# Converting fish tank to plant tank, without moving fish...



## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Errr...how about some easy starter plants? I have Java fern and some other stuff I can't ID, but they don't look very nice. If I'm going to start fertilizing, and I guess I'll have to, is it better to ease into it instead of full dosing at once? I don't want green water, although, to be fair, I've never HAD green water and I might like it.


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## Georgiadawgger (Apr 23, 2004)

As far as fish load, your two angels will probably start getting irritated at any more fish if you do get some. A possibility would be to get rid of the CAE (I can't stand them since they are so mean and worthless) and get three cory cats. 

Lighting...with a deep tank like that you may need PC lighting. I have 108 watts of pc and 60 watts of NO on my 46 bowfront and that is enough light to get to the bottom so leaves don't rot off. 

Substrate: I would just bite the bit and change it all at once. Do a search about adding fluorite. You can probably expect a cloudy mess for almost a week unless you REALLY clean out the flourite. The alternative that everyone else likes is Eco complete. My experience with it is it doesn't cloud the water so that may be the best option in your case since its black. If you can, I suggest you remove the fish and water into a large clean bucket or cooler. Just the water from the top half of the tank is fine...don't suck any of the gravel mulm. 

Plants: wait until you have enough lighting. If you go the PC route you may be able to find a decent hood that puts out 65 watts. If you do that then you may need to fertilize and add other nutrients (co2?). However, with low lighting and fertilizers you'll get just a lot of algae. 

Good luck and I'll let anyone else give some tips.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

No love for the CAEs huh? :icon_frow

I like mine. He's an adult so I know his mature personality. He keeps to himself, still eats algae, and rates REALLY high on the Cute Scale.
I know many CAEs end up on Fox's "Fish Gone Bad", but I bet most CAEs are just quiet types that don't do anything bad and must suffer with the reputation made by a few rogue fish!

Thanks for the tips. Gives me a bit of an idea as to what I'm getting myself into....hehehehe


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

How long has this tank been running fish-only? You may not have to switch substrate at all if you have a heavy build-up of mulm in the gravel -- mmm, natural fertilizer! And you can supplement with root tabs.

If you've got coarse gravel, you may want to top it up with some finer-grained gravel with the same colour, as it will eventually get mixed together.

Of course this is the easy way to do it. If you'd _prefer_ to break your tank down and swap the substrate completely, that's up to you. But the above is the method I used -- just for lack of knowing anything different (hadn't found this site yet and my LFS didn't know much plant-wise), but the plants are doing great.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

It's been running for about 18 months and there is alot of mulm built up (I'm not a very good vacuumer). I'd prefer to not break down the tank. I like the idea of blending in another substrate and not doing an out-and-out replacement (lazy). 

Hmmm...I will check and see what these better substrates look like and see how they can blend in.


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## jbarone (May 31, 2004)

Maybe it's just me,
but I kept my gravel and mixed in some schulz's aquatic potting soil (about 50/50) (I bought it at yardbirds in the pond section) and my plants are doing awesome. The tank I tested it on was small, granted (5gal 8w eclipse "daylight" bulb) but they are doing well, nonetheless.

My hornwort grew about 2 inches in a day!

As for lighting, I'm planning on going the Home Depot route for my 20gallon Long. The home depot guy and I estimated that the overall cost of the conversion would be about $50 for:

wood (for my new hood)
paint
fittings
bulbs
ballasts
fan
any accessories I missed

That's not too bad, as far as I'm concerned.
I plan on building a practice hood, just so I can figure out how
to cherry my hood out without screwing up the final product.

Can't think of anything else...

Good luck!


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Pond dirt! I mean aquatic potting soil! good idea! 

waitaminute....FAN? I can't have a fan! I have an unspoken agreement with the spouse that this tank stays quiet and nice-looking. Spouse is not exactly an aquarium afficionado but indulges me so I don't want to push it. Of course I don't want the noise either... New question:

Can I have a nice planted tank without HEARING it?


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Mori said:


> Can I have a nice planted tank without HEARING it?


Of course! Well... actually, I can always hear the water trickling a bit, but other than that all three of mine (god, I can't believe I have _three_ tanks now!) make no discernable noise, and they're all in the livingroom.

It all depends on the equipment you get. Some filters are noisier than others. And when you get into high light setups, you may have heat issues -- which is why some people need fans. Keep that in mind as you're looking at your new lighting options. Do you have anything in mind lighting-wise yet?


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## malkore (Nov 3, 2003)

My first comment is that no 'out of the box' PC strip is gonna fit perfectly...because 55/65 watt bulbs are 23" long, so the whole strip light is gonna be about 24"..the 2" overhang will look funny.

2nd comment, I built my own canopy from red oak, to house 4 55watt PC bulbs. I have no fans, no vents, and no heat issues inside the tank or otherwise. My ballasts are mounted inside the tank, and I simple wired the bulbs with a standard, polarized plug in between the ballast and the bulb. So i just un-plug the cords when I need to remove the canopy (which weighs a log more than I'd like)


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

malkore said:


> My first comment is that no 'out of the box' PC strip is gonna fit perfectly...because 55/65 watt bulbs are 23" long, so the whole strip light is gonna be about 24"..the 2" overhang will look funny.


Oh yeah, I didn't even notice the dimensions. Do you think a couple of the 36w PCs would fit in there?


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## jbarone (May 31, 2004)

Only reason why I suggested fans was that I assumed you were overdriving
your fluorecents. By ODing, you're heating up your bulbs, this shortening their life.
I figured extending the life of the bulb while making it brighter was a good option.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

This lighting thing is going to be work, isn't it? I'm not going to just be able to plug a better bulb into my existing bulb thing, am I? And being a funky size I can't buy one either huh? 

It looks like this (I'm not endorsing this vendor. I know nothing about him! He just has a picture and the manufacturer's website is suprisingly unhelpful): http://www.elmersaquarium.com/k4030oc30ube.htm

It looks like I'll have to make my own lighting system and them somehow manage to make it look nice. Fortunately mine is in black so it'll be easy to do the exterior finish.

I had sort of hoped to use off-the-shelf lighting. Silly, huh?


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Not so silly. I can't understand why canopies aren't made with better lighting to begin with -- or at least with the _option_ for better lighting. (sigh)

If you check out the link I posted above, they have some DIY canopy instructions with diagrams.


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Yep, they don't look too hard, as long as I don't try to get creative...would something like that 2x36 watt kit be what I'd want?


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

Off-hand I'm thinking that's probably your best bet, and it'll give you good light (72w over a 29g). I'd hold off for awhile tho and see if anyone else has any other suggestions...


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## all4funwfish (Jan 18, 2004)

You want somewhere between 2-3 watts per gallon, (the math is obvious). Seeing as you would have enough light, thats a valid option. You may want to add a reflector if that setup doesnt have one, just because of tank depth being a cube you are probably a little deeper than most people running a similar setup. Lumens are important..


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## all4funwfish (Jan 18, 2004)

forgot to mention that if you do have a heat issue, you can get fans for computer towers from like best buy or wherever that are usually pretty quiet..


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

thanks y'all!

I guess I'll start with lights and substrate and see if I can get that far. Then I'll worry about plants and fertilizers and...stuff.


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