Planned New Tank - Any Advice

[AndyTaylor]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some feedback on my ideas for my new tank.....I have a 70L at the moment that's fairly well planted (about 30% bottom area) it's a community setup with neons, angels, rams (well, ram, as my female died earlier ) some harlquins, ottos, corys...

My plan is for a 170L EL Aquatics bow front(53 US GAL) heavily planted (at least 50%) gravel bottom with lots of bogwood (mmmm tannins! ) I plan to install a CO2 unit and i'm aiming for 2 WPG.
I think i'll try to keep to about 5/6 varieties of plants.... Onion plants for a forest at one side, riccia for ground cover (if i can locate some) jave fern/moss for texture, and probably some crypts or others that i don't know about yet but will tempt me in the shop.

My questions at the moment are:

1. No shops near me stock any kind of substrate and look at me like i'm mad when i ask (No call for that 'round here, sir!) Can i realistically grow plants in 2 inches of gravel with some sort of fertiliser sticks, for example. It seems to be working in my 70L with liquid fert but this may just be luck. Failing that, what should I use for a substrate?

2.....actually that's my question for now....1 thing at a time....

Edit:

Question 2: Would an undergravel cable heater be a good idea? Does it really make any difference?

Thanks,

Andy

 

[Lateral Line]

What substrate are you looking for?

Anyway, yes, you can grow plants in plain gravel, I used to use gravel until about 15-20 years ago. I switched to swimming pool filter sand, (after a brief flirtation with silver sand), with laterite under it. Have used the same stuff for years now. You can get filter sand from many places, not just fish shops.

 

[zig]

Hi Andy

Well your probably asking the right person because im from Dublin as well and ive been there done that, i also found it impossible to find a decent substrate, in the end after much looking around and phonecalls (with the same replys as you, one lfs guy told me to put down a 2 inch layer of peat moss......lol) i eventually found "First layer laterite" in Newlands Garden Centre, they have a fish section there, so you could try there, thats the only place i could find it and believe me i tried everywhere.

You basically mix the laterite with a gravel of similar size, the gravel has to be quite small 2-3mm for it to work properly, with bigger gravel it doesnt really work to well or the stuff you normally use for fishtanks is also to big, anyway finding the gravel to mix it with is the easy bit.

You can also mix the laterite with sand, a good few people in this section of the forum use this method, ordinary playsand will do.

Failing that there is always

Aquatics online

Ive used these guys lots of times, they are very efficient (usually get the goods within 3 days) and a hell of a lot cheaper than any lfs in Dublin, they also cut out a lot of frustration in tracking stuff down for a planted tank believe me.

Where abouts in Dublin are you?

 

[AndyTaylor]

zig,

Thanks for that.... aquatics online could be a good bet. Oddly Newlands would be one of my local LFS's. I've kinda gone off them after watching a tank full of silver sharks kill a very ill looking male betta while staff looked on......words were had, lets say!
I've never seen laterite there but i'll head over now and have a look..I'm in Inchicore and work on the Kylemore road so they're close by...

I'm going to Kilkenny Aquatics for my tank, won't be buying tanks in Dub again (one of the best and well worth the drive down) guy in the FS in Stillorgin tipped me off!
They have fine gravel so that's sorted and really good plants.
Or maybe a laterite and sand mix under regular gravel? I don't want to use just sand coz i reckon that cleaning could be a bit annoying...

Andy

 

[zig]

zig,

Thanks for that.... aquatics online could be a good bet. Oddly Newlands would be one of my local LFS's. I've kinda gone off them after watching a tank full of silver sharks kill a very ill looking male betta while staff looked on......words were had, lets say!
I've never seen laterite there but i'll head over now and have a look..I'm in Inchicore and work on the Kylemore road so they're close by...

I'm going to Kilkenny Aquatics for my tank, won't be buying tanks in Dub again (one of the best and well worth the drive down) guy in the FS in Stillorgin tipped me off!
They have fine gravel so that's sorted and really good plants.
Or maybe a laterite and sand mix under regular gravel? I don't want to use just sand coz i reckon that cleaning could be a bit annoying...

Andy

TBH i dont like them either but i would buy plants there sometimes, usually at the weekend they have an ok selection, you will find most lfs in dublin have a terrible selection of plants most of the time (if you havent discovered this allready) i have used the shop in stillorgan also, bit pricey, but the fish are in very good condition.

People usually just stick to one or the other sand or gravel, as sand and gravel will usually just get all mixed up anyway, but as lateral line said if your really stuck just ordinary gravel will do but not ideal.

I found the guy in the Trop shop, beside you funnily enough on Emmet Road Inchicore, to be the cheapest for Juwel tanks in Dublin but im sure you have checked this out allready, and tbh if you want a planted tank you will just have to upgrade the lighting and filtration anyway so you could consider buying seperates as well, rather than a kit.

Anyway if you need a hand or not sure about anything when you get the tank started just ask, lots of good info in this section.

Good luck with it.

 

[AndyTaylor]

I've bought plants from them too.....but no more I fear!
The Trop Shop was my introduction to this but I bought my Rekord 70 in Stillorgin, they sure know how to charge alright, but you're spot on about their fish, one of the best and they really know their stuff.

I'm not going with a Jewel tank this time, filtration just not good enough in my limited experience.... getting an external Eheim and upgrading the lighting to get 2 WPG.
Fine gravel and laterine it is then... roll on the weekend...
I'll keep you posted, i'll be back with more questions, i'm sure