tank troubles

[cisc]

not so sure this is the right area, but here goes.
I live in oklahoma city. As you have probably heard there was a huge ice storm here that left most of the central part of the state without power.
I was down for 4 days, where in that time, all my fish died except for 4 platys.

last night the water was so terribly green from algae that I changed %80 of the water.
the heater was messed up as well so I now have a nice big heater for a 60 gallon tank warming my 30 gallon tank to 78 degrees.

I want to replace plastic plants with live, and start adding fish again.
Im looking at a siamese algae eater and 2 clown loaches for sure.
then a small school of tetras most likely.
just wondering how long I should wait before I start making the changes?

[SkarloeysMom]

So sorry about your fish losses and the power outage. What a total bummer! It would probably be best to test your water and see what your parameters are. Since you still have 4 fish you're cycle should still be going. You can probably add new fish right away, a little at a time since your bacteria may have adjusted to your reduced bio-load.

[shockshockshad]

.....and for the plants, you need a special plant substrate/1mm wide gravel, fertilizer, 1.5 or above (depending on the plants) watts per gallon, so in your case, 40 watts for lowlight, 60-80 of medium, and 90+ watts for high light plants. you will also need CO2 for meduim and high light plants. no need for it in lowlight, as only lowlights are hardy, thus they need no CO2.

[KcEE]

Gosh! That really sucks! Sorry to hear about you loss. Since you changed 80% of your water, you should let your water settle and cycle for a few days. Use the next few days to decide on what plants and fish you wanna get. Good luck! Cheers!