Planted Tank Setup Help

[joetbs]

Hi. I'm new to planted tanks, but I have lots of experience keeping reefs. I have a 30 gallon cube that I plan on using. Right now I have my 200w submersible heater, Aquaclear 110 filter, and the tank. I looked a bit through lights, and narrowed it down to the 2x36w Retrofit or 2x28w Coralifes. I would like to keep a variety of plants, so I think the 2x36w would be better.

I also need advice on gravel. I know I have to use flourite, but how much should I be putting in, and should it go on top of other gravel? Any recommendations are welcome. Here's what I plan on keeping, if anyone has any advice, again, it's welcome:

Blue/Gold Rams - 2 each
Licorice Gouramis - 2
Sparkling Gouramis - 2
White Blushing Angels -2
Celebes Rainbows(furcata) - 2 or 4
Marble/Silver Hatchets - 2 each
Clown Loach - 1
Royal Pleco - 1
Otto Cats - 2
Maybe a few Threadfin, Praecoux, or Pseudomugil Rainbows
Some amano shrimp
Maybe some other shrimp - cherry blood shrimp or singapore flower shrimp

Thanks in advance.
joe

 

[Swimfins]

It depends on what you want to grow, calculate 3 watts per gallon for some of the nicer plants. Your fish list looks a bit too much for a 30g... You might want to reconsider.

 

[Karnaaj]

You can either mix the fluorite with gravel, use fluorite exclusively, or put down the fluorite and then layer your gravel on top.

72 watts over a 30g would allow you to grow most plants. They might not grow as fast as they are capable, but they'll grow.

I agree with Swimfins that your fish list needs paring down a bit. The Royal will get too large for a 30g as will the Clown Loach (not to mention the fact they need to be kept in groups).

 

[joetbs]

Thanks for the replies. I looked through liveaquaria(are there any other good sites?), here are some plants that i'd like to try my hand at:

Wisteria
Micro Sword
Cabomba
Anubius
Java Fern
Variegated Japanese Dwarf Rush
Anacharis

Also, i will nix the pleco and clown loach.

Does 2" of gravel and 2" of flourite sound about right?

Last question, should I use straight RO/DI water(TDS is 0) or mix it 50/50 with tap(TDS is 380)?

thanks again
joe

 

[happychem]

I would probably just use straight tap water, scratch the RO stuff. What is the KH of your tap water? With your lighting you might want to look into CO2 addition, and the cabomba will greatly appreciate it.

Go with the 2x36w retrofit from ahsupply.

You don't need Fluorite, but it's certainly the way to go. 4" is pretty deep for a 30g, you could probably do quite well with just 3" (2" Fluorite, 1" gravel). Most of those plants (wisteria, cabomba, j.fern, anubias, anacharis) won't care whether the substrate is Fluorite or fine gravel anyway, they're not heavy root feeders and will get most of their nutrients from the water column. The microsword will though, as will any crypts or other Echinodorus sp. you add later.

You might as well mix the gravels, layering seldom works in the long term. It can be done if you plant and never move anything again, but that's not going to work with stem plants.

Resource sites:
www.plantgeek.net
www.tropica.com