How does this planted tank setup sound to you?

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Okay so I am remoding my 60 gallon tank. Like starting ALL over. I currently have a freshwater tropical tank with guppies, tetras, platies, etc. and I got tired of that after 2 years of running the same thing. Now I want to get rid of all my fish (sell them) and restart with a whole new tank. I am wanting to lean more to cichlids and such like angelfish in my new tank, and I want to have nothing but live plants and a nice natural setup. Currently I have ugly neon colored gravel, plastic plants I don't nessessarily like, and some tiny fish. So here is my plan. I am going to remove the gravel and replace it with some nice dark colored sand meant to plant the plants in I found a petsmart. Then I will get some nice peices of driftwood and place them strategically around the tank. Then I will get some cool pieces of slate rock and make a nice looking scape with it and the driftwood. Then I will get some sword plants, java ferns, anubias, and more plants. Then I will stock with some angelfish and others! So is this a good plan? An how many angelfish could I fit in a 60 gallon if all I am going to stock it with is angelfish? Male or females? Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

Sounds great and you just buy baby angels and let them mature and pair. Then go from there at a later date. Here's a link to my tank which is pretty much like you described.... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f70/220g-planted-newly-rescaped-231568.html

 

[Rivercats]

Forgot to add I'd start with 6 baby angels, then after they mature you will have to see how the tank dynamics are. I have 13 adult breeding angels in a 220g planted tank.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

It sounds like a great plan. Some people recommend putting fertilizers under your sand when you start from bare glass. I just did this myself with Osmocote Plus under my plant substrate. It's simply sprinkled over the glass and can only be done when the tank is empty so I thought I'd mention it early in case it's an option for you. It provides around 8-12 months of root fertilization right from day one. I usually use it to make DIY root tabs but when the opportunity came to change out all the gravel it made sense to use it.

YouTube has a lot of videos on aquascaping to give you some ideas. I found the best place was right here. If you look at different members photo albums you'll run across some insanely well designed tanks and they'll often have pictures from several angles and stages from early on to recent, almost like a time lapse. That was the biggest help: seeing gravel shapes, hardscape, plant choices, then growth over time.

I'll never win a prize for aquascaping but looking at the different way people use sand, rocks, wood and plants helped me get a rough idea about where to start. Posting pictures lets people help with improvements while it's still early enough to change things easily. Very quickly you can end up with a tank that is far nicer than most people could do on their own (well, better than I could at least).

One bit of advice I could give would be to paint the back of the tank while it's empty (if it isn't painted already). Some people go dark blue or black (I've even done brown on a desert lizard tank). Hides the wires and looks much nicer than a plastic background.