Ideas/advice For A New Planted Tropical Community Tank

[nemo123]

Hi

I am looking for a few ideas, suggestions, support at setting up a new planted tropical community aquarium, I live in a flat so space and unfortunately money is limited so as much as I would love a big tank I must get a smaller one, I am looking at getting the Interpet River Reef 94L (20 UK gallons) (RR94) aquarium from my LFS (Maidenhead Aquatics in Woking) as this seems to be the best compromise on space, size and function.

It comes with:

Lighting - 2 high output T5 lights (10,000K), plus 8 blue LED light for a moonlight effect (of no functional value but actually look quite snazzy), not sure what watts per gallon this works out as.

Filtration: A built in 3 stage filtration (1. Mechanical - bioballs and foam to trap particulate matter, 2. biological filter, 3. chemical - carbon which requires changing every 4-8 weeks)

Heating - Supplied with an Interpet Deltatherm Heater.

Powerheads: It has two power heads 550 litres per hour (lph) giving a total of 1100 lph (should turn over the water about 10 times an hour)

CO2: Hagen CO2 natural plant system

Fish: I have not fully decided on what to have yet, the definite ones I want, once the tank has matured are Cardinal Tetras, I also like the look of Harlequin Rasboras and Dwarf Gourami.

Invertebrates: Cherry Shrimp + maybe a type of snail?

Chlorine Treatment: Seachem Prime

Substrate: Eco Complete planted substrate

Decoration: a little stack of smallish pieces of slate and a nice piece of Redmoor wood

Plants: I like the look of Spiral Vallisneria and a smallish, big leaved Anubias for the front near the slate maybe Petite Nana (Anubias barteri 'Petite') but what else

Plant Feed: I wanted an easy all in one relatively cheap feed so was looking at the Tetra PlantMin, as this seemed to cover all the basis and is shrimp safe.

My main questions are:

1) Does the set up I suggest above sound OK for a planted tank? are there any points I am missing have to consider, bearing in mind I am on a budget?

2) Sources of Redmoor wood (the nice fingered/branchy type pieces) and Slate as my LFS does not stock these, I have seen some redmoor on the Aqua Essentials and Green Machine websites are there any other sources? for slate could I just by slate from the garden centre then wash it in boiling water or something?

3) I was looking at the Eco Complete planted substrate, this seems to have had very good reviews and I like the look of the black colour, I think one 20lb bag should give me just over about 2" deep substrate in the tank, Would this be deep enough? I would have to order this online as my LFS only stocks JBL AquaBasis, not sure if any one has any thoughts on the merits of the two.

3) Plants any good suggestions?

Many thanks in advance

nemo123

 

[aaronnorth]

Hi & welcome

you need the wattage of the light s to work out WPG.

Use the carbon for the first month, and if you want zeolite, then take it out as it removes plant nutrients. It may only last a few days at the most, not weeks.

I would get another Hagen CO2 kit, or make a DIY kit which is the same but cheaper.

There is loads of plants, see here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=22604

I only know of AE & TGM stocking redmoor, the slate at garden centre will be fine, if it is in a bag then there is no need for boiling, just a quick rinse.

Eco complete is better, get another bag because you can then slope it up towards the rear to create depth.

 

[nemo123]

Hi

Thanks for the tips, I opted for the eco-complete and one 20lb (9kg) bag was plenty gave me about a 2 1/2 " depth across the tank, I also opted for the Red Sea Max turbo CO2 system instead of the hagen CO2 kit, the the same type of yeast and sugar based kit but a bit bigger and it comes with a little power diffuser type thing looks a lot neater in the tank I have set up and is working very well dispensing little bubbles through the tank. As suggested on the box I have it on the same timer as the lights so the diffuser is turned off at night to slightly slower the rate of CO2 release.

I have started fishless cycling and managed to spot a perfect piece of branched wood in my LFS and got some odd bits of slate from the garden centre, I have ordered some plants off the web from plants-alive, they didn't have quite what I wanted in the LFS, just waiting for them to be delivered will post some pics ones it looks a bit more finished.

nemo123 xx