4 Questions For You Experts :-)

[J4G3D]

A few questions if i may as i have a 4ft setup which ive had running fine for 1 week and i am a complete nOOb. Ive done reading reading and more reading online but its never ending. Its not EASY despite all the reading.

1. I got a heater with my setup but it has smashed glass inside the tube so a friend gave me there spare, doesnt look in good condition and although it works im scared it will stop working.Infact the light has been on it for 15 mins now! ive felt the water and feels OK(need to get a thermometer) So where can i get a top quality heater titanium maybe? for cheap im in the uk?

2. Where and which bubble wall is the best to get? or doesnt it matter? seen some £6 ones on ebay in a solid state and in a flexible tube type.

3. I have 22 fishes, 4 platinum,1 marble angelfish,3 cardinals,1 betta,6 neon tetras,4 albino shark,1 rummy nose,pleco,1 unknown (named billy) lol. its a 4ft 50 gallon tank all fishes are fairly small ie 1 or 2 inches long part from the marble thats fairly big, can i put anymore fishes in here? i would like maybe some colourful gouramis then id be happy with my setup.

4. I have a eheim eco filter, looks ugly outside the cabinet, will it be ok if i drilled a few holes behind the cabinet and located the filter in the cabinet itself? under the tank. Also how often do you clean these out? mines green(dont know whether its supposed to be)

Many thank

 

[shelaghfishface]

welcome mate!!

rather errm fecting intro..

if u dont trust the heater ,sling it! ( honest)

u dont need a bubble wall u may incororate an airpump in,, but they dont need to be in a line ( yes im drunk so ..yeah)


3... lmao.. i aint goung there!!

 

[shelaghfishface]

edit arnt all eheim filters green??

 

[J4G3D]

edit arnt all eheim filters green??

I dont know

 

[natalie265]

Is it a canister filter? I only clean mine out about once every 3 months. Make sure you use dechlorinated water to rinse the filter media in or you could kill your bacteria. I don't see any reason why you couldn't drill a hole in the cabinet and store the filter underneith. That's how i keep mine.

You have some potential problems with your current stocking. I'm not sure what type of sharks you have, but most sharks (including red finned sharks) get aggressive as they mature, especially towards their own species.

Bettas are usually not recommended for community tanks. There is a great likelyhood that at some point, it will either kill or be killed.

You also need to consider the eventual size of your current fish, although they are small now, the angel fish (when you say platinum, do you mean platinum angel fish?), sharks, and pleco will all probably get quite large. I say probably because i'm not sure exactly what species you have. That info would help.

There's also the possibility that your angel fish will eat your neons when they get bigger.

I would not recommend that you add anything new to your tank.

 

[coldcazzie]

Congrats Shelagh you made me chuckle with that hehe

As has been said - if you don't trust the heater then chuck it. You can get some bargains on ebay, but you'd be just as well going to your local store and getting one so you can put it in straight away - you're fishes prob wont appreciate being cold for too long!

If you want a bubble curtain then go for it! It's basically just a fancy ornament so its personal preference.

Finally, read up on the cycling threads - you need to!!

 

[J4G3D]

Is it a canister filter? I only clean mine out about once every 3 months. Make sure you use dechlorinated water to rinse the filter media in or you could kill your bacteria. I don't see any reason why you couldn't drill a hole in the cabinet and store the filter underneith. That's how i keep mine.

You have some potential problems with your current stocking. I'm not sure what type of sharks you have, but most sharks (including red finned sharks) get aggressive as they mature, especially towards their own species.

Bettas are usually not recommended for community tanks. There is a great likelyhood that at some point, it will either kill or be killed. I think that putting gouramis in w/a betta would be an especially bad idea.

You also need to consider the eventual size of your current fish, although they are small now, the angel fish (when you say platinum, do you mean platinum angel fish?), sharks, and pleco will all probably get quite large. I say probably because i'm not sure exactly what species you have. That info would help.

In other words, based on the info you've given, i'd say adding gouramis is not a good idea with your current stocking.

Thanks, i picked the albino red finned sharks up today from a aquatic centre along with 10 other fishes, the guy specifically said they would be fine with my current fishes but keep an eye on them because they do get aggresive with each other. The sharks tend to stay at the bottom and the betta stays at the top so there out of each others way. Also to sum up question 3, I have 22 fishes and they all are 34inches in total at a guess. I just read i can put 59 inches of fish with my current setup, seems too much? Also here is the unknown fish i have http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjjDVXrle7Q does anyone know what it is?

 

[natalie265]

I just realized that your original post says this tank has only been running for 1 week. Is your filter new or is it from a previous set up? If you've got all those fish in a brand new tank w/a brand new filter, then your immediate concern is going to be dealing w/a fish-in cycle and adding new fish at this point would be disastrous.

 

[J4G3D]

I just realized that your original post says this tank has only been running for 1 week. Is your filter new or is it from a previous set up? If you've got all those fish in a brand new tank w/a brand new filter, then your immediate concern is going to be dealing w/a fish-in cycle and adding new fish at this point would be disastrous.

Half the fishes were from the tank with the previous owner, the filter is used and is 5 months old and used with this tank and with half of the fishes. Ive added 9 fishes today. Also forgot to mention the gravel itself was from the tank and was still moist when i picked it up from previous owner. Ive bought a test kit and when that comes i intend to do an immediate test of the water.

 

[erk628]

What are your water stats?

 

[J4G3D]

What are your water stats?

That i will know when my api test kit comes. i stupidly bought it after buying the tank

 

[waterdrop]

It will probably take the filter a while to catch up with the load of the new fish. In the meantime you'll need to use your new kit to keep both ammonia and nitrite(NO2) below 0.25ppm at the max. Because the tank has some size you may not have quite as frequent a water change as other people but I'd test twice a day at first and record the results in your notebook to get a feel for what's going on.

~~waterdrop~~