Expert: Nick Kochelek - 12/13/2006

Question
Yegads that is a lot.  Considering it will cost me about $700 to set up the 120 I probably can't do that right now.  My friend has a 40 gal (12 x 36) tank that is currently a saltwater reef tank.  Would it be more prudent to turn this into a planted tank and let him have the 75 to put the saltwater in?  Of course I don't know if you can even put fresh water into a tank after it was saltwater.  Thanks again for your time.
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-----Question-----
Hi,

I am considering purchasing a 120 gallon tank for my black belted South American Cichlid, Butch.  He is about 13 years old (I've had him all of that time).  Is there anyway to know how long Cichlids live? This might influence my decision.  If I do buy the new tank (trying to decide between a 120 and 125 gallons....Butch is about 15 inches long, 12 inches high and 5 inches thick!).  

If I do buy the new tank then I will turn my 75 gallon tank, that Butch currently occupies (by himself because he continues to kill everything else, even plecos!), into a planted community aquarium.  I tried doing plants a few years ago and was extremely unsuccessful.  

Can you direct me to some resources on how to get started and what I need to know to have a successful planted tank. Please consider me a complete novice when it comes to plants in tanks. Since I will be starting from the beginning I really want to do it right.  

Thanks a lot for your time.

Deborah Barr
-----Answer-----
Hello Deborah

      Butch sounds like an excellent fish. Excellent fish keeping, most people do have fish even half that long. Good job!

Starting a 75 gallon planted tank will be expensive, i'll be honest. Do be surprised to spend on the upwards of 500 dollars. The lighting alone for this aquarium will be allot.

The basic unit of life is light. Without light, nothing lives. You need to simulate real life light in your aquarium. Unfortinually, most aquarium setups are very far away from these levels. The average planted aquarium needs 3-5 watts per gallon of light (WPG). To measure watts per gallon, take the total wattage of your light, and divide it by the gallon size of your tank. So you will need around 230 watts at the minimum. This is allot of light, its also going to cost you. I'm assuming that you have an aquarium made by the All-Glass Aquarium Company. The 75 gallon demnsions are 48x18x20. I have found a really good fixture that you fit your tank (if those are the correct demnsions). Its probably the cheepest and the most watts. Go to this website to check it out. It costs 250 dollars, it may seem like allot but thats not bad considering what your getting. Here is the website.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=13637&N=2004+11334

It has a total of 260 watts which is more than enough for you.

So light is the basic thing you need. Without this, nothing will grow. Here is the next major thing

Water hardness is another major issue with planted aquariums. A planted aquarium need a gh (general hardness) and kh (carboniate hardness) inbetween 3-10. This is farily low. Most cities have water around 15-20. Now you could be lucky and have really soft water. The only way you are going to find out is to buy a testing kit for both Kh and Gh. You need to get these tested so look into buying these testing kits. They are farily cheep too.

Get both GH and Kh tested and let me know what they are. Also get your ph tested, ph is also very important to plants. Just to give you a heads up, if you have very hard water and a high ph, will add allot more cost.

The next thing, not too major but it is not also required. Although it is highly recommend you don't have to have it. Nutrient enriched substrate. Gravels such as eco-complete or flourite are great for aquariums, especially planted aquariums. They continously supply nutrients to plants though their roots. The gravel is farily expensive (15-20 dollars per bag) but I have found that it pays for itself over time. Over time, the price of root tab fertilizers will add up. The gravel is expensive up front, but saves you money in the long run. It is also healther for the plants. Like I said, you don't have to have it, but it is highly recommended.

The last thing are nutrients. You need a good mixture of nutrients. There are two types of nutrients, macro and micro. Macro nutrients are used in large amounts and micro in small amounts.

Macro nutrients are, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, sulfur.

Micro nutrients are, colbalt, iron, potassium, magnesium.

Most macro nutrients are supplied in the tap water, most of the time there are too many macros, this is what makes hard water. Don't worry about these right now though. Focus more on water hardness and light. Fertilizers are only to be used when you have a proper lighting system and proper water hardness. Without these two things perfect, the plants won't use the fertilzers, this means algae will and thats the last thing you want, an algae outbreak.

So, defilitely look at that lighting system I gave you the website for. Like I said, its probably the cheepest for what your getting. I would probably buy that one if I were you. Let me know if you have any more questions and get back to me when you find your kh, gh and ph. Thanks

At Your Service
Nick Kochelek

Answer
Hello again

      Ya, theres allot, and believe it or not, I only covered a few major things. There is allot more than I told you, I just thought I would leave it there. Unfortnually, it does cost allot. With a 100 percent full system, inluding CO2, RO water and light, you have have well over 1000 dollars in a 100 gallon aquarium.

       Anyways, converting to a salt water would probably be more. I'm not an expert in saltwater, but I do remember things from the petstore I worked at. To beable to grow liverock, (an essential nutirent and organism to saltwater fish) you would still need a proper lighting system. Liverock is very important to saltwater fish. I forgot the forumula, but its something like 5 pounds per fish. This along with live sand, salt, mineral supplements and equipment, you will probably end up spending around 570 dollars. I toteled up somethings, the base line of everything and this is what it would come out to. I included salt, a protine skimmer, minearal supplements and a lighting system.

Either way, it will be farily expensive. I would be much cheeper to do the freshwater, I can tell you that right now. Well, you'll have to decide from here. Let me know if you need help with anything else or your final decision.

Followups Are Welcome

At Your Service
Nick Kochelek