240 Litre Planted Community Journal (new Pics 29/5/07)

[hungryguppy]

I bought a 2217 about a month ago and i love it. The spray bar could have come with better fittings but everything else was awesome. i turned the filter on it started flowing and i couldnt hear it even with the spary bar in the water.

 

[JamieH]

I bought a 2217 about a month ago and i love it. The spray bar could have come with better fittings but everything else was awesome. i turned the filter on it started flowing and i couldnt hear it even with the spary bar in the water.

Yeah... it's amazingly quiet.

Rated at more than twice the flow of the fluval it replaces and half the noise.

 

[mangoed]

Just read your journal... really good stuff.

I really like Onions Plants but read that they were for 'high light' aquaria only (Aquarium Gardening). Obviously you had, and still have even after the reduction, much more light than my tank (only 2x24W) but your aquarium is also much bigger. Setting up my first aquarium, I don't have the knowledge and experience to make calls on lighting and the suitability of various plants. I think I'll leave such stuff until my 2nd aquarium! (If the first goes okay, that is.)

I also think that the point you make about plants versus fish and the focus of the hobby is very true (for me, that is, not necessarily for others). I look at what I'm trying to do as attempting to create a habitat (though clearly not one which would occur in nature) and plants are an essential part of that mix and a contributor to the well-being of tank's inhabitants. Perhaps next time, I'll try a biotope aquarium because I think that there is a lot of interest in that, the faithful replication of a particular environment (as much as possible). At the moment the planted community tank is what interests me most.

Anyway, very nice tank. Sorry to visit and most of the time babbling about myself!

-dan

 

[lljdma06]

Was looking at your photos again. You are keeping bala sharks aka silver sharks, Balantiocheilos melanopterus in your tank? Bala sharks get to be 13 inches long and IMO is too large and active a species to keep in your tank with angelfish. These fish can crack the glass in smaller aquariums by ramming into it at high speeds when they get spooked. They are also fantastic jumpers. They are also a shoaling fish and are better in groups of 6 or more. Now, a 150g+ aquarium with a school of bala sharks is an awesome sight and you could possibly keep both species then. Baensch says they need a 39" aquarium, but I frankly think this is too conservative considering their speed and habits. Your tank may be alright for a school of about 6 of them, but I'd personally have either the bala sharks or the angelfish, not both. Could be the cause of the split tail in your other angel. The balas don't nip, but their activity could have spooked the angel, causing it to dart and possibly splitting its fin then.

Sorry for being the fish police. Pity, because the setup is very nice for them otherwise.

llj