My very first "large" tankl

Well after running a 60l tank fairly succesfully for the last year and a half I finally managed to find a tank in my budget (Im a first year student at Tuks budget is a big problem). Just before I purchased my new tank I got a phone call from my mom saying the 60l had dunked all its water onto the carpet so the fish from there will now be joining the big tank. My new tank is probably 250l but with substrate is holding roughly 225l. Equipment is as follows Cascade 700 external canister
2x300watt heaters
2x30w extra day higlow tubes
Livestock is for now 3 danios and 1 dwarf gourami.

The tank has a palm fibre peat capped with an extremly fine silica sand substrate. It also has currently 4 plants from LPS the names of which I have no clue.Unfortuantely the pics never look the same to me as the plants in pet stores. Also has some Java moss attached to the little overhaging rocks on the right. All those fake plants will shortly be replaced with the real deal. A piece of driftwood is also going up the left hopefully with some Java ferns attached to it when I finally find some.

Hopefully Ill be upgrading the filter as soon as budget allows for now it will just have to be frequent water changes. The tank is still pretty brown from the palm fibre but Ill just do a 25% water change daily and keep my activated carbon in there and change it regularly. Any advice is always appreciated. If anyone could idenitfy the plants in the pics that would be awesome!

 

Hey dude,

Nice looking tank there.

I actually only have 2 suggestions...
In the first pic, there is a plance in the bottom left. Not sure if it's a real plant or fake. If it is real, maybe try get a better picture. It looks like it's an Anubias to me, which actually grows with it's "rhizone" out of the substrate. It's best to tie this plant to a rock or a piece of wood with some cotton, and eventually when it has rooted itself to the rock/wood you can remove the cotton.
The second suggestion is get LOADS of plants. You've gone with the PFP method, so the potential you have with plants growing is ENDLESS. (I'm assuming you are from PTA if you going to Tuks.) Check out with some of the PTA members, a lot of them will be more than happy to share some plant clippings with you... they seem to be a friendly bunch. (I suppose if you support the Bulls you have to be friendly, hey?)

Lastly, when you find the plants are established and growing well, you might find it more "appealing" to replace that background with a plain blue, navy blue, or even black background. I was amazed at how nice a tank looks with a plain background. It seems to bring out the colours in the plants and not be so distracting.

 

Very nice looking setup!

Just wanted to ask, why did you go with the PFP approach? Are you intending to plant it like Zoom suggested?

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I am going to put in a lot more plants but the lps had very little stock the day I was there hence the rather sparse look at the moment. The tank is now extremely brown from the pfp any tips for clearing it up aside from the regular water changes and activated carbon?

 

Purigen will help... but a bit on the expensive side of doing it. Just replace the AC.

 

Thanks. Well after a week I have come to realised 1 or 2 issues. 1)My gourami has managed to virtually decimate my plants in a week! How such a tiny fish has managed this I dont know.
2) Such fine substrate is a mission to clean the larger bits of waste are not sucked up bu the gravel vac before the actual sand gets pulled up. To try and combat this I have added a small filter on the bottom to create a bit of light current that will hopefully keep the waste in the water column to be sucked into my main filter.
Im going to be waiting a little while before adding anymore fish or plants so I can get the filtraation and cleaning right. Hopefully my drift wood will be ready soon and I can tie the anubias on there.