About Nick Kochelek Expertise I have several years of experience with new aquarium setups, fish compatibility, diagnosing and treating diseases and good equipment to use. So far, I have not mis-diagnosed a disease. I also have an extensive knowledge about growing plants and chemistry regarding the aquarium. I also have a basic knowledge about Lake Malawi cichlids. From beginner level, to highly advanced aquarists, I’ll be able to help you with your question. Please, no saltwater or goldfish questions.
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.
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.
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
