My New Tank

[SlyT]

Hi,

I picked up my 300ltr AquaOne Amazon Bow Front over the weekend and have been busily working on getting things as prepared as I can until it is cycled. I think it looks pretty good for my first ever tank !

Heater is in back left,
output from the filter goes back into the tank at the top left via a duck billed attatchment,
water is taken away from the tank and into the filter from the bottom right.
Lights are 2 T5s (Came with the tank) and Ive put a reflector on each.
Lighting timing is currently set for 12 Hours on, 12 Hours off.
Water has all been cleaned with AquaSafe,
Ive put 500Ml of SafeStart in to kick start the bacteria process,
Also put in a small dose of "BioMature" or something similar, basically fish poo !
Bogwood came presoaked from my LFS (they are refurbing soon so I managed to get a really good deal)
Heater set to 26 degrees,
water stats taken

(The bogwood near the rocks is going to get suspended from the top somehow or ditched, I just didnt want to let it dry out)

Have I missed or forgoten anything ? What do you guys think ?

 

[Anguilla82]

looking good.

lighting time length may need knocking back by a couple of hours but that depends on how much algae growth you end up getting.

 

[Geoff1991]

I would avoid all the chemicals as they don't usually work. I tried some and now im doing a fish-in cycle... great.

The only chemical i use is Aqua+ dechlorinator.

 

[Bobtastic]

Looks really good. What plants have you got in there? Are they real?

 

[backtotropical]

I think it looks great as it is. How are you cycling the tank? Fish? Fishless?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

very nice, again i'd recommend 8 hrs for the lighting to be on and a fishless cycle using ammonia, the bio-start etc will probably do very little.

 

[-SPB-]

Looks good, like the natural look with the rocks and wood.

What are your ideas for stocking???

 

[SlyT]

Thanks all for the kind words, I really enjoyed setting it all up (apart from rinsing the 35kg+ of Silica sand )

As I mentioned before this is my first tank and I am new to fishkeeping. I spent about a month reading as much as poss from sites like this one before commiting to a tank and then spent the last 3 days getting it set up to how it is now.

looking good.

lighting time length may need knocking back by a couple of hours but that depends on how much algae growth you end up getting.

Cheers! Yeah, I thought I might have to do that. Ill need to have a play with timings as I stay up late, but I want it on during the day on weekends. Need to ideally have it on for when guests come round etc too so am likley to have to compromise on my scheduling somewhere.

I would avoid all the chemicals as they don't usually work. I tried some and now im doing a fish-in cycle... great.

The only chemical i use is Aqua+ dechlorinator.

I thought I would give them a go and see what happened. Im planning a fishless cycle, but figured if the plants and SafeStart (and maybe the bogwood from a mature system?) gave me a kick start then so much the better. The "BioMature" is essentially amonia by another name as far as I can tell as it simulates fish in the tank (so I was told), and the AquaSafe is just a dechlorinator product.

From all the reading on hear from others like yourself I wont put any fish in till I can get amonia to drop in under 12 hours for about a week, if it takes a couple of weeks, great but if it takes longer then thats fine too.

Looks really good. What plants have you got in there? Are they real?

Thank You! I cannot remember all the names, my wife and I chose them all together, they are a mixture of things that look nice, and offer fore, mid and background growth so hopefully will all be compatible etc. They are all real too, got some from Pets at home and some from World of Water (lfs I got the tank from)

I think it looks great as it is. How are you cycling the tank? Fish? Fishless?

Thanks! Im going Fishless, but I am trying to see if the plants and chems reduce the time to get the bacteria levels up. Hopefully Ill be able to say to others whether the way Ive done it was any benefit at all.

very nice, again i'd recommend 8 hrs for the lighting to be on and a fishless cycle using ammonia, the bio-start etc will probably do very little.

Ta! Ill have to play with the lighting. Is it possible to split the lighting time at all, ie 2hours on 2hours off then 6hours on? I want to try and tie the timings in so we can enjoy the tank as much as possible. Also can you have the lights on longer at the weekends, or should you use the same lighting pattern all the time?

You are probably right about the chems, but I am a stubborn sod sometimes so want to see things with my own eyes. If I had the time and money (and a much bigger house) Id set up about 5 identical tanks and cycle them all slighlty differently to determine which variables were key. Very sad I know but I am a scientific type so data is key!

Looks good, like the natural look with the rocks and wood.

What are your ideas for stocking???

Cheers! I had some doubts about the rock after I put the wood in, but as I had already bought it and the tank is quite big, I thought Id give it a go. If I can get some plants on or around the rock it should help blend it in. Ive got 3 bigish bits of marble (looks like the darker bits but pure white) but thought it would look a bit odd so I didnt put it in. Ive wanted to keep fish for a long time but didnt have the money or will power to risk trying. As a result Ive always had my heart set on a skull for the tank. I have so far resisted but a small one may have to creep in at somepoint!

As for stocking we have a reasonable idea of what we want. The main problem is we like both discus and angels.

Some pretty definates seem to be Dalmation Mollys, Glass Catfish, Dwarf Gouramis, Other types of Gouramis.

I fancy something other than fish too, so was considering snails, crab or shrimp but not sure yet. Also would like something plant friendly to roam about the bottom. What would you suggest ?

 

[shelaghfishface]

oh that looks really beautiful,well done

 

[arobinson1984]

Angels would be good, I personally wouldnt go for discus yet, they are not ideal for beginers as they are difficult to look after and normally require water changes every day as they need pristine water conditions and also can get aggressive, so its probably something you should hold off on until you know you enjoy fishkeeping and all that comes with it etc.

The tank will be a nice size for some angels as well as some other nice pretty fish, I personally like gouramis and have a couple of pink kissing gouramis myself.

I also have an african dwarf frog which used to have a mate but it died a while ago, they are fun to watch and each have their own personalities and tend to stay at the bottom of the tank, perhaps with a nice group of 6-8 corys? I personally like sterbai cories but thats each to their own

Andy

 

[Miss Wiggle]

very nice, again i'd recommend 8 hrs for the lighting to be on and a fishless cycle using ammonia, the bio-start etc will probably do very little.

Ta! Ill have to play with the lighting. Is it possible to split the lighting time at all, ie 2hours on 2hours off then 6hours on? I want to try and tie the timings in so we can enjoy the tank as much as possible. Also can you have the lights on longer at the weekends, or should you use the same lighting pattern all the time?

You are probably right about the chems, but I am a stubborn sod sometimes so want to see things with my own eyes. If I had the time and money (and a much bigger house) Id set up about 5 identical tanks and cycle them all slighlty differently to determine which variables were key. Very sad I know but I am a scientific type so data is key!

yeah just set up a segment timer and have the light on a total of 8 hrs when you're mostly at home. I'd keep it the same during the week and the weekend but that's just because it's easier, you can try having it on longer at the weekends though, try it and see how you go with algae etc.

ha ha don't worry, i think there's a lot of us would do the same given time/space/money

 

[paulbr1]

Hi, looks good - like the boggy pieces

Paul

 

[waterdrop]

very nice, again i'd recommend 8 hrs for the lighting to be on and a fishless cycle using ammonia, the bio-start etc will probably do very little.

Ta! Ill have to play with the lighting. Is it possible to split the lighting time at all, ie 2hours on 2hours off then 6hours on? I want to try and tie the timings in so we can enjoy the tank as much as possible. Also can you have the lights on longer at the weekends, or should you use the same lighting pattern all the time?

You are probably right about the chems, but I am a stubborn sod sometimes so want to see things with my own eyes. If I had the time and money (and a much bigger house) Id set up about 5 identical tanks and cycle them all slighlty differently to determine which variables were key. Very sad I know but I am a scientific type so data is key!

yeah just set up a segment timer and have the light on a total of 8 hrs when you're mostly at home. I'd keep it the same during the week and the weekend but that's just because it's easier, you can try having it on longer at the weekends though, try it and see how you go with algae etc.

ha ha don't worry, i think there's a lot of us would do the same given time/space/money

think I noticed Dave Spencer saying the other day he starts off way down at 4 hours of light the first couple of weeks. -wd-