Farming suggestins for new 55gal!

[sdveirs]

Ok, first off I have not a clue where I am going with this tank. I want something low maintenance (little vacuuming), with playful or active inhabitants and some nice beginner plants.

1> Inhabitants?
1a> Fish
1b> Clean up crew (already have 2 small plecos in another tank I will be moving over).


2> Planted tank with base cover? Would this help with bottom debris like waste?
2a> How do you handle vacuuming a tank with ground cover (or do you not)?


3> If I go planted, should I go Fluorite or fine gravel?

4> Canister or Wet/Dry



I thought about breaking this up into different questions but really unsure what to do with this tank. Thanks guys for the input!

 

[yourchoice]

Easiest way to keep the bottom of the tank clean is to use red clay pots and no gravel.They come in all shapes and sizes if you hunt around.Amazon swords or giant hydro plants will grow large and are pretty easy to keep.Anubius plants will root themselves on wood and easy to keep.

First you need to fiqure out the fish stock.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

fish can be endless its hard to say. go to your local fish store and see what they have that you like. come back and research them.

what kind of plecos? common plecos can get over 2 feet long.

planted is great..... keeps the water clean. i dont gravel vac my tanks. you can go over the top to suck up the dirt though.

fluorite is fine eco complete is nice and a little cheaper. i use just reg gravel.

canister is what i would do. if your doing plants and really get into it you might want to go with a high light co2.

 

[sdveirs]

fish can be endless its hard to say. go to your local fish store and see what they have that you like. come back and research them.

what kind of plecos? common plecos can get over 2 feet long.

planted is great..... keeps the water clean. i dont gravel vac my tanks. you can go over the top to suck up the dirt though.

fluorite is fine eco complete is nice and a little cheaper. i use just reg gravel.

canister is what i would do. if your doing plants and really get into it you might want to go with a high light co2.

Good info thanks. Not sure of the kind of pleco, but will find out. It is small and has not grown much. The planted tank that does not require vacuuming is kind of what I was thinking about.

Thanks again to both of you.
scott

 

[jm1212]

you will still need to vacuum the tank. not necessarily going through the gravel, but over it. otherwise you are going to get a layer of crud over the substrate, which doesnt look very nice.