Going to get this right...

[Codefox]

Ok, these last few years of fish keeping have been very frustrating for me. First I set up a 55 gallon aquarium that I tried to do as a planted tank and really never got it going very well. I'd say I had about 6 months of a pretty nice aquarium before it pretty much collapsed.

Last year I upgraded to a 120 gallon tank and was going to do an African cichlid setup. I made the mistake of putting the tank upstairs. After starting to set it up I got pretty nervous about it being up here and realized I needed to take it back downstairs. Of course by that time I had already put gravel and rocks in and it had been pretty difficult to get up the narrow staircase I have. So it sat.

But last week my buddy helped my carry the tank back downstairs (the same guy that helped me bring it up...) I realized that the cost of the cichlids for a tank like this were going to be pretty high and since I really have just not been very successful in having an aquarium to just enjoy...I changed my mind. I already had most of the substrate out of the tank so I finished getting the rest since it was only suitable for an rift lake setup.

When I did my planted tank I had intended to do an Amazon setup with tetras, angels and maybe some rams. So that's what I'm going to do...sans the plants. I'm really disappointed that I didn't do it right the first time but I don't want to spend another 6 - 12 months trying to get this aquarium going. I have a beautiful 120 gallon glass box that needs fish already. So! Its just about ready to go.

Now I just need to start stocking...

 

[mgamer20o0]

the substrate is nice but personally like a more natural look. if you need help with plants let me know. i have helped a lot of people. the whole key is a balance. if you go with low light with low light plants its pretty easy. the problem most people have is adding too much light or too little light.

 

[Codefox]

By more natural I assume you mean live plants? Because I looked for the most realistic fakes that I could find

My problem was I had the lighting I needed but I didn't have an adequate CO2 setup and once the CO2 ran out the algae exploded. This tank just has normal lighting on top so yeah, low light plants would work. Doesn't seem like there'd be enough variety though for a whole tank of low light plants.

I kinda want to get the tank at least going. I can always add plants later.

 

[mgamer20o0]

it doesnt have to be live plants but natural wood and rock. maybe even silk plants at worst. the plastic plants and wood just looks too fake for me.

there are lots of options for low light set ups. my 120 which is low light has about 15 species of crypts 6 different anubias plus bolbitis fern. there are so many low light plants out there lots of options.

PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide

 

[Codefox]

Gotcha...well, I thought they looked real enough! I'll throw some more in to fill some of the back spaces but for now my budget isn't going to let me redo all the decorations again

With those plants do you still need to have a CO2 setup?

 

[supradupafast]

Why the CO2?
You can have some Low Light plants, and look nice with almost No maintenance. Actually, it helps alot with the bio filtration.
Here is a link with pics of my planted tanks with Low Lights plants.
I use SeaChem Root Tabs & Flourish Excel Fert.
These pictures was taken about 4 months after planting. They have grown alot since, just no updated pictures.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/few-pics-of-my-planted-tanks-124223.html

 

[Codefox]

Well the last set up I had I had high output lights so I needed the CO2 for that setup. There was a period of time where it actually looked really good. My plants were all growing really fast.

I will reconsider the planted tank but my LFS resources are pretty horrible where I am. I'll add some plants overtime and eventually replace the plastic wood with real driftwood.

With the low light plants do they grow a lot slower?

 

[dkpate]

Ya know, I got some little bulbs in a pack in the fish section of WalMart, and they are the only plants I don't have to do ANYTHING with. They cost me $3 for 3 bulbs, and are growing like crazy.

 

[Codefox]

Hah, yeah, I've seen those at Petco

 

[Codefox]

Just for fun I set up the tank with moon light LEDs. I think I need 2 more to give more even lighting.

 

[Codefox]

So I've put in Dr. Tim's One and Only to help the cycle get started. I added a couple schools of tetras to provide the bioload. Everything seems to be good so far. I might have to do a water change tomorrow since the ammonia looked like it might be creeping up a bit. Fish have been in there 36 hours or so and it just crept above .02 ppm tonight. I'll check in the morning and if its above that still I'll do a pwc but otherwise not worried.

I started with 15 black skirts and 14 red eyes. The red eyes are my favorites but I have to say the skirts really make an impressive school. They seem to like to stick together more than the red eyes right now who are still hiding out.

I also added a few more plants to hide the back of the tank a bit better. I know...live plants look better and I agree. However I did find out this afternoon that starting Monday I'll be traveling for the next month for work so I'd rather not worry about extra maintenance yet. Once the tank is established I'll worry about that. And of course this comes at a bad time since I just started cycling the tank. I don't have anyone I would trust to do this that I can think of so hopefully everything will be ok while I'm gone. I'll do a pwc tomorrow and then on Friday before I leave and hope for the best!

 

[supradupafast]

Depends, some of my Low Light plants grow out of control (weekly trimming) and others very slow, but they are all looking really nice.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Very nice. I have those fish in my tank. Do you find they are afraid of the tank lights or stay in shady spots at all?

 

[Codefox]

Well since I'll only be home a couple days a week, I don't really want to deal with weekly trimmings right now I have no doubt that in time I will get plants in there but not yet.

I'd also like to, with the plants, get an R/O setup because my water is horrible here in Florida. I think I would have a much better time with it if I had softer water.

But I appreciate your suggestions...I at least have a list of plants I can look at

 

[Codefox]

Very nice. I have those fish in my tank. Do you find they are afraid of the tank lights or stay in shady spots at all?

They pretty much stay out of the light right now but they've been getting a bit less timid. I do find that when the moon lights are on they do come out Go figure...

My ammonia levels were at 0 this morning. I need to test Nitrites but I'd say that Dr. Tim's One and Only did its job. I want to add more fish but with me going out of town tomorrow this will be hard.

I want to QT any new additions to my tank but I see a potential issue there. I'll be back Friday morning next week and then I'll have to leave again Sunday night. What's the best length of time to do a QT? I'd hate not to be able to add any fish until I'm done with this project but I suppose its possible.

 

[Codefox]

Regardless of when I can continue stocking...here's my current plan:

Tetras:
15 Black Skirts
14 Red Eyes (I got all I could )
10 Diamond

10 Cories (species doesn't matter much...I'll get whichever I find)

2 or 3 Angels
3 or 4 Rams

Problem here is this still leaves me like half stocked. I was thinking of adding a school of Neons or Cardinals (at least until they're fish food for the Angels )

So I can keep adding schools of tetras or other characins that I find. With some of the smaller SA Cichlids would that be an option? The only way I've really done cichlids in the past is a rift lake setup with only cichlids so I'm not as up on keeping the SA species. Obviously there are some that are much less aggressive (since I already have two species in there)

Thoughts?

 

[dkpate]

I think most people QT their fish anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. But if something goes wrong you won't be there to fix it.

 

[Codefox]

yeah that's no good. But I also don't want to just throw fish in the tank because that's even more disastrous .

I'll figure something out I guess.

 

[dkpate]

Good luck!

 

[Codefox]

Thanks. I'm pretty worried about the tank while I'm gone. I started the tank on Monday and got a call Wednesday that I'd be gone. I'm actually hoping it gets delayed a week. We'll see.