Adding More Substrate To A Fully Planted Tank

[fozziebear]

a 45 gallon tank isnt going to fall through the floor hahaha, unless your seeing bowing in the floor etc then i wouldnt worry and aslong as the stand your tank is on rests on the joists in the floor it wont do any damage, i know people who have 55 gallon tanks on the second floor of their house and they are fine, its always best to have a tank on the ground floor though.

 

[tangokitty]

I just read the red tails live 6-10 years. So he might be around a littl longer.

I didn't think it would fall through the floor. Got to go for now. Thanks for the help.

 

[tangokitty]

OK, I took out everything, returned the kribensis and skunk loach!, now all I have is 5 cherry barbs 1 redtail shark and 6 otocinclus. I would like to add a schooling fish that would get along with these fish preferably something with a bit of red in it since the red will stand out against the green plants best. I'll put a picture on here of the new tank layout when the cloudiness settles down abit.
Also I would like a carpeting plant to fill in the spaces between the plants any suggestions?

 

[fozziebear]

most carpetting plants that dont need very high lighting tend to get quite tall, i still you'd be best getting more crypts and filling up the front with those, and i myself would increase the number of your cherry barbs to something like 15 they will display much better behaviour that way, and because the RTBS isnt bothering them theres no risk of them getting harrased.

 

[tangokitty]

as soon as the tank lights go on I'll snap a picture for you, the front is mosty full with crypts now but there still are a few empty spots. On the driftwood I have a few different mosses starting to grow, java moss, and two others that I forgot the names, I also bought some weeping moss that has not come in the mail yet. I think that I'll need to add another peice of drift wood to tie that on to, as I don't think you can add more then one type of moss to each drift wood or can you?

What does your tank look like by the way if you don't mind my asking. and what fish do you have?

 

[fozziebear]

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Planted-...100l-High-Tech/


thats my tank, at the moment my stocking is quite low, i had a bout of dropsy which i caught too late which killed all my free swimming fish, i have 2 otos (want to increase this to 5-10) 3 corydoras paleatus and 1 corydoras aenus, you can grow more than 1 type of moss on 1 piece of wood, but 1 might overgrow the other and kill it.

 

[tangokitty]

 

[tangokitty]

These are some closer up pictures. By the way your tank looks nice, i'll have to read more about the plants, but now i have to go to work. The Animals are calling!

 

[tangokitty]

well I got some more cherry bards, now I have 10. I also think I'll get a pair of bleeding heart tetras for a different shapped fish.

 

[fozziebear]

nearly all tetras need to be kept in groups of 6 or more, its always better to have fish in a larger group they will be much happier and more active, nice choice on getting more cherry barbs they should be much happier in a group of 10.

 

[tangokitty]

My Cherry barbs do not school together at all! I really wish they would all hang around together, it would look soo much better.

I have a fish encyclopedia and it said the you could keep bleeding heart tetras as pairs in a tank or as a school. Do you think it would be better to have more and is my tank even large enough to have those as well as the others? I currently have 10 Cherry Barbs, 6 otos, 1 red tail shark, and 2 bushy nose plecos (babies) I threw in 8 ghost shrimps to see if the red tail would eat them but he didn't (yet)
Thanks for all your help by the way!

And if you don't think the bleeding hearts will work, what would you think would work as a different shapped fish?

 

[fozziebear]

fish only tend the school/shoal when under stress or feeling at threat, their normal behaviour is to stay in a loose group generally together but not in a tight swimming group, with a 45 gallon tank you could have roughly 45 inches of medium sized fish, add up the adult size of the fish you have now then you will see how many inches you have left.

i dont know whether you could get a another group of fish, bleeding heart tetras should be kept as a group, a lot of sites with fish advice arent all that great, id only keep them in a group keeping them in a pair isnt really fair.

your stocking sounds good at the moment, its always best to understock than overstock, bear in mind your bristlenose plecos will get quite a bit bigger, (between 4 and 8 inches depends on the species) your RTBS should be fully grown by now aswell so it shouldnt effect the stocking anymore.

 

[tangokitty]

I bought a new bulb to replace one of the 55's with a 65 then I'll replace the other in about a month also to a 65. I cleaned and replaced most filter media I also have been using Chemi-pure a filter media, and just read on the back it removes co2, have you heard of this product and should I stop using it?