New 30 gallon Freshwater

[Lady10Godiva]

So I juat scrubbed and water tested a 30 gallon tank my husband used to have...and it seems good.

We want to try a sand substrate since we dont have one. Eceryone says darker is better but I cant seem to find a good deal on the tahitian moon sand. The sunset gold seems to be the darkest I can find. Will the tan color wash out the fish? We havent decided on what is going in there yet...

Planning on going with a penguin bio wheel 350 filter becauae after the mail in rebate I can get it for about $20.

Planning on going with a 200 watt heater....overkill but it is going to be in a drafty place.

My husband wants a pair of cichlids that can live in the 30. It is 36 inches long by 12 inches deep by about 17 inches tall. Any suggestions? Need to be happy in 8.2 ph water. Here in WI the water is super hard out of the tap.

Oh and I chose the filter because I have others that take that size media and I can just move some over from another tank to speed up cycling.

Thanks for any imput.

[pjaldave]

Only cichlids that can go into that tank are dwarfs. You may even be pushing it. If you can find some shell dwellers, then you can probably go with those in that tank. Not to mention that your pH is perfect for them.

In anyways, for sand substrate, it doesn't matter, it is your personal preference anyways. Most people just go with dark so that the color of the fish will stand out. But there's nothing wrong with other colors -- well, just not neon colors that is.

Also, for filters over a sand substrate, you want to have a filter which you can put a pre-filter on the intake. So that you don't have to worry that sand is going to destroy your filter. I am not sure if penguin allows pre-filter, but my emperor (same company, marineland) have a square intake and i can't find any pre-filter that will fit.

[Lady10Godiva]

Ordered black sand and a double t5 lamp with 6500k bulbs. We have decided to go heavy planting for the first time. Probably not going to run a whole lot of fish in it.....just want to do some really cool plants for now.

[pjaldave]

I would suggest getting soil underneath the sand if you're going for heavily planted tank. Try searching google for walstad's method.