tank substrate and decorating... fig8's

loaches r cool

loaches r cool

Snail Terminator
Feb 15, 2006
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Gahanna, Ohio
tristan.homelinux.net
I will be soon setting up a new 45G Odyssea tank for my fig8's. I plan on putting the 3 puffers in there along with my knight goby and I might add a bb goby also.

I was wondering what color substrate would look best. I was thinking either black or white, sand or gravel. I am also going to plant it with the only two plants I have been able to grow somewhat in brackish (java fern and jungle val). Java fern needs no special substrate but not sure about the jungle val. If needed I could probably put em in some little pots full of flourite across the back. If anyone has ahad good luck with some other plants in brackish I am open for suggestion. I was leaning toward either black gravel or a white sand perhaps even what you might put in a saltwater tank? It will also have atleast one piece of the darker colored (malaysian?) driftwood and not sure what all esle. The brackground will probably be black also. Any suggestions?
 
black sand is the gangsta s**t.

how high (SG wise) have you taken jungle vals?

annacharis can tolotate up to 1.012, and banana plants do well up to 1.016.

but black sand is extremely cool, especially in the contrast with a planted tank.

plants hold very well in the sand too.

be careful w/ driftwood, it can dramatically reduce yer PH

good luck!
 
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I havent had all that good of luck with brackish plants, but then again I have not given it an honest attempt (havent dosed any CO2, minimal ferts, and the tank conditions in the past havent been that good because of the high bioload of the large mono and scat in there with em). But with the new tank I am going to try to do the best I can, especially with the more managable bio-load. I dont have plans on injecting CO2, so the main thing I will dose will probably be flourish excell. I havent tried diy ferts yet but I will atleast dose like I have been on my 75g plant tank - a good liquid fert like kent freshwater plant and pro plant. Although I will probably attempt the dry ferts at some point. Lighting would be the other thing... right now its kinda setup for a reef tank, with 1 65W actinic and 1 12,000k 65W daylight bulb (both CF bulbs). It also has a polished reflector, so even if the actinic is not usefull in with the plants a 65W daylight over the 45G tank should be ok for the low light species. i will be looking for a full spectrum 6700k CF bulb to replace the actinic if I find I have an algae problem or need more usable plant light.

I havent tried banana plants yet... perhaps I will. The anacharis died of pretty quick in the past though. My tank is usually around .008-.012 although I will be easing that down just a little to help with the plants and the new fish or two I may put in there.

The only thing I worry about sand, especially the kind of black sand I have seen for sale is that it is very very fine sand. I have heard of problems with fine sand 'compacting'. Do you think that would be ok with plants like the jungle val, might prevent much nutrients getting to the roots?
 
Probably around 2 years give or take a few months. I am currently trying to find someone locally interested in the fish, as they are too big for my tanks and I dont plan on getting a larger tank for brackish fish. If I cant find someone interested locally I might even try the columbus zoo since I did see a lone Mono in there reef tank (that is if they would take the donation and I acclimated it to full marine).

About the Aragonite... I popped into Jack's just to see if they had it and what the price was. They had about 4 different kinds, including one or two that were 'live' and had liquid in them. Is there any particular kind that would be best? I am assuming the live one would be a bad idea since I plan on acclimating a bunch of plants and atleast 1 bb goby from freshwater slowly to brackish. WOuld the cheapest aragonite work? Thanks.
 
The live sand is for full marine. What you want is just the plain aragonite sand. It takes a heck of a rinsing and will be a bit cloudy for a day.
 
Ok, thanks for the advice. Still thinking about the possibility of black sand though... If I went with black sand would it limit any of the already short list of plants for light brackish? It wouldnt make a difference with java ferns/moss but not sure if the finer sands would significantly impact the other rooting plants?
 
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