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[bluerose]

Real plants will help with your nitrate levels, but will take a little more maintenance and likely much higher lighting requirements. Also I'm not sure if your fish will leave them alone or not.

2 100 gallon filters would be the bare minimum... if you could find 150 or 200g filters I would go with those instead... filters are usually vastly over-rated and extra filtration is always a good thing.

Prices are usually better online. Pet Supplies | Dog & Cat Supplies, Pet Meds | DrsFosterSmith.com Pet Products generally has a good selection.

 

[dmoney87]

For the size of that tank and the type of fish you are wanting to house inside of it. I would strongly recommend using canister filters. Possibly two Rena xp3's or even xp4's. I personally use an xp3 on my 75g and it does wonders. You cant overkill on filtration. the xp series has lots of compartments to house beneficial bacteria and lots of different filter materials. Not to mention they are very strong and durable along with easy maitenace, ajustable flow rate with either a nozzle or spray bar. Second I would get two heaters of equal wattage probably about 300 watts. Live plants are awesome but your right it does take alot of effort to keep them alive and healthy, and in my opinion it would be a shame to see a tank like that with out some. I also use pool filter sand its cheap and plentiful, and will not clog or wreck your filters in anyway. As far as your rock suggestion, I used purple jasper along with some purple slate in my 75g which looks very nice with the white PFS (pool filter sand). I didnt put my rocks in a pot set to boil. I simply poured boiling water over them and without incident. And as far as cycling goes there is plenty of info on this site regarding fishless cycling, its not that hard and is well worth the effort. Adding your 45g water and filter material to the new setup will speed the process along nicely. anyways I hope I have been of some help. again goodluck with your new tank and welcome to AA

davE

 

[snoopiie]

Thank you for your suggestions and I can't wait to get this tank underway.. Time needs to speed up just a tad bit, so I can get my fresh tax return and my pay check on Friday, of course my fishing partner is gonna chip in with this tank also, We did the 45 gallon tank together, but this one is gonna be a wonderful project, especially when it is done..

What do you think would be a good tank mates with the fish I have listed that is going into the tank?

Also will I notice growth in my pleco in a couple of months?

 

[bluerose]

IMHO, you're at stocking capacity.

I wouldn't start thinking about tankmates until you've had quite a while of very manageable water parameters (ammonia and nitrite stay at 0ppm all the time and nitrates stay below 20ppm between weekly water changes).

Your pleco is likely growING in the smaller tank... fish don't change their full size depending on their tank unless it's grossly undermaintained. 'Growing to the size of the tank' is a myth (except in cases where PWCs are basically never performed; if I remember correctly, the fish release a hormone, I believe, into the water and the higher the level of that hormone, the more stunted their growth is, often leading to spinal curvatures and underdeveloped organs... not just a smaller fish. PWCs remove that hormone from the water which keeps the fish healthy.).