It All Begins... Again

[T1KARMANN]

you cant beat the hydor external heaters

the 200w hydor seam to brake a lot but the 300w is bullet proof

 

[kaivalagi]

you cant beat the hydor external heaters

the 200w hydor seam to brake a lot but the 300w is bullet proof

They're great aren't they! I have a 200W with 16mm hose on a single EX1200 right now, and I haven't had any issue with it since November through a very cold time of year (I'm tight with the heating).

I'm glad the 300W has a good rep, as I have another EX1200 with Hydor 300W ready for when I switch over to my new custom 5ft tank soon (like waiting for paint to dry!)...I like the idea of that extra redundancy just in case but I probably don't need it right?...maybe just run a single 300W on the "primary" filter and sell/store the 200W?

 

[c-dub]

Provided that it all fits together... This is what I think I am going with.

RENA XP4 CANNISTER FILTER
due to the fact it has good specs and is 100 bucks off at the moment, (cheaper than an xp2 and xp3)

Hydor ETH 300w
I like this to keep all the heaters out of the way in the tank seeing as I'm going to keep a very bare tank without much decore.

 

[kaivalagi]

Provided that it all fits together... This is what I think I am going with.

RENA XP4 CANNISTER FILTER
due to the fact it has good specs and is 100 bucks off at the moment, (cheaper than an xp2 and xp3)

Hydor ETH 300w
I like this to keep all the heaters out of the way in the tank seeing as I'm going to keep a very bare tank without much decore.

Not sure on the rena filters, I am sure someone has got one/had one and can give a fair assessment of them. The 300W Hydor comes with 12/16mm pipe fittings by default I think, make sure the filter has the same

I can't find a spec sheet telling of the pipe sizes of a rena xp4 for love nor money...

 

[c-dub]

Yeah nah I've thrown out the Rena now. It won't fit under my tank anyway it's too tall. I really am stuck at the moment.

 

[kaivalagi]

Yeah nah I've thrown out the Rena now. It won't fit under my tank anyway it's too tall. I really am stuck at the moment.

How much height do you have under the tank? My ex1200's need 20" min in height for example. That XP4 was the biggest edition too so I bet it was even taller...

Second hand Eheim maybe? They last forever from what I've read and parts are easy to get.


It doesn't help that you're in Australia, I dont know any LFS's there

 

[c-dub]

Tell me about it!

I've been trying to find a good Aussie online community and can't find one.
Problem is not much of the stuff gets listed on eBay here and most 2nd hand things are in metro areas and I'm regional.

 

[c-dub]

I just ordered a Hydor ETH 300w in-line heater and a Hydor PRIME 30 cannister. Not to mention a whole lot of other stuff to get that bare aquarium up and running. If this does a half decent job I might get another setup of that again and run them in dual mode!

I will post up some photos when it all arrives and I set it up. Thanks for your comments!

 

[kaivalagi]

I just ordered a Hydor ETH 300w in-line heater and a Hydor PRIME 30 cannister. Not to mention a whole lot of other stuff to get that bare aquarium up and running. If this does a half decent job I might get another setup of that again and run them in dual mode!

I will post up some photos when it all arrives and I set it up. Thanks for your comments!

Good luck and I'll look out for pics

 

[c-dub]

On the way are:

Hydor PRIME 30 (Cannister Filter)
Hydor ETH 300w (In Line Heater)
Blue Planet Bubbilo TW300 (Air Pump)
Aquarworld Air stone Disc ( Large ) x 2

Now, once they arrive I'll be half way home.

LET'S TALK STOCKING / AQUASCAPING

 

[Wills]

LET'S TALK STOCKING

Thats what Im talking about!

What are your plans? Cichlids? Asians (gourami, malabar leaf fish)? If you go cichlids do you want to do central american or south american or mix them? SAs would be sevs, uarus, guinacaras, krobia, acaras, and geos etc or CA would be things like firemouths (as an example lot more interesting stuff if you want to go fish hunting!) Nics, Viejas, Escondos, Umbees (maybe not sure on tank size), Salvini etc

Or if you went indian/asian thats barbs, gourami, asain cichlids like Etroplus canarensis (nice shoaling cichlid) loaches, killis etc

Or you could mix it all haha!

Wills

 

[c-dub]

Yeah I'm not quite sure. In my 240L I have guppies, a bala shark, a few platys, 2 female bettas a couple of glass catfish and 2 Gold Gourami.

So I have no idea what to stock this new tank with! It's hard too because it all depends what my LFShops have in stock at the time.

There is a good site in Australia though (livefish.com.au) where you can order whatever you want... only thing I don't like is I can't see the fish I'm getting aside from 1 pic!

Also I know Cichlids can be aggressive and I've done a lot of research but still struggle to get my head around the names and what fish are compatible and numbers!

Thanks for your great reply, Willis!

 

[Wills]

Ah your in Aus, yeah Ive heard about how hard it is to get fish there. But it is possible I believe, the internet sites you said about, there are a few people that get stuff off mail order here but its sometimes a bit of an issue with DOA but its just a risk with that process I guess...

With the Bala Shark I would think about putting him in the new big tank and get him some friends they should look pretty awesome in there! And they will thank you for the extra room as well

If you have a decent sized tank with mainly small maybe have this new one as a big fish tank with things like your balas

*edit

Just on the cichlids, they are kind of aggressive but its not really just all out fighting similarly matched cichlids can live together well. There are a lot of names to learn but its pretty much just a case of matching names to shapes and colours and then to each other and your onto a win. Dont be put off because there are some hyper aggressive cichlids around there are some that are more timid than most "community" fish.

 

[c-dub]

Yeah the bala is definately moving, that's half the reason for the new tank.

Don't know what I will put in there with him though. I was hoping to go for Cichlids but like I said with the reasons earlier I'm not quite sure what I will do.
I'm still pretty new to fish keeping.

EDIT:

On your last post... what would you consider good beginner/peaceful cichlids that are compatible with some other community fish such as a bala?

EDIT EDIT:

Another issue is actually getting those breeds in my town! OR TRUSTING LIVEFISH.com.au!!!

 

[Wills]

yeah yeah thats cool.

One of the best cichlids IMO for anyone with a tank big enough is a Severum, not that rare or hard to come by. Big size, lots of personality, lots of activity and things like the super reds have a lot of colour but personally I prefer the natural colours like the greens which are still very nice I believe that there are actually quite a lot of geophagus in Australia but I realise its a much bigger country than the UK haha so I guess they might be differing levels of availablity depending on where you are but I think it would be worth asking at the LFS to see if they can order them in? I would assume that most of the fish there are from asia and the fish markets there are insane so they might be able to get some special orders in, it shouldnt cost you anything extra as they will get a batch in and you will be able to pick yours from them.

Wills