2 More Newbie Questions

[stuart264]

Said I was new to this, but I at least I am asking now rather than screwing up with fish in the tank

1. Pump positioning, not 100% sure on this as the instructions for the submarine pump were not in the box, I have set it up with the upright from the pump about 3/4 - 1" above the level of the water because I am guessing this helps the aeration but I am not sure and 20 minutes googling failed to turn up anything on if the pump output should be above or in the water level. Sadly I cant post a photo as my digital camera is refusing to work at the because of some techy issues about running Windows XP x64 that I wont bore you with.

2. I am lucky enough to live right by the sea where I do spend a lot of time sitting on the beach in good weather and I know there are some amazing textured rocks down there that actually look better than I could buy in a marine shop, I already got warned to avoid anything containing limestone and I remember enough geology from my school days to avoid that but how do I "prep" the rocks to put in my tank, I suspect I should boil them to kill off any bacteria, contaminants, salt etc and algae but any advice on doing this would be appreciated as I live on a tight budget and as I said earlier the stuff down at the sea edge looks a hell of a lot better than anything the marine shop had.

 

[pirate monkey]

Hi Stuart!

1. Do you know what type your filter is? Most underwater filters need the oulet to be below the surface, and often have an extra attachment to help with airation, or an airpump and airstone can be used for airation instead (this usually provides better airation than a filter pump). Is it the filter that came with your tank? I will have a look for some info...

2. Yep you can use most rocks in your aquarium, ones to avoid are anything that looks rusty or contains metals, and as you mentioned limestone, chalk etc. I'll try and find the link I've seen before about rocks. But yeah if you just boil them for about half an hour or so, that should make them safe enough! I don't know if you have a test kit yet, but it is probably advisable to test the pH of your water after you have added rocks like that in, as some may affect the pH of your water. Heres the advantage of fishless cycling, you can mess around with your tank decorations before your fish are here.

You are lucky living by the sea, I grew up at the seaside, and miss it loads!

 

[pirate monkey]

Here's the link about aquarium rocks this will tell you how to prep the rocks and what is and isn't suitable

Is your filter an undergravel filter? I've looked at some aqua one aquariums but can't get much info... It might be worth posting a new topic in 'tropical discussion' - just ask if anyone has the same tank as I'm sure there will be a few people who can give you some advice!

I hope this helps!

 

[stuart264]

Tank is an Superfish AquaSafe Aqua-40 that came with a Powerhead 320 Pump. Googling I can find pictures of the tank but only a spares listing for the Powerhead 320 and no manf. website seems to be listed

 

[waterdrop]

I'm not sure if its in Pirate's good thread ('cause I didn't want to read all the pages..) but one very general tip I read here on TFF was that any rock or anything else for that matter that you plan to put in your aquarium but have doubts about can be checked out by putting it in a bucket of water similar to your tank water and then tested. Just leave it there and perform the same tests (pH,KH,GH etc.) that you could perform on your aquarium. Be sure to take baselines and then just see if the object does anything. Takes time but should be fairly definitive.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[stuart264]

Finally tracked down the tanf manf. website and e-mailed them over the positioning of the filter outlet as I found the instructions for the pump / filter online but they are pretty vague about the positioning.