New tank set up

Hi all I'm after some advice, I've recently got a second hand 5ft shallow tank (60x15x12) 45g and I'm not sure what to do?
One of my concerns is filtration and dead spots, in such a long but fairly small tank will I have dead spots and how do I go about preventing this?
Does anyone have advice on what light/lights I should go for (I won't be using co2 on this tank unlike my others)
And what to stock in here? Id like larger fish if possible but I get that it's narrow and shallow so what could I put in here othere than small fish.
My water reads pH of 7.5 without co2, kh of 9 and gh of 12.
Any help or ideas will be welcome.
Thanks.

Oh the things you could do with this tank!!! I love me a good shallow long tank!

To prevent dead zones, aeration/flow is important. I'd opt for a hillstream setup personally with this tank, just because it has the length to really pull off some great flow with it.

I'd recommend a wave maker for flow, they're really good at keeping water circulating.

If you want "big" fish, perhaps consider certain plecos with this setup, some of the mid sized ones may work great, and appreciate flow. Or, go with some botia loaches such as zebra loaches or yoyo loaches (no clown loaches though).

I agree with Casscats, the tank is an ideal river set up. Plenty of flow, extra large, medium and small pebbles blended into pea gravel. a couple of plants if you fancied… Your panda garra and hill stream loach will love it.

I did think of this and I did see a river theme a while back and thought it looked stunning and yes both the garra and hill stream would looove this. Are there any other fish that love a fast flow apart from plecs and loaches?

Are there any calmer ideas as this will be in the bedroom?

You could do a calmer setup, but I'd still recommend a gentle wavemaker, angled so it's not stirring up the surface making noise, just to keep circulation good to avoid dead zones.

*most* fish can take flow, a lot more flow than we usually realize. Exceptions are obviously slower moving fish that come from swamps and such, such as gouramis, bettas, and such.


As for other fish that would really enjoy flow, consider giant danios! But be mindful you will want a lid as they can be jumpers.

Great thanks ill look into that. Although I do love the idea of the fast flow river/stream I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep through it.
What would you recommend for lighting? I don't want anything hanging from the ceiling (rented house) and there's a wooden frame on all sides and corners of the tank,
I would have gone for a clip on over head but they won't go over the rim and frame