55 gallon tank

[luvallknight]

I need some advice about my 55 gallon aquarium so lets see where to start well what i have is the tank, an emperor 400, under gravel setup with 2 maxi-jet 1200 pumps, regent 30-60 over flow also, some decor and gravel, red and blue in color. Not sure about the light i believe 2 aqua-glo fluorescent and has the moon lights with it too i bought all of this from a neighbor for 60 buck and plan on setting up a fresh water setup.

My questions lies in what to use of the above list? and live plants yes or no??

mines like this one here minus the two lil tanks and instead of the platic top mine has the marineland glass lids same lights though. I'm gonna build a woodstand and canopy for mine and do away with those

 

[LivingForTheFuture]

Depend what kind of setup, If you want a planted aquarium its going to cost a whole lot more money the the 60$ dollars you spent. Cause your lighting is insufficient, you need special substrate, and also plant chemicals. If the guy who sold you had that kind of setup, you can go the planted tank route, I'm looking at your avatar and seems you like cichlids and if you running a cichlid setup, I would buy crushed coral substrate and provide great hiding places for them. Looking over what you got from you scored! lol

 

[luvallknight]

yeah my jacks in a 36 gallon aquarium by his self at the moment (fighting with my albino oscar),

 

[luvallknight]

what about filtration i've seen the emperor 400 has some meida mods(cheaper forms of media) what would be suggestible and should i run and under gravel also??? or use a hydro sponge filter for extra filtration