substrate construction and rough blue print

[gravereaper0]

I'm planning on starting a planted community tank. It'll be a 150 gallon with goldies and loaches.
Now I love how carpeted tanks look, so I want to carpet about 3/4 of the middle of the tank back to front. What I mean by that is; since its a 150 gallon the footprint is 6 foot by 18". Id like to have 18" x 18" spaces on the sides of the tank carpet free, those will be planted, and 36" x 12" carpet in the middle starting from the back of the aquarium and creeping forward where it will eventually meet sand. Hope that makes sense. In the middle of that carpet I want to put in a driftwood resembling a tree and also grow a canopy on top, so it looks like; a tree, duh
Now where the sand will be visible I want it to look as pure white as possible, but also want a nutrient rich bottom for the plants. So can I put down a layer of eco complete and cover it with sand so the eco complete won't be visible?
Drew up a little plan so it makes more sense (I know, I'm no artist) of course when the time comes I won't bust out the ruler to make sure it's exact, but roughly that's what I'm picturing. Oh and on top of the sand will be caves n hiding spots for the residents

 

[Rivercats]

I don't want to burst your bubble but with goldies your sand area won't be a sand area very long. Goldies are constantly rooting and picking up mouths full of substrate (if it's small enough) and spitting it out which will make a big mess. For a carpeting plant you need high light and CO2 usually to get it to carpet. Again the problem is the goldies won't leave it alone and will probably eat it or tear it up. Loaches are hard on trying to establish them too. I have 8 6+ inch fancy goldies in two planted tanks with Eco-complete as the substrate. I use rubber plant anchors to hold plants down but Goldies are plant eaters and will nibble and pull certain plants up. Not saying you can't have a planted tank but not the kind you want with goldies. Oh and moss is a favorite eat and tear it off DW just because. I just want you to have the proper info on them. One way I keep my fancies from mostly messing with my plants is by feeding them fresh veggies and some fruit a minimum of 3x a week. This does help. You could do your set up if you would go with a proper community tank. Hope this helps.

 

[gravereaper0]

Alright then. What would be a proper setup for goldies and loaches

 

[Rivercats]

You can still do Eco-complete with plants. Good plants I use with the goldies are Swords, Crypts, Jungle or Corkscrew Val, Dwarf Sag, Ambulia, Narrowleaf Temple then plants to tie to grow on DW would be Anubias, Java Fern (regular and Wendilov), and Bolbitus. As I said feeding veggies and some fruit really helps with my fancy's not eating too much on my plants. Here is a thread that might help you alot.... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f70/goldie-haven-234431.html

 

[gravereaper0]

OK. So it can be done with good planning. I've got nothing but time to do my research, getting the tank in two weeks and then it still has to cycle.

 

[Rivercats]

Actually if you get the tank running with plants in it the cycle will be shorter, especially if you put in alot of plants from the beginning. Also have you thought about filters? On my 220g when we were raising some imported fingerling koi we used 2-Fluval FX5's and they were great for the heavy bio-load fish. Also you need to research and decide what type of plants you'd like to do so you can decide what type of lighting your going to need. I really like the way the tank on the thread is set up. Appears he used alot of Anubia's but couldn't see if he had them tied on DW or what. You could always PM him and ask how he set his tank up too. Hope you post pic's once it's done and has it stock in it. Good luck.

 

[gravereaper0]

I'll be using a fx5 as well for my filtration and the output is gonna run through a jbj 1/4hp arctica. Don't know about the lighting but I want to get led strips for sure.

I'm still going with sand as my substrate they in a sand bottom now. I'll get plenty of it to get a 3" depth, that should also help the plants dig in deep so they don't get uprooted. Plus I'll get frogbit so maybe they'll be interested in that more then the planted ones.

 

[gravereaper0]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Should I get em, and if so, how many would I need?

 

[Rivercats]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Should I get em, and if so, how many would I need?

They are good little snails, I like mine. If you can find them you won't need many. They are also livebearers so no snail eggs in the tank. They stay in the substrate during the day and forage and aerate it then come top side at night.

 

[gravereaper0]

Ebay has em. Anywhere from a 10 pack to a 100 pack. So how many?

 

[Rivercats]

If you doing a 150g I might add 50 to start.