55Gal Tank Setup (Complete List And Questions)

[BaylorPerez]

So for my 55Gallon tank(no fish in it yet, while my filter has matured), i had swapped my filter to a 80Gal fish filter, brand of Emperor 400 Power Filter, filters 400GpH, with the RIteSize E Carbon Filter Cartridge. I had a question about what powerhead would be good to get the flow from this Filter to reach the other side of my 55Gal tank.
 
Also, for the Lighting with the tank for a half planted tank(half of my 55 will be "barren", with little plants planted, while the other side is semi-heavy to heavily planted so i have 2 types of environments to simulate something what may be in a estuary/stream for my Rainbows/loaches and Cories that i will be getting.
 
As for the Type of plants, would the Large Sword plants work for Rainbowfish? or is their a specific type of plant i would need to have for my loaches/RainbowFish/Cories that would help simulate their wild habitat.
 
And for the Barren side, As i am going to have several cave systems(several different caves) for the loaches and cories to hide out and explore. What Rocks would be good(Quartz? limestone? Sedimentary rocks? or Fake Rocks that wont leach anything into the water.)
 
Having a Sand Substrate, how high should it be? 2 Inches or 3-4 Inches for the planted and only about 2-3 for the barren side? As i am considering having the sand be higher in one area than the other(i know that the cories and loaches will move the sand around)
 
As speaking for the Loaches, which would be a Better it for the cories. Yoyos or Spotted Loaches(import). And for food, Loaches and Cories will be eating a mix of sinking pellets(meat pellets), Rainbow will be eating Flake food(or bloodworms/tubifix/Brine Shrimp) whichever is better.
 
Now to cover the Ph and Ammonia/Nitrite issues i know will be happening.
 
For the Ph going as high as 8.0(currently is) i had bought some Ph down powder to help make my ph a table 7.0-7.2 while lowering the PH slowly over the course of several weeks so it doesnt stress out my fish in my 20(Currently has fish) and my 55(Currently no fish).
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. Currently in a Fishless cycle with Added Ammonia(Used fish water from 20Gal Tank) to help with the maturity of my filter for my 55. What ways are their to reduce the Levels. I know by having a filter being matured makes the tank less likely to "Break Down" to say the least, but with Chemicals i know their is a way to help reduce the amount in the tank. But what "OTHER" ways are there. Being Chemically the last and only option on the list.
 
With the additions to Adding Rocks, will i have to worry about my Gh(hardiness of my water) increasing dramatically to where i cannot house the current fish i am going to be stocking ( Banded Rainbowfish, Yoyo/Spotted Loaches, Albino Corydoras catfish, and maybe some Shrimp ( Cherry or Ghost shrimp ), and if any room left over, adding some different cories into the tank. 
 
Now i know this is alot, but today i just want to be Throughout(cant spell it lol). As for the Other Posts, Please ignore them as i will be asking a Mod to Close/delete the Posts shortly

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I honestly would not consider loaches. Especially Yo-yos... They are cool and pretty but they can be very aggressive. I see them pick on the Ballon Belly Bams amd Pearl Gouramis we have at work. I would stick with corys, they're a better choice in my opinion.

Powerheads... Meh, I don't like the idea of them and I don't see them necessary unless you have a reef tank. My 55 gallon has excellent circulation with the hell of my HOB filter and my canister filter. It's a nice gentle flow the tank has. The plants calmly sway in the current, making it harder for algae to build up. And the fish certainly look healthy and happy in such a heavily planted environment.

Water from another established tank will not help in maturing the filter. Water does carry over the bacteria. Filter media such as ceramic rings, sponges, bioballs, etc. house that beneficial bacteria (nitrosomonas and nitrobacter) do. For example, I just set up my brackish tank, I took a handful of ceramic rings out of my HOB filter for my 55 and used that to kick start the cycle. HOWEVER, remember that this bacteria surrvives off of broken down organic matter such as ammonia (which is consumed by the bacteria group "nitrosomonas") and nitrite (which is consumed by the bacteria group " nitrobacter"). The final product being nitrate of course, but my point is they need a source of energy to survive and colonize and later do their job for the aquarium to function.

As for pH and GH, start looking into using R/O (Reverse Osomis) water. Use half tap and half R/O to keep the water soft and acidic. I've been doing this for a while now and my tank seems perfectly balanced. pH and stayed at 6.8 ( I started using CO2 recently so it's brought the pH down to this, before it was at 7.2- 7.4) and GH has stayed leveled at 4-5 dGH. All my fish are fine and happy, I haven't had one dead fish yet in that tank.

Shrimp......... Amanos. That's what I'm recommending. Ghost shrimp are cool as well as cherries. Cherries are sensitive critters, soft and acidic water with a low KH as well is needed for them to thrive. Ghost shrimp are cool though, but amanos who look pretty similar with similar personalities seem much more hardier. I used to have a lot of ghost shrimp and they died off and completely disappeared after a while. The amanos have gotten BIG and scavenge the tank for scraps of food.

As for rocks, it depends and unfortunately this is where I cannot help. It's out of my knowledge. Sorry.

 

[BaylorPerez]

for loaches, i do want to do them and i know the Spotted Loach is a good Calm and Docile loach, with the latter being, from several reports is that they"Nudge" anyone who trys to enter their territory, and as for the cave systems, i will be moving them around from time to time to help with the territory disputes(cories will probally enter their territory) so thats why im doing it like that.
 
Now for Shrimp, would loaches attack the tiny fellas before they get to their maturity size?

heres the Link i used to find the temperments of the spotted loaches 
 
http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+885+1590&pcatid=1590

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Like Bryon had said in a previous post of yours. You should stick with one or the other, Corys or loaches. Switching the decor around isn't a permanent solution and OS probably not ideal.

 

[BaylorPerez]

and then he suggested a loach family that is docile and works with how cories are

 

[Baccus]

If the tank height allows for it rainbow fish look amazing swimming through the long flowing tendrils of thin leafed Val and the stark stems of lily plants (this also replicates their natural habitat), floating plants like Amazon Frogbit might encourage the rainbows to spawn in the hanging roots. Otherwise non-planted plants like hornwort will also encourage spawning and the corys will also spawn in floating plants if not directly onto the glass and other handy places, even if they are inconvenient like filter intakes.
 
For shrimp I am not 100%sure loaches really are "shrimp safe" I do have a LOT of cull quality cherry shrimp in with a pack of Khuli loaches and a Pakastani (Yo-Yo) loach but the stable seeming numbers could just be from the speed of breeding and sheer numbers of shrimplets produced. I do not have any small shrimp with my Dwarf Chain Loaches and I am not certain they would not see small shrimp as a tempting snack. They certainly seem to have got the MTS under some sort of control in their tank, and ramshorns are all but extinct in the tank.
Corydoras seem to gladly leave shrimp alone but I dare say they would eat the odd shrimplet if they happened to stumble across one before it could dash away.
 
For rocks it is generally better to get non-dissolving rocks as they will affect the pH and gH over time as they break down. Rocks like limestone, sandstone are best avoided. Slate is often a safe tank option for being water stable i.e not dissolving, but it is brittle and will split.

 

[BaylorPerez]

would there be planted plants i could use?, i mean, like sword plants are?

 

[BaylorPerez]

Just Did my 1st major water change in my 55Gal tank.
 
Water Parameters are as follows
 
Ph 7.4
Gh 6
Ammonia 1.25PPm
nitrite 5.0 PPm
Nitrate 0.0 PPm
 
Question on this.
 
No fish are currently in the 55Gal tank
So did a water test on my tap(backyard water as thats what i used for my water change)
 
Parameters
Ph. 7.2
Gh 0
Ammonia 1.25PPm
nitrite 1.25PPm
nitrate 20.0 PPm
 
is this bad or good to start off with a new water change ( if not i will use my Seacham Prime to fix it )