Plan For First Aquarium

[DS98]

Hi all, I'm new to this hobby and am planning a small 2ft by 1ft 20 gallon planted aquarium for tropical fish. I've read up on fish types, plant types and the nitrogen cycle as well.
Here is the basic idea:
 
Fish:
8 neon/cardinal tetras, 7 bloodfin tetras for schooling fish
4 platies or 4 bolivian rams for mid tank/centerpiece fish
one bristlenose pleco or 2 corydoras + 2 loaches for bottom feeders
 
Plants:
Java ferns, horn worts, water sprite, anacharis - based on availability (any suggestions for tropical plants that do ok in low light?)
 
I'm thinking of setting up the tank with filter and bubbler, adding in a few tough plants like java fern and hornworts to let them establish themselves in the tank, then add in some tougher fish like tetras, platies or pleco after 1 week or so to let them produce some ammonia to get the bacteria in the substrate and also the plants to grow faster, then after 1 more week of that, gradually add in a few other fish
 
I have a few questions:
1) Is it ok to add in hardier fish like neon tetras into a tank with plants immediately or after 2 weeks of allowing the plants to settle in without cycling since the point of cycling is to build up something that will get rid of ammonia and plants can do that as well, just need enough of them?
 
2) Is the tank overstocked? what would be a recommended stocking level for smaller fish?
 
3) Which type of filter is suitable for such a tank?
 
4) Are CO2 injections and fertilisers necessary?
 
5) Which substrate is best? I'm thinking sand because rams dig nests, loaches burrow, but it traps fish waste and is tough to clean. ADA soil might be an option but I don't know too much about it.
 
6) How should water changes be done?
 
7) Do new plants need to be soaked in a 1:20 bleach to water ratio?
 
8) Approximate prices for aquarium equipment?
 
9) What type of lighting is recommended for such a small planted aquarium?
 
Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated as well
Thanks!

 

[Essjay]

Just a couple of points rather than try to answer everything.
 
I know it is possible to add fish to a tank with a lot of well growing plants without the need for doing a fishless cycle first, but unless you are confident of your plant growing skills I would seriously think about doing a fishless cycle, instructions here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first/
 
How hard is your tap water? I don't know if Singapore water companies tell you on their websites but as a rough guide if things like kettles and shower heads get limescale deposits you have hard water but if they never do you have soft water.
The reason for asking is that tetras and cories like soft water while platies like hard water.
 
Neons are not hardy fish. They used to be but they are delicate nowadays. They often just die in new tanks, even those that have been fishless cycled.
2 ft is not big enough for 4 bolivian rams. In my opinion, it is not big enough for one.
Both cories and loaches (with a couple of exceptions too large for your tank) are shoaling fish. They need a minimum of 6 of them. And most loaches are too big anyway, even dwarf chain loaches. You might get away with rosy loaches.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Welcome first of all!        

 
Right, lets see if I can help in answering some of your questions, am glad to see folks trying to do thier homework, do research and seeking advice, always the best way to go about things before actaully starting.
 
1 - Neon Tetra, imho, are not particularly hardy. A lot of this is due to overbreeding and inbreeding thus making the immune system in this lovely little fish pretty weak. They are quite susecpeticle to Neon Tetra Disease which is nearly always fatal. And lastly, they do not seem to fare well in newly set up tanks, an established tank that has been running with stocking for at least 3 months would be better for Neon Tetras.
 
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/paracheirodon-innesi/
 
2 - Overstocking is very easily done and the numbers of fish you have does seemt o be a tad bit overstocked. Do bear in mind that coradoras are best in groups of at least 8+ as they are social fish, same group sizes for loaches too btw.
 
So perhaps it may be worth mentioning that we do not know what your water hardness and pH is at, so if you could provide some information on what your water stats are, this would prove helpful in trying to come up with suitable fish species that will suit your water. 
 
You can find out general hardness of your water from looking up your local water authority on their website and then posting the exact numbers that is found. The pH level can easily be done with a tst kit or taking a sample of tank or tap water to your LFS and they can test this for you, sometimes for free but usually for a small fee.
 
 
3 - Filters for any tank is down to preferences and budget really. Most filter brands are likely to be perfectly fine.
 
Just a case in determing what kind filter you want. Internal is good but they do take some space inside the tank, lessening the water volume and swimming space for fish a little bit. HOB (Hang On Back) filter is a decent choice imho for this sized tank, easily accessable and easy to maintain as well. And lasty a external filter, sometimes called cannister filter, means this is a filter thats outside the tank altogether and water is flowed via hoses and intake tubes etc a good option too as you can fit more filter media and less maintenance would likely be required.
 
4 - Co2 and fertilizers are not strictly neccessary at all. This can be down to what kind of plant you have or plan to have. There are a lot of low maintenance plants that are easily obtained and these do not require high lights, co2 and fertilizer (what we cal a High Tech set up).
 
I would advise for the new keeper not to go down the co2 route yet until have learned what plants requires and have a better idea of how to maintain a planted tank.
 
Fertilzers, well, I say its fine to use ferts as this helps to kepp the water column supplemneted with nutrients that the plants need, but really its not a neccessity if you have low tech plants.
 
5 - It is generally agreed amongst many keepers that sand is a good substrate to use. Play sand is a popular choice.
 
Though I have never had this type of sand in my tanks but its down to preferences and what works best for your stocking choice. Coryadoras need sand that is not sharp or rough as this can have a effect on their mouths/barbels, loaches like to dig into the substrate so nothing too coarse or big.
 
Plants in general really do not care what kind of substrate they ate planted in just as long as their roots can spread out.
 
6 - Water changes, well, this can be a lengthy answer but to start with, just a simple gravel vac like this for example-
 
Marina Mini Gravel Vac
 
and a 12 litre /  5 gallon bucket will do the trick for this sized of tank, will need around 2 full buckets of tank water to be changed over to make roughly a 50% water cahnge.
 
You can get a hand pump thingy to start the suction of water to go through the vac and hose and into the bucket, though most of us simply suck on the hose until gravity takes over for the water to come out through the hose by itself, a little practice req to stop water going into your mouth

 
7 - Plants do not NEED to be dipped into a bleach dip of 20:1 but this is good practice to help eliminate any nasty critters coming into your tank via plants (critters such as damselfy or dragonfly nymph) but most comonly pond or comon snailenter the tank in thi smethod so doing a bleach dip helps to eradicate the eggs.
 
8 - Price for aquarium equipment varies vastly form where you are in the world and which store or online you use. There is no real guidline as to what prices are for certain equipment. The best way is to shop around and compare prices and ask around for advice if that particular item is worth the price or not.
 
Many equipment second hand is much cheaper than brand new, a case of using comon sense and looking for any defects etc. Aquarium equipment do not tend to hold their prices very well once used, so bargains can be had this way.
 
9 - Lighting is, again, a personal choice. But also down to what kind of plants you may wish to keep in future. Fish, shrimps and snails are not particularly bothered about lighting though very bright lights, especially with a light coloured substrate can be stressful to fish as too mcuh glare can hurt them, just as too much light hurt our eyes.
 
If you aim for low tech plants, then a cheaper LED or T5 lights will be apt, a lot of light units that comes with new tanks are fine for lower tech set ups. You can always change or upgrade lights in the future once you have a better idea of what plants and type of set up you want.
 
Whew, hope that helps

 
 
EDIT : I see that essay has answered while i was compiling this post, but indeed quite correct in his advice about the cycling and fish specie numbers.
 

 

[BettaBettas]

give us a picture update please when its all setup, that would be very interesting to see

 

[DS98]

Hi again and thanks for the detailed advice!
 
From what you guys said, neons are not an ideal beginner fish, so what could replace them?
 
The tap water here can be considered soft from what I've read online (the island is tiny with good pipe systems so water quality can't vary that much) so it looks like platies are out.
Here is the link to the water quality document which I really don't know what to make of: https/www.pub.gov.sg/Documents/Our%20Drinking%20Water%20Quality%202015.pdf
 
Would it be better to have maybe 5 corydoras and no loaches since corys like to school and I like them more than loaches?
What mid tank fish would you recommend for me?
 
If that's the case, 7 bloodfin tetras, 5 cories and some sort of mid-swimming fish, would that be still too crowded? I've read about how crowding causes stress and disease which can cause fish to die within a few days, which has happened to me in the past due to lack of knowledge and research. The dark ages when it was just an acrylic tank and manual filtering and water changes.
 
I'm actually considering switching to just cories since they come in so many colours and paterns and are kinda like schooling plecos which used to be my favourite fish (they look like mini sharks that stick to tanks, cool to a little kid) until i learnt ho much waste they make. Do corydoras need algae discs or target feeding if in a community tank? If I go for an all cory tank, how many should I keep in such a size? This idea seems much more beginner friendly after reading about how certain species of tetra are very nippy and how some bottom dwellers are territorial.
 
Does a gravel siphon work with sand as well or is sand that is suitable for cories too fine?
 
The only thing I don't like about fishless cycling is that you stare at an empty tank for a month waiting for the bacteria to grow which will be competing with plants in the aquarium since the plants get first pick of the ammonia. With this in mind, the plants might starve the bacteria further if I plan on adding more so it kinda feels like all that waiting was for nothing. Is there a safe way to do fish-in cycling with the end goal of a planted tank? If it is absolutely necessary to get that starter colony of bacteria up before establishing plants, I will do a fishless cycle but I would like to explore my options since this is still the planning phase.
 
Yeah, I do agree with the varied aquarium equipment pricing - I've seen ones online that sell for maybe $50 and tanks that are $95 and I can't help but think they're trying to get rid of broken things while making a quick buck but it looks like the price for second hand stuff is just much cheaper.
 
Also, is a rack and hood really important for a sump and lighting and whatnot? Just curious, I'm probably gonna just use some kind of overhead lamp or LEDs and no sump because they are for larger saltwater aquariums from what I've read
 
I might not get started on this project for a couple of months because I've got O-level exams and a house move to worry about in the mean time but I will try to post pictures here when I get it set up!
 
Sorry about the huge number of questions, I've just been reading up a lot and several sources say completely different things so I guess I need some help from experienced hobbyists rather than just websites 

(Thanks for reading this wall of text!)

 

[Essjay]

Looking at that water quality report, the column you need is the one called "PUB Water Quality, Average" and the figures you need are on page 6, for alkalinity and total hardness. Alkalinity is what water companies call KH. So you have an average general hardness (GH) of 66 ppm/3.7 degrees, and an alkainity (KH) of 19 ppm/1.1 degrees.
This is very soft water with little buffering capacity (KH). But you have a high pH at 8.1 (see page 1)
 
 
 
I have sand in my tanks and I just use a piece of tubing to clean it. All I do is hover the end of the tube just above the sand and make little swirling movements which lift the mess off the sand so it can be sucked up. I siphon the water into a bucket and just rinse and return any sand I suck up. I start the siphon by running water into the tube from the tap and carrying it to the tank with both open ends upwards, then thumb over one end and into the tank and the other end into the bucket.
 
 
The easiest might be to plant the tank, wait till you are sure the plants are growing well, then add a 3 ppm dose of ammonia. If you have zero ammonia and nitrite 24 hours later you can get fish. If not, you know it is not safe for fish so proceed with the fishless cycle.

 

[DS98]

So is this quality of water ok for corydoras? I'm quite convinced to go down the direction of a cories-only tank because it avoids many complications of a community tank including nipping.
Also, some sources online say that cories do poorly in newly cycled tanks, is this true?
 
Thanks for tips on water changes with sand!
 
That is actually a genius way of using the plants to cycle, it results in a safe tank either way
 
Thanks for the great help everyone!
I'll post some updates when I actually get started

 

[Ch4rlie]

Indeed, the readings do show you do have soft water with little buffering capicity, just so long as it stays steady at that range and not flucuate too much, that should be ok. Though the pH at 8.1 seems to be a bit of a contradition to the readings for hardness and kH.
 
May be worth noting that adding wood or IAL and suchlike will lower the water hardness so may be best to avoid that, but to add rocks that may help to keep the buffer levels a bit more steady.
 
This is good for cories btw

 
A 20 gal tank is a fairly small footprint so perhaps suggesting that habrusus / salt & pepper cories would be good as these are amongst the smallest cories you can get and therefore you can get a few more of them. Of course this depends on what is available to you in Singapore.
 
Am not so sure where you heard that cories do not do so well in newly set up tanks but this is a new one to me, i suppose that could be said for ALL fish

 
Cories are good in a community tank actually, its choosing their tanksmates that needs to be taken into consieration. Avoid fish such as Tiger Barbs for example
 
Using plants to cycle a tank is a method known as a 'silent cycle' though its not as simple as that to do, it requires a little knowledge and testing on regular basis. I think it may be easier to start off with doing a Fishless Cycle as this is more of a good way to learn how the cycling process works as well as being easier for any mistakes made during the cycling.

 

[Munroco]

Cardinals instead of neons would be my choice. Hardier and much more attractive IMO.

 

[DS98]

Alright then, I do want to avoid waiting on cycling so I might ask the LFS for some cycled media as well as get plenty of fast growing plants and do regular ammonia tests to be safe.
 
Do cories school with other species of cories or do they bully each other for food?
 
I'm thinking about having maybe 3 swordtails besides cories - I recall visiting this kids' farm type of thing where they let kids catch and take home guppies and swordtails (which usually die shortly after because most kids don't have proper aquarium setups) But the point is that they seem to thrive here. I've seen swordtails at their maximum size there and they apparently do use just de-chlorinated tap water, no special water treatment. I've also noticed them to be quite hardy, or has that changed, similar to how inbreeding and overbreeding has made neons weak?
 
Is it ok to have less cories but have them be slightly larger, maybe 6 masked cories?
I would be ok with having a larger group of salt/peppers if the bioload is too much though

 

[Ch4rlie]

For the size of a 20 gal US tank, I'd stick with just the one shoal of cories, having 2 species will mean less cories of each specie.
 
If you want to cycle your tank quicker then perhaps getting so Dr Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria would be a safer option.
 
The LFS where you may get some established media could contain many pathogens that could be detrimental to your tank, better safe than sorry imho.
 
Swordtails - Hmm, they are a hardy specie, certainly hardier than neon tetras I think. But to be entirely honest I think a 30 gal US tank or a 4 feet tank in length would be more suitable for swordtails. They do grow to around 7 or 8 cm in length, not exactly a small fish and a pretty active specie too.
 
Bandit Cories - a lovely specie but at aound 4 to 5 cm, I would be doubtful if they would thrive in a 2 feet tank, they would survive but not much freedom of space though on the substrate surface when you factor in plants, wood and decor. The habrusous I mentioned earler only grow to about 3cm, maybe 4cm max in length so more of these in a shoal makes more sense to me for your size of tank.
 
Sorry to keep shooting down your ideas

 
The quality of life and health of these fish comes first to individuals preferences imho.

 

[DS98]

No worries, it's better to be corrected now than to have a problem swimming around in the tank later on so thanks for the feedback 

 
I'd be happy with a shoal of habrosous cories to start out with, best of both worlds as they are catfish (which I love) and are shoaling fish.
How many of them would be good number to go with if it were just them? 

 

[Essjay]

Another reason swordtails are not a good idea is because of your very soft water. The common livebearers need hard water. This means no platies, guppies, endlers or mollies either.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Another reason swordtails are not a good idea is because of your very soft water. The common livebearers need hard water. This means no platies, guppies, endlers or mollies either.

 
I just KNEW I forgot something on my last post, that was it
 
Thanks for that essay, good points

 

[DS98]

I should really get to reading about water hardness and the impact it has on fish