Fluval Roma 125l Newbie Help

[Dogson]

Evening all,
I'm new to the forum and relatively new to fish keeping having only been doing it over the past year. I say fishkeeping I have a coldwater biorb setup at work on my desk with some White clouds in it (brilliant fish so under rated and very entertaining).
I have since purchased my first sizeable tank mentioned in the title and I have so many ideas but am unsure if they will gel so I am hoping for some advice on the plants and fish as I am happy with the cycling process.
I would like a planted tank as I believe live plants are much more beneficial to the environment of the fish. So I would love to read any suggestions.
The substrate I would like to have as sand as I believe it would be easier to maintain and as I found in my biorb the gravel is more than likely to go green anyway. What is the general consensus on planting live plants in sand? again i'd love to hear your opinions on this.
I'm aware of stocking levels being roughly 1cm of fish for every litre is this correct for a tropical setup?
My filtration will hopefully be one internal fluval 105 and one external cannister fluval 205. which should give me about x7/8 filtration.
I'm hoping to lay substrate and fill the tank this weekend and then fishless cycle for a month. So time I have.
Again can't wait to read any comments or suggestions

Thanks

ps any suggestions for a good LFS in the Leeds/york area, UK

 

[JenCliBee]

Evening all,
I'm new to the forum and relatively new to fish keeping having only been doing it over the past year. I say fishkeeping I have a coldwater biorb setup at work on my desk with some White clouds in it (brilliant fish so under rated and very entertaining).
I have since purchased my first sizeable tank mentioned in the title and I have so many ideas but am unsure if they will gel so I am hoping for some advice on the plants and fish as I am happy with the cycling process.
I would like a planted tank as I believe live plants are much more beneficial to the environment of the fish. So I would love to read any suggestions.
The substrate I would like to have as sand as I believe it would be easier to maintain and as I found in my biorb the gravel is more than likely to go green anyway. What is the general consensus on planting live plants in sand? again i'd love to hear your opinions on this.
I'm aware of stocking levels being roughly 1cm of fish for every litre is this correct for a tropical setup?
My filtration will hopefully be one internal fluval 105 and one external cannister fluval 205. which should give me about x7/8 filtration.
I'm hoping to lay substrate and fill the tank this weekend and then fishless cycle for a month. So time I have.
Again can't wait to read any comments or suggestions

Thanks

ps any suggestions for a good LFS in the Leeds/york area, UK

Hi and welcome to TFF

Right i am using sand in 1 of my planted tanks and plants are growing extreamly well, as long as the lighting is sufficient and the dosing of ferts is upto scratch it's very easily done.

What sort of lighting do you have?
Are you planning to use CO2?
What sort of plants were you thinking of?

The consensus with tank stocking is usually 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon not to sure if that equates to the same as your guide?

jen

 

[Dogson]

Thanks Jen,
I have a primary concern! I bought this tank second hand for £60 with cabinet and lights. The lights are arcadia marine lights. I have 2 of each white and blue. I have decided to use one of each in the tank as they seem to form an equal balance and gives a natural light. Will these be ok?
I know nothing about incorporating co2 and the benefits can you enlighten me? Same with plants and stocking as I guess certain types rely on certain water parameters, What do you have?

Liam

 

[JenCliBee]

Thanks Jen,
I have a primary concern! I bought this tank second hand for £60 with cabinet and lights. The lights are arcadia marine lights. I have 2 of each white and blue. I have decided to use one of each in the tank as they seem to form an equal balance and gives a natural light. Will these be ok?
I know nothing about incorporating co2 and the benefits can you enlighten me? Same with plants and stocking as I guess certain types rely on certain water parameters, What do you have?

Liam

I dont think marine blue is any good in general for plants(i may be very wrong there) so changing the bulb might be a better option, CO2 is basically in the form of a liquid fertiliser type thing DIY fermentation or a canister pressurised method it basically pumps CO2 into the water which the plants absorb like they would naturally

water params arnt as far as im aware that important, what i can make out is heavily planted tank PH drops either way so most plants are suitible as long as there requirements are met... ie. dosing fertilisers and the amount of light etc etc.

Im far from been an expert and at this present time im still learning a hell of a lot and still only scratching the surface lol, im sure someone soon will come along and help and explain a little better, but for now i hope i have helped even just a little bit pmsl

jen

 

[Dogson]

Hmm interesting,
The guy who sold me the tank said he had used the lamps in a trop setup and that is why he had mixed both shades of lamp although i'll have a look what's on offer at my lfs tomorrow.
So with the plants I can simply apply some liquid fert that incorporates co2, is it really that simple?
How did you start your off? Did you cycle first then add plants or did you plant and then cycle as I just read on another thread that someone cycled a planted tank and the ammonia killed them off?
What filter setup do you use in yours as this is the area I am most unfamiliar with as my biorb is an integrated air stone with sponge filter. So unsure which is the best approach?
Thanks again Jen you are proving you're worth LOL

 

[Dogson]

anyone else's thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, dosing with a "liquid carbon" (its really a bunch of quite complicated molecules) product is used by many of us who are not quite "there yet" with doing an expensive pressurized CO2 setup. Like many hobbies, if you're really experienced with planted tanks you could probably take any of the three carbon methods, liquid, diy or pressurized, and use them to run a beautiful tank, whereas for many of us beginners, it'd be easy to take any method and still get a failed tank, lol.

There are three liquid carbon products that I know of on the market. Seachem Excel is available in the USA. Easylife(?) EasyCarbo is availble UK and also in the UK one of the popular retailers has begun distributing its own bottles of liquid carbon but I forget the name. Liquid carbon is not as universally beneficial to all plant species as CO2 is, if I'm remembering right, but it has a side benefit of helping to fight algae in some cases. There are threads on TFF about minor overdosing or direct application of liquid carbons to plants in order to fight algae.

The planted section has a great writeup on Estimative Index (EI), a method of dosing the other 16 or so nutrients and then removing the excess via a weekly water change. This is quite a popular method of fertilization.

The skills to master to get started in planted tanks are lighting, fertiliztion and CO2 and then algae takes a combination of knowing things about the first 3 skill sets. The things you actually end up doing to have nice plants don't have to be difficult, but then there's plenty there if you want to dig in deeper, both in terms of knowledge and in hardware and materials.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[JenCliBee]

Hmm interesting,
The guy who sold me the tank said he had used the lamps in a trop setup and that is why he had mixed both shades of lamp although i'll have a look what's on offer at my lfs tomorrow.
So with the plants I can simply apply some liquid fert that incorporates co2, is it really that simple?
How did you start your off? Did you cycle first then add plants or did you plant and then cycle as I just read on another thread that someone cycled a planted tank and the ammonia killed them off?
What filter setup do you use in yours as this is the area I am most unfamiliar with as my biorb is an integrated air stone with sponge filter. So unsure which is the best approach?
Thanks again Jen you are proving you're worth LOL

Hi m8 i think waterdrop has explained most for you, i dont cycle tanks for the simple reason i have so many that i can just move already mature media over and stock lightly... instant cycle basically

I use external canister filters.... currently fluvals but there are mnay brands out there with eheim probably been the most reliable as long as you keep away from there ecco range lol.

blue and white lamps will be fine for a trop setup but the blue as far as im aware will not help plants to grow or will have very little benifit for them, tubes that simulate natural sunlight would and will always be better but not fully nessersary.

Planted tanks and how to set them up all depends on how high tech you want to go?, low light and the right plants and the tank could still look superb and would be less maintenance but high light is just basically the oposite.

Thanks again Jen you are proving you're worth LOL

LoL, just hope im helping just a little bit untill the real plant experts come along for you m8

jen

 

[Dogson]

Well thanks for the replies guys,
I went to my LFS today and although i wanted a fluval 205 cannister filter I couldn't afford what they were asking along with all the media, heater, substrate, plants, api test kit! Before I knew it I was well over budget.........So I chose to go for an internal filter instead and went for a Fluval U3. I was given a fluval 1 from a friend also so will be running them both.
So armed with everything I needed to start setting the tank up I left the LFS got home about 6.30 and have just sat down at 10.30 pm with the tank done! It's a bit cloudy at the moment but i'm hoping with both filters on it should be ok before the weekend is out! I took some media out of my biorb that I have at work and put half sponge half media in the fluval 1.
Depending what it looks like in the morning i may post you a progress pic!

Thanks for all your help so far.............................and hopefully more to come!

Liam

 

[rabbut]

What's the plans for stocking thus far? That's the interesting bit

I presume you are filter cloning (moving media across from the established Biorb) and then doing a conventional fish-less cycle with liquid ammonia to get it ready for a full stock, or are you going down the clone then gently stock route?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Dogson]

Unsure at the moment Rabbut?
I've gone for a sand and floredepot substrate as i'm going for the planted tank. I mixed 10kg sand with 2.5kg of the floredepot slightly coarser with added nutrients and pellets hoping it will help with the cycle and plants.
My female guppy is dropping fry at the moment in my Biorb at work so I may re-home a few of them in this one atleast they're free I spent a fortune today at the LFS!
I have white clouds in my biorb so will definately be haveing some in this until I change my mind??
I like the look of blue emperor tetras too. gotta go for some pygmy corys too i think but other than that i'm still so undecided.......

Dogson