I have a couple of questions!

[nicole44]

This is going to be my stock for my planted 55 gallon -
1 african butterfly fish
2 german blue rams - both females if I can find them
7 rummynose tetras
6 sterbai cories
and possibly 7 rasboras if I can find those too

Do plecos eat plants? My grandma likes plecos and I would like to add a GN pleco for her, but that's not conclusive.

About the plants, this is what I plan on doing. Can you tell me if it'll work?
A layer of Seachem Flourite with a layer of sand - probably black sand.
Dose with Seachem Flourish as directed OR use Seachem Flourish Tabs. Pros/Cons?
I'm not sure what kind of lighting I have as of right now only because I bought the tank from someone off craigslist and the lights came with. I'm assuming they are your usual tank lights.

 

[thomasina]

My first suggestion is to contact a member by the name of Rivercats. She is amazing in her knowledge about fish, tanks, plants - what ever you need to know! And if she doesn't understand what your are telling her, she will clarify everything. Believe me, when I was pulling my hair out, she helped!!

 

[Lardeelion]

My first suggestion is to contact a member by the name of Rivercats. She is amazing in her knowledge about fish, tanks, plants - what ever you need to know! And if she doesn't understand what your are telling her, she will clarify everything. Believe me, when I was pulling my hair out, she helped!!

+1. She's the Bruce Lee of planted tanks.

 

[Rivercats]

Okay guys your making me blush and there are members on here that are heads above me!

The substrate is fine but there are tons of options available. I use organic dirt with a cap of Eco-complete on some tanks and just Eco-complete in the rest of the tank. You will want to get root tabs especially for plants such as Swords and Crypts. And you will also want to get at least a liquid fertilizer like Seachems Flourish Comprehensive to use weekly after WC's but in time if you put in alot of plants you can then think about using dry ferts, which are also much cheaper.

Also you are going to want to find out what type lights the tank came with, can you post a picture of the bulb showing the writing on it? Light decides what type plants you can grow. We'll assume for right now you have low light (which you may or may not have depending on the type light you have).

Plants that are easy for beginners and also low light tolerant include Water spite, Wisteria, Ambulia, Anarachis, Vals, Swords, Crypts, Dwarf Sag, Narrow leaf Temple, and Tiger Lotus. Then plants that attach to driftwood and are low light tolerant are Anbia, Java Fern both regular and Wendilov, and Bolbitus. You could probably grow Java moss as well.

For filters I run Fluval 406 canister filters on my 55 gallon tanks and love them. They give plenty of water flow and have alot of room for media in the canister baskets.

The stock looks good but don't know much about African butterfly fish so can't really comment on them. Also in a planted tank you want to look for a Bristlenose Pleco. Albino BN Pleco's are actually quite active during the day. Here's a picture of my Longfin Albino BN Pleco female... Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rivercats's Album: 220g inhabitants - Picture

Lastly you might also want to consider using a liquid carbon such as Flourish Excel to aid plants in photosynthesis and growth.

 

[nicole44]

Can I use both the root tabs for the swords(if I even get them) and the flourish for the plants that don't need the tabs? I put both of them on my Christmas list just incase
There was a sticker that said rate: 120 vac 60 hz 17 w. I have two single strips.
I will be running a Marineland Emperor 400 for now at least.
African leaf fish like plants that hang on the top of the water, could you name a couple of plants that will do well in my tank?
Thanks a lot for your help!

PS your tank is beautiful!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

That's an extremely low amount of light. You could grow very low light plants but I think swords will need to wait for a bit. I had two 55 gallon planted tanks full of plants with hardware store shop lights. It's an option if you want to go the easy DIY rout. Keep in mind it's always best to use daylight lamps for plants.

You can use Flourish comprehensive along with root tabs. It's kind of like using sinking wafers for bottom feeding fish and pellets or flakes for top feeders. Some plants feed from the substrate and others from the water.

 

[nicole44]

I thought so. What kind of wattage will I need? Or do you have a link for a certain kind of lights?

Menards, home depot, and ace hardware are a couple of hardware stores near me if you feel like picking out some light strips.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I just used 4 foot 2 bulb T8 stoplights with electronic ballasts. Pick up full spectrum daylight bulbs and you should be fine. Any of those stores should have them in stock.

If you want to go higher light you could get T5 light fixtures if they have them. When I was using the shop lights they didn't carry T5s but they're common these days.

 

[Rivercats]

Good floating plants are Water sprite, Oak Leaf Water sprite, anacharis, hornwart, elodia. My preference for a fish like that would be one of the two types of Water sprite. One thing tho is if you have a tank with a hood on it you will have to drop you water level maybe an inch to inch and a half to allow adequate space for the floating plants.