Input on my plant, fish, and aquascape plan, please!

[dougz]

Hello!

Now that I have introduced myself, I wonder if I could get you thoughts on what I have put together so far in the course of my research, in terms of equipment, my plant and fish list, and how I might best aquascape my tank to desired effect.

Size: 75g (21"H + 18"W + 48"L)

Filtration: Eheim 2217 cannister filters x 2

Lighting: Current USA Nova Extreme 48" 2x54W T-5 10,000K x 2 = 220W

Substrate: Hydor cableheater + thermostat, moonsand, bagged laterite, eco-complete

Plant Want List:


Altenthera reineckii (background)

Anubias barteri var. Nana (driftwood, rocks, foreground)

Java Moss (driftwood)

Echinodorus martii (background)

Valisnaria spiralis (background)

Echinodorus tennelus (foreground)

Cabomba caroliniana (background)

Brazilian Pennywort Hydrocotyle leucocephala (midground)

Amazon Frogbit , Limnobium laevigatum (floating plant)


FISH WANT LIST:

25 Cardinals

1 male dwarf gourami, 3 females

8 ottocinclus

10 Panda corydoras

1 albino Bristlenose plecostomus (L-144a)

CO2:

Pressurized, controlled by Pinpoint controller @25 ppm, glass CO2 indicator, CO2 reactor off of cannister outflow.

Ferts: Seachem Flourish as directed

The cannisters will be distributed thusly (see thumb). I'm told this will maximise waterflow.

Desired Aquascape:

Valley (concave), with the open space in the OFF center @ 1.618 being the focal point.

I WAS hoping for a nice rock to be the aquascape, but I don't know if this will be possible, with the possibility of it making the overall composition too busy (more than one focal point).. Input needed, here!!!!

I have some driftwood (see thumb), but I think I'll have to get rid of most of it, as this too will add too many focal points.. The smaller ones I will cover with Java Moss so they blend in better, as I need them for caves for the corys and bristlenose.

Any and all input and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!

[John N.]

This is going to be a great tank once it's up and running. You have really done your research, something I wish I had done when I first started.

I like the idea of two Eheim 2217s running. You run a single Eheim Pro II 2026 which would be less maintenance then cleaning two filters. The diagram of your spray bar position looks to be a good spot against the back wall, and should create the water movement you want in the aquarium.

I would ditch the Hydor substrate heater + thermostat. Despite what the marketing material says, this gadget is known to show no real benefit to aquatic plants. If you're looking for a heater option, I would get a Hydor External Inline Heater.

In terms of aquascaping, it sounds like you're off to a good start with the plant and fauna lists. The driftwood to me seems too small for the tank, but it depends on what you want to accomplish.

-John N.

[dougz]

Thanks for the input!!

I want the 2 filters to increase water flow around the tank, and to allow for alternating maintenance schedules, which should reduce the risk of ammonia spikes, algae blooms..

This is the effect I want for my aquascape (see thumb)..

Just have to tweak it according to the plants I want (or I can try to copy it outright)..

The driftwood I may have to get rid of.. The taller one, anyways.. As like I say, it may end up serving as to much of a distraction..

I'll have to see once I get my substrate down and I can start playing around..

As for the cable heater, an old hand at planted aquariums that has taken me under his wing, Dave J. W., swears by them, so...

He also cycles his tank with brown sugar.. LOL

But you can't argue with success..

I won't be using the cableheater as a heater for the whole aquarium, of course..

Just the substrate to affect a current and keep the substrate "healthy"..

I'll be using a Visitherm Stealth 250W for temp control..

[John N.]

I see where you're heading now with your plants and aquascape. This will be a nice journal to watch develop. Are you planning to mix the moon sand and eco complete together?

I suppose the substrate heater won't hurt, but still in my opinion doesn't seem necessary. I'm more interested in the use of brown sugar. I haven't heard much about using it to cycle a tank, and use it primarly for baking cookies. I'm on the train of thought that believes packing an aquarium with tons of plants from the start will off set and remove the need to cycle an aquarium. Can you or anyone tell us a little more about the benefits of brown sugar?

-John N.

[dougz]

No, the moon sand will be just a very thin layer to cover the cable heater, to aid in the distribution of heat..

Oh, I forgot the laterite!

After the moon sand there will be a 3/4" layer of bagged (not granular) laterite, then 3" of eco-complete..

As for the brown sugar, this is what he told me about how he cycles his tanks, edited for brevity:

I start with the substrate. I do well planted freshwater tanks, and you already know about my substrate. Then put about six inches of water in the tank and start planting. I always buy more plants than I need, so I can pack the tank with plants initially to head off any algae. Then I start with dark brown sugar.
I start the cycling process with a pinch of dark brown sugar every day. The sucrose in the sugar is metabolized by the bacteria for its ammonia by taking an atom of Oxygen from it, making nitrite, and another to make nitrate. I do this for a month.
At the end of the month, I test. I always get zeros on Ammonia and Nitrite, and less than 5 ppm Nitrate. I also thin out the tank then to achieve the layout I'd planned.
I continue the brown sugar for the next two weeks, adding a larger pinch every day, then I start adding a few fishes, the number and size appropriate for the tank size. For the roughly equivalent 75 to my right, I started with six inch-long Ancistrus claro. I'd constructed areas for them when I initially built the tank, because I knew they were the loricariads I was going to keep.
I test after a week of them being in there. They were about an inch long when I got them, so there wasn't a peep of ammonia or nitrite, and nitrate had sunk to about 2 ppm, since the plants were using up the nitrate for their growth.
About two weeks after that, I added six Corydoras guapore. They, too were little guys at that point. The Ancistrus were more visible when the little corys came. Roughly two weeks after that, six more guapore joined the group. Tests were the same.

The bacteria that take atoms of Oxygen from Ammonia and Nitrate are present in every freshwater body of water. There's a colony in your tank as soon as you set it up, because the spores of the bacteria are in your tap water. We all drink them, as well as algae cells and all kinds of bacteria.

Three things. First, its inorganic ammonia in those bottles, meaning the bacteria have difficulty processing it, which is why you see so many questions with the readings they are getting. Two, using the ammonia is unpredictable; you don't know if you're using too much or too little. Too much, and it kills the bacteria, too little, and the bacteria, which are having trouble with the inorganic ammonia anyway, have up and down levels. Three, the bacteria are incapable of metabolizing ALL the inorganic ammonia, and since there's no hobby level test kit to properly measure inorganic ammonia, people don't understand why the fish die.
Using ammonia puts aquarium nutrient levels all over the place. No book I have ever read, and I've read hundreds of aquarium books, recommend using household ammonia to cycle a tank. I read about that brown sugar method in an old Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine ages and ages ago.
I have no idea who came up with it, but Ammonia is just another short cut.
The dark brown sugar is as close to unprocessed sugar as you can easily buy. Its an organic product, thus when the bacteria break down the sucrose for its Oxygen, its organic Ammonia that's produced, that they reduce to organic nitrite and organic nitrate.

It's true that the fact that he plants so heavily is why he doesn't need to add sugar or ANYTHING to his tanks..

But like I say, he's been doing it a while, and has not had ONE fish die of anything but old age, and his tests shown rock solid conditions in all of his tanks..

I AM surprised that with all the research that I've done, not ONE other aquarist knows anything whatsoever of this method..

[John N.]

Very interesting read on the brown sugar concept/methods. I've never heard of this until now. For me, I haven't lost many fish due to a cycling issue. This is probably because I've been planting first and waiting a month or so before introducing fish species, so the cycle is completed by then.

Are you going to be using this brown sugar method for your cycling?

-John N.

[dougz]

I think so..

It won't hurt anything..

But I'll take weekly readings, to see what's going on, just out of curiosity's sake..

To see wether it's the plants, or the sugar that's cycling the plants would be impossible, though, unfortunately..

The 2 go hand in hand..

It certainly would be a preferable alternative to ammonia..

[Pat7676]

I like the DW in the middle!

[dougz]

I do, too..

Though I think I'm going to turn it so that the shorter end sticks up..

I'm thinking with the substrate in, it's going to be a little TOO tall... Unless I bury the bottom in the substrate.. We'll see..

I'm going to have that dw as the primary focal point on the left, then have a few DW bumps on the right for cory/BN caves on the right, but they will be covered in J Moss, and so hopefully will not detract from the main focal point..

[Pat7676]

I think this will look good. I would bury a little of that DW i don't think it will be to tall.

[dougz]

Debating wether or not to use a similarly-shaped stone..

I'll see what I can find this spring, in the river beds and mountains..