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Re: New Plant Tank Setup



> 
> From: TonyETSU at aol_com
> Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 18:14:03 -0500
> Subject: New Plant Tank Setup--Any advice
> 
> I have a 75 gallon aquarium with a few plants that I have decided to convert
> to a plant tank with a few fish.
> Current setup:
> 2 40W Tritons
> Penguin 300 power filter
> H.O.T. Magnum canister filter
> RUGF w/ 2 PH 145gph each

There has been some concern that RUGF's are not so great for plant 
growth.  A HOT Magnum and a power filter are perfectly adequate for a 75 
gallon plant tank.  For example, I have a HOT Magnum and a large sponge 
filter in my 75 gallon plant tank.  You don't really need the RUGF at 
all, IMHO.

> The tank will have a "southeast asia motif" so a lot of the plants will be
> Cryptocoryne sp. I bought a book recently called Nature Aquarium World by
> Takashi Amano and I want something along those lines (if any of you are
> familiar with the book). My questions are:
> 1) Will 80W of tritons be enough? Most of the 75 gallon setups in the book
> use 80W.

I've got a 75 gallon Southeast Asian biotope tank, and I only use 80 
watts of light and it suits me just fine.  Most of the plants I am 
growing are lower light type plants, which don't require more than 80 
watts of light.  I have occasionally bumped this tank up to 160 watts and 
noticed, of course, that the plants grow much faster.  Some of the plants 
which have grown favorably under 80 watts include: Crypt wendtii, Crypt 
becketti, Microsorum pteropus (Java fern), Hygro polysperma, Hygro 
corymbosa, Hygro augustifolia, and Crypt usteriana.  Crypt pontederifolia 
is not doing as well, but survives.

> 3) What would be the best (most reliable, best value) place to order the
> plants from. There is a surprisingly limited selection of plants in this area

I ordered most of my Crypts from Delaware aquatics (they run ads in 
FAMA).  Good luck.


Peter

------------------------------
Peter Konshak
pkonshak at fiat_gslis.utexas.edu
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