[i]I am in the process of redoing my 55 gal freshwater planted aquarium with CO2 setup as my first attempt lead to a plant and algae jungle. I probably made all of the classic mistakes but am ready to start fresh.
I plan to use Flora Max as well as my mix of Eco Complete and gravel I already have in the tank. I plan to initially have a small number of plants to hide the tubes, filters and wires as well as some plants on the Malaysian driftwood just enough to look nice and make it a healthy aquarium. At present I am running 2 filters - I have a Cascade Canister filter for tanks up to 65 gallons and I also have the double cartridge HOB power filter that came with this Top Fin tank. Trying to get live plants in Maine is a challenge as specific aquarium stores are gone and we have to rely on Petco or now Pet Life (Formerly Kennel Shop) so I need to order online and wait.
In the new set up I would like to only use my canister and have the intake at one corner of the tank and the return at the other corner. Should I continue to use both large filters or the canister and a smaller power filter that I have or just the canister filter? Also, I heard that if I choose to continue to use both filters that only one should contain carbon and the other should have mechanical (floss) and biological media only - is this true?

Thanks for your time and any advice you can provide.

my advice is to use just the plants and no filters.


I also think petsmart has good plants if the have the seperate tiered plant only tank.

You had an algae jungle because you have too much light and nutrients. I would have just killed the lights until the algae died off then resumed with less lighting.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

You can leave the filters just as they are if you like. What type of light do you have? Do you already have the CO2 system, or is this just where you would like to be some time in the future?

Thanks for the quick response. Yes I realize that I forgot to include the fact that I have a 48" Hagen GLO T5 lighting setup in the form of one 54 watt Life-Glo Bulb and one 54 watt Power-Glo Bulb on the highest bracket level over the tank. Both the lighting and CO2 setup are on a timer and run from approximately 0900 hours until 2000 hours each day.
Thanks again for any assistance.

As a starting point try turning off the co2

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

What I did was take the filter carts from my HOB or old filter and place these in the canister to seed that and keep the levels steady.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I have 5 tanks, some planted some not. Carbon removes some elements good for plants, but it prevents your tank from stinking, i don't like fishy smells much so i tend to run filters with carbon, but i don't add extra carbon either. Some plants are pickier than others. I've tried lots of plants, but i'd suggest trying anacharis and java moss, hard to kill stuff, i don't have anything but gravel as a substrate. I've always liked java ferns but i seem to kill them everytime, probably due to substrate, some plants need to take root more than others.

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75 Gallon Freshwater
29 Gallon Freshwater
20 Gallon Freshwater