Planted Aquarium Collection

Below is a list of all the necessary equipment needed to keep a planted tank. For information on how to set this up check out the setting up the tank article.

Size of Tank

Tank dimensions really aren’t that important but you should make sure that the tank isn’t too tall. If you have a really tall tank the bottom of the tank won’t receive much light at all. Try not to get a tank taller than 18 in. Also pay attention to the length. If you have an ackward length it will hard to find a hood to fit it. Try and find a tank with lengths just a tiny bit larger than common bulb sizes. Below are common bulb sizes.

A good beginner’s tank size is between 20 and 55 gallons. They are a suitable size without spending too much money.

Substrate

One of the most important parts (well atleast for the plants). It not only holds the plants in but provides the necessary nutrients for plant growth. That is why plain gravel in a planted tank normally is not enough. That is why we must add a source of nutrients. The cheapest and best way is too add flourite to the substrate along with thw gravel. How much? In general you should have 1.5 - 2 lbs. of substrate per gallon of water. Between 1/4 and 1/2 of this should be flourite. So for example in my 55 gallon tank I have 25 lbs of flourite underneath 75 lbs of plain gravel. By following the 1.5-2/gallon rule you should have around 4 in. of gravel, a fine base for the plants.

Heating

Most of the plants and fish commonly kept in aquariums are kept between temperatures of 72 - 83 F. Most people maintain a temp. of around 77-80. To keep this we must have heaters unless wherever the tank is kept is always a steady temperature. You should have between 4-6 watts of heating per gallon. It is normally best to evenly spread this out. In my 55 tank I have two 150 watt heaters. One at each end of the tank.

Filtration

There are many different types of filtration available for your tank however by far the best are external filters. Do not, ever, use an Underground Gravel FIlter in a planted tank. The best choice for small tanks are power filters, the best choice for medium to large are cannisters or Hang on the back filters and for very large cannister filters are the best. Your filter should filter 5-6 times the amount of water of your tank per hour. So for a 20 gallon tank your filter should do atleast 100 gph, for a 50 gallon it should do 250-300 gph. Try to avoid wet/dry filters, sumps and trickle filters as the added air contact aids in CO2 loss.

I’ve seen a lot of people asking questions about cherry shrimp and breeding requirements, tank setup, water parameters, etc.

I thought I’d take a little time to talk about what has worked for me. I got into the hobby a little over a year ago and found this site and a few others and quickly became interested in freshwater shrimp. I bought my first batch of 10 cherry shrimp and 10 amano shrimp and rest is history.

It wasn’t until my second batch of cherry shrimp before I realized how easy they were to breed. My second purchase contained a pregnant female and she ended up having the babies in a small pint cup when I was moving her into her permanent home.

I started with a 10 gallon tank with various plant clippings from my main 65g tank and I noticed more and baby shrimp each week. I soon had nearly 100 and I ended up giving some away and selling some to other hobbists.

I set up a 20 gallon planted tank and moved a bunch of the shrimp into it and now I have successfully bred nearly 1,000 very nicely colored cherry shrimp.

Here is what has worked for me and what I suggest for other people if they want to try their hand at breeding cherry shrimp.

1. Tank size should be at least 10 gallons to support up to 100-150 shrimp (based on weekly 30% water changes).
2. Temp should be between 75-78F.
3. Moderate water hardness seems to work the best for robust breeding and coloration.
4. I highly recommend the addition of live plants to maintain good water quality.
5. Sponge filters are the best since they do not pose a danger to baby shrimp.
6. PH of 7.6 has worked well for me.
7. Keep up with water changes! Cherry shrimp are highly prone to nitrate poisoning and they need good water to maintain good health and molting. I do weekly 30% water changes. I use plain tap water (moderate hardness, PH 7.6) and I treat it with declorinator (Amquel).
8. I use full spectrum lighting…10 hours a day on a timer.
9. I DO NOT dose liquid iodine as the shrimp will get all they need from a proper diet.
10. I feed them HBH Vegetable Wafers and HBC Crab & Lobster Bites exclusively. Any invertebrate food will suffice as long as it does not contain any large amounts of copper (READ those labels!). I will occasionally drop in a piece of boiled vegetable (squash or spinach). I feed my shrimp once a day in small amounts.
11. I also recommend you maintain genetic diversity after a few generations of breeding. You can easily do this by introducing new cherry shrimp from other sources. This helps reduce the occurance of inbred deformities or weak shrimp. I have traded shrimp with other hobbist a few times.

I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.

For anyone that missed purchasing the AGA 2004 Convention DVD, or missed the convention itself, T. Amano had a couple of interesting lectures that are well worth buying the DVD for. In viewing the DVD I made some notes on things that really hit home for me, as found below. I’ve tried to separate those comments that I saw as his aquascaping principles, vs. those things that appeared be techniques he uses. It’s kind of random, but I think it still may have some useful advice.

PRINCIPLES

1. Plant all groups in odd numbers.
2. Fine leaved plants look best in the mid to back center of a tank, with heavier leaved plants toward the edges.
3. Don’t use red in the middle as they have a heavy, dark, feel.
4. Dark leaves (red or dark green) look best toward back edges, with light colored leaves toward the center.
5. Arrange plants and hardscape (rocks and wood) to provide good contrast of light and dark areas.
6. Light colored sand provides good contrast to plants.
7. When rocks are used, use multiple sizes, mixing large and small rocks, as in nature.
8. Rock edges should generally be rounded.
10. Hide your intentions with rocks. Allow plants to obscure them to some extent, maybe completely.
11. Aquascapes with unplanted sand in front is a good alternative to the traditional �Nature Aquarium� style of all foreground covered with foreground plants.
12. An attractive layout alternative is a slope up from near the middle up to the two back corners.

TECHNIQUE

1. Use cotton thread to attach Java moss to wood, or lava (pumice?) rocks.
2. Moss on rocks is great for edge work, blending an open sandy area into a planted area.
3. Use driftwood with moss, or large moss rocks, as something for background to grow over and cast shadows for good dark/light contrast areas.
4. Wrap Anubias onto moss covered rocks using a plastic ties, and trim off almost all roots, for �rocked Anubias�.
5. A rocked Anubias can be set right on sand, or moved around as desired. But initially face it slightly forward to hide roots. Later it will grow upward toward the light.
6. Plan on putting crypts only in places with deep substrate.
7. Use stem plants in even lengths with graduated height sets, descending from high to low, as the sets move toward the front or middle of the tank.
8. Plant stems 2 or 3 at a time, in the same hole.
9. A new tank should not be trimmed for 3 months.
10. On first trimming, let stem plants grow to the top, and then trim to halfway point.
11. Anubias and moss make great foreground plants as they take no trimming.
12. Putting tubing (and or wires) that come into, or out of, the tank on the side makes it less visible to straight on viewing due to a �mirror� effect from side reflection.
13. Creating a substrate with separate sand vs. soil areas can be accommodated by placing cardboard in the tanks where you want the boundaries between the two, and slowly filling in both sides until full. After adjusting any slope you might want in the sand or soil, and making sure that both sides are at the same height where they touch either side of the cardboard, the cardboard can be gently removed.
14. Sloping substrate from front to back works better if something like drift wood is placed in the middle of the slope to keep substrate moving forward. Moss rocks also make a nice barrier serving the same purpose.
15. If a substrate of separated soil and sand is used, driftwood and/or rocks can placed on the line between the two to cover or hide the separation point.
16. Light shining up from the back bottom looks great! And will light any ripples on the surface from an angle beneath, highlighting them.
17. For a really simple landscapes, use mossed pebbles around big central rocks.
18. A fully mossed group of interwoven driftwood branches looks wonderful when it fills in. It will look almost solid, and if done correctly can give a sloping look from lower front to upper back, possibly also sloping low and toward the middle, and up toward back corners.