My first attempt at planted

[r3d]

Just got my first planted tank up and running im way stoked but ive got a lot of questions
first ill start off with my stock
2x Cory (Albino, spotted)
1x African Dwarf Frog
1x "Yellow belly" Ram (please ID)
1x Gourami
2x Gold Barb
1x "King" Betta

Filtration
Whisper 20 HOB
Fluval 3 Plus

T8 Lighting
Had DIY CO2 (work in progress)

Questions so far.
Ive was told by the owner of Black Coral in Santa Ana that I should not gravel vac as it will take nutrients from my substrate that my plants need. true?
what should my lighting schedule be? as far as setting my timer
How is my stock for a planted tank?
im sure i will have more questions coming as this runs

thank you

 

[chonhzilla]

looks ok and a nice selection of fish. I'd probably take out the bamboo though..It may decide to rot, also the java fern will do better tied to a piece of wood or rock.

 

[ZachAttack]

looks ok and a nice selection of fish. I'd probably take out the bamboo though..It may decide to rot, also the java fern will do better tied to a piece of wood or rock.

I agree...i've heard bamboo rots out if grown fully submerged...also java fern looks really cool if you attach it to a piece of driftwood, i have mine attached to a rock that i got from petsmart and it looks pretty sweet.

as far as gravel vac...i have a lightly planted 20 gal (x1 Amazon sword, x1 Java Fern, and a soon to be forest of water wisteria in a corner) I gravel vac mine and my two heavy root feeders, the sword and wisteria, do just fine. My sword sends out a new leaf every other day, and my wisteria always has new growth on it when i get home from school....i would suggest using Seachem Flourish tabs, im 100% sure petsmart and other LFS carry them. you just stick em all the way in the gravel next to the roots of your plants (read the directions for spacing) and that's it. I put one at the base of my Wisteria and one at the base of my amazon. And when i gravel vac im careful around where i stuck em that way i don't dig them up.

I turn my lights on right before i go to school around 8:00 a.m. and turn them off around 8:00 p.m. so about 12 hours...i'm probably going to cut it back a little b/c i get some of that brown diatom growth, and i'm assuming too much light is the reason. that's basically it, i'm not sure about your stock i think they'd all be ok? somebody correct me if i'm wrong

 

[devlyyn]

The "yellow belly" ram is a bolivian ram.

 

[jonahonah]

you may also want to remove the dracena or variegated arrowhead not an aquatic plant.

 

[Tom500]

Its better than my first attempt was.
Nice!

 

[r3d]

you may also want to remove the dracena or variegated arrowhead not an aquatic plant.

mind pointing out which plant that would be?

also i dont know where anyone is seeing bamboo lol i think the stuff is ugly aquarium wise

and about the ram, i was told by a friend its actually not a ram but a ruby red cichlid? anymore help on an id would be appreciated

 

[r3d]

mind pointing out which plant that would be?

and about the ram, i was told by a friend its actually not a ram but a ruby red cichlid? anymore help on an id would be appreciated

nevermind did some research
thank you for the correct ID

but about the plant will it be fine in my tank or should it be removed?

 

[Rikesh]

you may also want to remove the dracena or variegated arrowhead not an aquatic plant.

Yeah, the dracaena rots within 3 months. If you really want to keep it, remove it from your tank and put it in a pot with some soil or with about 2cm(one inch) of tank water... chlorine from tap water will make the tips brown.

 

[blockhead595]

I would watch the Betta and Gourami. They don't usualy get along. I would also watch the bettas aggression towards the Rams because they are flashy fish. If it works then great, but if not you might want to have another small tank handy to pull out your Betta. Other than that I love your stock list. It should be a really nice tank. The only thing I have successfuly done with plants is kill them so I don't know about those questions.