How Much substate to buy?

[s420merc]

i have a 36 by 18 inch tank bottom how many inches of substate do i need for plants and how many 20lb bags would it be

 

[Byron]

Depends upon the intended plants. I have a 40g tank with the same base dimensions, and I have about 1.5 inch depth of play sand when it is spread evenly before aquascaping. You can push some up near the back where larger plants will likely be placed. Along the front in this tank the sand is about 1 inch in depth.

I bought a 50-pound bag of play sand and used less than all of it, but it is always wise to have some spare substrate on hand, to add here or there over time. My cories with their feeding habits shift the substrate quite a bit.

What substrate material are you considering? And what fish do you have/intend? The type of substrate is most important for the fish, not the plants; plants will grow in any substrate material (unless the grains are too large) but some fish have very specific needs when it comes to the substrate.

 

[s420merc]

Depends upon the intended plants. I have a 40g tank with the same base dimensions, and I have about 1.5 inch depth of play sand when it is spread evenly before aquascaping. You can push some up near the back where larger plants will likely be placed. Along the front in this tank the sand is about 1 inch in depth.

I bought a 50-pound bag of play sand and used less than all of it, but it is always wise to have some spare substrate on hand, to add here or there over time. My cories with their feeding habits shift the substrate quite a bit.

What substrate material are you considering? And what fish do you have/intend? The type of substrate is most important for the fish, not the plants; plants will grow in any substrate material (unless the grains are too large) but some fish have very specific needs when it comes to the substrate.

i am planing a community tank corries anglels and red barbs
am i planing black Eco Complete

 

[Byron]

i am planing a community tank corries anglels and red barbs
am i planing black Eco Complete

You will need sand for cories, so you can get an aquarium river sand (inert, a darkish tone, never white), or for considerably less money, a quality play sand. As you are in the US, look in Lowe's or Home Depot, they both carry Quikrete Play Sand and this is ideal substrate sand. A 50 lb bag for five or six dollars is all you will need. Quikrete make a normal buff tone play sand and a dark grey; I have the latter, but either is fine. Other brands of play sand are not as good for aquaria.

Do not ever use Eco-complete or any so-called "plant" substrate with substrate fish. There is a sharpness issue, and a bacterial one associated with these substrates. And, they do not benefit plants anyway. I used Flourite in one tank several years ago, and I had to remove the cories within the first week due to serious barbel and even mouth damage. After two years the plants were no better than in my other tanks with the sand, so I tore the tank down. Waste of money. It is easier and safer to use substrate tabs and/or liquid fertilizer.

On the fish, angelfish will not work here. You could have a bonded pair but not a group, and except for a bonded pair, this species needs a group of at least five, requiring a larger space. You also never want barbs with sedate fish--too active. If the "red barb" is the species Pethia conchonius, you can do a group in this sized tank (it is minimum for this species), and 8-10 is the minimum number for the group. This fish plus a group of cories (12-15) would work.

Data on the barb here:

Pethia conchonius – Rosy Barb (Puntius conchonius, Barbus conchonius) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[s420merc]

You will need sand for cories, so you can get an aquarium river sand (inert, a darkish tone, never white), or for considerably less money, a quality play sand. As you are in the US, look in Lowe's or Home Depot, they both carry Quikrete Play Sand and this is ideal substrate sand. A 50 lb bag for five or six dollars is all you will need. Quikrete make a normal buff tone play sand and a dark grey; I have the latter, but either is fine. Other brands of play sand are not as good for aquaria.

Do not ever use Eco-complete or any so-called "plant" substrate with substrate fish. There is a sharpness issue, and a bacterial one associated with these substrates. And, they do not benefit plants anyway. I used Flourite in one tank several years ago, and I had to remove the cories within the first week due to serious barbel and even mouth damage. After two years the plants were no better than in my other tanks with the sand, so I tore the tank down. Waste of money. It is easier and safer to use substrate tabs and/or liquid fertilizer.

On the fish, angelfish will not work here. You could have a bonded pair but not a group, and except for a bonded pair, this species needs a group of at least five, requiring a larger space. You also never want barbs with sedate fish--too active. If the "red barb" is the species Pethia conchonius, you can do a group in this sized tank (it is minimum for this species), and 8-10 is the minimum number for the group. This fish plus a group of cories (12-15) would work.

Data on the barb here:

Pethia conchonius – Rosy Barb (Puntius conchonius, Barbus conchonius) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

this is a 65 gallon tank

 

[Byron]

this is a 65 gallon tank

OK, but that makes no difference to anything I've posted in this thread to date. I assume you are thinking the angelfish, but a 3-foot tank is not sufficient for a group. If you got a male/female pair that have clearly bonded--angelfish must select their mate from within a group, and they will then bond and be more successful--that would work. But not otherwise. I know the fish one buys are small, but if healthy and provided with the proper environment they grow, up to six inches in body length (SL not TL) and a vertical fin span of 8 inches. For a territorial fish, that takes a lot of tank space.

 

[s420merc]

OK, but that makes no difference to anything I've posted in this thread to date. I assume you are thinking the angelfish, but a 3-foot tank is not sufficient for a group. If you got a male/female pair that have clearly bonded--angelfish must select their mate from within a group, and they will then bond and be more successful--that would work. But not otherwise. I know the fish one buys are small, but if healthy and provided with the proper environment they grow, up to six inches in body length (SL not TL) and a vertical fin span of 8 inches. For a territorial fish, that takes a lot of tank space.

i am getting 3 angels who i hope for one male one female for a pair once they pair up i will move the 3 rd to my 55

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

And what are you going to do with these fish if none of them bond and/or they grow too big for your tank? 90-120 gallon tanks with a stand cost so much the last thing you'll be worrying about is how to save money on substrate,

I have 4 Dojo loaches - everything I read said they grow to about 6-8 inches long and they'd do fine i n a 50 gallon tank. Well 3 of mine are currently 15 inches long and about as big around as a quarter and the 4th is about 8" long and very skinny compared to the others. And these are VERY active fish when they aren't sleeping half the day. They could also still be growing. In the wild they grow up to 2 feet long.

So I went out and spent about $1500 on a 90 gallon tank and stand and 180 lbs of black substrate (omg - light brown would look terrible - these loaches are bright yellow - so I spared no expense and spent $265 on substrate) Now that I've got it filled and cycling it (there is something bad in their old tank I don't want to risk bringing over to the new tank) - I'm starting to think that I really need a 120-150 gallon tank because they are so active but I don't have enough space on a loadbearing wall - and the maintenance guy for all the properties my landloard owns also is a fish lover so he showed me all the loadbearing walls in my duplex. So what I'm doing is putting a minimal amount of decorations in there - plants will all be floating and in the tank itself will be a ball to play with and some platforms for them to spread out on (I looked and looked for caves big enough and couldn't find any plus they seem to really like sleeping next to each other (or on top of each other LOL) - trying to come up with a few more toys - I wanted a tunnel but the tank isn't big enough once you look at the width of tubing they'll require. I had a fish get stuck in a log once and die - it was her favorite place to hang out but I guess one day she just be came to big or ate too much and died - took a saw for me to get her out.

I am not one to build a tank so they look "pretty" but one that WORKS for the species of fish that are in them (that's why I never understand why the people with the most foliage always win tank of the month - and you never see any fish in them - is this a botany forum? Don't these fish need somewhere to swim? If we were real judges we'd be judging based on the needs of the occupants and how well those needs are met as well as how beautiful the tank is (brown sand? yuck - what species look good (other than myself) with that color LOL?

 

[Byron]

i am getting 3 angels who i hope for one male one female for a pair once they pair up i will move the 3 rd to my 55

If we were in the same city I would bet you any amount of money that this will absolutely not work. If it did, you would indeed be one of the lucky few.

You cannot have two, three or four angelfish together (except two if they have already bonded) in any tank, and certainly not one this small. It is contrary to the genetic makeup of the species. You could buy six or seven and hope a pair forms--it might or might not, all depending upon the individual fish. But then, as Jan said, what are you going to do with the "excess" fish?

It may be possible to find a bonded pair in the store tank. I have used this with rams. But there are no guarantees.

I will post a video I have posted oftentimes to illustrate. This is how angelfish should be housed. There are 11 (I think) angelfish here, in an 8-foot tank, and down in the comments the poster (whom I do not know at all) mentions the tank is really too small and he intends moving them. This is how they interact when they are properly housed; pushing and shoving, exerting individual rights, but they are not tearing into each other like three or four most assuredly would.