Newbie at Planted Tanks

[Razzo]

Hey guys & gals, I've started reading through the stickies. I'm planning to make my first planted tank and I am looking for basic advice.

Here's what i want to accomplish: I have a 240-gallon frontosa tank. I'd like to plumb a 40 gallon tank, in line, with the main tank. I want to treat this 40, kinda, as a refugium that will remove nitrates and if I could grow some shrimp in the 40, even better.

The preliminary plan for the 40 will be to bring 240 water in on one end and pump it out on the other end and return it to the 240. I may partition the 40 similar to a sump, left section receives 240 water, then it gets pulled through the middle/plant section and then to the last section to be pumped back to the 240.

My water parameters are, approx.,... 8.0 pH and 77-degrees F.

I've been looking into EcoSystems Miracle Mud as the substrate. What would be a good plant list and possible a good invert list?

Why not have fun with the planted tank and get into this side of the hobby

Thanks a bunch.

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

Welcome to the Dark Side!!!!! LOL

Anyways, so it seems like you want to use a "planted sump" tank, but have high PH because the main tank is a Frontosa cichlid tank (it's good to someone that actually follows the natural habitat for African cichlids and not just put them in a tank and go)

As for inverts I know there's people with CRS shrimp in high PH tanks without issues, along with Cherry Red shrimp, freshwater Bumble Bee shrimp, etc...

As for plants, this website has a few plants from Africa that can live in high PH...

http://www.aquariumplants.com/category-s/212.htm?searching=Y&sort=13&cat=212&show=240&page=1

 

[lizardboy]

Eh, I wouldn't recommend bee shrimp for that set up. They really prefer soft water. What kind of plants are you looking for? If you're doing a low light tank, java fern, anubias, water sprite, etc. can look nice. I'm sure there are others, but those are my go-to. If you're going a little fancier, bucephalandra is also low light and can be tied to a piece of driftwood or something, but can be pretty pricey. For shrimp, there a few cool varieties of n. heteropoda that are nice. You could also try amano shrimp, which will eat BBA.

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

All freshwater shrimp prefer soft water conditions, but that doesn't mean they can't be acclimated to higher PH levels... Just like Black Mollies can be acclimated to live in saltwater... Or that Bull Sharks are able to live in freshwater, and have been found as far inland as Illinois... The point is that by drip acclimation some species of "aquarium" fish/inverts/etc can adapt to altered conditions then those they are naturally found living in.

 

[Razzo]

Thanks guys!!!!

I can do whatever is needed as far as light goes. They will be in low light in my basement; however, I am not opposed to adding lights for growth. My main objective and the reason for dabbling on the dark side is nitrate removal. The EcoSystems Aquariums with their miracle mud and light package seem to have a very good track record of eliminating nitrates. I want to cut down on water changes.

After looking at pics of some planted tanks on this forum, I kinda want this tank to look nice too. If the shrimp population explodes and plankton makes a nightly migration from this sump and is discharged in the main tank, I have no problem with that That's what happens when the EcoSystems Aquarium is applied to a salt water application.

If I could have a good looking planted tank with cute critters crawling on plant leaves and remove nitrates from the main tank, that would be, as my friends down in Oz say, "the ducks guts." If I could only accomplish one of those goals, it would have to be nitrate removal.