30 gal tank

Ok, so I just found this site, and it has been very very helpful!! I am planning on getting a 30 gallon tank. We have a Marineland locally and I plan on going there to get what I need as well as my fish. I am listing what I know I need, I would appreciate it if anyone could let me know if something needs to be different, or if I am missing anything. Thanks in advance!!

30 gallon Tank w/lid/light
Aquarium gravel (a site said 1 # per gallon of water. Seems like a lot though??)
filter
replacement filter media
heater
plants/other "decorations"
test kit (liquid)
vacuum
net
glass scrubber(is this necessary?)
Tetra Aquasafe
Dechlorinator
I am getting a 15 gallon tank from my mom to have for any problems.

I am sure I am missing some things, but I have done I think too much research tonight!!

Also, what do you think of this combination for the tank?
3-guppies, 3-mollies, 4-danios, 6-tetras(neon, flame, or cardinal), catfish(4 inch?)
Do you think this is the right quantity for the tank, or too many, or room for more.

Again, any opinions would be greatly appreciated. I am planning on going to Marineland tomorrow, maybe get some info then check out petco or petsmart on prices. I am afraid Marineland might be much more expensive. Does anyone have experience with them?

 

although I do not live in the U.S I havre read many times the a store called bigalsonline has amazing prices and comes highly recommended my many fishlore folk here . if you can handle a minor wait you may save yourself a lot of moolah (cash) I am led to believe that big als has virtually everything you need

there are people here that can lead on from this.. but at least you have something to check out while they give you more info.
your list seems sweet. I don't know about the glass cleaner however as this will clean the catfishes food off the glass.
my knowledge is limited except for Big Als which always comes up trumps for prices

good luck with the new set up. and welcome to fishlore. browse around the siite add your input. we have all walks of people here with a vast array of knowledge who do care about everything fishy. you are in good hands here
regards dazzler

 

I haven't bought anything from BigAl's but I did buy a significant portion of my equipment fromthatpetplace. So far everything has been great there and their prices are very good and they don't have shipping surcharges for heavy items like gravel. I saved about $100 over the chainstores and even more over an LFS. Your gravel depends a lot on whether you want live plants in your tank. I prefer just to go with depth instead of lbs. In my planted tank I have about 2-3". If you don't want live plants then you can go lower.

Also, just looking at your fish list at a glance w/o doing much research, I know the zebra danio's need to be in groups of at lease six to feel secure, same with the tetras. I don't really know much about the mollies or guppies. You might also explore the option of 3-4 cory cats instead of the one big catfish. Anyway, that's just what I saw at a glance. Just do plenty of research and you should be fine.

 

Heres a substrate calculator that will help you decide how much to buy.

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals is the recommended water testing materials.
The glass scrubber is basically a sponge on one side and a scrubber type material on the other side. You probably won't need it to begin with but does come in handy to wipe algae off the inside of the glass.
are you going to fishless cycle? If so you need some plain ammonia.
Your list of supplies look good
3 Guppies-get 1 male/2 females(this ratio will spread the males attention around)
3 mollies (is it mollys or mollies? ) 1 male/2 females (same reason as above)
4 danios- 6 would be better - they are schooling fish
6 tetras
1-4 inch catfish- recommend 1 bristlenose, could have 3 or 4 otos or 3 corys.
BN or Otos will eat algae Corys will eat dropped food, chI ce depends on what you wanted the catfish for.
Just some thoughts
Carol

 

big al's is one of, if not the best places to buy from, I have a store only 10 minutes from me, and I have bought everything to do with aquariums from there, the only thing I have found I that for some of the ornaments, they are overpriced, but for everything else I have bought, they are the lowest prices around. but as for gravel, i've got 30lbs of gravel in my 20G tank and that gives me about 2.5-3 inchs of substrate, you won't need replacement filter media for quite some time, just rinse the old ones out in used tank water when you do your water changes, everything else is right on though, with the glass scruber, i'd go with a magnetic one, I find they do a better job

 

Be sure to buy the correct size filter the first time. When I bought mine I just chose the one that said for 30 gal. tank. Later I learned from here the rule of thumb is 10 X gal. So, that your filter should pump 300 GPH, Save money buy the right one first.