I managed to purchase a new tank today - it is 3ft long 220litres came with stand hood, lighting, heating and external filter (Rena XP2), 2inch floor covering of fine gravel, air stone and filter media!

Guess how much!?!?!?

£75.00!

I have just finished filling it with water and got the filter running (it is silent!!)
I will sort out the heating and lighting once i have brought some decor - im thinking large piece of bog wood and lots of live plants!

I do have mature filter media in the tank, however i am going to leave it running at least a week before i add the fish from my little community tank.

This tank is an upgrade from a 2ft by 1ft tank that i have 20 guppies in, 1 mickey mouse platy, 1 butterfly sucker, 1 silver molly, 1 balloon molly, 4 shrimp and lots of snails... i cant wait to move them in to it - they are gonna love all the new space!!

Im also thinking of new tank mates - some glass catfish, a large pleco, and a few angel fish - any suggestions on new stocking that would be compatible?!

I am so excited!!

I will post a picture of it 2moro - it has a black ash hood and cabinet stand.

Lucky bugger!

j/k, nice find.

Not too good on community stocking, however, mature media needs a constant source of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive, so you need to either add ammonia or get some fish in there asap. Otherwise you'll have to cycle all over again.

cheers i shall throw some of my fish over tonight dthoffsett - they are all very small -so how many do you think i should add to start me off?

they will look so silly in the tank coz they are all so little lol!

Im so excited - going to find some decor for it and get some of the fishys in tonight x

Wow, where did you get that from?

by watching Ebay like a hawk!!

im so chuffed with it.... but i really need advice on stocking

The person i got it off left it with their filter media in it and i got the tank back up and running within 4 hours - with new dechlorinated water

How soon should i add some fish? and how many fish should i add in one go?

This is an upgrade - i have 20-30 guppies, 1 balloon molly, 1 silver molly, 1 gold ringed butterfly sucker, 1 mickey mouse platy and 4 amano shrimp and some snails to move into the tank - how many should i put in? in what order and how soon?


Also what else can i put in this tank?? - i would love some angels, a plec and maybe some glass catfish and neons (to help keep guppy fry down). would these tank mates work? how many of each?


Im off to work now - i will post pictures later -

thank you for the help x

Straight away or dose ammonia to feed the filter bacteria. how long was the filter running for without fish? It may of already died (bacteria)

its been running since 11pm last night without fish

should i add them now?

how many?

Yes it should be ok, add about 4, you dont want to put a high load on now.

I have just come home from work to find my old tank has a large leak (lucky i decided to upgrade!!) However this has meant that i have had to add the whole contents of the old tank into the new set-up. I have also added some safe start to the tank - the fish look a bit daft in the tank - they are all small guppies - the largest fish is a balloon molly. I will go gentle on the feeding to avoid an ammonia surge. fingers crossed!!

Good luck! Sorry to hear about your old tank, but at least you had a new one ready to go. As long as you moved your old filter to your new tank along with the stock you shouldn't have any ammonia spikes, but light feedings are still a good idea.

the tank is running with a large external filter that has been being running in a friends tank for 2 years.i had water in the filter during transit, and had it filtering through the tank within 5 hours to try and make sure the bacteria didnt die. However i didnt get to add the fish for atleast 16 hours.

will the filter bacteria of survived?

I ran a test today:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40

its all reading like an established aquarium....I think

I have raised the temp a little to try and ward off any health issues. the temperature at the end of the tank with the heater -( i need a themometre for the other end!) is at 82.

I finished adding the hardscape and the plants and bits from the old tank yesterday. I still want to get some more plants in their.

I will post a pic of this tank in the members aquariums.... let me know what u guys think!!

Im going to spend the day re-vamping my temperate tank now (im in the mood!)

thanks for all the help guys!

sometimes you buy things for a reason and it must of been for your tank cracking lol. sorry to hear about it BTW.