DEATHMATCH: reef vs FW planted tank!!!

[rayray]

in 1 corner: me and my SPS reef. I say planted tanks are easy, boring, and generally oozing with estrogen. I have never had one, but I did have a freshwater tank in college. Refugiums are like planted tanks right, no biggie?

in the other corner: my bud and his planted tank. He says reefs are realtively easy compared to all this fertilizing, pruning, wah wah... its for "people with more money than brains." Hes never had a reef.

If more people here agree with him than not, I will start a planted tank and try to replicate his, which BTW looks no more appealing to me than my lawn/garden.

 

[jason142]

Can you have the morish idol in your avatar in a f/w planted tank, I think not so deathmatch goes to reef.

 

[james-lee]

LOL! I had a 225 gallon frshwater planted tank....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Oes6A9xzw

That now turned into this hahaha...

Its true freshwater planted is tough to a degree due to all the **** dosing, but once the plants take hold dosing is minimal. Only PITA was having to trim the **** plants every two weeks. On the other hand, slatwater is difficult at start and much more variables to maintain, but much more rewarding when things start to fill up and grow. Plus having both I can honestly say sea creatures have a MUCH more fascinating personality to them, My fish seem to play with my 4 yo when she is admiring the tank as opposed to the freshwater fish who swim away and hid everytime they see us. Just my 2 cents.

 

[rayray]

Nice reef James

thats whats missing from reef tanks: sunken galleons, little divers that go up and down, pirates...
I see you have the rare mermaid-apora in your reef tank.

 

[phamster]

I've never had a planted tank but I'd pick it over a reef any day. Too lazy too look into planted tanks.

 

[james-lee]

Yeah I didnt realy want it in there but my lovely 4 yo insisted so she won. It kinda worked out to be honest. Im gonna see if I can get some coralline to grow on it haha and maybe some zoanthids =)

 

[jessesoto33]

NO COMPARISON! WHO WANTS THE SAME COLOR IN THE WHOLE TANK! NOT ME! REEFING IS WHERE IT'S AT!:top:

 

[zigginit]

had a 20 gallon planted, then i got saltwater. the planted tank turned into a tank with fake plants because i stopped caring about it lol. i wanted to turn it into a frag tank but i cant bring myself to get rid of the fish in it. and the electric bill wont like it lol.

 

[plecosword]

having both set up, I have to say planted tanks require more maintenance than a coral reef tanks which are more self-sustaining.

 

[rayray]

in reef tanks you have to worry about salinity, temp, pH, alk, ca, just to name the crucial variables.

in FW planted you simply use tap water, temp is more forgiving, there seems a wider range of pH/CO2,lighting is easy, filtration is seems basic. So does it all come down to addition of nutrients?

 

[gumbii]

personally...

i think an amano planted tank is a million times better than a reef tank...

why...? because of the versatility and creative elements it gives you... you can do anything... i've seen some that looked like jungles, to city ruins, desert scenes and japanese sand gardens with bonzai trees...

although reefs have colors, blah blah blah... they all look the same... we might notice the difference since we're seasoned reef enthusiast... but every amano planted tank is different... like a hand painted piece of art...





no comparison...

 

[halvc909]

+1...after I saw a couple of those pics, I was thinking of setting up a planted tank but wife would kill me if I do

personally...

i think an amano planted tank is a million times better than a reef tank...

why...? because of the versatility and creative elements it gives you... you can do anything... i've seen some that looked like jungles, to city ruins, desert scenes and japanese sand gardens with bonzai trees...

although reefs have colors, blah blah blah... they all look the same... we might notice the difference since we're seasoned reef enthusiast... but every amano planted tank is different... like a hand painted piece of art...





no comparison...

 

[james-lee]

Yeah the Amanos are very nice, buuuuuut think of the tremendous amount of work that went into making and maintaining that. You have to start dosing nitrate as well as K+, just the right amount of phosphate (where the plants use it readily but to where there is not enough to start an algae bloom). It is possible to keep a tank like that but the road to get to it is very difficult and the amount of weekly to twice a week testing is insane. Remember in fresh the cycle ends at nitrates and the only thing that removes it is either plants or water changes. As opposed to the reef you have a complete nitrogen cycle. Also plants need a spectrum of 6500K to really grow best as some tend to dwindle at 10k and above. We all know algae pefers the red spectrum of the light in order to grow. That was one of the biggest issues I had with a planted tank. I ran the same 10 k MH and some plants grew and others dwindled, but it kept my algae problems somewhat at bay. Asking around to fellow hobbbyist in fresh stated going down in the kelvins would be beneficial but dosing has to be very rigourous due the potential of a major algae bloom. Needless to say I grew tired of maintaining it and thats why I decided to set up a reef. If I could say this setting up a panted tank was easy in the begining as opposed to a reef, but in the long term the reef seems to be more selfsustaining and less 'needy' as a planted tank. On the other hand a freshwater tank is much more forgiving shoud you screw something up. As RayRay said pH, temp, dKH are pretty forgiving in swings and give more room for error (though pH for ap lanted tank needs to be more on the neutral to acidic range).

 

[gumbii]

Yeah the Amanos are very nice, buuuuuut think of the tremendous amount of work that went into making and maintaining that. You have to start dosing nitrate as well as K+, just the right amount of phosphate (where the plants use it readily but to where there is not enough to start an algae bloom). It is possible to keep a tank like that but the road to get to it is very difficult and the amount of weekly to twice a week testing is insane. Remember in fresh the cycle ends at nitrates and the only thing that removes it is either plants or water changes. As opposed to the reef you have a complete nitrogen cycle. Also plants need a spectrum of 6500K to really grow best as some tend to dwindle at 10k and above. We all know algae pefers the red spectrum of the light in order to grow. That was one of the biggest issues I had with a planted tank. I ran the same 10 k MH and some plants grew and others dwindled, but it kept my algae problems somewhat at bay. Asking around to fellow hobbbyist in fresh stated going down in the kelvins would be beneficial but dosing has to be very rigourous due the potential of a major algae bloom. Needless to say I grew tired of maintaining it and thats why I decided to set up a reef. If I could say this setting up a panted tank was easy in the begining as opposed to a reef, but in the long term the reef seems to be more selfsustaining and less 'needy' as a planted tank. On the other hand a freshwater tank is much more forgiving shoud you screw something up. As RayRay said pH, temp, dKH are pretty forgiving in swings and give more room for error (though pH for ap lanted tank needs to be more on the neutral to acidic range).

that's why i appreciate a nice planted tank more than a reef... dude, my reef system uses a rubbermaid tub as a sump... LOL, do you think i can do that with a gorgeous planted tank...?


no...


and plants don't need 6,500K metal halide bulbs only... they only need full spectrum lighting... 4 T5HO's will light up a planted tank, and you can still get a 20,000K look wile doing it... if you read last years planted tank magazine, they showed "next year's amano tanks" that used T5's... a lot of them used ATI blue+, KZ fijipurple and KZ reef sun or whatever that bright ultra high par bulb is... the spectrum is incredible...





















just sayinn...

 

[james-lee]

Hmmm that is interesting Gumbii! I dunno I just got tired of it after doing it for so many years. Maybe I needed a change and thats why I got into saly (something diffeent). Dont get me wrong when done right planted tank is great, but just as its my own opinion as anyone elses is theres, at this very moment I am cheering for the reef lol! I mean c'mon my trigger fish oplays with me when ever I stare at the tank. I never had a tropical fish do that except for maybe my mollies or platys but it was because they wanted food.

 

[gumbii]

Hmmm that is interesting Gumbii! I dunno I just got tired of it after doing it for so many years. Maybe I needed a change and thats why I got into saly (something diffeent). Dont get me wrong when done right planted tank is great, but just as its my own opinion as anyone elses is theres, at this very moment I am cheering for the reef lol! I mean c'mon my trigger fish oplays with me when ever I stare at the tank. I never had a tropical fish do that except for maybe my mollies or platys but it was because they wanted food.

really..?


you should've gotten cichlids... on oscar will be your best friend... nothing has more personality than an oscar cichlid... i used to love watching my african rift tanks... even when i had cheap labidochromis in there, it was hours of entertainment... saltwater's nice... but it's not the same... you don't see mating, egg laying and mouth brooding... i really miss my cichlids... i keep seeing tropheus around for like 6 bucks a small fish, and i feel like setting up a tank for 20 of them...


sigh... maybe later...

 

[JOSE CASAS]

I have both there I WIN!

 

[gumbii]

I have both there I WIN!

pics or they don't exist...

 

[danagui]

FW planted was much easier for me. i think i changed the water like once every 3 months since i had it planted to the point where my plants absorbed all the nitrates. i never actually did anything to the tank.

reefs do look nicer though and are more interesting

 

[jessesoto33]

To GREEN for me! needs more color!