NAVY_BOY85

I have a 50 gallon tank and a 10 gallon tank i wanted to start growing plants i was going to start off in the 10 gallon to see if i can do it and if i was good at it transplant them to the 50 so where should i start with the 10 gallon and what kind of equipment do i need to get started all the help is need.

Isabella

Welcome to Fish Lore

You should start right here: General Guide to Low-Light Planted Tanks - make sure you read everything, no skipping! Yes, it's long, but if you want to know how to start, read it. Good luck

Feel free to ask any questions after reading it.

P.S. As in any tank, you'll need heater, filter, airpump, etc, in your planted tank. Only don't use activated carbon in your filter in a planted tank, as the carbon will remove nutrients from the water that are necessary for plant growth.

NAVY_BOY85

thank u there was alot of good info in the guide thank u for the link do u think it would be wise to just start off in the 50 gal so i wont have to move the plants or should i just start in the 10 gal and if i can do it just bye new plants for the 50 gal i dont want to get the 50 gal up and running and cycled then try to add plants with the fish in there and somthing go wrong also what kind of fish are plant friendly i dont want to have nice plants growing then add fish and they destroy them.

Isabella

Well, you can plant a tank at the time you're setting it up. Nothing will happen to plants during the cycle. Plants actually help with the cycle by consuming nitrates. It's up to you which tank you'll plant. If you already have the 10 gallon tank running, cycled, and with fish, then maybe just leave it as it is, and plant the new 50 gallon tank when you're setting it up. I cycled my 75 gallon tank with plants too Though it's up to you which tank you'll plant.

As for the fish, well ... what kinds of fish do you like first of all? What kinds of fish are you thinking of having in your 50 gallon tank, and how many? Most freshwater fish won't hurt your plants, unless you get bigger and more territorial/aggressive fish. Sometimes even the bigger peaceful fish will destroy plants. Anyway, in a 50 gallon tank you shouldn't have any "really big" fish, so I am guessing whatever you'll choose, won't eat your plants, lol. But tell me what kinds of fish you want to have first, and how many.

NAVY_BOY85

Well thats the thing i really dont know what kind of fish to get in the 10 gal we have guppys but didnt want to get the same for the 50 im leaning more toward the plants then fish i just want fish as an added thing, i want to have fish that school together i think that looks cool i rather have smaller fish then larger so i can have a little more of them without over stocking the tank so any ideas would be great something that has alot of color and would look good with the plants the only plant right now i know im going to get is dwarf grass i want it to cover the tank floor i think that looks really nice so any thoughts on other plants would be good to thank u for your help. also what do u think on having shrimp in the tank

jsalemi

Check out some of the threads here in the beginners and species-specific forums -- lots of folks ask the same question about what to put in their tanks, and there are many wide and varied discussions.

You have a lot of choices for small schooling fish: tetras, danios, and rasboras come to mind. Small barbs, like the cherry barbs, are also good schooling fish. And of course, there's the schooling clean-up crews: corys and otos. You'll have a lot of choices to pick from, with the only limitations being which fish get along together.

Barbrella

IMO, nothing looks more beautiful in a big planted tank than a large school of neon tetras.

Isabella

A large school of small fish in a planted tank really does look very beautiful As has been said above, there are really many small and peaceful fish to choose from. Various tetras, barbs, cyprinids (danios and rasboras), etc ... Anyway, do you have any particular fish (out of these groups) that you like best?

NAVY_BOY85

Harlequin Rasbora,red tail black shark,tiger bards,neon tetras is probably what im looking into getting so any advice is welcome and needed also how many of each should i get and not over stock the tank, i was reading and they said no less the six so is that true.

jsalemi

Yes, 5-6 is usually the minimum number you should have of each species of schooling fish. Fortunately, the ones you mentioned are on the small size, so keeping with the general principle of 1" of fish per gallon, you can have two decent schools of neons and harlequins (8-10 in each school) and still have room for a red-tail and a couple of other clean-up crew members (i.e., corys or otos -- don't forget the bottom feeders!). I'm not sure tiger barbs mix well with small fish, as they do get a bit nippy, but you can check/ask in the species-specific forums here to find out for sure.

Isabella

I've also heard that Tiger Barbs can nip at the fins of other fish, but it's usually the fins of fish like Bettas, Angels, and other fish with longer fins. BUT ... if I were you, I'd check to be 100% sure if Tiger Barbs can be kept with Harlequin Rasboras and Neons. As for Neons and Harlequins, they can be kept together without problems. Have at least 5-6 of each species in one group. You can certainly have many more than 5-6 in each group. You've plenty of room for that in a 50 gallon tank. Once you've decided on exactly what fish you'll have, tell us, and we'll see what numbers of each species you can keep safely in your 50 gallon tank. We'll aslo see if you'll have any space left for bottom feeders / algae eaters - which you'll most likely need at some point. So it's best to plan for your tank leaving some space for algae eaters as well.

NAVY_BOY85

im thinking about having 8 rasboras and tetras and barbs and maybe two sharks i also want some ghost shrimp any other fish u think would be good.

Jim

Right off the bat, listen to Isabella, she's one of the best plant geeks we have here.

OK, this is my limited experience, in a tank not really set up properly for plants:

Anything like Anacharis, which looks sort of like seaweed, I killed almost immediately.

Little plants like pennyworts and such did so-so, but never really rooted properly.

What I have had amazing success with in a tank that was basically not set up for plants, are sword plants. I have Amazon Swords, and now i've introduced a smaller, narrow leaf chain-sword, and they'e doing quite well
Like I said, this is just from what i've done so far... I plan on rebuilding my tank soon and really making it a garden tank.
But if you want to try something that seems rather tough and unkillable, then I'd go with a sword or 2 first, and see how they do.
Oh, I should mention, the little chain swords would be OK, but an Amazon sword is way too big for a 10 gallon. Ideally, you'd only want 2 or 3 in a 50 gallon.

NAVY_BOY85

this is what i got for lighting in the tank is it going to be enough for the tank.Triple Tube Strip Lights 36". Life-Glo 2 36" 30W 6700°K high-noon full-spectrum bulbs Emits a natural white light. If i us isabella chart 90/50 would put me at 1.8 wpg what do u think and let me know.

Isabella

Jim, thank you for the nice comment, but I am really not "the best Plant Geek" here, lol. Navy Boy, yes, you can certainly use my advice, but don't take it as "the gospel" (as they say it on Plant Geek, lol) and I am not right 100% of the time. Nobody is. All I can say is that I try to give the best advice I can, and if I am giving out some incorrect info, that's because I am unaware of it (never intentionally).

Anyway, Navy Boy, you mean 8 Harlequin Rasboras, 8 Neon Tetras, and 8 Tiger Barbs? Or some other Barbs? Did you make sure if Tiger Barbs are fully compatible with H. Rasboras and N. Tetras? Also, what kinds of sharks do you want?

If your tank is 50 gallons, and your fixture has two 30W lightbulbs, that's 60W of lighting. And that is 1.2 wpg (60 / 50 = 1.2). Or does your fixture have three 30W lightbulbs? If it has three, then that's 90W of lighting, which gives you 1.8 wpg (90 / 50 = 1.8). Either 1.2 or 1.8 is OK for a low-light planted tank, and if you have 1.8, you should be able to grow more kinds of plants under 1.8 wpg than under 1.2 wpg. A spectrum of 6,700K is great for plants, or at least it is in my experience. This is the K temperature I use over my tanks too, and I love it

What substrate do you have?

NAVY_BOY85

For the substrate i got AquariumPlants.com's own: Freshwater Planted Aquarium Substrate and for the lighting it has 3 bulbs so ill be at 1.8 and the fish should be ok and i want red tail black sharks i also was thinking about ghost shrimp.

Isabella

I think you should read this about red-tail sharks: http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles...ark/100088.asp (read everything). I don't think they'd be the best fish for your type of tank, but it's up to you. Also, I think a 50 gallon tank is a "tad" too small for these fish.

As for the Harlequin Rasboras and Neon Tetras, they're perfectly fine together. I don't know if Tiger Barbs will be OK with them, but I guess as long as you don't have any fish with long fins, and as long as you have at least around 6 Tiger Barbs, they should be OK with Neons and Harlequins.

I don't know anything about any shrimp, but with 8 Harlequins, 8 Neons, and 6 - 8 Tiger Barbs, you'll certainly have the space for the shrimp in a 50 gallon tank.

Your lighting and substrate should allow you to grow even some lower-medium light plants. You could grow in your setup: Anubias, Java Fern (and other ferns), Java Moss (and other mosses), various Cryptocorynes, some Swords (particularly Amazon Sword), Vallisnerias, Water Sprite, Water Wisteria, Sagittarias (though I personally did not have success with my Sags), Hornwort, some Hygrophilas maybe, and even some Aponogetons. That's a lot of plants to choose from