# Starting a 30g planted. Have a few questions. Looking for suggestions.



## 4rdguy (Nov 27, 2010)

Hey there all. Starting a 30g tank that I will be planting. Have the tank so far will be getting more hopefully tomorrow. Need some advice on what to use. 

My questions. 

looking at doing a fairly heavily planted tank with driftwood. Lots of mosses, 3 types of buce, possibly some kinds of "grass" and Anubias etc. Some easier plants. Stock will Including Dario Dario's as well as a bunch of shrimp looking for some possible tank mate recommendations. 

Looking for a cool plant to be the "star" of the tank and want it to be planted in a crystal skull vodka bottle in the middle of the tank filled with soil. 

1- Will fluval stratum be fine for substrate? And how much will I need for a 30g (36x12x16) 

2 - lighting. I have a dual t5 ho unit. What lights do you recommend. I was thinking 1 life glo and 1 Aqua glo. 

3 - filtration. Looking at a hob with sponge attachment most likely but have also been told about using a sponge filter with a mild powerhead. Or a bubbler. I have had bad experience with bubblers so that's a last resort. 

4- cycling. I've been told that it's best to cycle with tap. Then top with ro. In BARRIE so we have higher ph tap water. 

Any ideas help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 



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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Hi here's my thoughts 

As far as the stocking options I can't really comment on the Dario's as I've never kept them before. But I am keeping shrimp in my tank with neon tetras and galaxy rasboas. I'd imagine they would work for you. I am keeping larger fish like rams and cherry barbs but I have enough plants that the shrimp can hide in so far I haven't seen a single fish eat a cherry shrimp yet. If you go down that route a word of caution and expect losses.

Never tried the fluval substrate before so I can't say how it stacks up to what I use. I imagine if its for planted tanks and it has nurtients already in it you shoupd be fine with it. Just make sure it doesnt mess with your PH. I also have no idea what size bags they are sold in Google substrate calucalor once you know what sizes bags you will be buying. I like to have a min of 2 inches of substrate 2 1\2 or 3 inches is better I sometimes do less if I'm using smaller plants like HC. I personally like netlea aquasoil. 

A lot of people use plants that are red to catch the eye. Some use large plants in the around the center of the tank a "show" plant it's tough to recommend anything as I have no idea what the layout is. Buce plants also have tons or varieties. I would suggest figuring that out once you have a most of your plants in hand and you hardscape sorted out. At least thats what I do.

Lighting any 65k and a red plant bulb should do. For looks I recently bought some guiesman bulbs and I really like the colors I'm getting with these bulbs. Also careful with the lighting that's quite a bit of light for a low light tank this deep. I run 2 bulbs over my tank but I'm running co2 and the fixture is suspended 7inches over the water my tank is also 20" tall. I am still able to get quite a bit of light all the way down to the substrate. I find I still get algae if I run the lights for too many hours.

If I had to choose between a HOB and sponge filter HOB all the way. Easier to get at and takes up no space in the tank.

I'm not sure about what you mean by cycling with tap?

I hope this helps. 

What I do when I setup a new tank i figure out the hard scape first and how I want to slope the substrate. I often do this a day or two before I plant when the tank is dry. I also position things like the filter and heater is going as well. Just a suggestion I just find it easier this way.

Need to see pics once you got her going


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## w4x (Dec 13, 2014)

personally I find fluval stratum hard to plant in as the substrate is light weighted so plants get uprooted really easily. Aquasoil, Flourite/sand or Eco-complete are much easier to work with.


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## Wiccandove (May 19, 2012)

I keep dario darios. They are too small to do anything to adult shrimp but will eat shrimplings in a heartbeat. They also don't eat flake/dried food so you will need to invest in microworms or frozen baby brine.
My only other suggestion is about the buce - buce are really slow growing, if you're adding them to a tank with other plants add them last unless you plan on adding a clump. If you're adding a standard size single portion of buce use it as an accent.


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