Upgrading Tank, questions on filtration, lighting, etc...

[Langemc]

I currently have a 10 gallon tank with a cory, 2 serpae tetra, and an otto

I started small to make sure i was willing to dedicate myself to the hobby and am ready to jump to a larger tank. I was thinking of upgrading to a 30 g tank so I could increase the number of my fish since they are all schoolers.

1) I was looking at the Rena Filstar XP1 filter for up to 45 gallon tanks and a 150 watt Stealth submersible heater.

2) What kind of lighting would everyone recommend. I would like to add add plants for my fish when i upgrade. I've read 1.5 - 2 watts per gallon. Is that still the case with medium to low light plants?

3) Also I would want to stock up this tank and here's what i was thinking

Serpae Tetra - add seven more giving me 9

Bolivian Rams - I was hoping to add 5 ( is this okay? dont know much about these fish)

Cory - add 2 more giving me 3

Otto's - adding 2 more giving me 3

Btw i was going to purchase the filter and heater off bigal's, anyone had goodluck with them?

Thanks for your help

 

[Purrbox]

As far as the lighting goes, that would be accurate as long as you are dealing with T12 Standard Flourescents (1 1/2" diameter). When using more efficient fixtures such as T8 Flourescents (1" diameter) or compact flourescents, you wouldn't need as much wattage.

For an easy way to estimate the lighting you'd want check out Wizard Of Ozz's article. There's a calculator towards the middle of the page.

I've order from BigAl's in the past and have had reasonably good luck. I prefer DrsFosterSmith as they have much better customer service in my opinion.

 

[Langemc]

thanks for your help

 

[courtnee]

I cant help much on your questions.

However, serpaes are a nice choice. I have 8 of them in my 55gl and they are wonderful to watch. They pick on each other a lot during feeding time but they are my "demon children" as I call them of my tank. It is like they all have horns. They eat the algae waffers like candy that are for the pleco and snail. They eat the peas before anyone else can get to them.

They are just too good for flake food. They hold out all day until lights out for the sinking pellets I put in for my pictus cats. LOL They will get together and fight off a 6" pictus cat to claim their sinking pellet.

Also just the other day I bought 3 bleeding heart tetras to go in my tank. They look just like a serpae but different color is all. The three of them blend right into the 8 serpae tetra gang with out missing a beat. Just one big happy family. If you want variety of that type of fish they are nice.

 

[iceywater101]

Sounds great other than the 5 rams. I would suggest doing a trio of 2 females to 1 male. Also I would add a few more corys maybe bring your total to 5.