55gal Start Up

[spenny]

Hey AA,
I just bought a standard 55gal today from someone local. My plans are to have a FW community tank with a good amount of low maintenance plants. I need some help in nailing some of the finer details, so I am here to ask for your help!

Background:
I have a 25gal up and running and I plan on transferring 5 fish and 1 Anubias from that tank over to this one. (1x Rainbow Shark, 3x Female Swordtail, 1x Male Swordtail) Other than that, this tank will be new. I have an extra sponge seeding in my AC50 for my 25gal, that way I don't have to go through a full cycle. When I get the my AC110, I will just remove the sponge and run to get the tank rolling.

Specs:
-Standard 55gal aquarium (48in long)
-1 Canopy, 2x lights
•1x Eclipse F15T8
•1x Philips TLD 15W/03 (T8)
-1x Aqueon Pro Submersible Heater 150W **(Not 100% sure, please offer opinions or suggestions!!!)**
-1x Aquaclear 110 HOB Filter

Idea/End goal:
Like I said in the OP, I want to have a planted, community tank. I know the rainbow does pose some aggression issues, but this particular one hasn't been bad. He feels the need to defends his territory sometimes, but he usually swims right by without bother. Hopefully the larger tank will give him more to do! As for the plants, I want to have a setup that doesn't require CO2. In the tank pic attached, the Eclipse is the white light and the Philips is the blue one. The pic doesn't capture the real colour, it is a lot more purple and less blue. I want a black substrate, but can't decide between some Tahitian Moon or just a black gravel. I've read sand isn't good for rooted plants, which makes sense, but would I have to worry about that with the type of plants I want? I will choose whatever helps more, as I care more about the colour black then the type of substrate. Along with the plants, I want some driftwood in the tank. Now for the most important part, what other types of fish could I put in there? I understand it really depends on location, but just some general ideas as to what you may pair would be great. The background that is on there has two sides, the stones and branches, and the other side is just a light blue water background. Any opinions as to what side should face in? If you think I should switch it, how would I go about reapplying? The guy I bought it from said to use olive oil?

I think that's about as much info as I can provide right now. I cleaned the tank tonight, so it is all ready to get going. I plan on going and getting the filter and heater hopefully by the weekend. I will be posting updates and pics as I go along, so if you are helping out, keep checking back! I appreciate all the tips/advice in advance!

Thanks
spenny

 

[josh7]

I would go tahitan moon sand and you could get java fern and anyway you don't want to bury anyway you want to attatch them to stuff like driftwood. As for fish I would get a nice school of 7 bosemani rainbows and a opaline gourami and a bristlenose Pleco with the other fish you have. Also I would add 5 zebra loaches to.

 

[Keao_m]

As for the background, I like the side with the branches on it. Makes it look a bit more natural. But if you ever want to change it around I used olive oil. I laid the background on the ground with the side i am going to use facing upwards and spread the olive oil over the entire thing. But not too much or else you will have a mess to clean. Than applied it to the tank and scraped the air bubbles out with my old drivers license. Best of luck to ya!