New Tank- What equipment would you buy?

[Cypress]

I am planning on getting a tank very soon. I am thinking anywhere from 55 to 100 gallons. I am really interested in planting it, but totally clueless. When looking at all the filters, substrates, lights, CO2, ferts, etc, I feel completely overwhelmed.

I should probably start with easy to grow plants. I have no specific ideas about fish yet, more than likely a community tank.

If you were completely outfitting a new tank, what equipment would you buy?

Also, is it best to plant first? Or do you cycle, then stock, then plant?

Thank you in advance for any input!

 

[gingerinaustin]

If you were completely outfitting a new tank, what equipment would you buy?

Well, I did completely outfit a new 55 gallon tank in April . Although I knew I'd eventually want to have live plants, I decided to focus on fish first and plants later. My first purchase was:

• a glass 55 gallon tank with a center brace
• 2 standard hoods each with 15 watt lights
• a Penguin 350 biowheel filter and filter media
• a Visitherm Stealth heater
• a digital thermometer
• plastic plants
• white gravel
• 3 mollies and 3 platies

It took 66 days to cycle the tank. After it cycled, I stocked it gradually over the next 2 months with the fish listed in my signature. (That was the second through eighth purchases.) A few weeks ago, I made another big purchase: brighter T-5 HO compact fluorescent lights to bring the lighting up to 1.75 WPG.

This weekend, I'm ready to make the next big purchase--I'm making the big switch from plastic to live plants. I'm gonna buy a boatload of easy, low light plants (LFS is getting in a big plant shipment and having a big Labor Day sale, whoo hoo) and switch out the white gravel for Eco-Complete. Later on, I will probably add CO2, but I'm not ready to deal with that yet.

If I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would not get white gravel. It shows every speck of fish poo and algae. It also reflects the light upwards which makes the fish look washed out. I probably would have done a fishless cycle or added BioSpira the day I added the mollies and platies. I probably wouldn't have bought mollies (in my experience, they are unrelentingly annoying, piggy little bullies--the frat boys of the tropical fish world). I probably would have researched filters a bit more, although the biowheels have worked OK for me. But I wouldn't have gone with brighter lights at first, because I think that would have created oodles more algae problems without live plants. And you can research fish compatibility all day long (and you absolutely should) but individual fish do have personalities which can make the difference between a placid community tank and an insurgency despite your best laid plans. I started with one tank. Then, when the mollies (sweet little mollies! who knew?) started pillaging and burning the village, I had two tanks. Then I wanted a betta and voila, tank 3. Multi Tank Syndrome--it happens.

I cycled, stocked then planted. Other people choose to focus on plants first and add fish later. Either way, unless you have some experience with aquariums, aquatic plants and cycling new tanks, I think it would be very overwhelming to set up a new tank with fish and live plants. I guess if you know you're going to go with live plants at some point, it might be worth setting up the tank with a decent substrate, so you won't have to switch it out later like I'm doing this weekend. But there's plenty of plants you can grow in plain ol' gravel and why spend big bucks on expensive substrate you don't need at the start?

I've gone on much too long, so I'll end with the following advice: do plenty of research (read read read), don't rush into anything, take everything you read/hear with a grain of salt, go at your own pace, question all authority, realize all aquariums have some degree of algae, all live things die at some point, budgets have a limit and no one's perfect--and relax! It's supposed to be a fun hobby! You'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[phanmc]

I like canister filters, they're quieter than most other filters and you get more control with the water outlet. Eheims are great canisters though expensive, Fluvals and Renas are other dependable and cheaper brands.

For beginners, stick with a low light setup. For a 50g tank stay under 100w of light, for a 100g tank stay under 175w. This usually means you'll need to replace the hood. If you're a DIY type, www.ahsupply.com sells excellent light kits. If you'd rather buy a prebuilt fixture, Coralife and Current USA makes good units.

CO2 isn't critical at low light levels but it will still help plant growth. If you think you want to play around with Co2, check out Rex Grigg's site at www.rexgrigg.com. His site also explains and sells ferts, which I highly recommend you have some on hand.

Substrate isn't critical for plant growth but a good one does help. For large tanks I recommend Soilmaster Select, which is often used for sports fields. 50lb bag is less than $20. Distributed by www.lesco.com.

I'm an advocate of the silent cycle where you cram your tank with lots of plants, wait a week to make sure they're healthy and growing, then add a few fishes weekly until you reach your desired stock level.

 

[red devil]

:iagree: The canister filter is helpful, especially at first because you can direct the flow of water back into the tank to do some purpose. HOB filters just let the water flow into the tank. Also...slow....slow....slow is good.