Hello all. Perhaps some of you have read some of my posts before in this forum as I have been gathering info, and if so I apologize if some questions are repeated here. But in case you haven't, I will sum it up briefly. I have had a 10 gallon for a couple years and like having fish so thoguht I would upgrade to a 50. I just set it up and started fishless cycling it. I have an Eheim 2217, an inline heater and black flourite substrate. During the time it is cycling, I plan to add lighting and then some plants and thought maybe someone could give some tips on that.
To start with, I want to keep this very natural looking. Along with the black substrate, I am thinking maybe to put some driftwood and maybe some rocks in there along with plants, but I don't want it totally filled up with plants. I want to have room for the fish to swim around, so what is the best way to do that? Should you leave open areas in the front of the tank? Put the pile of wood in the middle, or to one side? My tank is wide (36 l x 18 w x 19 h) so there is a lot of room to work with.
As far as the plants, I don't want to deal with pressurized CO2, and am going to build a canopy so it looks nicer out in the living room. I was thinking of getting a lighting kit to mount inside of the canopy, such as this kit from AH supply 96 Watt Bright Kits I thought that was a good price, and have heard good things about these kits. The only thing I want to make sure is that it is not too much where it will promote algae, but I suppose if it does, I could not leave the light on so long. I have looked at some T5HO fixtures but most I have seen say not to install under a canopy, so that rules that out. And the T5 regular output lights, I have had trouble finding 36" bulbs when looking online or in stores. So these kits seemed like a good option that I can just mount in the canopy. So once I get the lighting, then I suppose I can just get any low to medium light plants that I like, unless you guys have recommendations on ones that are easy to maintain.
That is really the main thing I want help with is setting this up and getting the lighting. I can worry about the fish later on, but if you want to make suggestions now, feel free. The only thing I have now is 4 harlequin rasboras left in the 10 gal that I will transfer over. So I might add a couple more of those to make a bigger school, and I am thinking of another school or 2 of fish that would look good with that black background and substrate (maybe tetras or something like that). Then besides that, a couple of bigger centerpiece type fish (gouramis perhaps, or anything else you can recommend), and some bottom dwellers. I also like shrimp so would like to get a bunch of those. Sorry this is so long, but am excited to get this going!
To start with, I want to keep this very natural looking. Along with the black substrate, I am thinking maybe to put some driftwood and maybe some rocks in there along with plants, but I don't want it totally filled up with plants. I want to have room for the fish to swim around, so what is the best way to do that? Should you leave open areas in the front of the tank? Put the pile of wood in the middle, or to one side? My tank is wide (36 l x 18 w x 19 h) so there is a lot of room to work with.
As far as the plants, I don't want to deal with pressurized CO2, and am going to build a canopy so it looks nicer out in the living room. I was thinking of getting a lighting kit to mount inside of the canopy, such as this kit from AH supply 96 Watt Bright Kits I thought that was a good price, and have heard good things about these kits. The only thing I want to make sure is that it is not too much where it will promote algae, but I suppose if it does, I could not leave the light on so long. I have looked at some T5HO fixtures but most I have seen say not to install under a canopy, so that rules that out. And the T5 regular output lights, I have had trouble finding 36" bulbs when looking online or in stores. So these kits seemed like a good option that I can just mount in the canopy. So once I get the lighting, then I suppose I can just get any low to medium light plants that I like, unless you guys have recommendations on ones that are easy to maintain.
That is really the main thing I want help with is setting this up and getting the lighting. I can worry about the fish later on, but if you want to make suggestions now, feel free. The only thing I have now is 4 harlequin rasboras left in the 10 gal that I will transfer over. So I might add a couple more of those to make a bigger school, and I am thinking of another school or 2 of fish that would look good with that black background and substrate (maybe tetras or something like that). Then besides that, a couple of bigger centerpiece type fish (gouramis perhaps, or anything else you can recommend), and some bottom dwellers. I also like shrimp so would like to get a bunch of those. Sorry this is so long, but am excited to get this going!
If you're looking for a naturalistic layout but still have room for the fish to swim and so that you can view them, keep plants to the sides and back with some smaller foreground plants in the front middle (maybe dwarf hairgrass or pygmy chain sword). 