Bare 25gal

[herp_mommy]

About 6 months ago I came across a 25gal long tank and a yard sale and got it along with the stand. I also picked up a free 20gal with a WHOLE bunch of supplies, including a 50gal filter which I plan to use for this tank. (is that too strong or ok?) I've got the money and patience to work on it now, and my mom wants me to set it up and everything. I'd like to have a heavily planted tank with a sandy substrate. I plan on moving a school of Pristella tetras from my 16gal tank for cycling, and eventually move my pleco to give him/her a little more room. I'm at a loss as to what plants and fish I could eventually add. Any suggestions?

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Well the filter will be fine, to be honest i've never knew of anyone saying a filter is too big. If you go to www.plantgeek.com they will have a huge list of plants that you can look at. You want to get tall thick plants for a heavly planted aquarium. Play sand is a good sandy substrate for planted auqariums, it's only around 5 bucks for 50 lbs the last time I saw.

After you pick out some plants and such post back and we will lead you in the right direction if your picking the right types.

 

[HannahJ]

It's pretty hard to over-filter a tank. Instead of moving over tetras to cycle the tank, why not just "seed" it with filter media from the 16 gallon? A lot easier on the fish that way.

As far as plants go, sand is not an ideal substrate, and plecos are notorious for tearing up plants. I'd go have a look in the Planted Tanks forum to get some idea of workable setups. If you decide to go with sand anyways, I recommend going to your local pool supply store and get a big bag of pool filter sand. Very nice and cheap, though not good on it's own for plants.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

I got sand from a local river from a flood we had, I use it in every single tank I have it looks great and is great for my plants, my pleco also does not tear up my plants but you might be better off getting like 6-7 ottos for a 25 gallon.

 

[OldMan]

A 25 long is a tank I haven't run into in years. They are a very nicely proportioned tank for a small setup. If you decide to use sand, it would be best to favor a coarse sand rather than a fine sand. The fine sands can trap pockets of water that do not circulate and the end result is decaying matter that is in an anaerobic condition. Most plants that are kept in an aquarium are water column feeders and for those the substrate only serves the purpose of holding the plant in place. If you get a root feeder in your mix, you will either need to use plant tabs near the roots or will need a fertile substrate. Again, a coarse sand makes a nice cover to put over the fertile substrate.
Cichlids in general along with plecs tend to uproot anything that you plant. In addition, many fish love to nibble on plants. My rainbow cichlids will really devastate a planted tank by eating everything that they can and other fish have similar habits. Fish research is more vital in a planted tank but that doesn't mean you can't have fish with plants.

 

[jsoong]

You should also consider the lights you have. That would determine what plants you can grow. plantgeek is a great place to get ideas on what the plants need so you can get the right plants for our setup.