Bill

Hi everyone,

I've been researching for a long time on all the stuff I think I'm going to need for my new 160L aquarium. It's finally come down to a sort of list, and a few things I'd like some advice on

PLANTS: I'm going to get my tank nice and plant-heavy after reading all the good things about what the do for a tank, but I'm wondering if there are any particularly good plants you could recommend? Hardiness would be good, as I might end up getting some plant-nibbling fish, and I don't want to get some of that clay stuff - cost is a big issue on everything.

FOOD: Basically, there are so many sorts out there that I'm having difficulty deciding. I want come basic flake stuff and some algae wafer stuff. Any ideas would be great

GRAVEL VACUUM: Again, are there any particular types which are especially good? and could I get away with just a siphon tube, stirring up the gravel and sucking all the crap out like that? I get the feeling a gravel vacuum would be a good investment, but I can't spend too much on it. I'm getting very jealous of you Americans having that drsfosterandsmith website where you can buy all this stuff :P

ADDITIVES: There are basically 3 additives that I want to buy.

a) I'm planning on getting some stuff to add to the water with chelated iron etc to help my plants grow. What brand have people found the best? I'd need to get it in a fairly large volume, and like I said cost is an issue.

b) Tap water treatment. Once again, large quantities would be nice as my tank is pretty big, and I'll end up treating loads of water! Any brands which seem to work very well? I've seen mixed reviews throughout the net on different things, but one of the best seems to be Stress Coat by API. API seems to be a very good brand in general.

c) Stress zyme, by API - I'm wondering whether this is worth getting. Like I said, I'm poor, so I really want to be sure it's worth a tenner It says it's good for biological filters (mine's an undergravel filter) and general wellbeing of fish, as well as reducing toxic stuff like ammonia and nitrite. I'd like to hear what you guys think of it.

ANGELFISH: I really like the look of these guys, but I think they might be too delicate for an 18" high tank with a bright light. I want to get lots of species in my aquarium, but I'm unsure about this one - especially as they're quite expensive. Opinions?

ADDING FISH AND CYCLING: I've read that I can add a couple of fish every couple of weeks, and not to add any fish while cycling (apart from hardy ones like danios, barbs etc.), but with our coldwater tank as soon as we got it, we filled it up and added goldfish straight away (the advice of the fish shop). The fish have survived seven years since then! We also added 5 cloud mountain minnows at the same time, to no ill effect. Is there any definitive answer, or should I just take it slow and see what happens?


Okay, that's about all I can think of right now... any help on anything would be greatly appreciated. I'm finding it hard to get a balance between going into deep debt and being prepared for everything So yeah, one final question: I have a filter, pump, gravel and light in the tank and that's it - I'm going to add plants and get a testing kit. Apart from somewhere for the fish to hide (I think some of that cool mangrovey wood could be cool), is there anything else I should have? Any particular additives that are a must? A quarantine tank is pretty much out of the question, but I read on this site that as the tank isn't marine I should be able to get by quite well without one.

Hopefully I'll soon have got my test kit and started cycling my tank - not with bottled ammonia, but nicking the filter media from our coldwater tank and waiting till my test kit says it's okay to put some danios in

Sorry for so many questions, I hope it's not too many As you can see, I have a lot to learn, and so far this site has been fantastic.

Thanks a lot!

~Bill

COBettaCouple

Java Ferns seem to do well, even for us. With good care, they'll reproduce via sprouts on their leaves quite well. we've already pulled 4 sprouts off of 1 that we got for a tank that was being kept at low light.

Food would depend on the fish really.. I like tetra and hikari food best, but some other foods are good. if you have carnivores or omnivores, frozen foods like bloodworms are a nice treat. herbivores and omnivores like an occasional veggie treat.

The Python is highly recommended for substrata cleaning and water changing.

Flourish is a good plant product, but i'm not sure of a chelated iron product really.
Prime is the best tap water conditioner overall and is excellent for reducing toxins like nitrites and ammonia. Amquel+ is a good alternative product to prime, but I'd pick prime 1st anyday.
I prefer Novaqua+ to StressZyme, but either is a good product.

Angelfish prefer tall tanks, but can be aggressive with smaller fish. http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Angelfish.htm

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm - check this out for really good cycling info.

I like adding VitaChem to our tanks and at least a couple caves (or cave-like decor). The API master freshwater kit is the best for testing. You can find all of these products and good prices at:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/Shop.cfm?N=2004.

Best of luck.

atmmachine816

Plants: hornwort, amazon swords, crypts, anubias, java moss, guppy grass, anarchis Plantgeek.net is a good source for plant info

Food: I like Omega One along with other members, it's first ingredient isn't fish meal and tends to have better ingredients. Frozen foods are cheap and easy and good alternative to flake, pelets, wafers

Gravel Vacuum: python is good, simple siphon one for 7-10$ is also good, which is what I use

Additives: I use aquasafe by tetra, had fine results and it's fairly cheap.
I use tetra florapride for basic fertilizers, other ferts you might want to be careful with since you can have algae blooms with them. Flourish, flourish excel by seachem are good

Angelfish: There fine for 18" tank, that's what mine are in, tankmates need to be picked with care since they are cichlids

Adding fish and cycling: I would NOT use filter media from your goldfish tank, they are extremely messing fish and are coldwater and might have a disease that would harm your tropical fish. I would just cycle it without that.

My questions:
how big is your tank?
What type of lighting do you have?
What type of filter do you have?

griffin

PLANTS - sunset hygro, water wisteria, aponogetons, java moss, java fern, dwarf lillies, etc are usually good plants. how much lighting do you plan on having? that'll be a large factor in determining what plants will be good for you. also, what do you mean by that clay stuff? i know http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQ...sZasparagine79 on ebay has some good plants, and usually for a penny. i think if you ask them, they will usually have others that they didn't put up on ebay.

GRAVEL VACUUM - you can get away with a siphon tube. or even cheaper, go to a hardware store and buy some tubing. that's what i do. sometimes i'll use the siphon tube, and sometimes i'll just use a tube. some might suggest a python, but i personally don't see that as a good expense or necessary for me. you might, it depends on your situation

ADDITIVES - for the iron, i like greg watson's. it's about the cheapest and most concentrated you can get. if you're wanting heavy plants, i'd go to his website and get the other fertilizers as well. i use flourish excel as a carbon source, but co2 would probably be cheaper in the long run. i think prime is good as a treatment. or if you're willing to have water sitting out, aged water doesn't need treatments.

CYCLING - if you plant before you add fish, you really don't need to worry about cycling. the plants will take care of it for you. just don't add too many fish at once to be on the safe side.

good luck with your tank!

Bill

Thanks loads for all that advice - everything is seeming a lot simpler now

Answers to your own questions:

By "that clay stuff" I meant the iron fortified clay in this description on fishlore:
"You will need to have a good substrate in order for your plants to survive. There are clay planters you can get to place your plants in or you can even place some plants directly into the gravel. If you place your plants directly into the gravel you will need to use an iron supplement for your aquarium water since these plants won't be getting the nutrients they need from the iron fortified clay."

My tank is 120" long x 15" wide x 18"high.

The lighting I have is a 4ft flourescent tube which gives off a sort of purple light - not a white light. It's like the top light in this photo:


My filter is an undergravel filter. I'll take a photo tomorrow so that you can see it, but a brief description: there is a large tray for the gravel to go on top of, and there are 2 filter tubes, which clip on top of the tray. One of them has a piece of tubing with a little green pumice-like porous thingwhich goes inside it, and the other tube has one of these things:


To go on top of it, which also has another tube which sticks out of the water that you can adjust to take oxygen in. Then there is another porous filter-thingy which fits inside that tube, that is kind of long, a triangular prism sort of shape.

As you can see, I don't know much about it, so I will upload a photo tomorrow

That's awesome that I can add plants and not worry about cycling! I think I'll just stick with my regular siphon tubing too, and just a basic plant fertiliser. So a new list of additives to buy:

Prime
Novaqua+
Tetra Florapride

As to the plants themselves, my local fish shop has a huge range so I should be finely stocked there I think I will wait until the tank is up and running before deciding about angelfish - I like all the little fish like tetras, swordtails, danios and guppies, so I wouldn't want them to have a hard time.

Thanks again for all the great advice guys

Bill

Here are some photos of the thing I have for my aquarium:

The filter system (the blue thing in the background is the air pump).


The tubes with filter media stuff which go into the above pipes - though I'm not sure which one goes in which and how I fit everything together to be honest!


My light (also with heater and controls).

The longer one of the filter pipes also has a second pipe inside it.

Advice on how I put the thing together would be appreciated

Thanks!

*EDIT* Having read all the bad things about an undergravel system, I'm seriously considering chucking it out and getting a new filter system, even though it'll cost lots. Good idea?

COBettaCouple

I think it's a good idea to go with a filtration system OTHER than an undergravel one. There just seems to be too many disadvantages to those.. A power filter or canister filter (if you want to drop the big bucks) would be a lot better for the tank.

atmmachine816

If cost is an issue, go to walmart and buy an aquatech hang on back filter. They are relatively cheap and are made by marineland, a good company. Now your tank is a 140US gallons or 530liters. Now that's a large tank. If your not planning on a lot of live plants you can keep the ugf (undergravel filter) and reverse the flow to have the water coming up through the gravel. If your planning on live plants you'll want to ditch that idea. If you don't have a walmart then the cheapest place to get a filter would be online. If your in the uk I'm not sure which websites deliever to you or not. In filters, you don't want to not spend a lot, what you pay is what you get. You don't need a cannister if cost is an issue but you want a quality HOB (hang on back) filter. I believe you get aquaclears and bio-wheels in the UK, those would be the type you want. I see the powerhead on the ugf could use some cleaning, you might want to do that. I see a heater also, you might want to see how many watts that is and do you have another? The light looks purple, is it really? If so you might need to buy a new light also. If it's the wrong kelvin range which is what it looks like then it will promote the growth of algae and not bring out the colors of your tank. Hopefully that isn't too much for you, if cost is an issue then this will probably be an ongoing project for some time, but once it's finished you'll have a amazing tank.

Bill

Thanks for all that info

Sorry, I misstated the size of the tank - I meant 120cm, not 120" The heater is weird, it doesn't say its wattage, so I'll get a new heater. Also considering a new light simply because white light would look better. And yeah, I'll clean up the powerhead I've found a couple of canister filters online which are pretty cheap, but the Penguin 170 is loking like the best option right now.

Cheers

~Bill