Help me plant a 37 gallon eclipse!!! 100% New to plants

[devinrussell01]

I'm just now setting up a 37 gallon eclipse tank that's been sitting at my house for quite some time and I was planning on doing something with tetras, loaches, and maybe ram cichlids. I was told that each of these love planted tanks with the vegetation not really spread out but thick in some areas with other hiding places like rocks and driftwood. And I've heard that all of those types of fish rarely get over 3" (except some loaches) so should I be concerned with overcrowding? because I want enough tetras for them to school.

Thanks for any and all help!

btw, here's the tank I'm setting up

View attachment 697943

 

[devinrussell01]

Or would it just be better to go with fake foliage?

 

[Rockbass6]

Depends on what you want to do, fake foliage, or real. You could do some malaysian driftwood, with natural looking sand or gravel. If planted, I always had better luck with anything besides anubias and java moss/ferns in a plant specific substrate, either a bit of dirt capped with sand and gravel, or the plant substrates they sell in the petshops. I would stay away from clown loaches, they do get big. I had some that got up to 6 and a half inches in my old 55.
If you want to go planted, here is a link to what works for me. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?430676-The-30-gallon-Adventure.
You can read the stickies, they do help, but my advise is keep it simple when starting, and start off with a good substrate, instead of dosing chemicals. I also bought a variety of many plant species clippings off a member of aquariacentral.com for under $20 shipped. Some did well some did not, trial and error. I only wanted to go low tech, and I think crypts are real nice looking, and easy once your tank is rolling.

I posted a link to mine because I keep similar fish, and close to same size tank, so you could get an idea. only difference is I have shrimp instead of loaches.

 

[devinrussell01]

I appreciate it man, you guys are simply just 90% more knowledgeable than myself... I'm just a recreational hobbyist when it comes to tanks, but I'm extremely interested in them and I want to learn as much as possible without having to be a chemical engineer to understand what some people on here are talking about lol... I'll appreciate any advice that I get and hopefully be able to put some of your suggestions to use as long as they're not that expensive, since I'm a full time college student and full time employed I really don't have that much spending cash and try to get out of everything as cheap as possible without ghetto-rigging anything.

here's a pic of my 75 gallon if you'll give me some opinions... it's stocked with 2 bichirs @ 6-7 inches, 4 rosy barbs @ nearly 2", and 2 tinfoil barbs @ 3.5 - 4"

I keep the temp @ 80-82 and the ph from 7.0 - 7.4

thanks in advance!!!

 

[Rockbass6]

I know what you mean, my tanks are not high tech, although I did invest in pretty good lights. With the 37g you could just get miracle grow plant soil and cap it with a layer of sand then gravel like you have. To save some money. Make sure your gravel is twice as thick as your soil, and fill by putting water on a plate to not disturb the substrate. Fill and drain a few times, so you don't have fertilizers from the substrate going around in the water column, and you should have a pretty nice setup, if you have good lights. The seachem excel, I use that to keep algae down, and my crypt plants seem to like it.
The picture in my avatar is a tank similar to that one you posted. (90 gallon.) Only difference is I have malaysian driftwood. (it sinks right away.) which can be picked up at most local fish stores. The plants are java fern, a common cheap easy to grow plant. You tie the ferns to the driftwood with sewing thread, and they naturally attach. I have a coralife power compact light that I run for 6 hours.(If I did it over, I would of ordered a T5 HO light from dr fosters, new they are under $200, but the compacts came with my tank (used.) All plants are attached to driftwood for easy cleaning, due to large fish and bio load. Stock is bichirs, one orange severum, and an african leaf fish. gravel looks very similar to yours, I got 2 bags at walmart for it..the most natural looking they had. I don't like plastic decor, I always find nice pieces of wood, it is easy for me though because I live on Lake Erie, and find some sweet pieces after the storms. I still do like malaysian if I can find a cool piece that is like a cave/stump or something. As for wood, I collect pieces already water logged or somewhat wet (so I know they will sink) some driftwood seems to take forever to sink if it was dried when you collected it, boil them, twice. and scrub them after each and soak for a few days with a couple caps of bleach in a 5 gallon bucket before I put them in.. then resoak in clean water.
If you need any help along the way ask, I got alot of my ideas for aquascape from the photo lounge and other planted sites, and just went with what I liked most. Always liked the more natural looking tanks, with nice aquascape, more than the ones with the "rare" everybody wants fad fish of the month.