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Advice on my next 2 setups

Azaezl

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2007
Messages
145
Location
cambridgeshire
Right then I thought I would pick people's brains over what plants to get for my 2 4ft tanks. I've had my 2 4ft tanks( on a double metal stand) in storage for nearly a year now, but I think it's time to get them out :D

Now originally I was going to setup another small tank and have some dwarf puffers but then I thought well why get another tank and have more fish to look after when I could improve on what my current fish have?

So here are my plans(think some of you may have seen these from the PFK forum)

Tank 1 - 4ft x 1ft x 18" - 40G

Stocking - 8 gold corys, 8 bronze corys, 10 otos, a dozen threadfin rainbows & 2 dozen or so shrimp, either amano or cherry.

Filtration - Aqua pro 2(rated up to 80G)

Substrate - I'm thinking of having a mix, 50% seachem flourite sand 50% tahitian moon sand(saves me some money that way)

Lighting - Dymax T5 lighting that I already have

Co2 & ferts - pressurized(fire extinguisher), tropica N + or EI not sure yet.



Tank 2 - 4ft x 1ft x 15" - 35G

Stocking - 3 fancy goldfish

Filtration - Fluval 305

Substrate - as above

Lighting - Just ordinary standard T8 interpet tubes(I think that's what's on the tank now), I'm guessing I'll have a little over 1wpg but I may upgrade to T5 depending on whther I blow my budget :lol:

Co2 & ferts - Going to keep this very low maintenance so just some Tropica N + and some Excel

Now for my question to you all, what plants would you advise in the above setups? I'd like a very bushy / full look. I'm a fan of large leaf plants(I'm very fond of hygro siamesis) as anything very fine just creates too much mess and traps particles. On the top tank I have to bear in mind the corys, some of the gold corys are very big & chunky(a bit like brochis) and well to put it blunty clumsy, they are sometimes scatty so if they get scared by me passing by the tank they dart for cover and quite often knock plants over / uproot them.

Once I've set them up then I have the fun of deciding what goes in their old homes, I'll probably move my panda / trili corys & amano shrimp into the 30G which will require a whole new scape :D Then I'll have the 35G empty, I was thinking cichlids but I love having plants in my tanks so I'll probably have to go for something quite small like kribs or maybe shelldwellers or something.I'm open to ideas on that tank :D
 
Another thing I just thought of is on the first setup I've stated that I will use a fire extinguisher for Co2, is this the best option or would anybody recommend something else, maybe an all in one kit or something along those lines.

Thanks :)
 
I think you've got to go with the plants you've seen and like the look of! Hygrophilas are easy to grow and look great, maybe you could have a tank themed with different vairties? There are a number, like 'Porto Velho' and 'Pantanal Wavy' that will creep along the substrate in good lighting and with careful trimming too.

For the substrate, do look at Aquasoil, expensive but I've found it to be awesome at growing plants.

I'm looking at CO2 and going to go with a FE system I think as it looks the most cost-effective and easiest. I am pretty happy with my JBL Easy system, but it uses disposable cannisters (which means it fits in my cabinet!) and isn't the cheapest way to get CO2 by far!
 
Yeah I was thinking of just going with a few different hygros in the goldfish tank but not sure about the tropical tank, I was thinking of trying something different, break the mould so to speak, because I always go for hygro & vallis.

Aquasoil - I'm on a very tight budget, well actually no my husband is on a tight budget :p I'm writing him a shopping list for my birthday :lol: so have to be careful because I know if my total goes more then his budget he'll buy it anyway just to please me then I'll feel guilty. I also like the idea of black sand, I have white sand at the moment and my corys love it so I'm sure they'd appreciate having sand again.

Only thing that worried me about the FE is setting it up, I'm a little bit nervous about getting it all setup as I've read that it can be a little dangerous, so I considered getting a kit.
 
Azaezl said:
Only thing that worried me about the FE is setting it up, I'm a little bit nervous about getting it all setup as I've read that it can be a little dangerous, so I considered getting a kit.

Read Sam's tutorial (if you haven't already). The warnings and disclaimers are really for legal reasons, FE CO2 is no more dangerous than any other pressurised CO2. The only extra thing with a FE is that the handles need to be kept squeezed together.

Know what you mean about the substrate, You could use Tropica underneath Black sand for a more cost effective option, or look at James tanks with Akadama substrate in?
 
Thanks eds, I'm definately going to go for a FE now, I was just nervous as it seemed a little too fiddly.

I did consider tropica under sand but wouldn't it all mix eventually and look a mess? I definately want an all black or very very dark substrate on the top tank. The goldfish tank I'm considering just having the cheapest substrate possible as the goldies don't live on the bottom like my corys so it's not as essential to have sand.

I'm still very tempted to get the arcadia tank, simply because it will be alot cheaper to setup which means I can buy other stuff / receive other presents. I'm a video game junkie so I have a loooong list of games I want as well as fish / plant stuff I want, I really need to get a job, my tank addiction is getting very costly :lol:
 
Azaezl said:
Thanks eds, I'm definately going to go for a FE now, I was just nervous as it seemed a little too fiddly.

I did consider tropica under sand but wouldn't it all mix eventually and look a mess? I definately want an all black or very very dark substrate on the top tank. The goldfish tank I'm considering just having the cheapest substrate possible as the goldies don't live on the bottom like my corys so it's not as essential to have sand.

I'm still very tempted to get the arcadia tank, simply because it will be alot cheaper to setup which means I can buy other stuff / receive other presents. I'm a video game junkie so I have a loooong list of games I want as well as fish / plant stuff I want, I really need to get a job, my tank addiction is getting very costly :lol:

Some of the larger particles will make their way to the top over time. I have a tank with Flourite underneath sand and some pieces are at the top now, but that tank has been set up for years now. Personally I don't have a problem with it. If you definitely want to keep the substrate a pure colour then you're looking at an all in one job and then the costs go up I'm afraid!
I'm thinking of setting this tank up again soon and when I do I will almost certainly be switching it to Aquasoil with sand at the front like my Rio, just need to pluck up the courage to swap it all over and re-jig the fish populations in my tanks around!
 
Guess I'll have to go with 50 / 50 seachem flourite sand & tahitian moon sand with some tabs added for the top tank, still unsure about the bottom tank, the cheaper the better as it doesn't matter as much.

I'm thinking of setting this tank up again soon and when I do I will almost certainly be switching it to Aquasoil with sand at the front like my Rio, just need to pluck up the courage to swap it all over and re-jig the fish populations in my tanks around!

I had the same problem with my rio 240, initially the thought of swapping from gravel to sand seemed too large a project but in the end it took me about 3 hours. Then a few months later I had to pluck the courage up again to shut down that tank and get rid of the fish, worse decision I've ever made, I'd give anything to have my bichirs back.

Thanks for all your help :D
 
Right I'm probably being a total idiot but how much substrate do I need? I've been using the PFK substrate calculator and my face did this when I saw how much it was going to cost me :wideyed: If I'm working things out correctly it's going to cost me over £100 just for the top tank.

So if anyone could be so kind as to work out how many kg's, litres or whatever I'd need for the following;

4ft x 1ft x 18"

4ft x 1ft x 15"

Thanks :D
 
This is driving me insane, looks like I'm going to have to completly give up on the idea of ever having those 4fters setup properly. Looks like it's back to the arcadia tank & dwarf puffers instead. Why did I have to become addicted to such a very expensive hobby :(
 
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