46 Gallon Bowfront

[unwritten law]

So I got a new tank for Christmas and like the title says its a 46 gallon bowfront. It came from Craig's list with a fluval 204, which a little underrated so I went out and got a small biowheel filter from some extra gallons/hour. Also came with a heater and some tacky gravel and fake plants that I don't plan on using. It was originally used for salt water by the looks of it or at least brackish so some of the other equipment it came with isn't all that helpful.

Today I went out and got a compact florescent light (65 watts, 50/50 light and 10,000K) Its not the best But I only plan on low light plants like java ferns, anubias, maybe some crypt and dwarf sag. Since i want some plants I also picked up 3 bags of Seachem's onyx sand. Other decor is gonna be rocks I steal from outside the dorms on campus (already tried and tested by my friends piranha/dempsey tank and guppy feeder) and at least the two pieces of Malaysian driftwood I picked up today.

I guess that gets me to the fish. I have my tiger barbs in my smaller 16gallon right now, hopefully alive since I haven't seen them in two weeks and wont for one more. Those will go in this new tank. I also plan on filling the tigers out a bit to about 8 with a pair of cherry for color. I also want a red tail shark and a BN pleco to help with the clean up. Although I want a pleco, I also want to stick with the SE Asian fish, so I'm think about gourami's since they will use the currently empty top area of my tank. I know gourami's a barbs can be bad but Ive seen it work and I think since I will have enough barbs they will playing nicely with each other and not harass anyone.

So gouramis.... I initially want to get two opalines but I think they maybe too aggressive toward each other, so I was thinking about just getting a larger group of dwarf to spread out the aggression to each other but its so hard to get females. I will have to look around for the opaline or blue gourami's and maybe able to find a pair at a local place back at school. (where the tank will reside) Will this work or does anyone have any other suggestions on a centerpiece fish or two (asian or not)?

Any other help or suggestions are very welcome. I want to do this main tank the right way the first time. I'm gonna cycle it quickly with an entire filter media pack from an extra filter running in my 16 gallon and use the smaller one as a QT tank until I turn that smaller tank into a Shrimp tank with java moss and maybe java fern or dwarf sag.

No pictures right now cause I still need to move it to school so maybe next weekend Ill get some empty shots up and maybe some of the driftwood. I plan on filling and cycling in exactly 2 weeks, and cant wait. Im jsut going to use this thread for all my question I have while I set it up and some more I have already right now.

On a side note I found this fish store 5 minutes from my house back home, not at school, and it is awesome, I wish I could use them to stock my tank but I will have to cycle it at school and don't wanna make the 3 hour trip for fish. Here's the link for the store and you guys can look and be jealous of what I have so close, yet so far away, haha. Especially watch the "commercial" video on the home page and the construction pictures....now thats a fish room

Aquarium Store, Freshwater, Saltwater-SCALES Tropical Fish Warehouse

 

[Lotus]

Congrats on the new tank!

To be honest, I think the only gouramis that can really be kept in groups are pearl gouramis. Other than that, keep only one per tank. This is especially true of the gold/blue/opaline gouramis.

If possible, switch the 50/50 bulb for a freshwater one. The actinic won't help the plants, and will make the fish look an odd color.

 

[unwritten law]

Thanks.. I really would like more than one gourami if I did get them and was hoping my tank was large enough but was very hesitant. Unfortunately I don't enjoy the coloration on the pearls as much as the opalines.... Maybe I'll have to look closer at them in the store. I think I am thinking they look more like kissing gourami's which are too plain for my taste. I am also afraid they will be too timid for the tiger barbs activity and the chaos that can happen in my apartment. Any other ideas on another fish that will work in this setup? Maybe cichlids over the RTS and gourmis??

I knew the 50/50 wasn't the best for plants... I think a compatible bulb for my light that I plan on getting soon is a simple 6,700K bulb.

 

[sweetpickles7]

Bolivian rams, german blue rams, possibly angels. Keyholes, apistos. just to name a few cichlids

 

[unwritten law]

I really like Apistos, Bolivians, and Keyholes but seem to be impossible to find at school... West Virginia doesn't put fish too high up on their list...Germans are the same and what I hear may be too demanding for me. Also I want something a bit larger than apistos and bolivians, keyholes are just hard to find without shipping them in. One store does have a large variety of angels, will they work with tiger barbs if I get about 4, which is how many will fit.

EDIT:

I just convinced myself that since its had to find a pleco in WV that is not a common, and shipping is too expensive, I'm not gonna get one. And the pearls don't look half bad actually, after watching some videos and some pictures. Obviously the males look a lot better but they are nice. Would a pair work okay with the barbs and a RTS?

 

[unwritten law]

So since this tank is going to be at least moderately planted and good plants are hard to come by at school I went to my LFS to see what they would say about buying plants before a tank is cycled (ie. while I'm still at home at their shop) and adding them to cycling tank(which would start when I arrive a three hours after buying the plants). I initially thought this would make cycling harder to detect since the plants would be soaking up the same stuff that the bacteria wants or that if I add too much ammonia like in a fishless cycle the plants could be harmed. This lady really seemed to know what she was talking about said that a cycling tank is actually beneficial to plants since they like ammonia just as much if not more than nitrate! I am just wondering what you guys think about this.

Also I found a whole tank of beautiful BN plecos and I'm going to have to pick one of those up too before I leave. Really nice coloration and might even be the high fin variety.

 

[Lotus]

It is true that a cycling tank can be good for plants. They use up ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. However, putting plants in a cycling tank can add to more algae, because algae feeds more easily on an imbalance of nutrients than higher plants do.

Having said that, if you plant heavily with fast-growing stem plants, they'll outcompete the algae more efficiently. Get a ton of plants, like 10 to 15 bunches to do this.

 

[unwritten law]

She did suggest getting fast growing plants if I decide to do this. Right now my plants ideas are as follows, but are not limited to since they such a large variety, id say close to a hundred.

anubias barteri
dwarf sag
itatlian val
water sprite
wisteria
crypts
java fern (I wanted lace as well but they only have one small plant of it)
anacharis

Those are some of the possibilities and I will get about that many different types if I don't get those exact kind. One thing that kind of bugged me from what she said is that I should get chain sword instead of dwarf sag, but I'm pretty sure chain sword wont work with my little light. She only said this because dwarf sag can get kind of big but I don't think it will in my tank since it should have a little more light than what I am going to give it. (even with my already started DIY CO2 system).

 

[unwritten law]

So I finally got the tank in my garage for some pics. I know they don't look real exciting but its going to be another week before I can start filling it up.

This is the driftwood I have that is currently soaking. I figure it will look something like this.

I think with the black flourite sand and the pretty light grey color rocks I'm going to put in will look nice with all plants.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Based on how you have your wood... and your plant choice... I can picture a great tank in the near future!!!

 

[unwritten law]

Thanks man, that means a lot coming from you. I've been following your 100g journal and I hope its coming back together. Its actually two pieces of wood split towards the middle. The shop I've been to three times in the past week (haha) has a great selection of Malaysian driftwood and one of the main guys there was a little upset that I took the piece he wanted, haha

 

[emmanuelchavez]

Lol, there was a time when I was visiting all the LFS's I knew of here in Houston just about every other day. They all know my face already, haha. If you ever need any of the plants I have in my 100g, just holler, and I could send some once it recovers and starts growing out. Friday is the big day, when I finally go pick up the replacement.

 

[unwritten law]

I might have to take you up on that sometime. I'm probably gonna drop a bunch of money on about 15 sets of plants next friday. I am also thinking about just picking up some more hard to find fish while I'm there and putting them in with the tigers in the 18 gallon for a couple days as the tank super cycles....Probably pick up a BN, and either 2 keyholes or 3 bolivians... not quite sure yet. The tank wont be over stocked for the current fishes size but would be crowded for those couple days and maybe up to a week depending on my cycle time.

I really can't wait to get this thing up and running. I already set up two 2liters for the DIY CO2. This weekend I'm moving the tank down to Morgantown (WVU) but wont start the cycle cause I wont be there to add ammonia next week. I was hoping a ski trip this weekend would help take my mind off it but I doubt it since it will be just begging to be filled with sand and such... 11 more days till it gets water... ugh

 

[unwritten law]

So my trip to move the tank was successful. I went ahead and added the sand but Im going to wait for water and everything else when I go down Saturday.... For some reason I didn't like the idea of the water just sitting still for 5 days. Also my other tank survived for 3 weeks by it self... more on that in my other thread.... So I can still use that tank and filter to cycle.

there she is, still with the 50/50 bulb but the new 6700/10000 bulb should be here today or tomorrow

 

[unwritten law]

Also another question. My water in West Virginia is slightly hard. GH=8, KH=6... Is this a problem and will the diftwood help at all. Its pre-soaking now so tannins wont be released as much so I don't know how much it will help if at all...

 

[Lotus]

That water sounds fine.

 

[unwritten law]

Alright... I never tested it before for hardness but decided I should since I'm getting plants and my water is usually pretty cloudy from all the crap in it when I do water changes. Just wanted to make sure I don't waste any money and time if my water is too hard...

 

[unwritten law]

Okay so its getting close to time to get it going. I was gonna get a few fish when I go back and keep them in the QT for at least a few days while this tank gets settled in. It shouldn't take long since I'm using the exact filter media and decor from the QT. I'm leaving Saturday, so this is when Id get the plants and QT fish.

I was planning on either Bolivians or Keyholes or apistos. Apistos are $40 a piece at this place which I think is ridiculous since they breed pretty easily (even though I fell in love with a female double red, who was already paired), and the Bolivians got sold in the past week and a half. So I was looking at the keyholes and they keep them in a planted tank, are maybe $10 a piece and looked pretty good. My only concern is that with a school or tigers barbs and a school of cherry barbs (plus the BN) they would be pretty shy and not as awesome looking as the other options. Also they only had two left, and Id want two but I cant be sure if they are a pair or not...

Then I saw the kribs. I think they would do fine with the fish I plan on and look much nicer than the keyholes but they had 2 dead in the tank today... Granted the tank had a good 30 kribs but the kid there actually said that tank got a WC either Tuesday or Wednesday... as in yesterday so why are they dead. These are the only fish I've seen dead in that store and the other fish looked healthy, picking at the dead ones....

So in a tank which will most likely have 6 tiger barbs, 6 cherry barbs and a BN, what would be better? A pair or keyholes (might not be a real pair) or a true pair of kribs (that might be sick?)

 

[unwritten law]

Tank is set up with rocks, wood, plants, and very cloudy water. I took some pics of the new fish in the now designated QT tank but too lazy and tired to try and get any better ones. Hopefully by tomorrow the sand will have settled and I can start up the filters and make sure all my plants are still planted.. I was pretty much planting in the dark with my water so cloudy... didn't think that one out so much. Enjoy the pics... more tomorrow, hopefully.


BN in the bag... Have a field day in the tank that hasn't been cleaned in almost a week. Very active with some nice markings on it... I will name him Albi.

Cloudy water and I already have a snail... what the ****.. haha

Water sprite?

Anubias Congensis.. i think

Italian val and some floating water sprite..

One keyhole.. female I think... very stressed and also just has some random coloring on her. I'm thiking Marla.

I think this is the other one.. Also I'm thinking female right now...Had to tell with these guys right now... Probably Lola.

Forgive all the algae.. again I'm tired and think that the BN will like the week long mess that's in there.

 

[Helena21]

Nice tank! That BN is a female btw