# Best filter type for plants



## aquaninja (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi all,

My 75 gallon tank only has gravel and 64 watts of T8 light. my filter is an HOB, the Aqueon Quietflow 55/75. What is the best filter type for a planted tank. I want it to be heavily planted. Also what substrate and lighting should I use?

Thanks,

aquaninja


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## clep.berry (Mar 4, 2012)

You can go mad with substrate, lighting and CO2.
CO2 will make the biggest difference/$ to your tank even with DIY CO2 and a small filter disseminating it across your tank. I have a tiny 50GPH filter that does this for me and at minimal CO2 levels this has produced very high CO2 levels in the tank.

I have a pea-gravel substrate and all my plants are doing very well - but at 24W of LED for a 15G tank. That's about the equivalent of your having 150W or more in your tank.

Depending on what plants you have, you could add another T8 tube or 2 to get the growth levels you want.

A nice substrate would be nice but it's also quite expensive. Some here have experimented with blasting sand with great success and it's relatively cheap too.

Ferts however are not optional. If you want good growth, plants need nutrients, Light and CO2.

As for what filter - your current filter should be up to the task but I'd suggest adding a second one though. I'm running over 100GPH in a 15 gal tank but because the plants are so densely planted, this is sufficient - not overkill. You could go the canister route as some have done very successfully here but I consider redundancy to be a greater benefit than a single filter that operates exceptionally well.
cb


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

I don't believe their is a *best* type of filter for plants. Filters are for fish. I do agree that if you dose/co2 the tank, good water movement is necessary to circulate the enriched water to all the plants.

Sub and lighting really depend on what kinda planted tank you wish to run. High Tech, low light, inbetween?

You could toss a ton of low light plants into your tank as is and be *heavly planted* and not have to do anything else. (mostly)


I'd recommend getting another tank, a smaller one. ~ 20gallons. Make that your planted tank. 1) It's just much much cheaper/easier to setup 20 vs 75. Much easier to *tweek*. Also, much easier to change out the components if you wish to try something else. Then if you like the weeds, you can decide if you wish to upscale that.

DIY Co2 on a 75 will be very ineffective.


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## rogue909 (Sep 14, 2012)

I have a canister filter for my aquarium, while I have just started really putting live plants in... I have not noticed a negative effect from the canister.
I was reading somewhere about a guy using kitty litter as a substrate.... worth looking into if you need something cheap.
(Note, he had it in a plant only aquarium, dunno how it would affect fish.)


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## aquaninja (Sep 6, 2011)

Something like this would be nice. On the page it says low tech and uses no Co2. How much would a setup like this cost?http://www.sudeepmandal.com/images/aquarium/fts1smalllh7.jpg


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You can use any filter really. With HOBs you'll need to keep in mind what you're putting underneath the outflow, but that also has to do with how high you run your tank. Canister filters with spraybars tend to give you more flexibility IMO.


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## aquaninja (Sep 6, 2011)

What canister filters would you recommend?

Also, is Co2 necessary for plants?


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