Equipment recommendations - new planted freshwater

[ericksonpl]

Tank Size: 40 gal
Age of the tank: new
pH: n/a
Ammonia: n/a
NitrAtes: n/a
nitrites: n/a
GH/KH: n/a
Temperature: n/a
Fish in your tanks: no
Fish:

Question/Problem:

Hello,

I want to set up a 40 gal hex planted fresh water aquarium and I'm doing my research first. There's so much information that I can't take it all in and make a decision. I would like some concrete recommendations brands and sizes of various things needed. I am on a tight budget, but I believe in buying the best quality and am willing to acquire things piecemeal until I have what's needed to set it up and stock it.

40 gal hex glass is about the biggest thing I can pick up (empty) without help. I like the look of the shape.

I want to keep 3 or 4 female bettas, 3 or 4 killifish (if these can be put with the bettas), maybe 4 or 5 cory cats, a chinese algae eater, a plecostamus and about 10 neon tetras. I want lots of live plants.

Do hex-shaped glass aqariums leak after a few years? Should I go acrylic?

If I use 2 filters, what should they be? I don't like the look of HOBs, so what specific 2 filters should I use? Quietness and tank health are priorities.

What kind/size/brand lights? I like mood lighting, small spot lights on plants, lighter and darker areas. Can this be done in an aquarium?

I think that's enough to chew on for a while! Thanks for any help!

PE

[Carl]

*Hex shaped aquariums do leak more often than glass tanks that have glass fitted at right angles, however if well made with at least 1/4 inch glass sides and a 3/8 bottom, as well as additional silicone added inside of seams this should not be a concern and your glass hex tank can give you years of service.

*A Canister Filter such as the Filstar #1 or #2 as well as the Via Aqua 750 would be a good choice that would be out of the way.
Other possibilities other than HOBs include Internal Wet/Dry and Sponge Filters, however you may not care for the more obtrusive nature of these filters since you do not care for HOBs.

More than one filter is always best for redundancy and bio filtration, often the before mentioned Sponge filter makes a good second filter (& primary filters as many breeders and professionals also recognize)

*As for lighting, there is no better plant light than the SHO light for the price, however for mood many LEDs
can be adjusted this way and provide a beautiful shimmer (however they are much more pricey).

It will be difficult to spot light in a Hex aquarium do to the tall shape, this is easier to accomplish in a long aquarium with reflectors placed strategically.

I recommend these article:
*Aquarium Lighting
*Freshwater Basics, Care, Information
*Freshwater Set Up Suggestions
*Planted Freshwater Aquariums
*Aquarium Filtration

Carl

[ericksonpl]

Oooh, thank you, Carl! I appreciate the recommendations. I've already read through a couple of the articles you listed and they're just jam packed with great information. Thank you so much for all the time you've put in to this. And thanks again for the specifics.

PE

[bikeguy33]

one thing with a hex is that they are tall....you can combine many fish that don`t work well in a rectangle tank since fish all live on different levels. unfortunatly, in my experience corries don`t do well in tall tanks. the down fall to a tall tank tho is the smaller footprint.fish will for sure have to be small. all these have to be weighed in when making the decision. also with a tall tank it is much more difficult to vacuum and to groom plants etc....

[murdock6701]

I wouls also like to add not to get a common pleco - asBill mentioned, hexes are deep w/ not mich of a footperinf amd commom plecos can grow to over 2' in length - CAE can also get big and become agressive, especially w/ a pleco from my experience.......hope it helps - good luck!

[babygeige]

I've never kept killies. I would love to try, but from what I've read, they are very specific about what kind of water they need to thrive in. Most of them need soft acidic water, so be very diligent when researching these fish depending on what kind of water you have. Also, killies have trailing fins like bettas, so they may be a target for the female bettas. I also think that the neons might have fun picking at the tempting fins of both the bettas and the killies.

[polaris96]

substrate should be a big concern for you. Like a dummy, I decided I wanted a fish tank and proceeded to reconstruct the tank I had had as a kid but with plants. It took a while to fix things and it was unnecessarily expensive.

Carl's article on planted aquaria is great for this. Definitely use Azoo grower bed, flourite, or onyx sand and mix it with regular sand so the roots have something to grab.

I used flourish tabs to try and correct the absence of good substrate (I initially used plain aquarium gravel) but they never worked very well. Adding azoo grower bed fixed the problem right away.

For lighting in a Hexagonal tank consider using a "worklight" sconce with a full spectrum bulb. You can buy both in Home depot for under $20 per bulb/sconce combo. You might need to get creative to hang them, so don't do this if you're not into projects. The article on Lighting in this site gives some more good advice.

Best of luck! I really REALLY like my freshwater planted tank. I had intially planned to buy a second tank and set it up as a marine aquarium. 6 Months with the FW planted tank has cured me of this desire - I just want a bigger version of what I already have