What Tank To Buy

[chrisbassist]

not at the moment,

but i'll take a couple for you and put them in the members aquarium section.

Someone else who hasmore knowledge than me, and also has experience with the roma 125 is Wills, he has since upgraded to a larger roma, but used to have the 125, his knowledge helped me a lot.

 

[PDSimon]

First things on your shopping list now should be:

Pure household ammonia from boots (can be ordered online)

Liquid test kit (personally I use API Master Test kit. Around £18 on ebay)

Substrate - (Do you want gravel or sand? If you want light coloured playsand like in my sig then try argos and get kids play sand)

The API seems recommended in lots of places. I'm not sure about substrate, It limits the fish slightly by having gravel yet it's easier to clean, I don't enjoy decision making. How do(or did) you keep yours so clean?

I take it when people speak of conditioner they mean dechlorinator?

nutrafin cycle comes with the tank as well, is that worth using?


thanks for the help from you and everyone by the way - much appreciated

not at the moment,

but i'll take a couple for you and put them in the members aquarium section.

Someone else who hasmore knowledge than me, and also has experience with the roma 125 is Wills, he has since upgraded to a larger roma, but used to have the 125, his knowledge helped me a lot.

awesome, thank you!

 

[Curiosity101]

Who told you sand was harder to clean? There is a different technique to cleaning it but it certainly isn't harder! With gravel you just shoove the syphon deep down cause the dirt settles deep in the gravel. With sand it settles on the top so you just move the end of the syphon over the top (without touching it) and syphon up the dirt that way.

And yes water conditioner is the dechlorinator/heavy metal remover. I've recently switched to seachem prime, alot of people use it because it's very concentrated so economical. And it also apparently had added bonuses to the fish (though I'm not entirely sold on that part! lol)

Nutrafin cycle, it wont hurt to stick it in. But don't expect it to do anything, and don't ever actually buy stuff that claims to cycle your tank.

Oh and the tank in my sig is the fluval roma 125.

 

[PDSimon]

Who told you sand was harder to clean? There is a different technique to cleaning it but it certainly isn't harder! With gravel you just shoove the syphon deep down cause the dirt settles deep in the gravel. With sand it settles on the top so you just move the end of the syphon over the top (without touching it) and syphon up the dirt that way.

And yes water conditioner is the dechlorinator/heavy metal remover. I've recently switched to seachem prime, alot of people use it because it's very concentrated so economical. And it also apparently had added bonuses to the fish (though I'm not entirely sold on that part! lol)

Nutrafin cycle, it wont hurt to stick it in. But don't expect it to do anything, and don't ever actually buy stuff that claims to cycle your tank.

Oh and the tank in my sig is the fluval roma 125.

I can't remember, but i thought syphoning with sand would cause it to be blown around the tank? and i read anaerobic bacteria are more likely to grow in it etc..

and yeah it says something about a natural remedy for relaxing the fish...

I really like the little eel shaped fish that swim around and dig at the bottom, so I guess i'd need sand for that, or round gravel.

Thats good to know, I like your setup in that, I want a similar one what's the plant called that has tall ~ 1 inch wide leaves?

 

[kaivalagi]

Good luck with your new tank, I also have a Roma 125, see my sig for pic links. Can't fault it other than the size and the internal space wasted with the filter...I did replace the internal filter and heater with external, a Tetratec EX1200 and Hydor ETH 200W heater

I am waiting for my Seabray 5ft tank now, to put all my stock into, the Roma 125 will then be a breeder tank for cockatoo dwarf / krib cichlids I think...going into the bedroom for a better mood

That'll be 0 to 2 tanks in less than 6 months Gotta love this hobby!

If you don't want to upgrade any time soon make sure you go with small size fish or small numbers, I want more cichlids and have slightly aggressive fish too hence the upgrade

 

[waterdrop]

Completely agree with C101. Cleaning gravel or sand is just a matter of learning the particular skill for either one, both types of maintenance are about of equal difficulty in the end. I think the gravel skill comes a little more quickly and is perhaps a little easier but then probably an actual weekly cleanup of sand goes a little more quickly once you have the skill down.

I chose gravel partly because I wanted black, to contrast with the fish colors better, and because I felt it would hid dirt a little better. I also wanted Flourite for the plants at the time and it comes in black. Also I had the very arcane reason of wanting to actually experience gravel cleaning so I would know what I was talking about with simple beginner tanks.

Over time I found that Flourite had the disadvantage of being a gravel with quite sharp edges, which is not good at all for cories, which I like enough to wish I could have in this tank. I also found that the plain black gravel that I used to increase the overall volume, rather than buying all Flourite, has in some cases lost its black and that some granules are white underneath! Sand has the advantage that cories and other fish that need a softer substrate texture are more comfortable on it. A disadvantage of sand of course is abrasion if it gets up in your filter pump or other equipment like that.

~~waterdrop~~
edit: ps. 5-foot tank k-man? wow

 

[PDSimon]

Good luck with your new tank, I also have a Roma 125, see my sig for pic links. Can't fault it other than the size and the internal space wasted with the filter...I did replace the internal filter and heater with external, a Tetratec EX1200 and Hydor ETH 200W heater

I am waiting for my Seabray 5ft tank now, to put all my stock into, the Roma 125 will then be a breeder tank for cockatoo dwarf / krib cichlids I think...going into the bedroom for a better mood

That'll be 0 to 2 tanks in less than 6 months Gotta love this hobby!

If you don't want to upgrade any time soon make sure you go with small size fish or small numbers, I want more cichlids and have slightly aggressive fish too hence the upgrade

Thank you, it looks awesome, the fish you have are really nice too. I quite like the look of discus but they're probably a bit big for 125? oh and are your plants real? they look it, but they don't seem to be buried much

 

[kaivalagi]

edit: ps. 5-foot tank k-man? wow

It took some doing with the wife I can tell you! I want my cichlids in a nice big tank and I don't want to upgrade again, so I'm spending the money now on something that will stay for good. I should have got a big tank from the start but I didn't really know all that much about cichlids then. I want to take on a couple of Sevs, a Rotkeil being my favourite but I just haven't seen any around locally. Reading about your points w.r.t. tank height I am now a little worried...my new tank will be 24" tall

But I don't have to stretch in the slightest with my Roma 125 which measures at 19" so fingers crossed it'll be okay. Only another weeks and a bit wait for my tank

. I have already prepared all my sand (geophagus and cories!) and bogwood, I'll start a new tank thread once it arrives...

 

[PDSimon]

Completely agree with C101. Cleaning gravel or sand is just a matter of learning the particular skill for either one, both types of maintenance are about of equal difficulty in the end. I think the gravel skill comes a little more quickly and is perhaps a little easier but then probably an actual weekly cleanup of sand goes a little more quickly once you have the skill down.

I chose gravel partly because I wanted black, to contrast with the fish colors better, and because I felt it would hid dirt a little better. I also wanted Flourite for the plants at the time and it comes in black. Also I had the very arcane reason of wanting to actually experience gravel cleaning so I would know what I was talking about with simple beginner tanks.

Over time I found that Flourite had the disadvantage of being a gravel with quite sharp edges, which is not good at all for cories, which I like enough to wish I could have in this tank. I also found that the plain black gravel that I used to increase the overall volume, rather than buying all Flourite, has in some cases lost its black and that some granules are white underneath! Sand has the advantage that cories and other fish that need a softer substrate texture are more comfortable on it. A disadvantage of sand of course is abrasion if it gets up in your filter pump or other equipment like that.

~~waterdrop~~
edit: ps. 5-foot tank k-man? wow

I guess it's just up to personal opinion then. I quite the look of loaches and similar fish to that which dig down so I guess it's best to go with sand so it doesn't restrict the fish choice... Is it easier to grow potter plants in sand or gravel though

Unfortunate about your gravel changing colour, thanks for your help

 

[kaivalagi]

Thank you, it looks awesome, the fish you have are really nice too. I quite like the look of discus but they're probably a bit big for 125? oh and are your plants real? they look it, but they don't seem to be buried much

Discus will be a little too large yes

The plants are real, they're the easy ones to grow Vallis, Java Fern and Moneywort are in there. The Vallis in the middle of the tank have grown that much they have reached the end of the tank at the surface and then some. The java fern (i.e. the plant on the driftwood) shouldn't be buried all that much as they need their root system exposed, I'll check the others - my cichlids, expecially the Honduras Red Point, likes to redecorate now and again so I'll just blame him

If you want to go with cichlids I personally think for that size tank you need to make a decision of A) going with a single cichlid species and having potential breeding going on or B) mixing it up a little but being very careful you'll not have too many aggression issues or hybrid breeding possibilities (CA cichlids can cross breed, and no-one wants cross bred juvi fish - mostly anyway - I went all male). In a tank this size you haven't got much room if a new fish is a bit nasty to others so lots and lots of hiding places are good. Mine have had a a couple of scraps very recently (from lip locking and chasing) here and there which is more or less unavoidable in a tank this size when fish get past a certain size (to teenager stage I guess). Now if I had added my fish at the size they are now (~ 3" to 4") there would have been deaths I'm sure, but adding them all as small juvis has helped keep the peace for the most part.

I went on a bit there aye, cichlids are great though, you'll find it really rewarding I am sure

edit: I'm using sand in my new tank after using gravel in my current one, for one to do the right thing for my cories and geophagus and secondly because I think it looks more natural. I may not plant so heavily in my new tank either, just a few vallis and java fern I think. But the vallis will be okay in sand from what I've read.

 

[waterdrop]

Rooted plants will do equally well in gravel or sand I feel, but sand will hold them a little more easily. You never leave rooted plants in the little pots with the stuff in them. You have to sit down and work over a sink or newspaper and very gently remove all this stuff from around the roots, then take scissors and cut off a tiny bit of the root tips before planting. Dig a deep hole and spread the roots out in the bottom, cover over with sand/gravel and then gently pull the crown (place where roots meet leaf stems) upward until its barely but completely above the substrate surface. Some rooted plants like swords will do better with a "root tab" (solid ball of fertilizer) buried under the roots if you are not heavily dosing the water column with plant nutrients. One of the first steps to growing good plants is knowing your light intensity (how many watts of what type lamp) and what duration (how many hours per day in what pattern) to use.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[PDSimon]

Thank you, it looks awesome, the fish you have are really nice too. I quite like the look of discus but they're probably a bit big for 125? oh and are your plants real? they look it, but they don't seem to be buried much

Discus will be a little too large yes

The plants are real, they're the easy ones to grow Vallis, Java Fern and Moneywort are in there. The Vallis in the middle of the tank have grown that much they have reached the end of the tank at the surface and then some. The java fern (i.e. the plant on the driftwood) shouldn't be buried all that much as they need their root system exposed, I'll check the others - my cichlids, expecially the Honduras Red Point, likes to redecorate now and again so I'll just blame him

If you want to go with cichlids I personally think for that size tank you need to make a decision of A) going with a single cichlid species and having potential breeding going on or B) mixing it up a little but being very careful you'll not have too many aggression issues or hybrid breeding possibilities (CA cichlids can cross breed, and no-one wants cross bred juvi fish - mostly anyway - I went all male). In a tank this size you haven't got much room if a new fish is a bit nasty to others so lots and lots of hiding places are good. Mine have had a a couple of scraps very recently (from lip locking and chasing) here and there which is more or less unavoidable in a tank this size when fish get past a certain size (to teenager stage I guess). Now if I had added my fish at the size they are now (~ 3" to 4") there would have been deaths I'm sure, but adding them all as small juvis has helped keep the peace for the most part.

I went on a bit there aye, cichlids are great though, you'll find it really rewarding I am sure

edit: I'm using sand in my new tank after using gravel in my current one, for one to do the right thing for my cories and geophagus and secondly because I think it looks more natural. I may not plant so heavily in my new tank either, just a few vallis and java fern I think. But the vallis will be okay in sand from what I've read.

hmm i'm not sure, they do seem very nice. If you had all females would they be generally better in a friendly communal tank? Feel free to go on it's very helpful

I think i might go with sand... the root tabs sound like a good idea rather than sticking fertilizer in.

I like the idea of some sort of hatchet fish for the top (i thought they looked so funny all at the top)

I like loads of fish but especially the large fins/colourful/unusual shaped ones. bettas, guppy, mollys, siamese fighting fish, long like loaches, some angel fish.. cichlids (i saw a checkboard one and cockatoo which look amazing), pencil fish, tetras, some barbs,

theres fish in this book like killifishs that I don't ever see in fish shops. I guess it's just a long process of really researching the species.

I also love the idea of crabs but i imagine they snip at the fish. Maybe dwarf frogs, but then again if i had something like bottom dwelling loaches they wouldn't get on.

You've got me going on now

Rooted plants will do equally well in gravel or sand I feel, but sand will hold them a little more easily. You never leave rooted plants in the little pots with the stuff in them. You have to sit down and work over a sink or newspaper and very gently remove all this stuff from around the roots, then take scissors and cut off a tiny bit of the root tips before planting. Dig a deep hole and spread the roots out in the bottom, cover over with sand/gravel and then gently pull the crown (place where roots meet leaf stems) upward until its barely but completely above the substrate surface. Some rooted plants like swords will do better with a "root tab" (solid ball of fertilizer) buried under the roots if you are not heavily dosing the water column with plant nutrients. One of the first steps to growing good plants is knowing your light intensity (how many watts of what type lamp) and what duration (how many hours per day in what pattern) to use.

~~waterdrop~~

This is good to know, thank you.. the fish guy was on about potted plants, i didn't really know what he meant but he said they lasted longer.

light intensity is 2 x 20 watt bulbs

 

[waterdrop]

OK, 40 (watts) divided by 33 (US gallons) puts you at about 1.2 watts/gallon. I'm going to assume they are T8 (eight eighths of an inch = one inch bulb diameter = T8 in typically difficult industry jargon!) or T12 (inch and a half, right ) which have a similar efficiency of converting electricity to light and was what was used in first figuring out the different "approaches" to growing plants in planted tanks. If you have the skinnier T5 type tubes then these are newer, have even greater efficiency, which means even more light per wattage and could mean you have too much light!

But lets assume T8 and in that case your 1.2 w/g puts you right in the sweet spot for a whole area of plant growing "approach" called "low-light approach." In this approach you first study and find a bunch of low-light species (anubias, java ferns, java moss, swords, some crypts and many more.. sometimes in searches on TFF these are called "easy" plants.) Then theres more stuff to study about "plant nutrition" and that might also be somewhat dependent on how heavily and with what type fish you stock the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kaivalagi]

When deciding on fish there are a lot of factors to consider, the obvious ones you need to look out for are suitable temperature, pH, substrate and plant requirements. Some people don't like the Aqadvisor site and what it complains about, and that's fair enough as some of it can be a bit off, but at the very least it will help you narrow down what will work together in terms of temp and pH which is important, link here: http/www.aqadvisor.com/

Your lighting will be fine for easy to care for plants such as Vallis or Java Fern etc, but make sure you don't leave the tubes on too long otherwise you may get unwanted algae growth. I think the very rough guideline is no more than 8 hours a day, but it does really depend on your planting, fish stock and therefore fish waste, whether CO2 is injected and outside factors such as sunlight hitting the tank etc etc etc. If you want to go more technical into planted tanks then you may have to invest in additional lighting to get to the 2-3Watt/Gallon rule for that type of tank. I am no expert though, this is just what I've picked up from around these parts

Edit: #40##, WD is quick

Edit2: apparently dam with an n on the end is a swear word

 

[PDSimon]

OK, 40 (watts) divided by 33 (US gallons) puts you at about 1.2 watts/gallon. I'm going to assume they are T8 (eight eighths of an inch = one inch bulb diameter = T8 in typically difficult industry jargon!) or T12 (inch and a half, right ) which have a similar efficiency of converting electricity to light and was what was used in first figuring out the different "approaches" to growing plants in planted tanks. If you have the skinnier T5 type tubes then these are newer, have even greater efficiency, which means even more light per wattage and could mean you have too much light!

But lets assume T8 and in that case your 1.2 w/g puts you right in the sweet spot for a whole area of plant growing "approach" called "low-light approach." In this approach you first study and find a bunch of low-light species (anubias, java ferns, java moss, swords, some crypts and many more.. sometimes in searches on TFF these are called "easy" plants.) Then theres more stuff to study about "plant nutrition" and that might also be somewhat dependent on how heavily and with what type fish you stock the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

It is indeed T8. Thank you so much

When deciding on fish there are a lot of factors to consider, the obvious ones you need to look out for are suitable temperature, pH, substrate and plant requirements. Some people don't like the Aqadvisor site and what it complains about, and that's fair enough as some of it can be a bit off, but at the very least it will help you narrow down what will work together in terms of temp and pH which is important, link here: http/www.aqadvisor.com/

Your lighting will be fine for easy to care for plants such as Vallis or Java Fern etc, but make sure you don't leave the tubes on too long otherwise you may get unwanted algae growth. I think the very rough guideline is no more than 8 hours a day, but it does really depend on your planting, fish stock and therefore fish waste, whether CO2 is injected and outside factors such as sunlight hitting the tank etc etc etc. If you want to go more technical into planted tanks then you may have to invest in additional lighting to get to the 2-3Watt/Gallon rule for that type of tank. I am no expert though, this is just what I've picked up from around these parts

Edit: #40##, WD is quick

Edit2: apparently dam with an n on the end is a swear word

i think there was a co2 injecter for just 10 pound at the aquatics shop. is it worth it for say... 5 plants?

WD?

thanks for the link

Two important questions

The tank is going in my bedroom, which has a computer in with a stereo system attached

1) Is it ok to play music near the fish? not exceptionally loud, just like TV loud.

2) my room sometimes gets really humid in the summer nights, will this effect my tank and if so how can i avoid it changing the temperature so I don't kill any fish?