I'm back

[superman1]

Hello everyone,

I used to be a member here and have kept cold water, tropical, piranhas, marine and most recently Cichlids however after getting married and moving houses I stopped keeping fish. That was about 5 years ago and fast forward to present day. I now have 2 kids and have just recently brought a second hand jewel trigon. 190 litres.

I am going to go down the tropical route and I have forgotten most of my knowledge so I will start again.

My first question is what tropical fishes are recommended that are easy to keep for a 190 litre tank and and secondly I have a fluval 305 filter and need to buy all new media so what is recommended to have. From previous knowledge I had carbon, fine wool, sponge and ceramic rings. Is this still the best?

I'm familiar with all the cycling of a tank.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Welcome back! The carbon isn’t really necessary. It weakens after about a month anyway. I only use it when removing meds from the tank. Do you have a heater for your tank?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome back

I just use sponges in power filters but you can have ceramic or plastic beads too if you like.
Carbon is not normally necessary unless you have chemicals in the water that you need to remove. If you ever treat a tank for diseases or add plant fertilisers, the carbon will adsorb those chemicals from the water.

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What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness) and pH of your water supply. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

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re: what fish we recommend. Go to your local pet shop and have a look around. Write a list of fish and plants you like and post them here along with your GH, pH and tank dimensions. We can then advise what fish will go together in your water.

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You don't need it now but the following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth a read when you have some spare time.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/