AquaOz
New Member
Well...here i am...on a Tropical Fish Forum.....
(If you don't like reading long winded introductions, you can skip the first four parras....
)
What is it about Fish Keeping that is so deeply ingrained? Is it our craving to have the liberty and control (mostly) over that "Third Dimension". Is it the magic of creating "Mini Worlds" and managing them. Is it the challenge of juggling parameters in an ongoing quest to keep that tank in viewer captivating splendor. Or is it simply just me....
I am 24, married (since April), and once AGAIN hooked on Aquariums. My Mum is gonna flip when she finds out.
How many others here could start their story with the same line "It all started with a Goldfish Bowl...."? Well in my case i was about 15 and the bowl lived on top of the freezer. I'm the youngest in the family and a spoilt brat (Proud of it) so every time our goldfish died we got another one immediately. (Their life span was directly proportional to the amount of care i gave them). As each one died and a new one came the desire to Own and care for my Own tank grew.....then one day a guy up the road threw out and old 3' tank and stand. The set up had one tank with a broken base, one rusty meta stand, an heater (That would have passed no regulation tests) and an air pump. I stole the 2 ft fluro out of dads bar and silicon-ed the crack in the tank. Three days later i had water, gravel, and a UG filter running that tank in the garage. After weeks of pleading i was allowed to install the tank in the study.....over the following four- five years i owned (Well...to be honest, my parents owned) 5 tanks varying from small breeding tanks to mini tanks, and even kept a stock of live Brine Shrimp.
Then i grew up. My Mum got sick of looking after the tanks that i had forgotten about and sold the lot to a friend. I never missed them and there was a pretty sweet bookcase in place of the tanks.
Two weeks ago i drove my lovely wife out to one of the local national parks and on the way we passed the Australian Koi Farm. Hmmm.....My memory was jogged...badly it seems, because my wife said; "What was that for?"...i had audibly Hmmm'd and shed noticed. I then told her how i had gone to the Koi Farm as part of my aqua-culture studies at high school, i went on to tell her about how i had kept fish. SHe was thrilled. We wheeled around and called in at the Farm...that was it...she was hooked.
Two days later i had purchased a tank off ebay, and two days after that i had got a second tank.
SO here i am, feeling immaturely excited. :
I have a 3' AquaOne 850 ( http
/www.aquaone.co.uk/images/850-silver-on-dark-wood.jpg ) that i cycled for about a week before i added fish and plants two days ago.
It is stocked with 6 Harlequin Rasboras and 7 Cardinal Tetras.
I am wanting some guidance on how many cardinals can i keep in this tank with live plants before it would be classed as over crowded.
I just run the standard filter (Drip type built-in filter) and a 200Watt heater.
I used Sechem Stability to kick start the Bio in the filter.
Also i plan to post some pics later to get some help with my plants. The tank has three fluros (2 x 25watt and 1 x 20 watt) I have sechems range of liquid fertilizers and a slow release substrate fertilizer as well. How soon after starting a new tank should i start to add liquid fertilizers?
The main reason for my post is the Second tank i bought off ebay.
It is a 4' x 2' x 2' and i have absolutely no idea what to do with it. It came with gravel (not enough for planted) two canister filters and a nice stained cabinet. I would love to run a really nice planted amazon tank but want to know more about how to start. AS you can tell i rushed my small tank but would be truly glad of some advice on how to best prepare a tank of this size for a very pretty planted tank. Will the canisters be ok? How much light? two large capacity heaters or three or four small ones? How do you go about cleaning muck out of gravel with planted tanks, what sort of substrates? how long to cycle? Fish in or fish-less?
Its so long since i was "In with it all" i feel a bit like a beginner all over again.
Ah well....look forward to hearing from you guys
(If you don't like reading long winded introductions, you can skip the first four parras....
)What is it about Fish Keeping that is so deeply ingrained? Is it our craving to have the liberty and control (mostly) over that "Third Dimension". Is it the magic of creating "Mini Worlds" and managing them. Is it the challenge of juggling parameters in an ongoing quest to keep that tank in viewer captivating splendor. Or is it simply just me....
I am 24, married (since April), and once AGAIN hooked on Aquariums. My Mum is gonna flip when she finds out.
How many others here could start their story with the same line "It all started with a Goldfish Bowl...."? Well in my case i was about 15 and the bowl lived on top of the freezer. I'm the youngest in the family and a spoilt brat (Proud of it) so every time our goldfish died we got another one immediately. (Their life span was directly proportional to the amount of care i gave them). As each one died and a new one came the desire to Own and care for my Own tank grew.....then one day a guy up the road threw out and old 3' tank and stand. The set up had one tank with a broken base, one rusty meta stand, an heater (That would have passed no regulation tests) and an air pump. I stole the 2 ft fluro out of dads bar and silicon-ed the crack in the tank. Three days later i had water, gravel, and a UG filter running that tank in the garage. After weeks of pleading i was allowed to install the tank in the study.....over the following four- five years i owned (Well...to be honest, my parents owned) 5 tanks varying from small breeding tanks to mini tanks, and even kept a stock of live Brine Shrimp.
Then i grew up. My Mum got sick of looking after the tanks that i had forgotten about and sold the lot to a friend. I never missed them and there was a pretty sweet bookcase in place of the tanks.
Two weeks ago i drove my lovely wife out to one of the local national parks and on the way we passed the Australian Koi Farm. Hmmm.....My memory was jogged...badly it seems, because my wife said; "What was that for?"...i had audibly Hmmm'd and shed noticed. I then told her how i had gone to the Koi Farm as part of my aqua-culture studies at high school, i went on to tell her about how i had kept fish. SHe was thrilled. We wheeled around and called in at the Farm...that was it...she was hooked.
Two days later i had purchased a tank off ebay, and two days after that i had got a second tank.
SO here i am, feeling immaturely excited. :
I have a 3' AquaOne 850 ( http
/www.aquaone.co.uk/images/850-silver-on-dark-wood.jpg ) that i cycled for about a week before i added fish and plants two days ago.It is stocked with 6 Harlequin Rasboras and 7 Cardinal Tetras.
I am wanting some guidance on how many cardinals can i keep in this tank with live plants before it would be classed as over crowded.
I just run the standard filter (Drip type built-in filter) and a 200Watt heater.
I used Sechem Stability to kick start the Bio in the filter.
Also i plan to post some pics later to get some help with my plants. The tank has three fluros (2 x 25watt and 1 x 20 watt) I have sechems range of liquid fertilizers and a slow release substrate fertilizer as well. How soon after starting a new tank should i start to add liquid fertilizers?
The main reason for my post is the Second tank i bought off ebay.
It is a 4' x 2' x 2' and i have absolutely no idea what to do with it. It came with gravel (not enough for planted) two canister filters and a nice stained cabinet. I would love to run a really nice planted amazon tank but want to know more about how to start. AS you can tell i rushed my small tank but would be truly glad of some advice on how to best prepare a tank of this size for a very pretty planted tank. Will the canisters be ok? How much light? two large capacity heaters or three or four small ones? How do you go about cleaning muck out of gravel with planted tanks, what sort of substrates? how long to cycle? Fish in or fish-less?
Its so long since i was "In with it all" i feel a bit like a beginner all over again.
Ah well....look forward to hearing from you guys
