We did a bit of shuffling of furniture, and priorities... ;-) and decided to go with a 55 gallon. This is what I am thinking so far, and lots of it is borrowed from your replies to my 'small planted tank' thread - thanks.
This is going to be, and remain, the only aquarium in the house, so money is no object. OK, I'm kidding, not true. The budget is around a grand for the initial purchase. :-) Lighting: double T5-HO 48" fixture (2x54W bulbs) - is this an adequate amount of light for a 55g? I would like to be able to grow most plants (I am fine leaving out the most demanding in terms of light). I'm thinking a 4x54W could easily become an algae farm, but maybe I'm wrong Filtration: 2x Aquaclear 50 (or 70, I am really not sure here) Would the 70's generate too much water movement? - Heating: 2x Jager 100W (is 2x 100W adequate, considering this tank will be in a heated space (living room) -Substrate: 6 bags of Eco-Complete (a little over 3" depth) - CO2: Excel (or Metricide, which should be the same thing, only cheaper) - Ferts: Will I still need to fertilize even with the Eco-Complete substrate? I'd like to keep it as simple as possible, I know... - plants: lots of them from the beginning. I think that one of my biggest mistakes in the past was to start with too few plants and lots of light: bad combo. Cabomba and swords did well in my previous tank. I also like crypts but I'm not sure that they like our water, they never grew much, if at all, in the past. One or two pieces of driftwood with some Anubia and Java fern, what else? Any plants the don't like Excel? Our water is soft and slightly acidic (6.5-6.8). Ground crew / algae cleaners: Otos, Sterbai Cory, Shrimp (we had Amano and they're excellent algae cleaner, OTOH it would be nice to get a kind that breeds in freshwater) I'd like to keep German rams (microgeophagus ramirezi), though the ones we had before (store bought) never lasted more than 6 months, who knows why. There's a couple of local german ram breeders: I'm very temped to go that route. Otherwise maybe an Angel or two? Can I still fit a school of tetras (neons?) in there? Cycling. Sorry if this is a newbie question, but what is the most harmless way to do it? I was thinking of starting with substrate, planting, and get the tank stable without any fish. Then what? :-) Luca
