First Planted Tank; 46 Gallon Bow-Front

[Channti]

I started off with a 15 gallon and made just about every newbie mistake possible... Once I knew a little more, I started up a second tank (10 gallons... And then the MTS kicked in..... When I went off to university in September, I started up a 5 gallon there.... and while browsing kijiji.ca (A canadian classifieds website), I found this. I fell in love. I convinced my parents it would look gorgeous in our living room. And I convinced them to let me buy it.

This, was a 46 gallon Marineland bow-front tank (Glass). The lid for it is entirely glass as well... Here's what we've got so far. The tank is sitting in the middle of my living room, as I need to relocate the 15 gallon before it can be moved into place.

The Tank:

Dimensions: 36"L x 16.25W x 20"H
Filtration: AquaClear 70 + AquaClear 20 + AquaTech 10-20
Heating: 150 Watt Eheim Jager heater
Lighting: *EDIT* 30 Watt flourescent lighting
Substrate: Pool Filter Sand

Stocking Ideas:

Fish: No idea; community of some type. Lots of fish I like, not enough gallons of water to keep them together!. Was thinking maybe an Angelfish or a Pair of German Blue Rams or Cockatoo Cichlids as the centerpiece, and then working around them... Would like to keep a pleco of some kind, but not a BN or common.
Plants: The obvious Java fern, some Anubias (spelling?).... anything easy to care for.

And now for the questions:
How deep should my substrate be in a planted tank? I kept gravel in my other tanks to a minimum to make gravel vaccing easier on me.
What kind of plants do you suggest? I need to keep plant care as simple as possible, no CO2, etc. as I will only be maintaining the tank 25% of the time.
Driftwood; I'm going to need some. I prefer the look of Malaysian driftwood, but the only petstore nearby that stocks driftwood always has a nicer and bigger selection of Mopani driftwood. I know it's going to take me a while to find the perfect piece, would a Pleco be okay with either type of driftwood?
Fish stocking... I'm open to any and all suggestions of fish that can be kept in a community.
I'd planned on running the filters for the 46 gallon on my 15 gallon and 10 gallon (or possibly a friends 20 gallon), and then putting them on the 46 gallon and stocking the tank from there. How long should they be left on the smaller tanks to build up bacteria in the media? Would this work?

For an idea of what I'm keeping so far...my other tanks are stocking:
Dwarf Gourami, Otocinclus Affinis, Neon Tetras, Panda Corydoras, Peppered Corydoras, Guppies, Betta Splendens, and a Molly. + a ton of plastic/silk plants.

My goal is to have the 46 gallon moved into place by end of May, and up and running by the end of June (2010 obviously). I get the feeling that my summer job is going to be funding the development of this tank, not the development of my bank account to pay tuition in the fall .

I don't know if you'd want to see pictures of the empty tank... but I'll post some anyway tomorrow if I get a chance.!

 

[lljdma06]

First, welcome to Planted!

A 46g bowfront is very nice, I know a few members here who have tanks like that. They are impressive. It seems that you want a tank that is low-maintenance. You haven't thought much about lighting, but if it's low-maintenance with no CO2 injection, I would aim for about .5-1WPG of NO (Normal output) T5 strip lights. Coralife makes a great strip light that I think will work well. I use this in my 36g low-light. "Tales of the Crypts" With that lighting, you should be able to grow all the hardies of the planted world (crypts, amazons, java fern, mosses, bolbitis, vallis, sags, anubias) without much effort at all. I highly recommend a good fertiliser that doses macros and micro nutrients.

Take a look at PARC. The links there will get you started.

 

[Channti]

Just flipped the light on the tank over and scanned the bulb for some kind of marking to reveal what it is.... Found this written at one end:

ECLIPSE
Natural Daylight
P30T8 36"

I have NO idea what that means. Can someone translate that to english for me (that I can understand?)

 

[Biulu]

Just flipped the light on the tank over and scanned the bulb for some kind of marking to reveal what it is.... Found this written at one end:

ECLIPSE
Natural Daylight
P30T8 36"

I have NO idea what that means. Can someone translate that to english for me (that I can understand?)

Eclipse is the brand, natural daylight is the kind of output (wavelength) which is fine for growing plants. T8 is the kind of strip and 36 is the size.

If you want to grow natural plants, try to make your substrate thicker so it will be much easier for the plants to root. ANd the good thing with natural plants is that you don't need to gravel vac anymore! All the waste produced by the fish is nutrition for the plants, so you only gravel vac the bare parts in your substrate.

Having the filter running on your other tanks is a good idea as it will allow the build up of bacteria in your other filter and thus less problems with ammonia spikes.

Oh yes, and welcome to this forum!

 

[Channti]

How thick of a substrate should I go for?

How long should I run the filter(s) on my other tanks? The AC-20 has been running on my 15 gallon community for about 5 days now beside my 15's filter....

The AC70 is massive and will probably be overkill on my smaller tanks. Could I just drop a couple pieces of filter foam into my regular tank filters and then put them in the AC70 when I set up the 46? (Would it accomplish the same thing?)

Just scanned the bulb for some kind of wattage on it... doesn't appear to be one listed. Does anyone know where I could find this information?... Just called Marineland, it takes a 30 watt bulb, meaning I have about 0.5 watt/gallon of light in the tank (once I account for my plants, substrate, decoration and fish displacing water).

------------------------------------------------------

Ze Tank; please excuse the awful mess on the table/around the tank... When I get excited about a project I tend to forget to do anything else. The magnet on the cabinet door is broken, so the door is taped shut until I get to the craft store to get some magnets, and the tank needs to be cleaned (again), but for $75.00... I couldn't exactly walk away from the tank. At this point, I still only have $175.00 total invested into this (between tank, stand, heater, filter). If I play my cards right and talk to the right people, I should get the entire project to come somewhat cheaply.

Can anyone tell me what that white thing is on the light in the last two pictures? The cylinder thinger?

And the future home of the 46 gallon (and current home of the Tacky Tank 15 gallon)

-Yes, the container of fish food has a post-it note taped to it instructing my brothers on how much to feed my fish, how frequently, and what tanks get that food, and Yes, I'm using an old fish bowl (which recently got some use when I was fosterhoming a sick betta) to hold my nets. And Yes, that's a giant chocolate chip on the speaker.

 

[Biulu]

The 'white thing' is the starter that you need for that kind of bulbs. Just leave it in there, nothing to worry about. Yes, taking media out of your other filters will do the trick.

For planting I would go for about 4 to 5 cm of substrate, in that way the plants get nicely anchored. With a 30 W bulb you will be able to grow the anubias, ferns, and cryptocorynes nicely.

 

[Channti]

Is just sand suitable for substrate? As soon as I move the tank into place (Hopefully within the next two weeks so I can work myself ahead of schedule), I plan to shop for substrate. The more I think about this tank, the more excited and motivated I am to get it into place and up and running.

As for plants, I'm planning a trip to Big Al's (massive fish/aquarium focussed store) as soon as the tank is filled with substrate and has water in it. I plan to drop the AC 70 onto it without any media just for water circulation (the media is divided between 3 other filters in my house right now). Once I get some plants in, I'll think some more on stocking... might even end up leaving Big Als with a few fish.

Fish wise, I'm still changing my mind frequently. Suggestions/Changes are welcome and encouraged!

-Been looking at a pair of Bolivian Rams as my centerpiece, or a single angelfish, or ???
-Small (8-10?)school of Long-Finned Leopard Danios. or Small (8-10?)school of tetras... Rummy nose? Black Skirt? Cardinal? Lemon? Black-Neon?(still undecided..... if there's room, possibly both tetras and danios.
-Mixed school of corydoras - already have these in my 10 and 15 gallon (six panda, 3 peppered).
-A small-mid sized pleco of some kind (Starlight, Pitbull, CandyStripe, basically anything that ISN'T a BN)
-Possibly a couple hatchetfish, although I'm still undecided on these as I've heard they're jumpers and while my lid is tight fitting, its got a 2" gap at the back that is the length of the tank from where the previous owner cut it to fit a lot more equipment than I have.

I've found a temporary home for the 15 gallon (much to my mothers distaste, it's going on her kitchen counter until I can close down my 10 gallon). Planning to move the 15 gallon early next week or possibly this weekend if I feel particularly motivated). The 36 should be in its new home by May 20th or so.

 

[Biulu]

If you take tetras like rummynoses or lemons you should be able to make a larger shoal with at least 15 fish. I would go for a larger shoal; it looks great! I have 15 cherry barbs in my tank (same size as yours), and I love it.

I have 2 angels in there as well. Their white colour offsets the plants green beautifully...

 

[Channti]

Moved the tank into place today! .

Involved quite a bit of work... Had to net all the fish in tackytank, run a filter on a bucket with the fish while I drained the tank, removed the gravel and moved the tank into the kitchen... and then set the tank back up, equalize the temperature between the bucket and the tank, net the fish again...etc....

The 46 gal wouldn't fit into the hole where tackytank used to be... so much to my mothers dismay, I cracked out my handy dandy fish tape measure. After measuring all of the furniture in my living room, we ended up moving two large display-cabinet things... 2 sofas and a chair.... 3 coffee tables of varying size, and two massive speakers, in order to fit the tank into a different part of the room. All in all, it was about 8 hours of massive mess in the living room before it started to look live-able again, but it's in place now.

I've got the sand, and as soon as I can get an electrician in to fix the plug so I can run an extension cord and power bar for the filter, heater, and light, I'm going to get the sand washed and put into the tank. Should be within the next week or so. Once the sand is in, I'm going to run the AC70 empty (no media) just to keep some water flowing in the tank until I get the plants in... Once the majority of the plants are in, I'll start stocking it with fish!

I bought a piece of driftwood, it's being delivered on Saturday to me. The price was right. Not exactly what I was looking for... but it's close enough

 

[Channti]

A bit of a setback....

Have had a few pretty awful weeks... An allergic reaction to a lipbalm that left me unable to open my mouth to eat solid food for 5 days... and then I got a call back, and am now working 5 days a week at two different jobs. By the weekend, I'm exhausted and between sleep/waterchanges on 3 tanks, amusing the adopted Cockatiel, and eating, I don't have much time for anything else.

The plug is fixed, the extension cord run and the power bar plugged in ready to go. The sand is in a bag on the floor next to the tank. The driftwood sitting in the tank. EVerything is ready to go... but I don't want to hawl 46 gallons of water from the sink to the tank.... One of my jobs involves a lot of lifting, and by the weekend, my arms don't want to carry anything heavier than a bag of frozen veg.

A trip to the hardware store this week, and I'm gonna build myself a python... as soon as it's filled, plant and fish shopping!.

 

[Channti]

It's FULL!

So, my plans for today were cancelled suddenly for dumb reasons, I was angry, and when I'm angry I become incredibly motivated. The result? 3 hours of washing Pool Filter Sand and carting ~40 gallons of water from my kitchen sink to the living room. Who needs a python when you've got muscle-power?!

The tank is filled, the heater running heating it to 78 degrees, the filter running totally empty (just for circulation, the media is in other tanks in my house). The two smaller filters that will be going on the tank are running on my 5 and 15 gallon tanks, with a ton of media shoved into my 10 gallon filter. (the two smaller filters being an Aqua-Clear 20 and a Penguin Bio-Wheel Mini; both rated for 20 gallons). I'd rather be way over filtered, than underfiltered.

The filter sand reeked of chlorine, probably a side effect of being in the Pool supply store. I think it was just the bag that smelled, but the sand might have too. Regardless, I've over-dosed the tank on water conditioner as a precaution. (should have added 46ml, I added 60ml). My driftwood was scrubbed and is now positioned in the tank. The sand is higher at the back than the front to support bigger plants.

I'm planning to hit a couple aquarium-specialty stores on Monday to pick up some plants (and possibly a couple inhabitants). I'm thinking I'll just grab whatever looks pretty and will work with my lighting... and then see how it goes.

I'm still up in the air about fish stocking.... I've already got about nine corys, possibly 10 that will be going in this tank. A pair of Angels maybe?.... Cardinal tetras?.... I guess I'll just see what catches my eye in Big Al's..... and then see what schooling fish are on sale (there's always one!).

And Finally: Pictures!. The water is still a little cloudy as this was literally right after I finished filling the tank and getting everything plugged in. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with this piece of driftwood. You can't see it, but there is a "cave/tunnel" thing through the bottom center of it. First two have light on, last has light off, with the curtain on the window drawn back.

 

[Channti]

Hit up a pet store about an hour away... Left with a few bundles of "unidentified" plants. If anyone could help me out on ID's, I'd appreciate it (also posted on the main Planted Tank board for an ID). The tank already looks better with more plants. I did a 50% water change last night to try to clear up the cloudyness from the sand dust that I missed while rinsing the sand. Got most of it. Another 50% tonight or tomorrow should leave me with a crystal clear tank.

Because of the price, I'm not really bothered if some of the plants won't work for me.

The guy at the store recommended Nutrafin PlantGro. How often should I dose the tank with this stuff? At water changes? Once a week? Daily? .

Unidentified Plant A: Giant Hygrophilia

Unidentified Plant B:

Unidentified Plant C: (Is this one Wysteria?) Wisteria.

Unidentified Plant D: Non-Aquatic Ophiopogon japonicus (to be removed eventually).

The tank with everything separated and buried in the sand.... Temporary placement until I have an ID on the plants and know where they'll work in the tank.:

 

[DAlmond123]

Plant A looks like some type of Hygrophila and plant D looks like a Val.

 

[Channti]

Still looking for an ID on Plant B.

I bought some regular Hygrophilia, Cambomba and Frill today (all three recommended by the manager of a pet store I was in. He grows the Camomba and Frill himself to sell, but keeps the Hygrophilia in his tanks at home too), and I rearranged everything. Still not happy with it, but everything is spread around so I can keep an eye on what grows and what doesnt. If anyone could ID plant B from above, I'd really appreciate it.


As the tank is in our living room, my mom was sick of looking at it with just water, sand, plants and driftwood, so I shut down my 15 gallon last night and moved all the fish over. I took the AquaClear 70 media which I'd been keeping in my Elite Hush 20 on my 10 gallon, and the AquaClear20 from the 15 gallon and put both on the back of the 46 gallon (both had been running for +1 month on established tanks) so that the tank could handle the bioload of the handful of fish I added.

Current stocking is:
6 panda corydora
4-5 (still don't know exact numbers) neon tetra. I plan to add some cardinal tetras to the tank at some point in the next couple weeks. The neons are coming to the end of the life-spans and are so large that adding more neons to their school wouldn't work as the new neons wouldn't be accepted by the adults.
1 dalmation molly (the girl who just won't give up and give in. She's got quite the story, dumb as a brick, but adorable)
2 otocinclus (who are thoroughly enjoying the algae buildup on the plants from the stores I bought them at).


Tomorrow is fish day at the LFS. As much as I hate stepping foot in their store, I'm going to check out their new stock before they get a chance to infect them with goodness-only-knows-what. For final stocking, I'm thinking: Fish in green I already have in the tank, Fish in Blue I have in my house, Fish in Red I need to buy.

2 angelfish (a pair... will buy six as juveniles, when two pair off, rehome the other 4).
10 harlequin rasboras
10 cardinal tetras
4 neon tetras
6 panda corydoras
1 dalamation molly (she can't live much longer given her heavily stunted growth... expecting another six months, max.)
2 otocinclus
+ 2 otocinclus (in my 10 gallon currently dealing with my algae issues and fattening up)
3 peppered corydoras
+ 3 peppered corydoras
1 starlight BN pleco

Possibly some marbled hatchetfish for a top-dweller... not sure on their compatibility with my other stocking choices, but I have plenty of time to do my research.

The tank is going to be densely planted, and heavily overfiltered (AquaClear70<rated 70 gallons>, AquaClear20<rated 20 gallons>, Penguin Bio-Wheel Mini <rated 20 gallons>). Am I going to be pushing it with my final stocking, or would this stocking be alright?. (stocking anything larger than my 15 gallon throws me way out of whack.... lol).

Updated pic:

 

[DAlmond123]

I think swords would look good in your tank. You could replace the Ophiopogon japonicus with Isoetes lacustris. They are similar.