on this quite a bit in my 500l tank Olympus is Calling


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## Filip Krupa (21 Dec 2019)

Zeus. said:


> considering @Filip Krupa sump Beast uses half the CO2 per litre of my 500l tank and nearly a third of what @ceg4048 used



Caveat here being that my overflow system and sump were designed with co2 in mind, so minimal "waterfalling" happens.

Ta
Fil


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## Ady34 (22 Dec 2019)

Hi, 
I can’t really comment on the co2 tips for a sumped tank, however it is possible. I guess you will just have to try it and see how it fares with your particular set up, baffles flow rate etc. One tip maybe to utilise a misting diffuser in tank so as to allow for direct co2 contact with the plants rather than a reactor type system which maximises the dissolving of gas into the water. Your wavemakers will help ensure good distribution of the micro bubbles to all plants. As you say, controlling the lighting will also offer you more wiggle room with co2 demand. 
Regards planting I had exactly the same plan with my 5 foot. Mainly easy epiphyte plants for simplicity, longevity and ease of maintenance. I have also utilised tall cryptocoryne balansae and limited stems for extra colour and a little height. Your hardscape layout can help create the illusion of height even with these types of plants and the tank dimensions and will be essential in developing the structure for the look you want.
To offer some idea here is the hardscape and a recent image grown in to show how you can utilise the hardscape to form the skeleton of the scape without necessarily needing large plant specimens or even deep substrates. The ludwigia stem plant is simply pushed into the bolbitis clusters without being planted in any substrate. The c. Balansae is the only substrate rooted plant and is planted in about 3” of plain sand. All the rest of the plants are attached to wood and rocks.




 



 

Cheerio,
Ady.


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## Kalum (22 Dec 2019)

@Claire riverside aquaria just outside livingston has some nice big oak driftwood pieces in at the minute and also does rock, isn't the cheapest but only place I know around central scotland for decent hardscape, other than that I usually buy online


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## Claire (28 Dec 2019)

Filip Krupa said:


> Caveat here being that my overflow system and sump were designed with co2 in mind, so minimal "waterfalling" happens.
> 
> Ta
> Fil



Fil what type of overflow do you have? And what changes have you made to the sump? Had a look at your thread but struggled to find the right part that talked about this!

Also thanks Zeus and Ady for the big tank inspo! I found this picture online, no idea whose tank it is but I like the dense planting style. I wouldn’t have so many stems though as it would be a lot of work I feel in a tank this size to keep them looking tidy.


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## Claire (28 Dec 2019)

The tank is being broken down and all the livestock sold today - this is how it currently looks...


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## Filip Krupa (28 Dec 2019)

Claire said:


> Fil what type of overflow do you have? And what changes have you made to the sump? Had a look at your thread but struggled to find the right part that talked about this!



Cant blame you, the journal is a long read haha!
Here is a vid Ive made for you, quicker and clearer than typing away  technology FTW

Any questions, shoot!


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## Claire (28 Dec 2019)

Filip Krupa said:


> Cant blame you, the journal is a long read haha!
> Here is a vid Ive made for you, quicker and clearer than typing away  technology FTW
> 
> Any questions, shoot!




This is awesome, cheers!! I’m on a twin standpipe just now so will probably try to tweak a bit as currently I have a little water trickling down the emergency drain but this will obviously lose co2. Both my drains emerge underwater in the sump so that is good at least. I presume your baffles are all the same in the sump?
For co2 diffusion I’m contemplating between taking a split from my return pipe to run an in line reactor/diffuser or to have a diffuser sitting right at the return pump which it’ll then suck up with the return water.


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## Filip Krupa (29 Dec 2019)

Claire said:


> I presume your baffles are all the same in the sump?



Pretty much, nothing special about my baffles 



Claire said:


> For co2 diffusion I’m contemplating between taking a split from my return pipe to run an in line reactor/diffuser or to have a diffuser sitting right at the return pump which it’ll then suck up with the return water.



Either should work with big enough reactor/return pump.
You might have to experiment to see what works best.

Ive a 600mm tall custom made reactor to dissolve the co2.
TBH the best thing about it is that I can attach a 80mm bazooka inside 

Fil


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## Claire (29 Dec 2019)

I’ll probably try a large diffuser going into the return pump initially, and I’ll formate a large spraybar to run the length of the tank - currently it’s just a duckbill. Then I can adjust the return pump flow to suit the amount of co2 and distribution in the main tank.

Sounds perfectly plausible but whether it will work in reality or not is another matter!


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## Filip Krupa (30 Dec 2019)

Claire said:


> Sounds perfectly plausible but whether it will work in reality or not is another matter!



Part of the fun. Good luck.
Looking forward to updates.

Fil


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