Need help with my planted gbr set up!

[dwalke13]

hello,
I am new to the world of planted aquariums. I went out and bought my tanks set up and I have been running it for a few days now included in my set up is a 20g long tank with a AquaClear power filter for 10-30 gal, marineland stealth heater 75 watt for up to 25g, then here is my problem I bought a deluxe aqueon full hood 30 inch fluorescent light with a 17 watt bulb. I think the max it can handle is 25 watt bulb. the insides contain black rocks parts of 2 ceramic pots I have broke and sanded off the edges, and today I added a huge piece of drift wood, by huge I mean it takes 1/4 of my tank. also i forgot about the out door timer i just got from lowes.

my goal is to spend as less money as I can in getting my tank ready for plants, a pair of german blue rams, and a few fish that my girlfriend has yet to pick out.
far as plants go I am looking for low to mid lighting and a 4 clover plant to spread over my drift wood.

okay I know my light bulb can not support the plant life I intend to use so I have started to look for a quick fix and I have came to a stand still. Will I have to buy a whole new hood or can I just put a new light fixture on top of the hood.I have been looking in to tops like

http://www.marineandreef.com/Aqualig...p/res58021.htm
or
http://www.aquarium-supply.biz/Produ...tCode=RES53015

also what watts will I need, will the lights make my tank heat up and how many hrs a day should I have my tank on, and are there any other things I need to get my tank up and going, I need to get testers because I know putting the drift wood in my tank lowered the ph.


o and soon I will have a few ghost shrimp for my gbr to eat later on.

the pictures are of the tank then of the hood and the light part that comes off.

[peanutbowl]

what i would do is get a good 25 watt bulb for your setup. 6700k is the stuff. plant the tank(fill the tank) with anubius, crypts, java moss etc. and work on a good dosing scheme. make sure you are providing enough nitrate, potassium and phosphate.
10ppm nitrate
1ppm phosphate
10ppm potassium
per dose once a week with water changes.
also, add some gh if needed along with trace elements including iron. you will see growth in a few weeks. and do big water changes weekly.
when you see growth, add carbon with excel or co2. push carbon as far as you can and start adding more nutrients as needed to witness more robust growth. when you think you can use more light, go to ah supply and buy a 55 watt bright light and ad it to your hood. that is the lighting i am using with my hood with co2 and ferts. good growth. more light than that and it is a headache.

that is a really good price on the coralife canopy. when you up the light to 55 to 65 watts, you need to start dosing 2 to 3 times a week to keep up with nutrients.

[dwalke13]

thank you, peanut
I am thinking of buying this light because it will fit my hood with little adjustment.
http://www.petblvd.com/cgi-bin/pb/ES...?mv_pc=froogle
the info listed is wrong. The other sites I have seen this light on say it comes with a 18 watt light bulb and then the plant bulb.

I have begun cycling my tank now with 3 serpae tetra fish (started with 2 but they are schooling fish and were on a rampage that involved nipping so I added one more and they are now not so nippy) 5 ghost shrimp, a bog plant, and 8 random bulbs 4 from walmart and 4 from pet co. I did this as a last min experiment to see if the plants will grow with an 17 watt bulb.

lastly I know a whole lot of nothing about fertilizer if you could explain what I need to buy and the best way to get all of them, and a good place online to buy plants. my 3 pet stores plants look awful.

[peanutbowl]

I'm kinda diy'ing a lot of what i do. but i can get you started.
the light fixture you posted is good. will adapt well to your tank and not take up much space. you just need to replace the colormax bulb with another plant bulb.
it uses T5 bulbs so make sure you get another compatible T5 bulb.that will give you about 1.5 watts per gallon and with a short tank like yours, it should work well.
also, i would consider CO2. Doing it diy is pretty cheap, but it takes some doing and changing out the yeast slurries every week gets to be a pain. or doing pressurized once you see what CO2 can do. at which point you might want another one of those lights on top to turn the tank into a monster. sorry, i'm going off onto a rant.

you can get plants in many places online. if the weather is cold were you are, you're gonna want to pay the extra for overnight shipping and cold protection. if it's warm where you are, look on some of the forums for local hobbyists that can set you up with a ton of stem type plants for cheap. i've only had good experiences in that respect. but fill the tank with a lot of fast growing stuff at first to really get things going.

I'll pm an address online to get good ferts that take a little doing to use. but what you would want to start with is this....

KNO3 = Potassium Nitrate
MKP = Mono Potassium Phosphate
GH Builder = contains gh through calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Plantex = trace minerals
Chelated Iron = Iron source
that stuff in the raw costs about $30 for a year's worth. much cheaper than commercially available stuff.

Without CO2, you will want a carbon source like Fourish Excel. it'll help things get growing with the ferts. get that at any of the big online pet box stores.

get your self set with all this stuff and we'll talk more about dosing schedule and all that. and read. read as much as you can about the plants you want, CO2, dosing plans (EI), lighting, etc. it's a lot to swallow, but you need to have a pretty working knowledge of what's going on in the tank.