tearing down fish aquarium

I've got a 30 gallon fish tank I'm fixing. To tear down. Has air pump, 2 big lights that give off a purpleish glow, 30 gallons of water with plenty of fish "nutrients" in it and roccks in the bottom that have who knows what goodies in it. I have a seed of some "train wreck" I'm wanting to grow. And figure I have some good materials in that tank. My questions are: would those lights work? They don't give off hardly any heat. Could I use the aquarium rocks for my medium? I know aquarium water is good for plants. The goal is to not have to spend much if any money. That way the wife has nothing to b***** about. Then everyones happy thanks in advance!

im assuming for an aquarium they are using some form of flourescent T5 bulbs as mine does. they probably wont give off enough lihghjt on there own to get through flowering, but definatly enough to get you through veg. you need to check the lumens and spectrum output on them, that will tell you for sure. as for the "nutes"and stuff in the water and rocks, id be carful. fish waste contains harmful chemicals such as amonia, nitrate, and nitrite. i think plants actually need a little nitrate, but nitrite and amonia are definatly not good. also youll probably have excess salts and chemicals that will cause your water quality and PH to fluccuate. so in my opinion your good to get a lil somethin started but definatly clean the tank out forst and maybe be ready for some additonal lighting come flowering.

also, just by some grow medium and nets at the hydro store. maybe $15 bucks for a small amount so not pricey, you could put the nets atop the aquarium and do a DWC grow. but dont use the aquariam rocks, im sure you could with relatively no issues, but its pretty cheap just to get some medium so why not spoil em a little

i dunno im looking a bit and seeing fish waste is a common fertilizer but people usually use the water they gravel vac out of the tank. maybe look into it a bit more but if it seems safe it wouldnt hurt to dump the dirty rocks in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket then cover with dirt or just mix them in with your soil to help drainage. as far as the 30 gal tank i dont think it will be much use but you can give it a go. just seems small for a plant.

look into CFL lighting, same idea as your floro fish tank light. u may want to buy some different tubes tho if the ones you have arent the proper spectrum. also investing a few $$ into some CFL lights will be worth it. i dont think you will get started free but you have a good start to a cheap DIY setup.

happy growing.

look into aquaponics i know nothing at all about it but but i hear its good. its where they keep big fish tanks and feed the plants off the fish waste. there is a huge specialist shop near my house all organic and apparantly amazing results.

also with your aquarium lights like most lights there are different types. there is 1 type i know of which will definately not grow plants and they are used to keep algae to a minimum in your tank so if they dont grow algae they wont grow anything, the second type is a spectrum that shows up the colours in the fish etc really well they are really bright. no idea how these will work and the third type are the ones i have and will definitely grow plants and they are designed for just that they are designed to keep your aquarium plants growing and healthy.

maybe before you trash the fishtank turn off the bulbs tell the missus a bulb blew then go spend the $10 or whatever to get the grow bulbs from the fishtank store then u wont get in trouble for spending the money when you start your grow lol

The 30 gallon tank is being handed down to my bearded dragon. I was just goping to use the stuff out of it. I do however have a 10 gallon tank I could use. The lights I have don't stop algae from growing. When I get home I will look and see if I can tell what they are. I also have an extra uv bulb that I no longer use for my dragon I thought about using. I'm thinking I can set up a decent system, and would have done it years ago. Just didn't fancy the idea of hps bulbs with there cost. I plan on working on this while I'm off for the holidays and hopefully in a few months I will have a good supply of the train wreck. That shit srlls for 20$ a gram around here but id probably keep it for personal use. We don't havea. Hydroponic store around here. Maybe lowes or somewhere would carry what I need?

It's not going to work.

If the fish tank lights won't work, and the reptile uv lamps won't work, then I will just buy a few cfl's. Not a big deal. Has anyone had experience using a wick system to grow? I've read up on them. Seem ez enough to make but it is as efficent as say the bubbleponics, or the hemp system that az talks about. Like I said, I have one seed, and one seed only