# Tank Transformation 30 gal



## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

I have been away from the hobby for 4 years, back now with a 30 gal I picked up off CL, going to try a planted tank this time.
When I bought the tank it was up and running for 2 years.
Suggestions and comments welcome 

Tank specs before:
Regular gravel about 2" thick
one bulb flourecent hood for a 24x12 tank ....not the 30gal that it is 
one aquaclear 30 filter
an UG filter again made for a standard 20gal tank and a noisy air pump that my bf said HAD to go (the tank is in our bedroom!)
lots of plastic plants and some java fern
some nice driftwood

Tank specs now:
2 bags of Eco Complete mixed in with the regular gravel
Coralife compact flourescent light 24" ....I think it has a reef bulb in there ...it's very bright, may have to change that!?
Custom glass to fit into the corners so the light would sit on them and not fall into the tank!
additional aquaclear 50 filter
tons of plants thanks to Reckon for giving me free trimmings and Bien for selling me an awesome amount of plants so many that I had enough leftovers for a full planting of my 10gal quarantine tank too! (no more plastic!)

Wishlist:
CO2 system--suggestions welcome! as I am a newbie with a planted tank
fully submersible heater as the one I have apparently is not ....I noticed this after having it underwater for the last two weeks! oops, good thing it's still working fine (and I have a backup heater too) 
moonlights or a way that I can slowly dim the light, not a fan of the shock of turning off the bright light at night that freaks the fish out, again suggestions appreciated 
Marble Hatchets once things settle, one of my favs!
Galaxy Danios or Glowlight Danios
Blue Badis Badis
Maybe a pair of Rams or other dwarf cichids
Easy to read/understand dry fert chart, I was told to go to the Barr report....so much reading and time and info!!! so if you know of an easy one to follow let me know!


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## Bien Lim (Apr 21, 2010)

great start Nita and I'm glad that you liked plant package. The only thing I would change is the back round, it get mixed up with the whole view of the tank..great scape btw!!


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## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks for the comment Bien!  yes I love the plants.
Yeah I have always painted the back of my tanks black but had no time to do this one as it came with fish and only had one spot in the house to put it! I am thinking of trying to paint it anyhow do you think black is good or? what would you suggest?
I don't like paper because it inevitably gets wet and always warps!...and remember I have 2 HOB filters :/
Cheers
Nita



Bien Lim said:


> great start Nita and I'm glad that you liked plant package. The only thing I would change is the back round, it get mixed up with the whole view of the tank..great scape btw!!


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## Bien Lim (Apr 21, 2010)

You could buy those back round on most lfs store that are water resistant. They come in plain black on the other side and blue on the other. But painting is ideal but just in case you can't paint this anymore due to its already set up


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Tank looks good. The bulb will have a number written on it at the socket end. If its a reef light it will say 10,000k which will work for planted tanks. Most people use a 6,700k bulb for planted tanks or a 6,700 and a 10,000k if they have a double bulb. 10,000k will grow plants on its own but I suggested going to a 6,700 when you replace the bulb. They are only good for around a year than should be replaced.

THey make a few bulbs in the 6,000k area. All depends on the brand. Ive seen 6,300k and 6,500k. Those will work aswell


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Looks great Nita. I too have a 30gal almost ready for dwarf cichlids. They look great and have great personality. 
There is a nutrient calculator that gives you the basic recommendations for EI dosing. 
I believe it starts with 7.5ppm of NO3; 1.3ppm of PO4; 7.5ppm of K; and enough CSM+B that the Fe content is 0.5ppm

Yet Another Nutrient Calculator

I would start there and then modify your dose according to what you need. Using test kits isn't always accurate but will give you and idea of what's going on. 
For example, with my newly set up 50gal tank I was dosing the same phosphate ppms as I was with my old 22gal. But when I tested a couple times (just to make surfound out that I just didn't see any blue in my test tubes. My ~1.3ppm of phosphates were being used up by the next day! I've now had to doubled my dose.

Btw, I don't think you need to dose much (perhaps 1x a week) if you don't use co2. If you look at Blurry's post on the show and tell thread he doesn't dose fertilizers at all, he just uses excel as an alternative to co2. But each tank is unique to the amount of ferts, co2, etc that it needs. I tried the excel route and found that it was so-so for me, some plants didn't do that well at all.

Hope this helps!


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## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks  what it the reason you'd suggest the 6700k bulb? I will check out what it says on the end tonight after I turn it off.



jbyoung00008 said:


> Tank looks good. The bulb will have a number written on it at the socket end. If its a reef light it will say 10,000k which will work for planted tanks. Most people use a 6,700k bulb for planted tanks or a 6,700 and a 10,000k if they have a double bulb. 10,000k will grow plants on its own but I suggested going to a 6,700 when you replace the bulb. They are only good for around a year than should be replaced.
> 
> THey make a few bulbs in the 6,000k area. All depends on the brand. Ive seen 6,300k and 6,500k. Those will work aswell


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## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

Hi Jowen, yes this helps but I have no previous expierence in dosing ferts so I guess I will have to look it up  and figure out how to do the math.....ugh.
How accurate do you have to be? I mean if the tank is completely full then it has 29-30 gallons but when its evaporated and clearly less water does it matter that much?
The ferts I bought came with measuring spoons I was humerously discruntled to find out that they read things like "TAD" "SMIDGEN" etc ! I assume this is a specific "system" ? .....so if you or anyone else reads this and knows please let me in :S as it is a bit overwhelming .....my water lettuce is melting too  I think it must be too humid and too close to the light as I was reading it prefers to have lots of open air and farther away from the light than I have it.
The plants you gave me are doing well though, they have a straightened out from being in a ball in my tank for a week now that they are planted 
I will look on the dry fert packages tonight when I get home.....I think they may say something about a company or website so I am sure that will be helpful.
Great to hear you are getting Dwarf Cichlids! What kind ? and do you think I could have shrimp in there if I got hardy ones? and covered the other filter intake!
I have dwarf loaches so am not convinced they wouldn't munch on them as they are total brats and peskily bite the other fish when they are not kept fed 3x day. I love them but they are bratty! 
Cheers 



Reckon said:


> Looks great Nita. I too have a 30gal almost ready for dwarf cichlids. They look great and have great personality.
> There is a nutrient calculator that gives you the basic recommendations for EI dosing.
> I believe it starts with 7.5ppm of NO3; 1.3ppm of PO4; 7.5ppm of K; and enough CSM+B that the Fe content is 0.5ppm
> 
> ...


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

aquariussun said:


> Thanks  what it the reason you'd suggest the 6700k bulb? I will check out what it says on the end tonight after I turn it off.


Is it a single bulb or double bulb coralife fixture?

I cant give you a good answer out of my head on why thats prefered. Im no scientist. LOL. I had a great article on my work computer but I keep getting virusus from fish tank web pages go figure, so I lost the reading I had and cant seem to find it again. I read tons when I first started my planted tanks. The number 6,700k referes to how many Kelvins the bulb is. The bulb color is directly related to this. A 10,000k bulb mimics the sun at mid afternoon it also gives off a slightly different color than a 6,700k. Plants prefer light in a specific spectrum aka color. 6,700, 6,500 and 6,300 are all in this prefered spectrum aka color. As I said people do use 10,000k bulbs for planted tanks but usually its with 6,700k. I run them in this fashion on both my tanks.

Search on google what bulbs are prefered for planted fresh water tanks. You will find lots of information. Some of it valid, some of it just peoples bad opinions. You will find some answers there. I will try to find that webpage and post it for you as someone else who is just learning has been asking me lots of questions so hopefully I can find it.

Cheers and good luck with the tank


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

aquariussun said:


> Hi Jowen, yes this helps but I have no previous expierence in dosing ferts so I guess I will have to look it up  and figure out how to do the math.....ugh.
> How accurate do you have to be? I mean if the tank is completely full then it has 29-30 gallons but when its evaporated and clearly less water does it matter that much?
> The ferts I bought came with measuring spoons I was humerously discruntled to find out that they read things like "TAD" "SMIDGEN" etc ! I assume this is a specific "system" ? .....so if you or anyone else reads this and knows please let me in :S as it is a bit overwhelming .....my water lettuce is melting too  I think it must be too humid and too close to the light as I was reading it prefers to have lots of open air and farther away from the light than I have it.
> The plants you gave me are doing well though, they have a straightened out from being in a ball in my tank for a week now that they are planted
> ...


Tad - 1/8th teaspoon
Dash - 1/16th teaspoon (or less than 1/8th teaspoon)
Pinch - 1/16th teaspoon (or 1/24th teaspoon)
Smidgen (smidge, for short) - 1/32nd teaspoon (or 1/48th teaspoon)

Funny, I just looked this up last week for my EI dosing regime when I bought measuring spoons.


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## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

Wow everyone is so helpful and generous in here! Many thanks  
Once I become more versed I'll have to pay it forward 
JB the verdict is good! My bulb is a 6700k 65 watt bulb and when I bought the fixture the man said it was used for only a few months ... So depending on his definition of "few" I should be ok for at least 6-9 months ! Yay 
And effox thanks for letting me know what the spoons refer to  appreciate the help as I can only imagine looking this up getting frustrated! 
Now I'm wondering how or if I measure to see if I need to start the Ferts right away or not? 
The bags I have say aquariumfertilizer.com so off I go reading 
All the plants are looking ok tonight except the water lettuce .... I am assuming that the other small patches of brown or withered leaves are from the stress of having them out of the water and handeling them while planting. 
Ciao 
Nita


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## aquariussun (Jan 21, 2013)

*Updates and new pics *

Things seem to be doing ok ....it's growing just slow and probably not as healthy as could be, need to get some Ferts in there and consider a CO2 system! Time is the challenge if only I wasn't so interested in so many things!! Water Lettuce has recovered and took off, anyone who wants to come pick some up is welcome to have a few plants for free!!


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