Refurbished 40ish gallon dirted tank/aquascape

some more pics of the fish

The fish have settled in really well and are eating well, and the snails are going everywhere. We're currently considering other species to add and we've settled for this list:
next batch: Cories and Shrimp(probably neocaridina)
After: more tetras, 2-3 farlowella, maybe dwarf cichlids

We also just got a bunch more plants and have planted them accordingly. Due to the tannins released by the leaves and new wood we've removed the lid temporarily to allow for more light to enter, but we're thinking of replacing it as it's really old and it's not always very reliable. I'm also considering trying to dose CO2 in this tank. Does anybody have tips for me to start out and if it's viable?

Thanks for the help.

Edit: We've also looked at the kerri tetra and realized that they are most likely not kerri tetra but instead emperor tetra, which works out anyway so it's just an interesting note.

I would strongly advise against introducing corys to a tank with a soil based substrate. With stuff the soil puts out it is just not healthy for most bottom dwellers.

As to the CO2, why? Are you doing some exotic plants that require it? With normal plants it is just not needed and not all that good for fish as it replaces oxygen in the water.

jaylach said:

I would strongly advise against introducing corys to a tank with a soil based substrate. With stuff the soil puts out it is just not healthy for most bottom dwellers.

As to the CO2, why? Are you doing some exotic plants that require it? With normal plants it is just not needed and not all that good for fish as it replaces oxygen in the water.

Click to expand...

I was hoping that because there was a layer of sand on top of the dirt it would be alright for cories but if you say otherwise then ok I'll reconsider. The new added plants mentioned in my previous post were some fancier plants that would do better in CO2, and I was considering increasing water flow as well which in my mind would somewhat cancel out the oxygen loss due to more water disturbance. If that's a bad idea then I might just dose mild fertilizers instead because this was only just a thought.

Thanks for your input though.


If there were any fish instead of cories that would work in this tank please let me know. I was hoping for more catfish but if it might kill them then that might not be such a good idea.

@jaylach I'd also like to mention that the sand is generally over an inch deep before it gets to the dirt, so I'm not sure if the cories would be able to dig that deep.

Ok so an update: Over the weekend we bought 6 punctatus cories, 10 rainbow emperor tetras, 8 whiptails(6 red lizard 2 royal). We also got a new Nicer light in the mail which should help out the plants. Yes I know what was said earlier about the cory cats however I considered the depth of the sand and the activity of any fish in the tank and decided that it should be fine. Moreover any toxins that leech into the water column would affect all fish, not just the cories.

However, there was a slight hiccup: yesterday whilst admiring the fish, I accidentally tapped the glass too hard, causing many bubbles from the soil to burst up. It was very loud and spooked the cories nearby, but then all of them began to school and hide in the opposite corner. I instantly did a water test and found extremely concerning nitrite levels. I did a 30% water change and then bought some seachem stability to hopefully balance out the excess toxins. My current plan is to do a 15% water change daily for the next week along with dosing the seachem stability. I will also be closely monitoring the health of the fish in the meanwhile, but right now they're doing great and acting like normal.

I'm also going to start testing much more often just in case a bubble pops and I'm not there to see it. I now realize what a terrible mistake it was to use soil, but it's a little too late to fix that, so we're just going to have to roll with it.

At the moment though, the tank looks great and the fish are acting as normal. I'll update if something goes awry.

Here are some pics of the fish
Royal Farlowellas:


Red lizard:


Rainbow emperor tetras:

Update: Everything's great now! We lost 2 rainbow emperors 2 weeks ago but now everyone's looking good. Two weeks ago we also got three Bolivian ram cichlids and three amano shrimp. Two of the rams have paired off but the other one is getting bullied half the time and is awfully pale and small so I'm considering rehoming it. If I could figure out the sex I might get it a partner but I don't know for sure yet.

The farlowellas are now 3 inches and 2.5 inches. They're eating tons and always have a full belly. The other whiptails are also great and now you can almost always see all 6 at a time. The bubble problem hasn't stopped, but by now it's under control and the fish have gotten used to it.



The rams have also started laying eggs! They abandoned their first batch after I disturbed them by accident, but now I just noticed new eggs on the leaf, so I'm excited but to be honest I don't think any babies would survive in this tank.

Some more pics

Got 3 pearl gouramis today will post pics in the morning

Pics as promised!

So lately me and my brother started a caridina shrimp tank with pseudomugil gertrudae AKA Spotted Blue Eye rainbowfish, but lately it seems that they've been bothering the shrimp and attacking them, which isn't good for the long run. Since I have this tank set up, would it be plausible to put them in here as well or would they get outcompeted? I've read that they're a little too peaceful so I'm worried that if I put them in here they'll starve.

So here's another update. One of the new pearl gouramis has become timid and its tail is drooping, but no matter, for I will simply just feed it a little more and water change more often. Otherwise, all is well. The royal farlowella have grown quite a lot recently. The big one is now almost 4 inches, while the smaller one is probably about 3.
I've also done some research and I'm looking to try to find ways to fund my hobby. Since the hygrophila pinnatifada is so massive, I've posted ads online to sell some. I'm also looking to breed my emperor tetra and rainbow tetras. I just set up a 5 gallon container box with some subwassertang and a sponge filter. I'll give it a week to cycle and then I'll take a test. I'm not worried about ammonia because I used some leftover fluval stratum which should be leeching ammonia for a little bit.

Fun pictures

Quick update on the breeding project: I'm giving up for now, as it seems that the pairs never got comfortable and a couple of the females I tried got injured by wedging themselves between the heater and the wall. One of them has a nasty scrape, which I'm not sure how to heal. She's swimming ok and eating fine, it just looks pretty bad and I wanted to know if there was something I could do.