This aquarium will house mostly Crydoras sp, and for that reason I have used finely uniformed 0,5mm sand. Rough gravel can damage Cory's barbels. I keep a few Cory trilineatus in a 180 liter planted aquarium with 1.2mm gravel, which caused the barbel erosion. Crydoras shift through the substrate all the time in search for food particles and therefor the sand MUST be of fine texture and preferably small 0,1 to 0,5mm (tiny rounded pebbles e.g. like Quartz).The sand layer is no ticker than approx 2cm. Ticker layers of substrate can accumulate dirt over the time that, again, can cause barbel erosion, so good hygiene is very important.
I will use only plants that can be rooted on wood like Microsorum sp, Anubias sp. and Java Moss.
At the moment I have one bunch of Egeria densa and Hygro. polysperma to help me with the cycling process (they can uptake the NH4 very fast), until the beneficial bacteria develops (in a few weeks). I rinsed a filter sponge from one of my older tanks into this one to seed it with beneficial bacteria.
I also seeded Infusoria (sticks from Hikari Protogen).
A few Malaysian Trumpets and Red Ramshorn snails were introduced today.
I am thinking to keep Corydoras elegans, probably a group of 9 specimens.
This is a low light tank, with a 320 l/h power head with a filter sponge.
