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Hi everybody! I'm new around here, and looking for advice...

I'm not a complete beginner as far as aquarium fish are concerned and have had several different tanks over the years (mostly 10 gals), but I'm considering taking the next step and am looking for some input.

I'm planning on moving up to the next level this summer and starting a 30-gallon tank and, for the first time, live plants. I've done some research and am probably a few months away from actually starting the tank (something about having to study for the CPA exam between now and then), but I've got a fairly good idea of what kind of fish I'm interested in.

Please take a look at what is a very preliminary thought process and see if you have any guidance about the possible mix of fish and any suggestions for plant species - or, basically, anything else that might be helpful as I start to move towards this project.

Here are the fish I'm considering:

2 German Blue Rams (the "feature" fish)
3 Otocinclus catfish
6 Purple Emperor Tetras
3 Kuhlii loaches

Let me know if you think that might be over-crowded or otherwise an unfit mix for any reason. I was considering a couple shrimp, though I haven't really looked into it - any advice there?

Beyond the fish, I'm completely open to plant and substrate suggestions, and am leaning towards canister filtration.

Basically, consider me a sponge for any and all types of advice, pointers, soapbox rants, recommendations, or anything else.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hey Jeff welcome to the site ,
You'd mentioned having 10's in the past, do you have any of them stocked at this point? If you do it'll be helpful during the cycling process.

A canister filter will really be the best for a planted tank if you were considering going that route anyway. I'm running an eheim ecco on my 30 gallon and what I like the most about it is how quiet it is!. So long as you keep the outflow below the water line you have almost no surface agitation at all. So long as your plants are happy and healthy you're not likely to need much of a break in the surface as the plants will help oxygenate the water. By having less surface agitation you allow the water to retain more CO2 which the plants will thank you for.

If you're really really serious on the planted tank idea, be sure to read up on it both in the topics in the planted forum and in the FAQ here on this site. Take the time (and money ) to get a nice plant substrate from the begining you'll likely save yourself a step or 5. Also a main consideration when setting up for a planted tank would be the lighting. Most tanks come with well under 1wpg which is no where near enough to be what you want for a planted tank.

Stocking sounds good for the start, depending on how you're planning on cycling the tank you may change it a bit. The one thing I'd increase is that school of tetras, start with 10-12.

^_^

Thanks for the advice - I plan on doing a lot of reading before I get started, particularly on the plants end.

Unfortunately, I no longer have any of the three 10 g aquariums I owned - they were either given away or are empty at home with my parents in Tennessee.

I've come across the ECCO in my initial filter research - any more specifics about what you like about it? What media are you using in it?

I was leaning towards starting with Eco-Complete as my substrate - any thoughts there?

10-12 tetras? Sounds good to me. That puts me over the 1" per gallon "rule," but my impression and experience has been that the rule is more of a guideline, and particularly schooling fish can fit a lot more in without overcrowding. Is that accurate?

Thanks for the help.

Inch per gallon is an acceptable starting point so long as you stick to smaller slim bodied fish. Problem becomes when you try to shove a fully grown 2 foot goldfish into a 30 gallon tank. Technically it'd work but not if you care about the fish!

If it's the same 30 gallon tank that I have it's a very long tank. Long tank means more surface area. More surface area means more gas exchange. More gas exchange means more stockability. Additionally as you're planning on making it planted the plants will aid in keeping the nitrAte levels down. The tetras are also low bioload producers so you shouldnt be pushing your limits too far.

The ecco is cheaper than most while at the same time being made by one of the best filter manufacturers. Having a quiet filter was actually a main concern for me as this is set up on the office tank (bosses idea ). What sold it for me on the noise level was someone else from the site said they could barely even hear it when they had their head right next to it!.
I've not used other canisters but this one is quite easy to operate, although the directions are a bit on the confusing side (then again maybe it was because it was my first canister).

Right now I'm just running floss and the bioballs that come with the filter. I'm not running carbon as I feel it takes too much out of a planted tank. Floss or bioballs and carbon are all I ever really run anyway.

^_^

Thanks for the input, everyone.

FYI, I changed my name to FreshwaterJeff - Jeff in Chicago seemed too generic...

An important point if you've never kept ottos is to add them after the tank is established. You can grow 'algae rocks' by putting rocks in a glass jar with water and leaving it where it will get a lot of sunlight.



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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Jeff,

Seems like you are off to a pretty good start.

How much are you looking at putting into your lighting? This will really drive what you can and can not put in your tank for plants.

A good substrate is also nice for starting out. EcoCompleat is nice becaues you don't have to rinse it. I am uses SeaChems Flourite. You have to rinse the crap out of it but after than it works really well.

Don't Emperor Tetras get kind of big. 3"? I would find a little bit smaller of a schooling fish that way you can have a bigger cooler school.

Are you living in Chicago? If so go and check out Old Town Aquariums. Pretty neat shop. Seemed to have some pretty good plants when I was there last. (couple of years ago now?) My girl used to live in Chicago so I checked out a few places.


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I was thinking Purple Emperor Tetras, which I've been told only reach 1.5" - but I'm in no way committed to them. I'm really only attached to the Rams - everything else is open to suggestion.

If I stick to the 30 gal plan, I'm going to shoot for 3 wpg, though that's something I'm going to continue to explore as time goes on.

I'm actually going to Old Town Aquarium tomorrow night with a co-worker that lives nearby and recently set up a 90 gallon...
Anyway, he highly recommends the place, too, and lives down the street - so he's going to show me around.

Any other chicago LFS's you recommend?

Umm I have only checked out a couple of them but that is the only one I really remember. If you ever get to take a drive up to WI I guess the have some nice ones there.

Edit:
3WPG... Look into Tom Barr's El. Google it!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

That is definitely not overstocked. You could do:
2 German Blue Rams
3 Otocinclus catfish
10 Purple Emperor Tetras
6 Kuhlii loaches

This would be fine too. I would use a canister filter for this tank. I have an Eheim Classic 2213 on my 30 gallon and it is great. I would get some type of Eheim Classic, Ecco or Pro filter. The Classic are the cheapest at around $180 australian dollars, the eccos are around $200-$220 and the pros about $250. Depending on the size the prices get a lot higher, these prices are for the smallest models, but the smallest would be ok for a 30 gallon.