Freshwater Tank Recommendations

[MaeganWink]

The library has asked me to help them set up a low-maintenance freshwater fish tank. They already have a 20 gallon tall with some basic lights and a heater. Since I haven't done freshwater myself, though, I wanted to recommendations on filtration and livestock. My guess is to keep it as low maintenance as possible we'd want a lot of plants for nutrient absorption and a pretty good filtration system. What would you guys recommend?

 

The librarians have told me they do have money in the budget to spend a good couple hundred dollars to get the thing started.

Edited January 12, 2020 by MaeganWink

[newbie2014]

Definitely on an expert on this.........but I had a planted tank for a short time.

 

For filtration, I like to the Eheim Classic canister. Dirty water comes in at the bottom, gets filtered through different layers of biomedia, then (clean) water leaves at the top. There are no bypass. However, this design makes it a bit messy during cleanup. Newer filters compartmentalize the media to make maintenance easier. The downside is there are gaps where the water doesn't come in contact with the media at all.

 

For substrate, I used regular pool sand with plant fertilizer tabs embedded in it. You can make those fertilizer tabs yourself for cheap, or get them from ebay and craigslist.There are other fancy substrates enriched with nutrients that you can buy, but I'm too cheap for that. I also chose low-light plants like moss, anubias and fern for low maintenance. I also added fast-growing floaters like Amazon frogbits and small water lettuce for nutrient absorption and oxygenation.

 

For livestock, I'd look for bottom, middle and top feeder types of fish. Algae eater like the true siamese (not chinese) algae eaters, pleco, snails and shrimps.   

      

 

  

[davelin315]

Just go with a planted Amazon River themed tank.  Easy to care for plants that need very little in terms of supplementation such as Parrot’s Feather with a nice chunk of driftwood and perhaps some mosses or swords can do well with a moderate light source.  I run a 40 breeder, around 5 years old, and it essentially runs itself.  I have far too many fish in it but they keep their own population up by breeding and it is fine to allow it to run a bit dry as topoffs encourage breeding.  I have maybe 10 species of tetras in there and just run a hang on back filter on each side along with a heater.  Could easily set this up for around $200 in a good sized tank with fish.  This is a true low tech planted tank technique but is very successful.  All I do is replace filter material every few months and top off when it gets below half empty.

[ImGoingCoastal]

If you want to go bigger PETCO is doing their $1 per gallon sale. It's 50% off for the larger tanks, so a 40B costs $50. 75g is $100.

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[MaeganWink]

@newbie2014 Thanks for the info! I had them get that type of filter for the tank.

 

@davelin315 Thanks for the suggestion! I think an Amazon tank could be neat, plus we could make it educational in connecting to the region and conservation perhaps.

 

@ImGoingCoastal Thanks for the tip, but I don't think they want a very big tank. I offered them something bigger and they were like nah xD

[BtmDweller]

If you need a free tank I have a basic tank sitting around. Think it’s 30 long if I remember correctly.

[epleeds]

If you need a filter I have one that I can donate.