# I am turning to the plant side...



## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

I have recently agreed to aquire a free 55 gal. with all the trimmings from someone at my GF work, and have decided to turn it into a planted community tank. I am not sure of the filtration or the lighting as of yet. I will be picking it up on sat. or sun. and bringing it home. My anticipated stocking list as far as fish go is going to start with this. 

school of neons, prob. 20
4 angels
couple cories

I am thinking of using flourite and gravel, how mwssy is the mixture when planting and rearanging?

I am going to have a three teer setup and build up the substrate within each teer. 

I have just started reading up on planted tanks, so any info or personal experiences would be great. I am going to start by building the teers and the substrate then load it with begginer plants to get the cycle going. See where I go from there and then decide to add fish later on down the line.


----------



## Guest (Jul 25, 2006)

You could have some problems with the angels eating the neons. They are their natural prey in the wild. It can be done though. You'll need to put the neons in first and let them get plump, then add the angels, but get the the smallest you can find.
You'll also need more than a couple cories. They are shoalers, so I'd get atleast 6 of one kind.

I'd plant it with alot of fast growers in the beginning...wisteria, anacharis, bacopa, moneywort, and rotala are all fast growing stem plants. You'll need atleast 2 watts per gallon though to make them grow.

Flourite it pretty messy, even mixed with gravel. Even if you rinse the stuff 10times, it will still cloud the tank. Eventually it will settle and won't cause a problem. I just changed the substrate in my 55g from flourite/gravel mix to Eco Complete, which I love. When changing the gravel, I couldn't see through the tank...but that's because I disturbed it alot.


----------



## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

I plan on adding small angels, I like to watch them grow, I had a tank full of angels before I started my cichlid tanks. I love them, they are so awesome to watch.


Do what does everyone think on the substrate? What is your opine on why you like your particular substrate, what are the ups and downs as you have experienced?

Also if you have a pic in the photo section let me know so I can check them out. 

Thanks, I appreciate the help!


----------



## Ownager2004 (Apr 4, 2005)

Ive only used eco-complete for any real attempt at a planted tank and it has been working great. Ive heard some people say it can cause algae problems... im not exactly sure what the mechanism for that would be though. I did have problems with algae but it was my first planted tank so thats what i attribute the algae problem too.

As for your stocking I would consider adding some otos. Not only do they eat a lot of algae and keep the tank clean but mine are very active and unique. Id also like to suggest adding rotala indica or rotundifolia(sp?) and blyxa japonica. They are my two favorite plants at the moment.

Here is the beginning of my tank, although im sure youve seen it as you posted in the thread  Wish i could get new pics.
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/aquatic-plants/10516-my-aquascape-pictures.html


----------



## northfacehiker (May 31, 2006)

I am using flourite in my newly planted 55 and the plants are loving it. I made sure to rinse it really well before adding it to my tank and haven't had any issues with it since. I think those who say it gets really cloudy didn't rinse it thoroughly in the beginning, but that's based solely upon my one experience.

Here's a link to a pic of my tank if you're interested in seeing it:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g319/internetusertoo/138_3898.jpg


----------



## Schism (Jul 20, 2006)

Yeah i switched the flourite for the eco-complete as well, i like the darker look better i cant really tell what the plants like better but if ur going for a more natural look the flourite would be better.


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

IloveCichlids said:


> I plan on adding small angels, I like to watch them grow, I had a tank full of angels before I started my cichlid tanks. I love them, they are so awesome to watch.


You do realize that angels are cichlids right?


----------



## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

Yes I do, I meant my African tanks on that post, I have no idea why I did not include that though.

I shall be picking up the tank on Sat, so I will have an idea of what comes with it. I shall let you know when I know.


----------

