pls help me set up my new 55 gal!!!

LMOUTHBASS

LMOUTHBASS

My hypocrisy goes only so far
Jun 17, 2003
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Boston , MA
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Mark
Hello, I am trying to figure out how to set this up!!! for substrate I am considering using 1/4 playsand and then the rest of mixture of gravel and pebbles - is this good will this work? I plan on planting my tank - will the sand/gravel combo work well for both my plants as well as fish etc? does anyone have experience with this? My thoughts are that the plants will root thrugh the gravel and into the sand? Is this worth it though or is this more of a nuisance than beneficial? Or should i just go with gravel?


Next Q - I currently have a 20 gal - when i set up new tank I will be moving filter,plants,caves, etc from the 20 to new tank - along with some water - How long before i then can put my fish in the new tank? I know i will be bringing much bacteria from my 20 into the new tank - but is it safe to put my fish into the new tank right away - or should i wait a week or so? I've heard because i will be bringing so much from the old tank into the new will this be ok to put the fish in as soon as it set up my new setup - i dont want to harm my fish though - i'm hoping the fish will be ok with a quick move cause i havent got much room to keep both tanks going!


thanks for your help - lb
 
I switched form white gravel to black oynx sand. Looks great. The black really lets the plants stand out.
Yes you can fish right away. Using your established filter will provide the good bacteria you need. Good luck
 
The substrate really depends on what kind of plants you are keeping. Heavy root feeders like swords do better in a more mineral rich substrate like flourite, onyx sand or ecco complete. Plants that root to wood & rock like java fern & anubias don't really care about the substrate. There are a lot of ways to use sand, laterite & gravel successfully, I'll see if i can find some links.

As for setting up the new tank take ~10g of water out of the 20g. Siphon the rocks and get the gunk out of them. This will "seed" the new tank and help it cycle much faster. Heavily planted tanks don't need to cycle (or at least very little) because the plants take care of the ammonia. If you are going to seed the new tank with the old tanks substrate it will work much faster because of the bio-load you'd seed the tank with.

In my planted 45g I'm using flourite and have been very happy with it. Using it when I set up the tank was a good decision for me. Hope that helps.

*I'm going to do it again* check out www.thekirb.com and www.skepticalaquarist.com for more info. *I've been shamelessly pimping these two sites today.... there's just so much good info!*
 
a word of caution-- when i moved i changed from medium sand to gravel and i HATED it. i've been SLOWLY pulling out the gravel and replacing it with sand over the past few months. right now it is about 3/4 sand, 1/4 gravel. it looked better when it was all sand, so i'm still moving in that direction. also, it's really impossible to keep the mix "perfect": the gravel slowly sinks into the sand in the intermediate areas, making things look a little messy.

i would go with all sand.
 
ok

So i'm thinking about going all sand but i cant picture what it looks like any one have pics of their tanks with sand??? also what exactly is flourite is it a type of sand i'm thinking about using this - or should i go with playsand? also i kinda want to put some medium size pebbles in as part of the substrate but i suppose i coul scatter it in certain areas instead of all over the whole bottom of the tank??? any suggestions? all i know is that i' sick of gravel and want a natural look - i'm not sure what plants i will go with most likely misc sword plants etc -
 
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