Need help stocking a 47cm cube tank...

[sealife]

I have an empty cube tank I am going to set up soon.

The tank specs are:

-47cm cube 100 litres/27g tank
-Rimless (but has lids)
-Eheim 2215 filter
-Tap water PH = 7.6
-Water temp = 24 degrees celcius
-Beamswork led light 6 watts.

I am open to anything, but what I really would like is something very saltwater like or natural looking for freshwater.

With bottom dwellers, mid dwellers, and top dwellers.

Most my others tanks have been medium to large American cichlids. But im a bit over that now.

Dont know much about other fish.
Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

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[ImACoolguy]

What about actual saltwater? Cube tanks are perfect for salty...


Caleb

 

[Chest Rockwell]

I would get a school of neon tetra, like 20 of them. Then get a Bristlenose Pleco. Also get a school of Corydoras maybe like 8 of them, but make sure they are of the same kind. The neon tetras are mainly mid swimmers and the pleco and corys are bottom dwellers. I would also add live plants. I recommend Java Fern and Anubis. Which require no work to maintain, just plant and let it grow. For lighting go to walmart buy a pack of 100W compact cfls that are 6500k and two work lamp(metal clamp lamps) and a timer. Set two lights above your tank and set the timer 4hrs on, 2hrs off, 4hrs on. I would set the plants first for at least a month, then add the Neons, wait like 3 weeks then add the Corydoras, then finally after another couple weeks add the pleco so that way your tank has built up sufficient food for the pleco to eat. if you want a cool snail go with a zebra nerite(they eat algae). if you want shrimp go with red cherry shrimp(RCS).

 

[sealife]

What about actual saltwater? Cube tanks are perfect for salty...


Caleb

I thought about saltwater but I think it's too hard for me.

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[sealife]

I would get a school of neon tetra, like 20 of them. Then get a Bristlenose Pleco. Also get a school of Corydoras maybe like 8 of them, but make sure they are of the same kind. The neon tetras are mainly mid swimmers and the pleco and corys are bottom dwellers. I would also add live plants. I recommend Java Fern and Anubis. Which require no work to maintain, just plant and let it grow. For lighting go to walmart buy a pack of 100W compact cfls that are 6500k and two work lamp(metal clamp lamps) and a timer. Set two lights above your tank and set the timer 4hrs on, 2hrs off, 4hrs on. I would set the plants first for at least a month, then add the Neons, wait like 3 weeks then add the Corydoras, then finally after another couple weeks add the pleco so that way your tank has built up sufficient food for the pleco to eat. if you want a cool snail go with a zebra nerite(they eat algae). if you want shrimp go with red cherry shrimp(RCS).

This sounds like a cool idea.
Just some questions:

1. Do I need special gravel?

2. Are my current LED lights not good enough?

3. Do zebra nerite snails reproduce by themselves, overpopulating and taking over my tank?

4. Do I ever need ferts of any sort for these plants?

5. Would any other fish apart from neon tetras work? Not too fond of neons.

6. Would a larger feature fish also work and not eat other fish or plants?

Thanks heaps.

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[TheresaM]

-A good sized school, my current favorites are green neons and pygmy spotted rasboras. Number would depend on what particular fish you choose.

-Trio (1M/2F cherry barbs).

-Group of kuhli loaches or small cories (pygmaeus or habrosus)

 

[ImACoolguy]

I thought about saltwater but I think it's too hard for me.

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27g is a great start if you want to try it. It's big enough that you won't have constant swings and small enough they a sump and skimmer are optional. Not to mention cube tanks have a nice footprint for the rock work.

It's really no different than keeping a freshwater tank once it cycles. Just a bit more attention to parameters and premixing the water.


Caleb

 

[sealife]

Yeah I was thinking of saltwater.

I think im gonna try planted first. Then when I get bored of planted I can move to salt.

Hopefully someone can answer my questions about planted tank.

Thanks.

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[CleverBs]

This sounds like a cool idea.
Just some questions:

1. Do I need special gravel?
you will want to use sand if you are going to have corries. Pool filter sand works well.

2. Are my current LED lights not good enough?
no a 6w led is nothing and wont give your 27g tank a very bright/clean look

3. Do zebra nerite snails reproduce by themselves, overpopulating and taking over my tank?
im not sure on this, I dont like to keep snails in freshwater tanks

4. Do I ever need ferts of any sort for these plants?
You could if you wanted but you dont need them. you do need more light then the 6w led however.

5. Would any other fish apart from neon tetras work? Not too fond of neons.
Sure any fish works that is a schooler and the smaller the fish the more you can have.

6. Would a larger feature fish also work and not eat other fish or plants?
depends on what you are thinking of. you could do a Dwarf Cichlid of some kind and probably be fine. like a Ram.

Thanks heaps.

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I wanted to comment on the saltwater idea. I have a 30g cube, 24x24x12 and it made a great saltwater tank however it was plumbed into my 300g system so it got the benefit of large water volume and filtration.

What I want to say about it is if you do go saltwater lots of people say that a skimmer and sump are optional and honestly they are. but I think that people who are new to saltwater shouldnt ever view these as optional. I have 5 years in the reef hobby and I honestly wouldnt ever have a tank without a sump and skimmer. I took that advice when I first got into saltwater with my 29g tank and it was terrible...I struggled and struggled until I got a 40g breeder and put a sump and skimmer on it. then everything became so much easier to manage. not haveing those things just increases the amount of testing and work you have to do with a saltwater tank and isnt something a newb to salt should ever take on.

That being said if you want a "saltwater look" then go saltwater its an amazing hobby and one I loved very much. I am taking a break from it currently because I just dont have the money for it right now but understand its because I had a fully stocked 300g system that cost me about 200$ a month in salt/chemicals/electrisity/bulbs but your cost of a 27g would be a fraction of this talking like 6-7$ a month if you used LED and kept Soft corals or LPS corals.

I am also like you and like to do new things with my tanks every now and then so I decided to do a big freshwater setup and am pretty excited about it because I havent done freshwater in over 4 years.

 

[TheresaM]

You don't need special gravel.

LED lights are fine for low light plants.

Zebra nerites will lay eggs but they can't actually reproduce in freshwater.

I do ferts in all my tanks but again, not necessary for low light plants.

Quite a few other schoolers would work, I mentioned some stock suggestions in this response.

Depending on your other stock you could possibly have a gourami or dwarf cichlid as a feature fish.

This sounds like a cool idea.
Just some questions:

1. Do I need special gravel?

2. Are my current LED lights not good enough?

3. Do zebra nerite snails reproduce by themselves, overpopulating and taking over my tank?

4. Do I ever need ferts of any sort for these plants?

5. Would any other fish apart from neon tetras work? Not too fond of neons.

6. Would a larger feature fish also work and not eat other fish or plants?

Thanks heaps.

 

[ImACoolguy]

To answer the nerites, they can only successfully breed in marine tanks. You still may see eggs though.


Caleb

 

[sealife]

I wanted to comment on the saltwater idea. I have a 30g cube, 24x24x12 and it made a great saltwater tank however it was plumbed into my 300g system so it got the benefit of large water volume and filtration.

What I want to say about it is if you do go saltwater lots of people say that a skimmer and sump are optional and honestly they are. but I think that people who are new to saltwater shouldnt ever view these as optional. I have 5 years in the reef hobby and I honestly wouldnt ever have a tank without a sump and skimmer. I took that advice when I first got into saltwater with my 29g tank and it was terrible...I struggled and struggled until I got a 40g breeder and put a sump and skimmer on it. then everything became so much easier to manage. not haveing those things just increases the amount of testing and work you have to do with a saltwater tank and isnt something a newb to salt should ever take on.

That being said if you want a "saltwater look" then go saltwater its an amazing hobby and one I loved very much. I am taking a break from it currently because I just dont have the money for it right now but understand its because I had a fully stocked 300g system that cost me about 200$ a month in salt/chemicals/electrisity/bulbs but your cost of a 27g would be a fraction of this talking like 6-7$ a month if you used LED and kept Soft corals or LPS corals.

I am also like you and like to do new things with my tanks every now and then so I decided to do a big freshwater setup and am pretty excited about it because I havent done freshwater in over 4 years.

Whats the difference between a sump and canister filter? Apart from larger volume.

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[Fresh2o]

Whats the difference between a sump and canister filter? Apart from larger volume.

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Primarily the design. The canister is a closed system and a pump controls the amount of water drawn in (suction) and out.
The sump is part of an open system. It is basically a tank below the display tank. Water drains from the display tank via gravity and a dedicated pump pushes it back into the display tank. Sumps typically have areas for skimmers, chemical filtration, refugiums, etc.


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