My plan for a new FW planted aquarium, please critique

[allaboutfish]

ive never seen black sand in the wild

 

[Dburgess1231]

never been to Hawaii then or any beaches near volcanoes have you?

 

[jpappy789]

Just 40lbs of sand and a large piece of Mopani. Aquascape is certainly subject to change! I ordered a Nova Extreme 2 x 24w T5 fixture (30" long) from Marine Depot which should fit into the existing fixture slot (if not - I'll look into getting a glass top). The tank took just at 30 gallons (jug by jug!) of distilled water to be topped off after adding the sand and wood - so much for it being 36! Both filters are up and running (Eheim 2213 and Emperor 280) and the 150w heater is slowly bringing the temperature up. I added 6 Tbsp. of aquarium salt and half a capful of Prime (because I rinsed the sand and wood in tap water - figured it can't hurt).

So, once my temp is up to 78 I'll check the pH and hardness to make sure it's okay and then...what should I do? Get plants first or a few fish to start the cycle...or plants and a few fish simultaneously? Opinions are appreciated. Thanks!

I'll just put in a few thoughts here...

Again, not sure why waste money on distilled water which is essentially stripped of all minerals...minerals that fish and plants alike do require.

The salt is also far from necessary. If you use tap water there will be plenty of NaCl (that's all it is).

Please consider cycling without fish. You can do it with fish safely but you need a TON of plants, low bioload and slow stocking. It is much easier to follow the non fish cycling route and add pure ammonia instead.

Read this for more info: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?84598-Freshwater-cycling

Plants can be added at anytime.

Not overly sure about using play sand for your substrate. I've always used either the small pebbles - pea gravel - you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes for about $5 for a bag. Sure neats paying $20 for a bag at Petco/Petsmart that's about 1/4 the size. I've also used flourite in a tank before. Someone else can shime in if play sand makes a good substrate.

Good move on going with the canister filters. I will never again use a HOB filter for my freshwater tanks.

Play sand is perfectly fine although I prefer PFS myself.

 

[Chuck H.]

Thanks for all of the replies...I forgot to mention I ditched the play sand because it was taking forever to rinse and even after doing so for 10 minutes there were white clumps everywhere that had the consistency of caulk or paste when I picked them up...probably just real fine sand but I didn't like it. I went to Pet Smart and got robbed...but the sand was so much cleaner and rinsed well within minutes!

Right now the tank is still a tad cloudy with a dark hue due the tannin leaching from the driftwood. I'm okay with the tannin and will just let it take its course. pH was 6.4 so I'm going to try and bring that up a bit. My game plan is to get some low light plants for now and see how they do for a couple of weeks (if my patience holds out!). I'll certainly post some more pics as the tank progresses.

 

[Dburgess1231]

black sand would have been boss....

 

[jpappy789]

Just leave the pH where it is unless it begins dropping below 6.0

 

[Dburgess1231]

dont touch ph unless you need it hard for cichlids. if you try and change it, it will be bad news for you. the fish will adjust... plants take patients for the first month or so. it takes them taht long to get used to your tank. they will "melt" and appear to die the first couple weeks but then grow back real strong. all mine melted away and looked lost but i left them in (removed the dead leaves) and they are multiplying now.

 

[Chuck H.]

Thanks for the replies...especially regarding pH! Back in the day - 20 years or so ago - neutral, 7.0 water, was the way to go and acidic water was reserved for breeding Discus! I'll let it be per the last two suggestions. I'm going to get some hardy, low-light plants at first - maybe this weekend, along with a 5 gallon or so WC to lighten up the tannin a bit.

 

[Dburgess1231]

you want to know my fav plant? Anubias. low light and hardy. best plants you can get hands down and IMO they look the best. mine is growing like a weed and they normally grow slow. check out my sig 55gal build thread. it is the big plant on the rock towards the right of the tank.

 

[Chuck H.]

Okay...after some additional soaking of driftwood (turned water the prettiest brown!) a couple 50% water changes about a week ago...I decided today was the day to add some plants and a small school of tetras. A large LFS in my area had a buy 5 get 50% off all plants today, so I got: 4 bunches Valisneria, 1 Java Fern "mat", 1 Anubias nana, 1 Bronze Wendth, and 2 bunches Micro Sword "Mauritius" - all supposed to be low-light and hardy plant varieties. I also got 3 pairs of Black Phantom Tetras. Here's some pics: