fish novice- help me do it right the first time

[catfish_blues]

ok, i have my first fishtank, a 10 gallon Walmart special. i put four plastic plants, two blackfin cat-sharks, two opaline gouramis and a plecostemus in it. nice tank, but now i want to expand, and do something a little more advanced- i just don't know much about hardware and stuff.

the girlfriend tells me that my birthday present is going to be a 30 gallon long-ways tank. soooo..... now the questions come.


1. i've read that catfish like a current in the tank. i've assumed from what i've read on the internet that a 'powerhead' is what i need, is this correct? how does one set this thing up, do you just hide it in the corner and run plastic tubing to get the current going? what sort of current do fish like, straight laminar flow, or do i need to 'shake it up' a little?

2. i want to have a sand bottom in my new tank. i also want some plants. apparently this means i can't use an UGF, is this correct? the filter that's on my current tank is an Aquatech Whisper, looks like the one here- http://www.petsmart.com/images/product/ ... 029522.jpg
is this what i need for the bigger tank? or is there a better way? also, i may be visiting the gulf coast soon, and i like the idea of beach-colored sand, can i just wash the salt water off of it and use it in my tank?

3. the plants i want to use- considering my fish are not real small animals, (the sharks are about 5.5", the gouramis about 3.5") i think i'd be better off with thin plants, so there's room for the fish to fit through them. in this picture- http://www.aquabotanic.com/images/newplatyclose.JPG - i like the ones in the top right, the beanstalk type. will they grow well in shallow sand, or do they need a thick layer? i'm a little afraid of having thick substrate, because of what i've read about anaerobic bacteria- i'm quite the newbie, and don't want to encounter anything scary like that. i do, however, want some plant shade in there to keep the sharks a little more active. in my current tank, i have some floating water lettuce, and i'll probably transfer that to the new tank, because i like watching the gouramis graze.

4. it's going to be a fairly sparsely planted tank for a while, so i was hoping to go with an inexpensive off-the-shelf lighting setup until i'm ready to go further. since the tank is long, i'm going to build up some rocks/pipes/flower pots in one end, for a cavernous area, and cluster up a bunch of plants in the other end, like a forest, and leave a space in the middle open, where i will feed them. so i think i'll only need lights on the plant end of the tank, whereas my room lighting will be enough to see the other end. any thing wrong with the plan so far?

thank you all for the info

[Silurus]

You have the wrong kind of catfish for a 30-gallon tank. Blackfin sharks are marine fish (they need at the very least brackish water eventually), and they grow fairly large 14".
The pleco will reach about the same size (15"), which will make your tank very crowded even if you don't add more fish.
The gouramies and the pleco will not like a strong current very much.

[catfish_blues]

well, like most of you, this isn't the "end" of my fish-keeping habit. i'm going to repopulate the 10gallon once i get the 30 gallon going, and the 30 gallon will hold those sharks for quite a while before they outgrow it.

so there's ways around that

if the gouramis and pleco don't like the current, how will the sharks get along without it? they don't have any current now (just that power filter) and seem to be ok, except that they are alittle "twitchy".

i was thinking about the sand and the UGF... do you think i could use some sort of window screen to keep them separated? i like the idea of yellow beach sand on the bottom of the tank, but an UGF is an easy way to get effective filtration, no?

any other replies?

[RogerMcAllen]

UGF seems to be yesterdays technology. You should be fine with a good biowheel.