# Good setup for JUST growing/harvesting plants



## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

curious what other peoples thoughts are for a growing tank.. for plants.. 

The reason why i ask is here in chilliwack it sucks... no plants choices always have to go out to the city to get some.. not a big deal but hard for younger guys to get into the aquarium hobby with no choices locally.

What would be a good setup for JUST growing aquarium plants.. good tank size.. setup... lighting... etc. Try to do this at a resonable price. Lets say you wanted to grow low/med/high plants as well.. Maybe throw in some cherry shrimp  

Regards,

Shawn


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## er201 (Apr 21, 2010)

For just plants I would look into an emersed set up. Here's something I came across a while back when I wanted to do planted setups.

How to grow Cryptocoryne emersed | Cryptocoryne Blog


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## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

The only reason i would stay away from emersed is because of the melting that happens when you put them back into the tank, maybe people i have seen kill them or they never recover and they die. If you keep them in the water then there will be none of the melting behavior.. and people are typically happier.. 

just my 2 cents..  But a good read above regardless!


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Either a wide, shallow tank or a stacker system. You want lots of area, but depth is not as necessary because shallow means better light penetration, even with lower powered lights. 

If I was doing this to grow and sell plants, and space was not an issue, I would have a custom waterfall tank with deep tank on top, waterfalling into a med. depth tank, and then waterfalling into a shallow wider tank on the bottom. Then I would have that drain into a big sump tote with koi and pump the dirty fish water back up into the top, deep tank again to cascade back. The fish poop would feed the plant tanks with nutrient rich waters and the plants would clean the water for the koi again with each cycle. 

As for lighting, that would depend on the plants. I've had good success with 6500k Phillips Daylight CFL bulbs, with daylight plant PC & T5HO bulbs, as well as 6500k LED lights.

Instead of an expensive CO2 system, I've used Metricide with great growth results.

It really depends on space, how high tech you want to go, expense, and whether you're looking to go "display", ghetto/utilitarian, custom, off-the-shelf, or DIY, as well as what equipment you already have.

BTW, I have a 90g cubish tank at my mom's that I need to sell off that's about 30" x 30" x 2' deep if you're interested.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

i would say a 33 long would be great. Not to short, and a decent length to spread out a scape. For ease of set up, i would recommend t5ho hung high, even cheap grow lights or a 2 bulb model canadian aquatics carries should be enough. IF you use an innert substrate and just ei dose (with pressurized if you have it, or jello diy), you keep the cost down. your lighting thread has links i added to it to help fine tune t5hos better without a par meter. a cheap hob with filter floss and a maxijet 400 set in circulation mode with a mesh mod to be shrimp safe would keep circulation great without detritus build up. I've run 2 tanks with just a maxijet on them (in powerhead mode since they aren't long tanks) and detritus builds up after a few months to the point where water changes aren't enough to keep it clean


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

So are you interested in growing just for yourself or to grow to sell off to local fishkeepers?


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## Nicklfire (Apr 21, 2010)

Mostly just the challenge in growing them.. then the excitement to being able to sell them locally and meet new people passionate bout the hobby and the love of growing plants.. Love getting algae.. then fighting it off and figuring out problems. I'd like to get more species i have not seen before.. let alone grow.. Aquariums are more about the plants in recent years over the fish.. plus shrimp..  Aside from galaxy rasbora... love those guys.


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## target (Apr 21, 2010)

Do a custom acrylic tank 1'x1'x whatever length you want. then any light should be enough to reach the bottom.


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

its about finding that compromise between depth height and width. best bang for your buck is likely a 40 gallon breeder as its dimensions are pleasing (any tank with a 2:1:1 ratio in length to width to height looks best) and they are readily available. aquasoil is IMO the best for longevity and plant growth. 

TONS of CO2, good fertilizing (EI) and good water circulation (which is often overlooked) and of course a decent light. this is how i run my tanks and i literally throe out handfuls of plants ever week or so


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

I'm not a big fan of growing stem plants in my 22gal which is 36x12x12. I've had to chop down or top and replant before they grow into full maturity. I would suggest something with a minimum depth of 18" if you want to grow stem plants.
I'm looking forward to buying plants from you in the future if you decide to go that route 
I recall Tom Barr with a dutch style tank he used for growing and selling trimmings. Look up that thread?


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## trout (Mar 21, 2012)

Def agree with Algae Beater's tips and the 40 b suggestion.

Emersed is really fun also, but do agree with the melting thing. Be a shame to give/sell plants only to have them melt away. However a way to avoid that would be grow it all out emersed, then flood it pre trim and acclimate everything. I guess that might involve getting rid of most or all plants at once, and you couldn't really keep fauna.......but it is one of the most economical ways to just grow plants ( that can be grown emersed) 

I now keep little jars and dishes of emersed stuff since starting my tank that way, it's addicting!


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Algae Beater said:


> its about finding that compromise between depth height and width. best bang for your buck is likely a 40 gallon breeder as its dimensions are pleasing (any tank with a 2:1:1 ratio in length to width to height looks best) and they are readily available. aquasoil is IMO the best for longevity and plant growth.
> 
> TONS of CO2, good fertilizing (EI) and good water circulation (which is often overlooked) and of course a decent light. this is how i run my tanks and i literally throe out handfuls of plants ever week or so


If you're throwing out handfuls, I could use some... I find it impossible to keep plants in my 90, as the grazing of my Uarus and, well, all the other followers in there, is insistently non-stop. I do want plants in the tank, but... The replacement cost isn't worthy. Plus there is very little room here to grow my own plants.
A PM would be appreciated 

Not hijacking...

I find this thread awesome and hope it keeps going!!

Learning from this, maybe I could do a small version of the best way of propagating aquatic plants, and add to it!!

cheers


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

I will post a picture of my 57, which after the VAHS contest ended i converted to a dutch style tank. I amped up the Iron and EI dosing in general, more CO2 and well ... a jungle has resulted. I will let this one grow for another week so i have some trimmings to sell at the monster auction. highlights will be portions of Cuphea anagalloidea (which is slow growing and finnicky), Lindernia rotundifolia 'Variegated', Willow moss, Pogostemon stellatus, and some lovely Rotala macranda 'narrow'. there will be a ton more of more common species as well.

not to hijack lol 

but back to the topic. I also urge people that are new to high-light, EI dosed tanks to invest in a UV sterilizer. I have one, not for continuous use, but it is very easy to miss/overdose when you are busy and this can lead to algae outbreaks specifically green water which i find happens for me when i uproot a lot of plants. Like when the glosso carpet is 4 inches thick and needs to be uprooted. they usually cost about $100-200 and will save you gobs of time. though a caution is that if green water cannot grow, often other forms of algae will.


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## GaryR (Sep 16, 2012)

If you're interested in starting a farm, I saw this on CL earlier today: AQUARIUM / AQUAPONICS TANKS - 100 GALLON - 4 FT X 4 FT X 1 FT

He has a bunch of 4x4x1 tanks.


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