210 gallon ideas
- Thread starter C4cache
- Start date
. Much more inexpensive than SW eh?
Well cant really tell you much about plants but i know quite abit about fish. What type of fish are you looking for? You will need a good light, which actually you might already have. If your going for a natural look then some driftwood pieces. For substrate, ecocomplete is the best i have heard for plants. I cant imagine the price of it for a tank your size but i think it will be ALOT, so you might want to get something else. I use just regular play sand for my planted tanks. You will need a CO2 system. Well whatever i missed im sure some one else will get to. As for fish, do you have any ideas of what you like?
We used florite (i hope i spelled that right) and some sand, larger gravel on top for looks. We put in a few plants already, some grasses mostly (i have no idea what their names are right off the top of my head). Added a few fish; tiger barbs, neon tetras, pink zebra danios and some mickey mouse platys. The lights are 2 VHO 72" full spectrum and a 96w power compact. Is that enough light for this size tank? As far as the fish go, we want a nice community tank, just want everyone to get along.
Last edited:
I only really have one question and that is, have you cycled the tank? Your substrate should be fine. As for the fish, can we get exact numbers of each species. The tiger barbs might end up tearing up some of your fish, they can be aggressive. For lighting i believe that you want 3-5watts per gallon, not 100% sure. I would consider removing the tiger barbs.
Last edited:
Lets see, 6 tiger barbs, 7 pink zebra danios, 6 mickey mouse platys, 7 black widow tetras, 6 neon tetras, 2 little tiny frogs, 1 spotted catfish and 1 white algae eater (sorry, forget what he's called), and 1 rainbow shark. We have 3 very large pieces of driftwood in there also. And yes, the tank is cycled.
Last edited:
I think your lighting should be OK. I didn't know they made 72" VHO bulbs. Maybe it's a 72" fixture? What is the total wattage you have over the tank (from all fixtures)?
I'd recommend increasing the numbers in the schools of fish (danios, tetras, barbs), as you'll get a much more pleasing fish arrangement. The larger the school, the nicer it will look, and the more natural your fish will act.
It sounds like you've already made a lot of decisions about the fish. Is there something else in particular you're looking for? Some angels might do well in the tank, and be a larger, centerpiece-type fish. What's the hardness/pH of your water like?
For the plants, as you have a larger tank, some of the larger plants would work. Sword plants are always a good choice. I personally like cryptocorynes a lot. They're easy to look after and spread nicely, they also come in a variety of greens/browns/reds for some variation. You can plant the driftwood with mosses, Java ferns and anubias species. All are easy to grow, and will add interest to the tank.
I'd recommend increasing the numbers in the schools of fish (danios, tetras, barbs), as you'll get a much more pleasing fish arrangement. The larger the school, the nicer it will look, and the more natural your fish will act.
It sounds like you've already made a lot of decisions about the fish. Is there something else in particular you're looking for? Some angels might do well in the tank, and be a larger, centerpiece-type fish. What's the hardness/pH of your water like?
For the plants, as you have a larger tank, some of the larger plants would work. Sword plants are always a good choice. I personally like cryptocorynes a lot. They're easy to look after and spread nicely, they also come in a variety of greens/browns/reds for some variation. You can plant the driftwood with mosses, Java ferns and anubias species. All are easy to grow, and will add interest to the tank.
Husband says that we are running two 160w bulbs, but remember, this is a very deep tank. The power compact is a 96w. Not sure what the ph is right now, he hasn't tested it for a couple of days and isn't sure. I would really be interested in putting some moss on the driftwood pieces, I love that look! What is the best way to attach it in the begining? Fishing line? Also, my husband loves the "ground cover" look in some tanks; what is the best plant for this look? Any suggestions? I would love to do angels, but I'm pretty sure the tiger barbs would bother them. Will definately be adding more to the stock that I have to make their schools a bit larger.
Last edited:
It looks like you'll have enough lighting for most plants. I'd guess that the 96w CF is only over a portion of the tank, so you may need to put the higher light plants in that area.
You can tie Java moss onto the driftwood with cotton thread or use rubber bands. Both of those will eventually disappear (rot away) in the tank, and the moss will have attached itself. Make sure to clip off loose ends of anything like thread or fishing line so the fish don't try to swallow it or get tangled up in it.
There are lots of different foreground plants. Dwarf hairgrass is popular and not too hard to find. It would probably work well in your tank.
You can check out some plant info on various sites. MFT has some plant profiles, as do PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource, Tropica, The Planted Tank - Articles, Forums, Pictures, Links and various others. Your lighting would be considered medium to medium-high, due to the size of the tank.
You can tie Java moss onto the driftwood with cotton thread or use rubber bands. Both of those will eventually disappear (rot away) in the tank, and the moss will have attached itself. Make sure to clip off loose ends of anything like thread or fishing line so the fish don't try to swallow it or get tangled up in it.
There are lots of different foreground plants. Dwarf hairgrass is popular and not too hard to find. It would probably work well in your tank.
You can check out some plant info on various sites. MFT has some plant profiles, as do PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource, Tropica, The Planted Tank - Articles, Forums, Pictures, Links and various others. Your lighting would be considered medium to medium-high, due to the size of the tank.
Hey, I found the tags for the plants we put in, here is what we planted so far:
Anubias barteri "broad leaf"
Acorus variegatus
Crinum thaianum
Spathiphyllum wallisii
Narrow leaf ludwigia
Are any of these "hard to grow" plants? we really didn't get much feedback from the pet store we bought them from. I'll go check out those links you sent and see what else I can find. I have a whole lot of tank to fill and what little we have in there really doesn't look like much right now. (I know, be patient, it will grow......I am so not patient! lol)
Anubias barteri "broad leaf"
Acorus variegatus
Crinum thaianum
Spathiphyllum wallisii
Narrow leaf ludwigia
Are any of these "hard to grow" plants? we really didn't get much feedback from the pet store we bought them from. I'll go check out those links you sent and see what else I can find. I have a whole lot of tank to fill and what little we have in there really doesn't look like much right now. (I know, be patient, it will grow......I am so not patient! lol)
Here's a link of when I got my tank up. I believe it says what equipment I have. So far everything is growing wonderful. I just trimmed of about 20 plantlets from my giant sword.
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/freshwater-general-discussion/50073-so-watcha-think.html
For plants (since our LFS's aren't the best), I used aquariumplants.com, and used "their" substrate as well. Highly recommend, and will use again. The list plants by easy, low light, etc, and have a great selection. I also used PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide for info.
Here's a pick of my 210
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/freshwater-general-discussion/50073-so-watcha-think.html
For plants (since our LFS's aren't the best), I used aquariumplants.com, and used "their" substrate as well. Highly recommend, and will use again. The list plants by easy, low light, etc, and have a great selection. I also used PlantGeek.net - Plant Guide for info.
Here's a pick of my 210
Unfortuntately, these two aren't aquatic plants:
Spathiphyllum wallisii
Acorus variegatus
They both make nice houseplants. It would be better to take them out of the tank sooner rather than when they start to decay. Don't panic, a lot of stores sell them and a lot of people buy them, thinking they're aquatic. They can both be kept as bog/marginal plants, but not fully submerged.
The anubias' rhizome (root-like structure) shouldn't be buried in the substrate. It does well attached to driftwood. It's an easy plant to care for otherwise.
The other plants should be fine, although the ludwigia prefers more light than your other plants, and would do well with the addition of CO2 (carbon dioxide).
Spathiphyllum wallisii
Acorus variegatus
They both make nice houseplants. It would be better to take them out of the tank sooner rather than when they start to decay. Don't panic, a lot of stores sell them and a lot of people buy them, thinking they're aquatic. They can both be kept as bog/marginal plants, but not fully submerged.
The anubias' rhizome (root-like structure) shouldn't be buried in the substrate. It does well attached to driftwood. It's an easy plant to care for otherwise.
The other plants should be fine, although the ludwigia prefers more light than your other plants, and would do well with the addition of CO2 (carbon dioxide).
Very nice! I can't wait until our plants get a bit, ok a lot, bigger! lol Our tank is set into our wall so that all the hardware and "ugly" stuff is hidden in a back room. Like I said in an earlier post, it used to be a salt water tank, so the huge sump and everything is back there. I'll have to get the hubby to load some pics so I can post them. Thank you for the link, I'll send it to my husband at work as well and I'll go check it out.
Grrrrrr! I wish the pet stores would be a bit more "in the know" on things. Houseplants?! When I asked them about aquatic plants they didn't tell me that they were houseplants! And about the Co2, I think my husband is already looking into it. I'm not sure what all is involved in setting it up. Is it costly? Hard?