Mts Strikes

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I've just bought a second hand tank, an Aqua One 980, 210l. I've had a Jewel Rio 180 for a few years and MTS has set in!

I'm going on holiday at the end of the month so I don't want add any fish before I go. There is no room for the ceramic noodle in the Rio filter, although I have got an extra sponge in there, as I don't use the carbon sponge. The Aqua has been dry for a few weeks, So when I get fish in it I will cut that up to put in the filter.

If I put the noodles in a net and suspend it in the flow of the filter in the Rio, should that get bacteria colony on the noodles too?

In the Rio, Ive got siamese algae eaters(2), dwarf neon rainbows(4), honey gourami(4), 3 line cories(4) and san juan cories(2) and java ferns, vallis and crypts. So I'm fairly understocked and I'll top up numbers of rainbows and gourami when I get back from holiday. I haven't seen any san juan since I bought mine some 3 years ago. And I doubt they are both san juans as they look very different!

I am intending to set up the Aqua as temperate tropical, about 18C, and get zebra danios and white cloud mountain minnows. I want some cories for the bottom and I've read that pepper cories prefer this sort of temperature. Can anyone confirm this?

Any comments, advice, suggestions?

 

[KittyKat]

I've just bought a second hand tank, an Aqua One 980, 210l. I've had a Jewel Rio 180 for a few years and MTS has set in!

…and I thought you were talking about snails here I have two of these tanks, they're excellent (even though I am trying to sell one right now).

I'm going on holiday at the end of the month so I don't want add any fish before I go. There is no room for the ceramic noodle in the Rio filter, although I have got an extra sponge in there, as I don't use the carbon sponge. The Aqua has been dry for a few weeks, So when I get fish in it I will cut that up to put in the filter.

I would personally move 1/3 of the Rio sponges into the 980 and stock with 6 WCMM or danios. Make sure the old sponges are submerged under water, not above water. A 1-2 weeks later, start adding 1-3 new fish per week, increase feeding a lot slower than stocking.

If I put the noodles in a net and suspend it in the flow of the filter in the Rio, should that get bacteria colony on the noodles too?

It probably won't do *that* much, but is better than nothing.

In the Rio, Ive got siamese algae eaters(2), dwarf neon rainbows(4), honey gourami(4), 3 line cories(4) and san juan cories(2) and java ferns, vallis and crypts. So I'm fairly understocked and I'll top up numbers of rainbows and gourami when I get back from holiday. I haven't seen any san juan since I bought mine some 3 years ago. And I doubt they are both san juans as they look very different!

Please get those numbers up to at least 6 per species for the rainbows and Corys! What species are the SEA? There are a few which go by their name: most get too large for that tank and become too aggressive with age.

I am intending to set up the Aqua as temperate tropical, about 18C, and get zebra danios and white cloud mountain minnows. I want some cories for the bottom and I've read that pepper cories prefer this sort of temperature. Can anyone confirm this?

Any comments, advice, suggestions?

I recommend that you keep the heater at minimum (16 C on most), which means you'll probably get a 16-25 C variation throughout the year. You should get at least 10 each of the zebra danios and WCMMs. I also recommend that you add a circulation pump at one end of the tank and go for hillstream loaches instead of Corys. Hillstreams are coolwater fish, same as the mid-water schoolers you chose, and also come from the same areas. You could probably have about 10-20 loachs, maybe of 2-3 species.

For the bottom, I would recommend large, round river stones and sand. Some plants too, of course.

For the pump, I think something like a 2000-4000 lph Koralia (for example, a "KORALIA 2800"). I think one that powerful will work well because they provide little directional flow, but do affect the general water displacement quite a lot. The danios and minnows you mentioned both come from fast flowing streams, so I think they they would quite like the extra flow, as would hillstream loaches.