What would be better to get first?

I'd say substrate first. But how tall is your tank and what else is in it? 1.5 inches may not be deep enough for a lot of plants. Why couldn't you mix the sand and ecocomplete together? I have about a 60/40 Eco/sand combo.

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Sorry, I meant black Eco and black sand together if you don't already have black sand. The sand is less expensive than the Eco with budget concerns. I was thinking about the depth of your substrate with plant roots. I agree, Black on black does look great with fish. I used black Eco and caribsea Tahitian black moon sand in mine. The sectioned off area of sand was mostly for my geos, but they've spit both everywhere since then. Also, do you mean the current sat+ led? That's one of the lights on this tank which is 28 inches tall. The other is a finnex planted+ if that helps.



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s15240drifter said:

That looks really good. I think the petsmart near me stocks black sand, that would save me on shipping.

Current plant stock is unknown lol. 90 percent of my plants were from the bulbs you buy at Wal-Mart and such. I do have three types of hairgrass in there, they are actually the reason I've decided to upgrade both.

See I read before that too deep of a substrate can build up gas bubbles, so I was going to go 1.2-2 inches. Do you feel like it should be deeper?

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Click to expand...

Thanks, its still a work in progress

Oh, there's plants in there already? My answer might change then... Any fish? Can you post pics of how it looks now? It would help w/recs.

Take a look at the websites for Petco and petsmart too. When you sign up for petpals or petperks there's often discounts, coupons and free shipping, even with substrate. While I wouldn't buy fish from them, their $1 per gallon tanks and sales on supplies are hard to beat. Can you check with a non chain LFS to see if they carry ecocomplete? Petco has ecocomplete on sale at $19.99 for a 20lb bag. Caribsea makes ecocomplete and the Tahitian black moon sand. Caribsea sand doesn't need to be washed for hours either. I'm pretty sure petco and pet smart carry their own brand of black sand, but don't know about the cleaning time for them.

Yes, I do think it should be deeper than 1.2 inches, if your getting plants that require some depth. My 110 has substrate depths from 2 - 3 inches, depending on where my geos decide to spit that day. (so I don't worry about gas bubbles, but also don't recommend geos in a pt) I used to have it nicely sloped upwards towards the back to give the appearance of depth, but they quickly removed my slopes to piles wherever they pleased atm. Many members keep certain types of snails or other little critters in their pts for movement in the substrate. I don't, mostly because my cichlids would eat them.

Hope this helps!

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The best substrate for plants imo is dirt capped with sand. A bag of organic miracle grow is like $10 so its very cost effective. Then you just cap it with any sand or gravel of your choosing. Well worth looking into if you're on a budget like most people. I redid my 30 gallon for less than $20, that includes the dirt and new sand.

I also have the Finnex planted+ led light and absolutely love it. For your tank depth you would probably want 2 fixtures just because of the depth of the tank.
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do NOT start with lights....here is what I would do, personally

1st - research plants you like and plants you think you want to have. learn what conditions they need to thrive and their growth patterns and how you want to place them. your plant choice is ultimately what will decide what strength of lighting you'l be needing, which in turn decides what co2 you'll have to be doing, if any at all

2nd - upgrade substrate, as low or high tech, a good substrate is a good substrate. Eco-complete is okay, but I have much better luck with dirt capped with sand in terms of ease of growth. With Eco-complete, you will need to add root tabs and ferts and all that fun stuff from the get-go. With this, I'll also say that you should learn about how to fertilize a planted tank and the nutrient balance

3rd - (for high tech goals) PRESSURIZED co2, as if you do lights first and no co2, say hello to algae the likes of which you have never seen. DIY co2 will not be good enough for high tech, and will cost more in the long run. research this heavily though as its a several hundred dollar investment

4th - light upgrade, learn about how to light a planted tank with PAR and then from there decide what option of lighting you like the best for your goals. Medium light can get away without co2, low light totally gets away without co2, and high light needs co2

its a lot to learn, especially from scratch, but take your time learning it or else you might rush into things and make mistakes that you will be fixing for years to come (aka, me and algae in my 75)

s15240drifter said:

I'll start off with a full tank first.
View attachment 988343

Stock list is 13 angel fish.(five of which will be moved to my girlfriends 150 when they get large enough.)
4 rainbow fish. Three reds and one boesemani.
4 Cory cats.
1 jewel cichlid.
3 German blue rams.
2 puffers. One spotted one figure eight. Currently trying to find a new time for both.
2 oto cats.
1 whiptail cat. (Very long and thin, some people call them twig catfish.)

Yes, it is currently planted somewhat. I've decided that I want to slowly upgrade this tank to a high tech setup. After a lot of reading, I realized I had to start with either the lights or substrate.
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Wow, that's a really good start!! I love the driftwood and how your fish are all at different levels in the water. Your tank will look wonderful when its done That's a lot of fish in this size tank, esp all the angels. You must have to do ALOT of water changes.

And you're absolutely right, black substrate will look great in this tank. Its just my opinion, and others may have different ones... I would start with substrate blend, black sand on the bottom - because the sand will sink below Eco anyway. Then a 20 lb bag of Eco on top. 1.5 inches deep isn't enough. FYI, black Eco complete isn't totally black. Here's a pic of my substrate. You can see some pieces are sort of Terra cotta colored. From a distance black is the primary color, but if your face is at the glass you can see the color difference.

What kind of ferts are you using now?

High tech is out of my range of limited knowledge. But many members here have high tech and a lot of knowledge on the topic. For now, since its low tech, and sort of tall, a sat+ will maintain your plants, but you won't see tons of growth. What kind of growth have you seen with your current light? You may be better off with a finnex planted+



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