New tank Planted or not.

I picked up a new tank 200L thinking of african chiclids. Couple of questions.

1 Obvious enough will live plants work with the tank i mean will the fish up root them.
2 I have alot of coral from a holiday yrs back can i use that in the tank.
3 Initial planting when i fill the tank first or let it run for a bit.


Cheers

No Nothing about Cichlids and the plants that can be kept with them.

With regard to coral should be fine to use might just want to give a clean first maybe boil it for a short period of time.

If you going with plants you can put them in at the begining of a cycle.

After a bit of searching found this list (as i said previously no experiance with cichlids or the plants that go with them so if this is not suitable feel free to remove)

Ferns

Bolbitis heudelotii
-Did not grow well; attracted black marl and withered in hard water

Ceratopteris siliquosa
-Grew extremely well in good light; one monster of a plant

Ceratopteris thalicroides
-Like C. siliquosa, grew incredibly well and became difficult to tame in good light

Marsilea drummondii
-Did well although it spread slowly which is typical of Marsilea spp.

Marsilea quadrifolia
-Did very well in hard water and required very little light

Microsorium pteropus 'Standard'
-Did very well; no problems at all

Microsorium pteropus 'Narrow'
-Does very well; seems to appreciate and thrive in high light/CO2 environment

Microsorium pteropus 'Needle'
-Doing well currently although growth is slow

Microsorium pteropus 'Windelov'
-Like M. pteropus 'Standard' and 'Narrow' does very well in hard water


Flowering plants

Alternanthera reineckii 'Sunset'
-Did not do well at all in hard water; leaves withered and died

Ammania sp. 'Bonsai' / Rotala indica
-Does quite well in hard water with good light and CO2; does best when left in one spot and not replanted often; takes well to pruning and replanting when necessary

Anubias barteri v barteri
-Did well; slow grower

Anubias barteri v nana
-Have had several plants in tank for almost two years now and they grow slowly be steadily; tend to attract some green algae in high light but PO4 levels of 1.0+ ppm moderate algal growth

Anubias barteri v nana 'petite'
-Does very well in hard water; I have a wall of these plants growing on porous piece of lace rock, climbing it like ivy

Aponogeton undulatus
-Does well in hard water; turns into a monster, like many Apos, and is not one of my favorites; will even bloom in an ARLC tank

Bacopa caroliniana
-Does well in hard water given proper light; hard to kill

Bacopa myriophylloides
-This is one tricky plant; looked great when planted as an emersed specimen and began to put out submerged growth but slowly withered and died

Blyxa japonica
-Would grow just fine in an ARLC tank except for the fact that mbuna seem to savor the taste of its leaves; if you can find a species of fish that won't eat it then you're in good shape

Cabomba furcata
-Did fairly well although did not seem to want to take on purple-red coloration that it does in softer water

Crassula helmsii
-Looked good when first planted but slowly withered away/melted; would like to try again

Crinum calamistratum
-Did well at first until it attracted a bit of algae because of its slow-growing nature in hard water; algae attracted Africans; end of story; would like to try again

Cryptocoryne affinis
-Loves ARLC water conditions; next to C. wendtii, the easiest Crypt I've found to grow in an ARLC tank

Cryptocoryne cordata v blassii
-Tricky and a very slow grower in ARLC conditions; I've kept one in my ARLC tank for over a year now and it has never show any inclination to put out more than a half-dozen leaves at any given time

Cryptocoryne crispatula v balanciaga
-A beautiful Crypt that simply won't grow fast enough in hard water although it has a beautiful bronze hammered/bullate leaf texture; best kept in softer conditions

Cryptocoryne crispatula v spiralis
-Grows like a weed in just about any conditions I've tried it in; gets too long, even for a large tank and begins to look ugly

Cryptocoryne longicauda
-Like C. cordata v blassii, does not grow fast enough in ARLC water conditions to make any progress; would like to try again

Cryptocoryne undulata 'Red'
-Grows extremely well in ARLC conditions; very similar in health to most C. wendtii variants; very pretty brown/purple/red coloration and nicely pinnate leaf form

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green Gecko'
-Loves ARLC conditions and will change color dramatically depending on how much light it receives; very prolific and pretty

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Mi Oya'
-A bit slower growing than other C. wendtii variants in my ARLC tank, but still did very well; nice leaf patterning

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Red'
-Very healthy growth; hard to slow it down, although a bit boring to look at

Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
-Strong, healthy, decumbate growth with a nice dark bronze bullate texture; hard to find a good spot for it in the aquascape

Cyperus helferi
-Slow growth in hard water and always ends up attracting black marl; too bad, because it is one of my favorites; best kept in softer water

Didiplis diandra
-Does very well in ARLC water although lower stems will turn black and rot faster than in soft water if shaded too much

Echinodorus x barthii
-Grew fairly well, but slowly; like other swords I have kept I believe its roots did not do well in my paritially carbonate buffered substrate

Echinodorus 'Ozelot'
-Did fairly well but leaves did not tend to last very long before they began to wither; I suspect the substrate had a lot to do with it

Echinodorus tenellus
-Grew quite well and became a bit of a pest; I am not a big fan of grassy plants, especially sneaky ones like this one - they're very hard to get rid of

Eichhornia diversifolia
-After the initial black-and-blue transplant shock that this plant seems to suffer on occassion it did fairly well; does not seem to shoot to the surface nearly as quickly or produce as many leaves as it does in softer water

Elatine triandra
-Grows unbelievably well in hard water; can quickly take over a tank if not pruned frequently; I still find it growing in the strangest places

Eleocharis acicularis
-Grew slowly, but this was before CO2 supplementation so I suspect it may do fairly well if given proper CO2 levels

Glossostigma elatinoides
-Grows very well in ARLC conditions given proper light and CO2

Hemianthus callitrichoides
-Growth was extremely slow and not enough to even offset die-back

Hemianthus micranthemoides 'Erect'
-Grows well in most conditions; has a slight tendency to attract hair algae in my ARLC tank if it gets too thick; can't figure out how to incorporate it into my aquascape

Hemigraphis traian
-Did not do well at all in hard water; lower leaves quickly died off; only growth tips looked good; it looks much better in my soft water grow-out tank

Heteranthera zosterifolia
-Grows well in ARLC tanks but tends to have the tips nibbled by my mbuna, so it does look the best; I wish I could get them to leave it alone

Hottonia palustris
-Given proper light will grow quite well; lower stems tend to rot quickly if shaded

Hydrocotyle verticellata
-Grows nicely in hard water but leaves tend to die more quickly than they do in softer water; still one of my favorites

Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides
-Grows well in most conditions I've tried with med- to high- light and CO2; does not have a very nice growth form and tends to get bushy and tangled so can be tricky to incorporate into an aquascape

Hydrotriche hottoniiflora
-Grows fairly well (and quickly) in hard water but needs plenty of light to prevent loss of lower stems; beautiful brilliant green color

Hygrophila corymbosa v 'Compacta'
-Grows decently but leaves tend to become pinholed and rot much more quickly than they do in softer water; not recommended

Hygrophila difformis
-Grows like the weed that it is; this plant would probably grow in an empty shoe box in the back of my closet; will inundate a tank very quickly

Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosa Nervig'
-Grows quite nicely in hard water given plenty of light; CO2 helps as well; leaves still take on the characteristic "pink with white venation" look at the tips

Lagenandra thwaitesii
-Withered and died; did not seem to do well in hard water but I would like to try again

Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
-Grew well and took on rich green submersed coloration like a grass yard but eventually attracted algae and slowly shrunk until I had to remove; might work well in the right conditions but requires tons of maintainence to make it look good; will try again when I have more time

Limnophila aromatica
-Loves hard water and grows quite well with characteristic purple-red leaf coloration; fast, healthy growth

Limnophila sessiliflora
-Very healthy and fast vertical growth; hard to keep up with; nice bright green accent

Lobelia cardinalis 'small form'
-Healthy but slow, low growth; does better in softer water

Ludwigia brevipes
-Grows quite well in hard water; branches and propagates readily

Ludwigia glandulosa
-I love this plant but it grows so slowly in hard (or soft) water; the coloration is an unreal deep wine-red; easily my favorite Ludwigia species; will be trying again soon

Ludwigia inclinata var verticellata 'Pantanal'
-Melted like an ice cube; definitely a soft water plant

Ludwigia ovalis
-Grows quite well in hard water; did not get the pretty salmon-pink coloration quite as well as it does in softer water

Ludwigia repens
-Grows vibrantly in hard water; lower stems will lose leaves without sufficient light

Ludwigia repens 'Rubin'
-Like its standard cousin, grows very well in hard water; upper leaves near light turn a brilliant blood red; highly recommended for ARLC tanks

Mayaca fluviatilis
-Slow growth compared to soft water but the tips still got the nice frosted white look until they attracted algae and became lunch for my mbuna; would like to try again

Mayaca sellowiana
-This is one of my favorite plants when healthy but, alas, I can't seem to keep it healthy in any tank conditions; attracts algae and stunts in hard water; eaten by mbuna once it gets algae

Micranthemum umbrosum
-Beautiful bright yellow-green growth in hard water with lots of light and CO2; lower stems tend to become brittle and rot more quickly than they do in softer water so it requires more frequent replanting, but is still one of my all-time favorite plants

Myriophyllum hippuroides
-This is one fast-growing, bushy, green plant; requires plenty of light lower stems will rot; will readily produce offshoots if allowed to bend across top of water; great background plant

Myriophyllum matogrossense 'Green'
-Does extremely well in most water conditions; brilliant green foliage and medium-height growth makes it a great mid- to background plant; needs plenty of light

Myriophyllum tuberculatum 'Red'
-Sparse foliage and somewhat slow growth in hard water, but has a nice brown-red coloration; I wish it would grow faster and thicker; does better in softer water

Nesaea sp 'Red'
-I cannot grow this plant under any conditions; would like to talk to someone who has

Nuphar japonicum v formosa
-Slow growing lily that turns into a monster given time; it does very well in hard water and has brilliant orange-gold leaves; does not put up floating leaves readily like the Nymphera genus; highly recommended if you have a big tank and don't mind the plants below it getting shaded

Nymphoides aquatica
-Will grow anywhere; typical banana plant

Pogostemon helferi
-Does very well in hard water; in my 50% carbonate-based substrate it takes on a richer, darker green coloration than it does in my softer water, Flourite-based substrate grow-out tank; beware, Africans seem to like nibbling on the new growth so they need to be fed well to be kept away from it

Pogostemon (Eusteralis) stellata 'Broad-leaf'
-Grows amazingly well in ARLC tanks; will lose lower leaves without sufficient light; does not seem to mind hard water at all; brilliant color as it approaches the surface

Pogostemon (Eusteralis) stellata 'Narrow-leaf'
-Grows well in ARLC conditions, sometimes; I still haven't figured this one out; requires as much light as you can give it; tends to stunt for no good reason, even when it appears to be in perfect health; still working on this one

Polygonum sp
-I've tried several mystery Polygonum species and they've all done quite well in my hard water, although the species is not one of my favorites - sort of boring in my opinion

Potamogeton gayi
-Very interesting plant that does well in hard water; nice bronze-green leaf coloration with quick, vibrant growth; tricky to use in an aquascape because of its unique growth habits, but I'm working on it

Ranalisma humile
-Very similar to E. tenellus bet smaller and with a reddish tinge to the new growth; growth is fairly slow compared to E. tenellus and it requires good light and CO2

Ranunculus papulentus
-Does quite well in my ARLC conditions; runners do not seem to spread as rapidly as they do in softer water and leaves tend to die a bit sooner but overall still healthy

Rotala macrandra 'Red'
-Slow to establish from emersed growth specimens with about a 50% mortality rate; survivors tend to do fairly well although leaves are not as lush and growth seems a bit stunted compared to soft water-grown specimens; once acclimated it does fairly well

Rotala macrandra 'Variegated'
-Almost identical to R. macrandra 'Red'; beautiful pink leaf coloration with faint white venation

Rotala rotundifolia 'Colorata'
-Grows very well in hard water but tends to be sort of 'tangly'; I wish it would grow straighter because the leaf coloration is truly amazing, ranging from greent to yellow, orange, pink, red and every shade in between; still working on this one

Rotala rotundifolia 'Green'
-Extremely vibrant growth with amazing coloration on the growth tips as they approach the light; this is one of my favorite plants because it is so amenable to trimming and sculpting and has a very regular growth habit

Rotala wallichii
-Very fragile in hard water; does not seem to like it at all; not recommended

Sagittaria subulata
-Grows like wild but leaves tend to wither and die quite quickly; sort of messy; not one of my favorites

Sagittaria weatherbiana
-Like S. subulata on steroids and growth hormones; I really like the leaf shape of this plant; grows well, even in medium light

Vallisneria spp.
-Lasts no longer than 24 hours when placed into my tank; I've never found a plant that my Africans enjoy eating more than Vallisneria; not recommended, buy your mileage may vary


Liverworts

Monoselenium tenerum (Pellia)
-Grows well; left alone by fish

Riccia fluitans
-Grows very well; left alone by fish unless it attracts hair algae, in which case they will dig in it

Riccia species 'Dwarf'
-Grows in low tufts; tended to attract hair algae, and thus mbuna


Mosses
-None of them will grow in my tank because my Africans take perverse pleasure in shredding them and scattering them to the four winds


Quillworts

Isoetes japonica
-Grew poorly and slowly attracted the dreaded black marl from the hard water

Thanks for the info, really handy. Ill post some pics when im planted and running.
Once again cheers.

Your more than welcome i just hope it gives you some help and make sure you do put up those pics
It would be nice to see a planted cichlid tank

thats some nice research work there david;