40g tank opinions welcomed

[brye]

Coming back from the saltwater side . This 40g Tank was salt but now it's freshwater.  Just started the cycle last week . Just wanted to see any opinions on what plants would be good here . Planning on getting von rio tetras and either petricola or dwarf cat fish like a school of panda or albino Cory's or even gold Lazer cories .  I have two spider wood on a rock slate I was thinking anubias Nana petite or if you got suggestions I open.  I was thinking also to have a few above water plants like peace lily or something.  Maybe  a mangrove . Right now the tank is cycling so the plan is plants first then fish idk how many I can add at a time  . I like anubias but don't want it to be the only plant . 

[Chris]

Personally, I'd probably recommend some different Anubias varieties on the wood (Coffeefolia and Goldencoin are personal favorites), and try some Buces out too. Similar to Anubias, but a bit pickier - but you get some really cool colors.

 

For the substrate area, I'd go for Crypts. Crypt Wendtii Green, Red, and Bronze are classics - but there are tons of different options out there.

 

Potentially some dwarf sag or vallisneria for the background, to fill in empty space.

 

Beware of the blue lights on that reef LED you have - excess blues can cause algae, and that color spectrum isn't really used for plants. When I used boxes similar to that for my reefs, they have indivdual channel control. I'd set the blues down pretty far, and same with the pinks/reds/cyans/magentas/green etc. Mainly just tune your warm and cool white LEDs so the color is pleasing to the eye, and then the colored LEDs will be more to bring the color out in whatever fish you get. You can optimize red and pink lighting for plants, but I think it'd be something you're unlikely to notice in realistic growth.

[brye]

Red crypt and vallesernia sounds good . I'll look up those anubias and see which one i like . I'll try to adjust the lighting if not gonna have to buy a new light.  Tyty for the suggestions 

[Pwnedn00b]

Since you want fish that like to dislodge stem plants, I think you're right to gravitate toward rhizome plants, although I'd still try and make use of the aquasoil and do some stem plants. I like vals but they end up everywhere. Water lettuce has always been my favorite floating plant, it doesn't seem to suffer from HOB use, provides shade to slower growing plants and shy fish, and looks amazing when the root structures grow long.  Since it's a larger tank, you could try seeking out anubias gigantea or anubias gracilis which has arrow shaped leaves.

 

Mangroves are cool, I have one that I started myself 3 years ago, and it's only about 2 feet tall. The root structure is very extensive though. I would only get one if you really want this to be a long term project, because it's hard to procure and ship larger plants, and once they start, they don't like to be moved. You'd also need to find one that has been started in fresh water, since they're supposedly difficult to convert, and it needs to be a gradual process. You would also need some structure to keep the top half of the propagule out of the water. With that said, the fact that your light is mounted so high is a huge advantage if you decide to get one or more. 

[brye]

I turn off the blues so it's only whites and  a few greens and reds on . And I moved the light so it's sitting on top of the canopy instead of hanging by steel wire  ( around 6in higher) . These lights are strong from the reviews I searched about viparspectra.  I have the whites at 1% so I can adjust based on the plants needs . I might want to try mangroves instead of peacelily for the surfaceplants . See how it does . Algaebarn sells them but I can check my lfs . I think on etsy or a site called pot o carry sells mangrove holders . I'll look into it . Got plenty of time . It's only been 8 days since I started the cycle . It had a bacteria bloom for a few days but it's gone as of today .