Th1rt3eN

Hey. So I am completely new to the aquarium scene and have been reading extensively on
almost everything. And I have a few questions.
I have a 36g tank that I am planning to make a planted tank.

I was hoping to put in 8 or 9 TGs, 2 or 3 oto cats, too much? (I know the rule but I wanted some opinions)

When I introduce my TGs after my long tank cycle, should I only put a few in at a time or
can I put all of them in at once? I was also thinking of putting the otos in for a week or so before the TGs.

I also have a pretty old hood with crappy looking lights. Any suggestions on a new one or
what to do with old one?

Almost forgot, any suggestions on substrate?

Much appreciated and thank you.

marksuttonjr

For substrate I usualy just buy rock from the local landscape/crushed stone store. It is cheaper than aquarium gravel, there isa much wider variety, and in my honest openion the the natural apearance looks much better. You do need to stay away from some types of rock though, so if you pick one out at a place like that research what it is before you use it.

Your LPS should have new hoods that fit your tank. There are also several places online that sell them. check aquabid and ebay. I have been watching some nice LED lights on Ebay. LED won't use as much power or produce nearly as much heat. I would reccomend a min of 50 watt of light since you are gonna try a planted tank. 50 watt should be plenty good for low/mod light plants ona 36 gal tank.

How do you plan on cycling your tank? I'm not a big fan of any of the fishless cycling methods that I have tried. Also not a fan of any of the comercial chemicals to cycle tanks. When I set up a new tank I use items from an already running tank. Then I add fish the day after setup. It is easier for me to do that though. I always have a few HOB filters running on my 100 gal just for that reason. If you do not have access to a running tank I reccomend cycling it with a few feeder fish. Most LPS sell some sort of a feeder for 20 cents or less.

The 1 in/gal rule is a bunch of total BS. With what you said you wanted in the tank you will be fine. I havea 35 going rite now with 11 TB and 9 goldfish. Many people say I am overstocked, but the last 4 water tests said different. The only water changes that tank has ever seen were when I removed water from it for a QT tank that I had the last 3 TB in for a week. I am trying to get the TB to spawn, and will be moving the goldfish shortly, but that has nothing to do with being overstocked. I am doing it to try to save most of the TB fry when they hatch.

Th1rt3eN

Thanks for the reply.

Since I dont have another tank to use stuff to cycle with, I was thinking about put some flakes in every 12 hrs.
If not i may try some feeders but I wasnt sure if theyd be bringing in any bad bacteria or diseases with them.
How did you cycle your first tank?

Also about driftwood. Would the TBs prefer some from the LFS or would they like a piece from the wild
that Id have to boil or something along those lines?

marksuttonjr

When I did not have other tank items available I cycled with live fish. Sometimes they were store baught feeder fish, and some times I used wild caught fish. I've setup my share of aquariums both ways. After I setup my 100 gal I started using it to cycle all my other aquariums. After a filter has been running in in a few weeks it gives new tanks a huge jump start on the cycle.

I have never put driftwood in a tank. From what I have been told and read I would only use stuff from the LPS. Most LPS have a type of driftwood that looks good and doesn't do too much to your water. Any wood you add will put tannins in the water, and change your pH a bit. The tannins probably are no big deal, but I would keep a close eye on PH swings. I'm sure that there are a lot of other people on here that can give you better advice about the wood than what I can since I have never used it.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

I've cycled using pure ammonia. I also kept a tank cycled with fish fish food...very messy. Now that my tanks are established I keep extra filter sponges in them to quickly seed another tank.
You could also use a peice of raw shrimp, put it in a mesh bag so pieces don't go all over the tank and let the cycle do it's thing.
If you wanted to add a few fish right away consider using Tetra Safe Start.

But please do not cycle with fish (without TSS). During the cycling process the ammonia and nitrites reach toxic levels and IMO it's just not right to put a fish through that inhumane treatment.

Good luck!

Th1rt3eN

Can I get pure ammonia at the LFS? I might have missed it online?
And is this Ok with live plants?

Lucy

I'm pretty sure plants are ok but wait for someone more familiar with them.

The ammonia can be found in some grocery stores, Ace hardware, if you have them there.
You have to make sure it doesn't have any additives. If it foams when you shake it, it's the wrong kind.

Here's a link about Cycling with ammonia

mathas

Lucy is correct. Plants use ammonia/ammonium as a nitrogen source.

Having plants may cause your tank to take a bit longer to show readings than a non-planted tank, because the plants are using the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate before they can show up on your test kit.

http://www.aquabotanic.com/plants_an...filtration.htm

Th1rt3eN

Great articles !!!
I'll be trying out the Add and wait method.
And I checked out the driftwood section on preparing them so
I'm all good there now.

Can't wait to get my gov't cheque so I can get started on all of this.

Thanks again for the help.

Fish_wise_man

I hope your thread question isn't answered yet

So since you have a 36 gallon tank. You can put a whole bunch of tiger barbs. But I know that your plan is good. Mainly because I have raised tiger barbs before and they grow fairly large. They are more round when they get bigger, and they are fin nippers.

As all fish fight from time to time, so will the barbs too. If you are planing on keeping the tiger barbs in with community fishes please make sure that the fishes have short fins and not so bright colors because they are attracted to fishes with long fins and they are also attracted to bright colors

So if you like angels too. I wouldn't recommend you put those two together. If you just have oto's and barbs. That is a great setup

Angela_96

I have florite in my planted tank as a substrate. Its messy when you first put it in but wonderful for the plants to grow. I would go with a glass top and upgrade the lighting, Dr Foster and Smith has some great setups for plant lighting, I have the Nova Sat and its wonderful!

Shawnie

can you see the posts above yours? theres been some great answers

Th1rt3eN

Yup I plan on having just TBs and otos.
I'll definitely look into the florite and the lighting you have.

Thanks again for the replys.

Th1rt3eN

Angela, is this what you are using?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...7&pcatid=13637

Angela_96

Yes, I have the 48" one.