New Tank, Potential Stock, Question On Plants

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Stoofa

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The wife and I are currently in the process of starting our first tank.
We have the tank:
60cmx45cmx35cm (90L capacity).
We have the various electrical devices that we require - heater, pump/filter
Lights - 1x Aqua-Glo 15w & 1x Power-Glo 15w

After seeking advice from other forums our current propsed fish will be:

3 Loaches
6 "A kind of" Tetra
6 "Another kind of" Tetra
2 Male Blue Guppy

If we felt that the tank could take more than above we were also considering:

5 Cories

So we have the tank, we have the electricals, we have our "fish plan" and so to building the aquarium and the beginning of the cycling process.

So question 1.
I see numerous types/colour of "gravel".
Is there something in particular I should be looking for with regards gravel or am I pretty OK picking anything we like the look of etc?

Question 2.
There will be some ornaments in there along with some "fake" plants but after hearing of the good things that real plants can do we'd like to add some of thsoe too.
Can anyone advise on what plants we should be looking at with regards the propsed fish above and also the lighting we will be using?

Question 3.
I've seen freshwater shrimps - for some reason the wife is rather taken with them.
Could they be added, again taking into consideration the above potential fish/lights etc.

Question 4.
This will sound like a dumb question and probably one you will tell me I should be researching, but I'll ask anyway :)
With the above listed fish what overall water temperature am I aiming for?

Question 5.
Can anyone see any potential problems with the list of potential fish?
Do you think a tank of the size we have will be OK with all those fish listed, are the additional cory's an option or would that be too many?

Thanks again - really appreciate your answers.
 
Well I'm pretty much a complete newbie but I'm currently cycling my tank (make sure you do this) and just plain, cheap playsand looked great. However I think (can someone confirm this) that plants don't grow well in sand.

Also, guppies should be kept in bigger groups (around 6?).
 
1) You can get specialist substrates that contain nutrients. These can be a base layer, that is then 'capped' with sand or gravel. Alternatively, you can get 'stand alone' substrates which are used on there own, and no additional substrate is needed.
There is varying prices. I would reccomend you use one, there will be less problems that you will face in the future. Check out aqua essentials, and the green machine for a variety.

If you dont decide to go with a nutrient rich substrate, then sand or gravel will be fine. his means that you will need to dose the water column heavier to provide the requirements of the plants.


2) what is the diamter of the tubes? (T5 = 5/8th of an inch, T8 = 1")
It should be labeled on the tube. If you dont know, then can you tell us the make of the aquarium and we can find out on the net somewhere.

3) loach& shrimp isnt the best idea. if you want a bottom feeder then i would suggest a corydoras specie. These also stay smaller. Leave out the loaches.

4) 25C will be ok

5) Switch the loaches for shrimp. And add cory's. That woulld be a suitable setup then.

Thanks
 
the fish sound ok, as long as the tetras are a relatively small type, as opposed to congo tetras for example which grow quite large. A group of 6 corries would be good, again sticking to ones that dont grow too large, peppered, sterbai and bronze are good examples. A group of neons mabe or a group of microrasbora, the galaxy/firework rasbora are nice! As long as you keep small peaceful fish there is no reason shrimps could not be added! Ghost, amano and cherry shrimps are the most commonly available, well in my area anyway!
Plants, just go for easy to grow plants if you are unsure, like vallis, amazon sword, cobomba, java fern and anubias are nice and attatch to rocks and wood! Just make sure if any start dieing beyond saviour, remove them as they will pollute your water. Once established and growing well they are indeed good for your tank, they absorb ammonia and other chemicals otherwise toxic to fish and also will greatly reduce the amount of algae that grows in your tank!
Hope this helps you a bit!

David
 
1) You can get specialist substrates that contain nutrients. These can be a base layer, that is then 'capped' with sand or gravel. Alternatively, you can get 'stand alone' substrates which are used on there own, and no additional substrate is needed.
There is varying prices. I would reccomend you use one, there will be less problems that you will face in the future. Check out aqua essentials, and the green machine for a variety.

If you dont decide to go with a nutrient rich substrate, then sand or gravel will be fine. his means that you will need to dose the water column heavier to provide the requirements of the plants.


2) what is the diamter of the tubes? (T5 = 5/8th of an inch, T8 = 1")
It should be labeled on the tube. If you dont know, then can you tell us the make of the aquarium and we can find out on the net somewhere.

3) loach& shrimp isnt the best idea. if you want a bottom feeder then i would suggest a corydoras specie. These also stay smaller. Leave out the loaches.

4) 25C will be ok

5) Switch the loaches for shrimp. And add cory's. That woulld be a suitable setup then.

Thanks

Hi,

The aquarium is the Fluval Roma 90.
So the electrics are what were supplied with the setup:

Fluval 2+ Filter
100w Tronic Heater
15w Aqua-Glo & 15w Power-Glo both T8

Thanks.
 
ok, so the tubes are T8. I would stick to:

crytocoryne sp
anubias sp
moss sp
moss balls
echinodorous sp
hygrophillia polysperma
egeria densa

I would buy a fertiliser such as tropica plant nutrition+ or seachem flourish, and dose weekly. That coupled with a nutrient rich substrate should go together nicley :)
 

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