Plans for my 55, need a second opinion or two

[jestes]

Hello everyone. I've got my 55 gallon going through a fishless cycle right now, so I'm putting together a list of some plants/fish I'd like to get. I don't see any problems with them, but I'd like to get your opinions just to be safe.

Plants:
Dwarf Subulata
Amazon Sword
Anacharis
Watersprite
Dwarf Hairgrass


Fish:
5 or so Cories
5 or so Ottos
2 Angelfish
Several small schools of some of the smaller tetras: neons, lemon, penguins, ect


I also plan on adding some crushed coral to keep the PH stable. In the past, I've always shot for a PH of 7, but I read on here that a stable PH is much more important than what the actual numerical value is. That makes sense. It doesn't seem like the fish will care, but what about the plants?

I also have right at 2 wpg, so I should be good there. According to what I've read, all those plants will do well at that light range. I'll be adding root tabs as well. Am I off base here, or am I doing well?


Thanks in advance!

 

[mgamer20o0]

i would stock from the top down. wait until the tank is fully established before getting the ottos. i would also make sure there is 6-8 of the cories and ottos you have the room. i personally like one or two schools and more of them. they will school better and look more natural.

plants it really doesnt matter. as for the right light there really isnt a magical number to shoot for. what kind of lights will you be using?

 

[WhiteDevil]

Yep, top down, wait for the cleaner crew till a few months down the road.

I started with 6 corydoras and now have 18. They will school together quite well with different subspecies and look much more natural with greater numbers of them.

My 55 err 52 has a ton of smaller tetras, 7 tiger barbs, 2 full grown angels,18 corydoras,6 black kuhlis,1 dwarf neon rainbow, two true SAE's and a TON of trumpet snails.

 

[jestes]

Thanks! I never thought about the stock from the top down idea. That makes sense though. I may get the tank started off with some guppies too. I figure if they start to reproduce, that just means food for the Angels.

The lights I will be running are 2X54 watt T5HO's, at 6700k. They should be here in a few days. Just waiting on FedEx.

So you think some Cardinal Tetras will be OK with the crushed coral? 7.8ph is a big jump from 6.....

 

[mgamer20o0]

what is the ph of your tap water and gh kh? unless you have super soft water with low buffers you most likely dont need to add crush coral. as long as you transition them slowly they will be fine. i have kept some in higher ph then that.

just think what ph does the store keep them at?

 

[jestes]

Thanks! I don't have a KH or GH test kit yet, but the PH of my tap water before and after gasing off is 7. I guess until I get that other test kit, I'm basically shooting in the dark.

I didn't figure I truly "needed" the buffer the crushed coral will add, I just liked the idea of having foolproof way to maintian a rock solid PH.

 

[mgamer20o0]

unless the water is super soft it should be solid. pick up a test kit and find out. api makes a combo kit with kh and gh in one.

 

[mfdrookie516]

if you use crushed coral for a buffer, and have to do a big pwc, you have to treat the water before adding it back to the tank.. thats the only disadvantage of buffering the water... 20% is ok, but anything bigger and the cc cant dissolve fast enough to buffer it up, and can cause a drop in ph if your tap is substantially lower than 8

 

[newfound77951]

I agree that unless your tap water is very soft, whatever pH it happens to be will be fine for the fish. If the water is soft, you can add some sodium bicarbonate with each water change to help buffer the pH.

Some plants are sensitive to pH and hardness, but those tend to be more difficult plants that are not commonly available. All the ones you listed will be just fine in any pH. It will be interesting to see how your Sag. subulata and hairgrass do under those lights....they might be OK, might not. Also beware that most hairgrass found at the LFS has usually been grown emersed. So when you plant it in your tank the emersed growth will start to die off. Be patient, and soon you'll see the new submersed growth coming in.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Also beware that most hairgrass found at the LFS has usually been grown emersed. So when you plant it in your tank the emersed growth will start to die off. Be patient, and soon you'll see the new submersed growth coming in.

i should get a pic of this. its really easy to tell if the tips are round then its emersed grown if it goes to a point its submersed grown.

 

[jestes]

Thanks everyone!

I'm not completely sure about the carpeting plants either. I really like how they look, so I figure I'll give it a shot. If they work, cool. If not, I'll learn something so it's not a total loss. Plus they're pretty cheap. I'm ordering all most of my plants from aquariumplants.com. Newfound, the website says they grow all of their plants submersed from day one. I'd like to buy from a LFS just to support the local guy, but the only privately owned LFS wants about $7 each for some really shabby looking Amazon Swords. Half of each plant was brown...

Out of curiosity, is there something to buffer PH that has an equilibrium lower than 7.8? Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't baking soda have an equilibrium over 8, and CC is around 7.8? I figure if there's something to buffer at a lower ph level, then that would take the large PWC issue out of the equation.

For example, I know CC has enough carbonates in it to be a very effective PH buffer. I also know that it quits dissolving at 7.8, giving it an equilibrium of 7.8. Am I correct on that, or have I missed something?

I'll also get a KH/GH kit next time I'm at the fish store.


Thanks again for all of the advice everyone! I know I'm asking alot of questions, but I'd rather find out how to do it the right way the first time.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i do not think they grow all their plants submersed. as far as i know they dont even grow any of their plants just ordered from the plant farms. maybe robbert will pop in this thread he knows a lot more about the growers in FL then i do.

 

[jestes]

Well, I figure I'll keep this thread as a journal for my 55. I just learned one thing the very hard way: Flourite mucks up aquarium water, no matter how well you rinsed it.....

I got my plants from Mgamer the other day, but I realized that the finer rooted ones didn't like my gravel too much. My gravel is pretty fine, but apparently not fine enough. No biggie, I'll replace some gravel with flourite. Well, after probably doubling my water bill rinsing the stuff, I figure it's OK to add some dechlorinator to and slowly add it to the tank before I replant. It was running almost clear. After adding a little to the tank as carefully as possible, it still turned the water to chocolate pudding..... The bad part is, there are a few fish in there. They don't seem to be affected though.

Anybody have any experience with the Lustar Hydro-Sponge 5 filters? Supposedly these are great for filtering out substrate dust, but I've got no experience with them. I can't justify $100+ for a diatom filter just to clean up this one mistake. A partial water change was no noticeable help either.

 

[mgamer20o0]

it will settle just takes a little while. if you got the hydro sponge add a power head that will help filter the water. i use those sponges in many of my tanks as pre filters or used as they were meant for as a sponge filter.

 

[epsolon77]

Most of those fish don't do well in PH's above 7. Especially the angelfish and neon tetra's. I've found neon's to be very tough to keep around my area because my PH out of the tap is almost 8. They aren't nearly as flashy, but I switched to black neon tetra's becuase they are much more hardy. The angels will LOVE the amazon swords. I had to raise my baby angels at almost a 6 until they were at least 3 inches nose to start of the tail fin.