Tank bought now the aquascaping planning.

My eagerness to get back into fish keeping lead my to buy a Aqua one 250l tank on gumtree yesterday, also picked up a Aqua one cf1000 filter both for £120. I know the filter isn’t enough so will get a better one at some point but use that one as a backup. The plan is for a planted community tank and have seen some ideas on YouTube and I’ll take my time to get it cycled and set up before adding fish. I was thinking of using a black aquarium soil as substrate with mangrove roots and rocks of some sort. Still very much in the planning stage. Any suggestions as to which is te best type of soil to use and would it be better To have one heater or share the load with 2 heaters. The other thing is, what is the switched box called that you connect your electrics to and then have one plug going to the power supply. Cant find it anywhere online.

Hi sounds really cool I think the thing you are describing at the end is a multiplug?

If you are looking at doing a planted tank and want to use an aquarium soil you need to think about if you want to do a high energy tank or a low energy tank. If you want to do high energy with Co2 and high lighting the soil is pretty essential if you want to do a low energy tank its less necessary and I would recommend going down the sand and root tab route.

If you are doing a heavily planted tank you might be able to do whats called a silent cycle where you rely on the plants to deal with the nitrogen while your filter colony catches up.

Wills

omg I think my week of isolation will be spent researching into the difference between high and low energy tanks. I’m guess since this will be my first dabble in planted tanks, I’ve had South American cichlids before which didn’t make for a great planted tank. I was thinking a fairly heavily planted tank and was going to use co2 of some sort and I know I’d need to upgrade the lighting (I’ve got 2x3ft t8 tubes one white one uv) feel like a total newbie despite the 4 years I had cichlids. ?
the way I had my previous tank set up I had the plug unit under tank which everything was hardwired into each with individual switches and then one lead to plug into the wall. I could use an extension multiplug but I’m trying to keep it as tidy and compact as I can.

Ah yeah I know the thing you mean I have seen them for sale on charterhouse aquatics before I think? More from the marine set ups with lots of timers and plugs?

I am the same as you kept American Cichlids for a long time but the planted tank is totally different. I think there are only a few of us using Co2 on the forum as it isnt for everyone and you can have great success without it but if you want to achieve the specific look and grow the widest range of plants it is the way to go. I would recommend looking up George Farmer on youtube and the tropica channel that he does too. I've learned so much from him and it just makes it really really easy to understand. I still watch his video everytime I change the Co2 canister and do it exactly the same as him haha.

A few other channels that I like that would be worth looking at are Green Aqua, Fillipe Olivera, Jurijs Jutjaves and Tank Tested.

If you do go high tech the lighting would be best as an LED unit. Check out Twin Star, Chihiros and ADA lights - ADA are the most expensive and Chihiros are the cheapest and you have to buy direct from China but still good stuff!

In terms of fish my general approach to high tech tanks is only add them when you are super confident with all the processes going on and generally understock the tank. I started off in my tank with some very easy plants which have grown over massively and I'm at a point where I want to try some harder to grow plants and refine my over all scape. So even though the tank is like 6 months old now, I only have shrimp in there. I want to add a small school soon but will probably be a few months before I go for it.

Wills

That’s the tank so far. There’s a layer of flora base pro under the gravel. Just waiting to get the pipes and fittings for the filter and then I can add water and get the cycle started then I’ll add some beginner plants and see what happens over the coming weeks before adding fish. I’ll start with platy”s and danios and go from there. What would my maximum stocking level be?

How wedded are you to the gravel? The reason I ask is that it can limit your fish options and its not really the best substrate for plants. If you could swap it for play sand or an aquarium soil like Tropica or ADA you will get better results and have wider options for fish - eg cory cats and loaches shouldnt be kept on gravel and its not great for cichlids or other digging fish either.

When you say start the cycle do you mean do a fishless cycle with bottled ammonia?

When it comes to choosing your fish its a good idea to find out your water hardness and stock acording to that. You also want to pick fish for best suited to the hardnes of your water so you have mentioned the danios and platies which would suit neutral to hard water. But also they are quite basic fish? Are you getting these because you want them or because they are classed as 'hardy' for a new tank?

Wills

The gravel is only a thin layer on the top the flora base pro layer below which is very similar to ADA. Wasn’t really thinking of corys or loaches or cichlids, for now anyway. The water in our area is pretty hard hence the danios and platies. I’m trying to make it a family pleasing tank so there will be input from all family members. It will be near the end of January before I start to think of adding fish. I’ve been looking at celestial Pearl danios, rasboras, glass cats but that can all change possibly a few smaller gourami’s.