Questions about my Tank's Setup

[rba718]

I've had this tank running since about January now. It's a 75 gallon tank and it's had its share of fish already, but it's mostly a Bichir tank.

This was the tank almost 2 months ago. Now it has way bigger plants at each end and the driftwood to the right is gone, also so is the Arowana.

Anyways, to the point.

I've always heard that Pleco's require driftwood, is this true? I have that one piece left in there out of the original 5 that I started this tank off with - just for my Pleco. However, I've noticed throughout every tank I've had that plants seems to do a good job at countering tannins so I've always kept at least some plants in this tank. However again, my plants always end up dying after a few weeks, (It isn't because of the air pump, I already realized that was retarded and shut off the extra oxygen but the plants still die!). And now there's always brown pieces floating everywhere and it's really counter-productive.

Anyway, so back to the first question, do I need the driftwood? Because it would be a lot better if the Pleco didn't need it and I could have this tank set up with a lot more room instead of being so crowded.

I really don't want to part with the Pleco. It's nothing special, it's a common Pleco, but I've had it since it was only about 3" long and it's about 7" now so really getting rid of it is out of the question.

Is there anything I can do to get my tank to fly right?

If you're interested, the tank's fish include:
-x1 7" Senegal
-x1 4.5" Albino Senegal
-x1 4.5" Delhezi
-x1 2.5" Ornate
-x1 7" Ropefish
-x1 7" Pleco
-x1 5" Rocket Gar

I have two filters on this tank also, a 175 gallon capacity Rena filter and a 70 gallon capacity Fluval filter going at each end.

 

[Arturo]

I would put more way more driftwood along with some ore plants. Just my opinion.

 

[rba718]

I used to have a lot of driftwood, there was plenty, but even with boiling and cleaning them they always let out tannins. And to counteract the tannins I needed more plants, but I'm trying to avoid the mess... =\

 

[rba718]

bump for halp

 

[rba718]

Bah, nobody's got anything? =\

 

[Snakehead23]

plecos do NOT need driftwood

 

[Newt]

plecos do NOT need driftwood

Actually, certain species do need driftwood in their diet, the royal plecos are an example of this. If you don't want driftwood in your tank, but your pleco is one that requires wood in it's diet, Sera makes a special food tablet for plecos that contains wood.

As far as your plants turning brown and dying it looks like your swords have their emeresed form leaves. Aquatic nurseries grow their plants emersed instead of submerged because they grow bigger faster that way. The leaves will die off and be replaced by the submersed form leaves over a few months. In the mean time put root tabs in the substrate under the swords, they are heavy root feeders.

Also, what is your lighting set-up? How many and what watt bulbs?