Linga's First Planted tank

Hi Everyone, i finally got this tank going after all the questions iv been asking lately, thanks again for all your help. So i think its time to start a little progress report.

Tank: 6foot - 300 litres
Filter: Tetra-tec EX1200 + Elite Hush 35 (with filter floss for mech filtration only)
lights: going to give the Phillps CFL's a try - have 4x 18w (= 400watts)
Substrate: Flourite dark coved with some super fine silca sand (didnt like the look of just the flourite)
threw in some plants no idea on most of the IDs.
got some trumpet snails to stir up the substrate, and a few apple snails.

will be dosing with the Prof's ferts, and Happycarb, will get the DIY C02 running shortly.

some ppl may hate me for this but i threw in 3 guppies to do there thing this was about 5 days after adding plants and water they look ok so far.

sorry no pics yet will try and take some tonight.

Future stocking will be as follows:
6 clown loaches
20 cardinals
15 rummy nose
6 corys (sterbai if i can get them)
6 ottos

thats it for now i still dont know what main feature fish i wanna put in there. there was the long debate about the Discus but i will pass for now beacuse between work and other stuff i dont have the time to do the maintenace they require.

i know theres no pics for you guys to comment on yet but is my stocking list ok, and any suggestion for a nice display fish, preferably a slow elegant fish

 

Sounds nice!

Now pics or it didn't happen! :bigsmile:

 

lol, yeah i know i know, silly me to start the thread without pics, but i can gaurantee its there.......... pics tonight i will definately post them

 

Awesome, I will be waiting patiently...

 

8:30 and not a single pic ... I wonder ....

 

ok guys i know i said last night but went to a braai n only got home about 12 and was plastered .

so here are some pics excuse the algae, i still havent connected up the cannister, its on my 4 foot, didnt wanna put it on the new tank until i have some ammonia and nitrite, so i dont have too much die off.

here goes

 

Very nice, love those driftwood you've got in there..

 

can i have your driftwood please!

 

Looks good .. will look awesome when plants grow out more

 

Well worth the wait.
Awesome tank!

Now I want a bigger tank even more!!!!

 

thanks for all the kind comments guys, makes the hard work put in well worth it. As for the wood yeah they are really cool i prefer wood to rocks. had to soak the stuff for about a month before the water was nice and clean.

 

Tank looks good

 

It's looking great! I love that wood as well......can't wait to see the updated pics when the plants start going wild!

 

Real nice ...

 

Well done on a very nice setup, thats quite a large tank too, once everything is growing nicely it's going to look AWESOME!!

 

hi guys got a little non pictorial update, i actually need some advice now.
I will not be doing discus as i will be getting married shortly and wont have the time to give them the attention they need .

so i have turned down the heaters to 26deg. now heres where i need the help; my planed stocking list:
30 Neon tetras
20 Red eye tetras
6 otos
6 cories
and of course my 6 clown loaches that will be added shortly.

will this work, i can get all the red eyes for about 150 bucks and they look quite cool, they school better then the neons

 

By red eye tetras, do you mean Rummy Noses? For such a big tank, go big on the tetra levels. Like 100 neons or 100 Rummys. Your current stocking list is par with a Std 3ft, not the 6ft you have

 

Neil the red eye tetra is Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae.

I would either go larger on the schools or add a few larger fish to your selection as well.

 

yeah its not rummy nose, its the Moenkhausia sanctaefilomenae as Veegal metioned. they are very nice. in the LFS the follow each other in a straight line which looks awesome.

ok so i will do 50 neons maybe 30 red eyes, can i add another tetra. i will have 6 loaches that will pick up my bio load so i wouldnt go with 200 Tetras, that would be awesome thou

AT Veegal: im not too sure about what larger fish i would get, i dont want angels i just gave away 5 Zebra angels that were about 15cms

 

If you not getting any big fish, you can go higher. What loaches you getting? Clowns?