30 Gal

[Bre_B]

Hey, as the title says , i have a 30gal (possibly 29 gal, i have to check measurements as my dad who gave it to me "forgets" ... he probably never even knew...) and i was hoping to set up a habitat tank. I have a 55 gallon that is an asian swampland habitat tank for my female bettas, khulis and harlequin rasboras, and im hoping to have another cool looking one, with hopefully some interesting fish. I would also prefer some to have color, because if it has no color, my dad wont be interested.... if i keep my dad interested, I can get him to buy me stuff for it

another question, besides what to put it in:
Right now its having nitrate problems. (My parents never let it cycle - its been up for 2 years, with fish constantly dying. FINALLY my parents are listening to me, so they gave it to me and im bringing it back) So I've been doing water changes, but its taking a real long time. Would it be better to just restart the entire tank and use biospira and just recycle the whole thing? It's already been a month, and the nitrates (though significantly lower) are still in the 100s (dont have exact results with me right now)



so. heres the questions dumbed down in case that was confusing


whats a good habitat that has colorful fish that can be run in a 29-30 gallon tank (that isnt an asian swamp)?

Would it be easier for me to just start over with the tank, or continue water changes?




Also, I've heard some stuff about biospira, but im not sure. I understand cycling full well, so could someone just explain to me what exactly biospira is? is it a bacteria colony, the kind that you need to become established before the tank is "cycled"? thanks.

 

[prankster705]

Well I would do a dwarf cichlid comunity with amazon plants.

 

[Bre_B]

Well i want to mimic a natural habitat, with a variation of fish hopefully. I have a book that shows the following habitats:

chinese mountain stream
central american stream
central american river
australian river
european river
european lake
flooded amazon forest
amazon acid pool
dwonriver amazon
congo whitewater river
west african streambed
lake malawi
dark caves
southeast asian stream
southeast asian swamp (already done)
indian river
brackish estuary
mangrove swamp


some of them are immediately dismissed due to size, mostly the ones including the large cichlids, etc, but do any of those sounds good to you? I know some are bad, so dont bother letting me know why hahah just give me what i could do/look into for a 30 gallon. the one problem with this book is it doesnt give the minimum tank size to create that type of habitat - hence why im asking you guys.

 

[prankster705]

Go for brackish and put a brackish water puffer and brackish plants in there.

 

[JasonPlus]

Bre_B what's the name of that book? Sounds interesting.

 

[Bre_B]

Aquarium Designs Inspired By Nature by Peter Hiscock. of course, everything said i research a little too just in case


but anyway. I was looking through it and i was thinking of maybe doing a mangrove swamp or westafrican streambed... i think having a pair of killies would be nice.

 

[Griz]

I would (did ) an Amazon community tank based around a group of Apistogramma. They are a colourful and very interesting fish, and will allow a wide variety of possible tankmates.

Or a group of shelldwellers would be very interesting.

 

[MsInchworm]

Hi Bre_B

If you have a standard size tank, it will measure 30x12x18 if it is a 29 gallon, or 36x12x16 if it is a 30 gallon.

Have you tested your tap water yet? It's possible that it is naturally high in nitrates and that could be why it is slow coming down.

Since the tank has been running for 2 years, it's almost certainly cycled by now, but you might want to clean it up and restart it anyway. If so, there is no need to start completely from scratch. You already have a filter loaded with beneficial bacteria, so why not keep it? You could move the fish out of your tank into a bucket or smaller tank for the time it takes to clean and set it up. Just keep the filter running and when you move the fish back in, add the filter too. The bacteria from it will colonize the gravel in a few weeks and you will be fine. Then you can add more fish.

I would give the filter a rinse in used tank water about a week before doing the cleaning and not clean it at the time of the move.

BioSpira is a natural bacteria that is actually the beneficial bacteria that grows in tanks. Your lfs will have it stored under refrigeration. I've heard both good and bad about it, but I think if I was going to start up a big tank and didn't already have bacteria in my filters that could be used, I would give it a try.

It sounds like you will have a really nice tank when it's all finished!

 

[daddyfish]

Hey, as the title says , i have a 30gal (possibly 29 gal, i have to check measurements as my dad who gave it to me "forgets" ... he probably never even knew...) and i was hoping to set up a habitat tank. I have a 55 gallon that is an asian swampland habitat tank for my female bettas, khulis and harlequin rasboras, and im hoping to have another cool looking one, with hopefully some interesting fish. I would also prefer some to have color, because if it has no color, my dad wont be interested.... if i keep my dad interested, I can get him to buy me stuff for it

another question, besides what to put it in:
Right now its having nitrate problems. (My parents never let it cycle - its been up for 2 years, with fish constantly dying. FINALLY my parents are listening to me, so they gave it to me and im bringing it back) So I've been doing water changes, but its taking a real long time. Would it be better to just restart the entire tank and use biospira and just recycle the whole thing? It's already been a month, and the nitrates (though significantly lower) are still in the 100s (dont have exact results with me right now)



so. heres the questions dumbed down in case that was confusing


whats a good habitat that has colorful fish that can be run in a 29-30 gallon tank (that isnt an asian swamp)?

Would it be easier for me to just start over with the tank, or continue water changes?




Also, I've heard some stuff about biospira, but im not sure. I understand cycling full well, so could someone just explain to me what exactly biospira is? is it a bacteria colony, the kind that you need to become established before the tank is "cycled"? thanks.

Bio Spira is like those little "Ceramic" rigatoni Looking things, that are put in your Filter, in some sort of Container.
It gives then benificial Bacteria a place to Grab unto and Grow.
Except they are made of a Sort of Porious Plastic they look almost like Jacks that I used to play with when I was a Kid.

Have you ever considered trying Bio-Zyme to help your tank cycle along a little faster?
I always add a little everytime I do my Water Changes, to help replace the bacteria that I may lose while Hoovering my tank.

As to helping your nitrate/nitrite problem, Have you ever thought of trying AmQuel+ made by Kordon?
It removbes Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Chlorine as well as Chloramines.

I've used it Some in a Pinich, and it really does work.


I hope this Helps.

 

[Bre_B]

Well first, in response to Griz....

Ooo, i looked at your pictures, and that looks great (and something my dad would be interested in too... ) i didnt realize that i could do that in a 30 gal. Now when you say amazon, is that like amazon acid pool in my book? i was hoping to go by the book since it tells me alot of useful information i never would have found out on my own. If its not, i dont have much info on how to mimic the natural habitat.

msinchworm:
thanks for the measurements! thatll be handy once i get home, and ill do some measuring! My parents tank never cycled because they keep throwing new fish in there, never did water changes, and for about a year never changed the filter cartridges (when i got my hands on it, they looked like they were layered in mud.... but it was solid, and had almost a skin growing on it, so it was hard to wash off) anyway! I had asked at the LFS about biospira and if i added it to an already established tank if it would speed it up, or if it would be faster to just re-cycle the whole thing... they gave me estimates on how long it would take to bring nitrates down (its a fish store only, so they are all fish people who know MOST of what theyre talking about... they still make mistakes, but we're all human hah) and she said it would probably be faster to just redo the whole tank, and then use biospira to bring on a full cycle quicker.
oh also, Its not the tap cause i use that in my 55 and 3 ten gals, and they are all normal. Ive also tested my tap water before, but since its not recent i wont include that

daddyfish:
so Biozyme is what im thinking of, that is actual bacteria? thanks for the info. however, i dont use chemical means to get rid of natural problems.... it sounds kinda like using aspirin to fight a headache to me.... you make the symptoms go away, but the problem is still there. But as of now im thinking a nearly complete water change, thorough gravel vac, leave the filter cartridges, and then add biospira or biozyme or whatever i find , and just let it cycle.



thanks everyone!

 

[Bre_B]

I just realized theres a "downriver amazon" thing too... so which would i do, for that type of tank?

 

[Bre_B]

okay, after reading a bit more im thinking doing a downriver amazon setup, with a german ram or something (do they like to be in pairs? alone? group? if its not alone, do they accept male-male company, or should i get male-female? I kinda dont want them breeding so yeah =P well i suppose most would get eaten anyway.) I'll have to try and read up more, but im not finding answers to those questions, at least not where ive been looking.

Any other suggestions? i was looking at some tetras, any suggestions to those? I was looking at rummynoses... do you know if they are native to the area, if not any otehr kinds you would suggest?

Also, i did some measuring, and the tank is a 30 gallon, not a 29 like my dad said. One extra gallon, woo! haha.