Plant recs for a dwarf cichlid tank?

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Lardeelion

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Having never done dwarf cichlids before, I'm researching this for a while before I even start setting up my tank. (Plus the Christmas tree is in the spot where it will go.)

It's a 29 gallon, so it's tall. My research indicates that dwarfs don't like intense light. The fixture I bought has a 10,000k and I was planning on swapping that bulb for a 6,700k, but will that be enough for a deeper tank? I was planning on lower light/idiot-proof plants like wisteria and java ferns and anubias. Excel, but no CO2, at least not for now. I was planning on an Eco-complete substrate.

What are some good suggestions for a dwarf cichlid planted tank? Obviously there's going to be a fair amount of driftwood. It seems like I have to find a balance between enough light for the plants and not too much light to blast the fish.

Thanks!
 
Having never done dwarf cichlids before, I'm researching this for a while before I even start setting up my tank. (Plus the Christmas tree is in the spot where it will go.)

It's a 29 gallon, so it's tall. My research indicates that dwarfs don't like intense light. The fixture I bought has a 10,000k and I was planning on swapping that bulb for a 6,700k, but will that be enough for a deeper tank? I was planning on lower light/idiot-proof plants like wisteria and java ferns and anubias. Excel, but no CO2, at least not for now. I was planning on an Eco-complete substrate.

What are some good suggestions for a dwarf cichlid planted tank? Obviously there's going to be a fair amount of driftwood. It seems like I have to find a balance between enough light for the plants and not too much light to blast the fish.

Thanks!

You don't need to even dose excel with such low light plants
It's not necessary but you can try it out
Stop using it if algae continues in your tank
 
How deep is your tank? A 10,000K bulb is going to look alot brighter in a deeper tank whereas a 6700K is going to be alot dimmer in the bottom. Personally I'd leave the 10K in and try it out before investing in a dimmer light. 10K is still within the color range plants need for growth. Plus if your going to put in alot of DW and perhaps attach some Java Fern, Anubia, or mosses on it that will shade the lower regions of the tank. You will also find the using a weekly fertilizer such as Seachems Flourish Comprehensive after WC's will aid even low light plants. The same is true for using a liquid carbon such as Excel or API CO2 Booster. These aid in photosynthesis and growth and do help low light tolerant plants grow better if you want to give them an extra boost. Especially the wisteria. And Excel does not cause algae, it actually is used to spot treat and kill algae. I run a high light, heavily planted tank and use glutaraldehyde, which is the active ingredient in Excel.
 
How deep is your tank? A 10,000K bulb is going to look alot brighter in a deeper tank whereas a 6700K is going to be alot dimmer in the bottom. Personally I'd leave the 10K in and try it out before investing in a dimmer light. 10K is still within the color range plants need for growth. Plus if your going to put in alot of DW and perhaps attach some Java Fern, Anubia, or mosses on it that will shade the lower regions of the tank. You will also find the using a weekly fertilizer such as Seachems Flourish Comprehensive after WC's will aid even low light plants. The same is true for using a liquid carbon such as Excel or API CO2 Booster. These aid in photosynthesis and growth and do help low light tolerant plants grow better if you want to give them an extra boost. Especially the wisteria. And Excel does not cause algae, it actually is used to spot treat and kill algae. I run a high light, heavily planted tank and use glutaraldehyde, which is the active ingredient in Excel.

You know, it's actually not deep at all. I think in my head it seemed deep because I was debating between the 29 and the 30 gallons, and the 30 is long and shallow.

I'm going to give the 10,000k a try. I'll have plenty of time to evaluate it while I cycle the tank and try to get the plants established. And I've got the glut you recommended a week or so ago bookmarked so when I run out of Excel I can give that a try, as this will be my fourth planted tank. I'll give the Flourish Comprehensive a try as well.

I guess I was worried about blasting the dwarf cichilds with too much light, but if I use bushy plants and lots of driftwood there should be plenty of shade.
 
You know I had 10K bulbs in my metal halides and 6700K in my T5HO's and just recently I changed my 10K's down to 6000K's and boy are the tetra's and cory's happy. The bright light never seemed to bother my rams or couple apisto's I used to have in there. Since the tank is shallow you may eventually have to go down to a 6700K or something in that range especially if you get any tetra's or cory's.
 
Well, I guess it's trial and error. At 18 inches deep i have some flexibility. I won't rush out and spend money on a 6,700k yet. I have an enormous amount of wisteria that would be easy to transfer and provide bushy overgrowth.
 
A couple questions that need answering!

What type light do you have? This is just as if not more important than temperature. You can run a 10k light and it not be too bright if you're running not very powerful lights in the first place, and vice versa.

What kind of Dwarf Cichlid?

What tankmates?
 
I ask this because I have a 29g Apisto Gibbiceps tank up right now. I can probably walk you through a bit.
 
A couple questions that need answering!

What type light do you have? This is just as if not more important than temperature. You can run a 10k light and it not be too bright if you're running not very powerful lights in the first place, and vice versa.

What kind of Dwarf Cichlid?

What tankmates?

It's a HO light. The dwarfs will probably be rams but I haven't ruled out other types. Tankmates would be, hopefully, a few angels and something small and schooling. I don't have room for the tank until aftet Christmas so I have plenty of time to mull it over.
 
I would appreciate it! I'll take any help I can get.

I have a tank with an Apisto pair, 7 Rummynose, and like 7 Pygmy Corydoras. I can tell you this, I've never kept Rams, but I love love love my Apistos. Plenty of personality and color. Mine never hide and come up to meet me when I go to my tank.

Plants I have in mine (dual t5 HO) are Crypt Crispatula (highly recommend it), various small Crypts (3 colors of Wendtii, some Lutea, others) as my "carpet," Jungle Val in the back, some Red Ludwigia, and some Java Fern on my driftwood. All are low light plants that look fantastic.

I'll take a picture of it when the lights come on tomorrow if you want.
 
I have a tank with an Apisto pair, 7 Rummynose, and like 7 Pygmy Corydoras. I can tell you this, I've never kept Rams, but I love love love my Apistos. Plenty of personality and color. Mine never hide and come up to meet me when I go to my tank.

Plants I have in mine (dual t5 HO) are Crypt Crispatula (highly recommend it), various small Crypts (3 colors of Wendtii, some Lutea, others) as my "carpet," Jungle Val in the back, some Red Ludwigia, and some Java Fern on my driftwood. All are low light plants that look fantastic.

I'll take a picture of it when the lights come on tomorrow if you want.

I'd love to see a photo. Thanks for sharing. Just added several pygmies to a betta tank I have and I love them!

I haven't been able to decide between apistos and rams but what I read generally indicates that apistos are more difficult/sensitive, at least more so than the Bolivian Ram.
 
I use Flourite but Eco-Complete is pretty much the same thing.

I've got fluorite in my 55. I like it.

Okay, some good ideas. Thanks for all of your suggestions! I'm setting up after Christmas so ill be mulling things over for the next month or so. I'll really consider the apistos.
 
Here is the tank!



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And here is my Male Apistogramma Gibbiceps:


image-547820851.jpg


Like I said before, never had Rams so I can't say they aren't the same, but Apistos are awesome. Don't always run across Apistos though :{
 
Wow, that's lovely. Really nice tank.

My semi-local fs (about an hour away) is the most incredibly-stocked store I've ever seen. They had at least three apisto species last week. So I think I'm in luck, and there's online too.

I was just sitting here thinking about filtration and wondering about current. (Is that the definition of a fish geek?) I have a Marineland dual-biowheel HOB for up to 50 gallons, but it's no spring chicken and I wanted to get a canister. I can't find info on whether or not that would blast them and what kind of flow they prefer, and how that would affect angels if I added them.
 
I actually just got a Fluval 105 to go on this tank (it's technically a little underrated as it goes up to 25g). It was a Cyber Monday sale! Haha. I haven't set it up yet (today's project) so I can't tell you yet if its a good thing but I definitely will!
 
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