# Planning my tank - 37 gallon



## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

Hi. I am new to the forum and wanted to just list out my plan and see what others thought of it before I was too far in to make changes.

My Setup:
37 gallon Marineland Eclipse System with Biowheel
200 watt Marineland heater set to 79 degrees
Flourite substrate (I may possible mix it with some black sand)

My Planned Stocking:
Java Moss (planted on driftwood and possibly slate)
Java Fern
1 Dwarf Anubias
1 black sailfin pleco
1 mystery snail (yellow one)
3 ****** loaches
5 male guppies
5 female guppies
2 catfish labeled Synodontis Longirostrus (I saw these at petsmart and my wife loved them. I am certain they are mislabeled and I can't find much about them online. They are short stubby catfish with nice spots and they labeled them as semi aggressive)

Today I plan on rinsing the aquarium again and rinsing the flourite. Then I will fill the tank with the flourite and water (treated with Stress Coat) and start heating it.

As it has been a while since I have been in the hobby I would love input from anyone more experienced. The goal is to have a lightly planted tank with a few interesting fish like the catfish or loaches and schooling fish (my wife loves guppies and I like livebearers so they work for me  ).

I am wondering if I should use aquarium salt? It seems this is being touted more than I noticed in the past.

I will stock lightly and slowly, with the male guppies in first. I have heard the first tank citizens are less likely to be attacked by newcomers and that you should always stock male guppies before females. 

I am planning weekly 20 - 25% water changes and will be feeding bloodworms and community menu (local stuff with a good mix).

Does this all sound reasonable? Anyone have any advice on where I can find java moss? I can't seem to locate it locally anymore.

Thank you in advance for your help and suggestions.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Are you planning on using Excel or DIY CO2? If not, the weekly water changes are a bad idea. That introduces some CO2 which is in the tap water, but then it drops back to near zero, and the fluctuating CO2 concentration tends to trigger algae attacks. If you use Excel that isn't a problem.

I have never introduced male and female guppies at different times. I always introduce them together, but preferably with more females than males.

Forget the salt - that's only when you are cooking the fish.


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

Thanks for the quick reply! Yeah, I took the aquarium salt back to the LFS. 

I hadn't heard of Flourish Excel, but I will pick that up when I go back for the first few fish. I used to have a reef tank and after the headache of DIY kalk drips I think I will be staying away from projects of that nature for a while.

After more thought and research I have revised my stocking plan slightly. I still want desperately to get a hold of java moss and will continue with anubias and java fern. I picked up some small and ridiculously priced java fern, and amazon sword (or so it was labeled) more to get some bacteria into the tank to start the cycle process. I also got a nice piece of mopani driftwood for the nice tea color the tannins will give to the water, and for a rooting area for plants.

I broke down and got some resin decorations that look like grayed and algae covered pieces of wood and roots with some hiding holes. They are actually tasteful looking and mixed with the very natural driftwood and the flourite substrate look nice. Some lush plants hiding them a bit wouldn't hurt either.

I still plan on a pleco but not sailfin, apparently they get huge. I will choose a dwarf variety though I would still like a dark colored one. Three kuhlie loaches will do nicely and have plenty of nooks to hide in. The guppies will be 7 females and 3 males after your suggestion.

I will do without the snail, don't want it eating everything.

And I am still contemplating the catfish. Maybe I will resist the temptation for the cool ones I saw at the LFS since I don't know what they really are and will go for some Corydoras instead - at least I know they are peaceful.


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## bradac56 (May 9, 2007)

I've had good luck with getting java moss here on the "For Sale or Trade" forum and with
anubiasdesign - Marks yahoo group is at [ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anubiasdesign]
he's a "importer and retailer of rare and interesting fishes and plants." and I've bought
hard to find fish, plants, and hardware from him he's a great resource if your local
LFS's is as bad as mine.

- Brad


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

Excellent info. I will definitely contact him. 

The flourite cloud has finally subsided and I have the temp all steady so I should be ready to think about adding something this weekend. Something small just to try and help the cycle begin. 

Thanks for all the help and if you have any other advice I am eager to hear it.


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## bradac56 (May 9, 2007)

dgphelps said:


> I am wondering if I should use aquarium salt? It seems this is being touted more than I noticed in the past.





hoppycalif said:


> Forget the salt - that's only when you are cooking the fish


Salt is used a bit to much as a 'cure-all' but it does help gill regeneration/slime coat a bit in an already
sick fish but then so does allot of other things. I will admit to putting a very little bit of salt in my
quarantine tank when nothing else seems to work 

- Brad


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

Well the more I read on this forum, the more questions I have, and the more I doubt my original plan.

I had a 29 gallon Eclipse setup back in 2000 and I loved it. I used a lot of driftwood, and had dwarf anubias with java moss and some slate stones, the plants grew well with no additives or CO2 and I chose my fish poorly, so wasn't able to add some things I wanted.

I realize a few things are not ideal - the 39 gallon is more volume, but higher so light is cut more. The tank is in a room that can get decent indirect light if I choose to, so that may help solve that problem. The Eclipse bio-wheel releases CO2 into the air and away from the plants.  Perhaps I can solve this to some extent with Excel and or Flourish?

I plan on taking the two resin pieces back to the LFS this weekend. They look realistic and fine, but I realized I'd rather have more driftwood with java moss growing on it. They also take up a lot of the substrate area and I need that for possible taller plantings.

I terms of my future stocking goals, what I really want is to have a little community tank with fish that school, fun catfish like fish roaming at the bottom (ottos would be fine, or corys if the flourite bottom won't tear their barbs - I would love both). My wife is insistent on fancy guppies, and I like them too, I used to catch them in the wild as a kid in Florida. My requirements are that they have the ability to reproduce either on their own, or with some help (aka moving them to a breeding tank) from me. In addition to that, I would love some shrimp in there. If they were able to reproduce that too would be nice, though isn't a requirement.

So, if anyone reads this, can you give me some advice? Will the Corys work out with flourite substrate? Will adding Excel be enough for some mosses, anubias and potentially something taller for the back of the tank?

Should I cover my intake with netting or sponge to reduce the loss of fry?

Any other suggestions? I am planning on starting to take some photos this weekend, but really, there is nothing to see at this point but some flourite, a piece of driftwood and some random plants I picked up more for the bacteria in the wool of the pots than the plants.

I also have some java & flame moss on its way to me.

Thanks!


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## bradac56 (May 9, 2007)

I'd look into Corydoras Hastatus they get about 1inch long as adults and are mid-tank fish.
The current copy of TFH has a small bit on them and a few pictures in the "Top10 for the
10-gallon tank" article. The problem they have is if there are bigger fish in the tank they
will hide during the light cycle.

Corydoras Habrosus gets to 1.5 inches and will stay at the bottom but they need to be
in a school (6 or more). Both should be ok with your substrate but if your worried put
a layer of cosmetic sand on top of your substrate and any cory or otto's.

I would also recommend Coral Red Pencilfish, and Celestial Pearl Dani (galaxy's) 
to go with your fancy guppies as I've had all three together in tanks before without 
to many problems tho they cost a bit more than the .99 cent guppies ($11 for the
pencilfish and around $5 for the Pearls each from a good importer) but are well worth
the time and money.

~

Shrimp should work out fine if your tank is moderately or heavily planted so they can
hide if not any bigger fish will have a snack. I've tried just buying shrimp and tossing
them into my community tanks but I'm now setting up a 5gal shrimp tank just for
breeding. That way if they do become fish food I can replace them from my own stock.

~

You shouldn't need any fertz with those plants and florite but if your worried about C02
(I'm not and I do similar tanks) I'd get some tall stem plants that poke up out of the 
water those will add C02 naturally.

~

I'd recommend going with a net or better yet a sponge on any intake for small fish let
alone fry.

- Brad


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

Wow, that's a lot of really useful information. Thanks Brad!

I ended up taking the plastic deco back and got some great pieces of mopani driftwood for a steal. Now I have 1 large piece, 1 medium/large piece and a medium piece in the tank. I also pieced up some duckweed, some more amazon swords, and something that looks like pennywort or perhaps babies tears that is pretty tall and has many stems.

I also grabbed some guppies but when I got them home I realized they had some white stuff all over them so I took them back to the LFS.

I picked up some Flourish trace elements and will dose once a week at half strength for a bit to see how that helps. I may also pick up some Excel, worst case I can use it for spot treatment or dips later if I find I don't need it.

My stocking plan has become rather simplified now. I plan on adding 12 fancy guppies, 4 male and 8 female. After they are established (I will add in increments over a month) I will get 2 or 3 otos. After that I will either go with 3 small corys (not sure I could host 6 in my tank) and once all that is in and doing well, I will add some cherry shrimp adults. I will look into the other fish you mentioned, though if I plan on letting anything breed I probably won't have room for more.

I am sure at some point I will be taking some of the swords out and swapping the plants a bit. I know for sure I will keep the piece of driftwood on the left side of the tank with java moss and the right side flame moss. I was told to keep them separate and the way the wood is setup it will be easy to have a specimen on each side on pieces of wood that do not touch. I should be getting the moss in the mail tomorrow. I also plan to have anubias as I have had great luck with them in past Eclipse tanks.

I read today I can retrofit my lighting with a sunpaq retrofit kit. If I find I need more light I may opt for that down the road.

I will definitely find some way to cover my intake once I get fish in there and the possibility of fry being born.


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## bradac56 (May 9, 2007)

dgphelps said:


> I will definitely find some way to cover my intake once I get fish in there and the possibility of fry being born.


Your biggest problem with breeding is going to be the other fish and shrimp will love
snacking on your eggs/fry so I'd think about investing in a cheap 5/10 gallon breeding
tank well before you need it. I'd get it put together and running right away with a good
sponged HOB or canister around the $20/$25 range.

I'd do an ammonia cycle on it so you won't have to worry about a sacrificial fish to
cycle the tank and put some java moss balls and some water sprite in for plants after
thats done. Don't worry about any substrate as your going to need it very clean for fry.
The last thing would be to put a few different sized peaces of pvc or planting containers
it if for hiding places. That way it's fully cycled and can house any breeders at a moments
notice. Trust me your always going to get fry when you least want them. Then all you
need to do is stick it in an out of the way spot and do regular water changes and fertz
on it(don't use fertz with the fry in the tank).

And best of all it makes a really fancy quarantine tank if things go bad fast tho you'll 
need to nuke it and start over if you use it for that (at least that's what I tell my wife
it's used for).

Other than that your plan sounds good!

- Brad


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## dgphelps (Jan 1, 2008)

So far so good! My moss took off so quickly it formed a nice little nursery ground for the baby shrimp. I changed my fish to all shrimp "safe". I started with 12 RCS and now have at least 100.

And, my celestial pearl danios spawned giving me one fry that's now a touch over 1 cm and eating flake food. I have no clue how he has survived this long since I was on vacation for some time and have only fed the tank with flake food. 

Thanks for all the great advice!

Here is a link to my tank info page with photos. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquascaping/48418-37-gallon-planted-eclipse.html#post395726


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