33g Planted

[Quartz92]

Hey guys its been a while since I have been active on this site. I recently bought a 33g take 36 x 18 x 12 and I am wonder how to stock it, what fish combinations do you recommend, what plants do well in this setting. I have all the requirements for a fully functioning planted tank so I am just wondering what you all think. Basically, I am telling you to go to town and help me design a great tank, I want to amazing ideas!

More to come soon!

 

[aqua_chem]

A 30 Breeder tank gives you hundreds of options. What kind of tank do you want it to be (low tech, high tech, medium tech), what kind of scheme do you want, etc. If you give us more information, we might be able to help you more.


That being said, I'll throw out the idea of some rolling hills, iwagumi style setup with the primary plant being a nice green carpet. That'll require medium high light and CO2 though...

 

[Quartz92]

I would say a medium tech tank, best to start with something like that, but like I said I am up for a great challenge! I have 2 24watt T5 high output bulbs, and I will be getting a CO2 unit, any recommendations?

 

[Quartz92]

I will have a filtration unit that will exceed the capacity of the fish tank.

The fish I thought I might start with would be:

- pair of angels or dwarf gauramis
- school of lemon tetras
- school of glowlight or cardinal tetras
- school of black phantom/or another species
- gold nugget pleco

This is just planning so let me know, it has been about 4 years since I have had a tropical tank so I feel very blind to what is out there. I am only used to cichlids.

 

[Quartz92]

Well, it has been about 6 months I have FINALLY set up my tank. Its been cycling for 2 days now. There are plants in there as well.

Filtration, was described to me by one of my buddies keeping fish all his life as a car wash. I have:
- AquaClear 70
- AquaClear 50
- Fluval 205 Canister Filter

As for fish I am planning to get
- 4 clown loaches, yes i know a 33g is small but there are about 1 inch in size and once they get to big which is years down the road my buddy plans to take them
- 3 Siamese Catfish
- 1 chinese algae eater
- schools of tetras, possibly congo, lemon, glowlight, cardinals, anything really depends on what I can find
- a pair of angels

Supposed to be a picture of the tank, if you can't see it its in the FW Member Gallery

Another question, how necessary is a CO2 system? I have heard mixed things about these, as in its not needed and it causes to much algae growth and it is.

On a side note it has been an extremely long time since I have had freshwater community fish and I remember that neons and cardinals were very hard to keep, is there any recommendations on what should be done?

 

[Quartz92]

Does anyone know what the optimal parameters are for a tank when cycled? It has been a very long time since I have done this.

This is what I have now.
pH 7.2
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammo: 0