Need Some Advice/info Regarding Filter And Lighting

[fishypps]

Hiya, the tank that we inherited is a "Rena aquacube" It's doesn't appear to be in the market any more and i can't find much info on it.

Firstly i wondered if anyone had one? Secondly i just wanted to ask a few questions about it's working and filteration system.

I have a few pics of the "behind the scenes" bit, was wondering if anyone could explain what's what! I can't post pics for some reason so here are the links!
Pic 1 Section one of the tank,It contains the water pump and these little cog things which are made out of a rubbery foam? I presume they are some sort of media?

Pic 2 The cogs again, also showing you the "sections" going into section 2

Pic 3 Section 2- what are these?

Section 3 contains the sponge and section 4 contains the heater and nothing else as far as i can see.

Is there anything i need to do/add to this? Does anything need changing? (Possibly the white things?!)

Also, there are fans that activate when we put the light on, they are very noisy and irritating, i'm presuming their only purpose is to keep the lights from overheating? Would i be able to buy a different light system (i.e. a led strip) and would it do the same job as i know the lighting is important! Thanks! Lucy

 

[fishypps]

anyone?!

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm not familiar with those tanks, but I'll do my best!

The cogs will be some sort of biomedia for the bacteria to grow on; never change those; you can add more 'bioballs' of any type in that section if it's not full; the more you have the better.

I've never seen anything like those white things; my best guess is that they're some sort of 'chemical' media; I think I'd probably chuck them out and add more biomedia in that section too.

It might be a good idea to invest in some mesh media bags(you can get them cheaply on ebay, or make your own out of old net curtains or something; well rinsed in clean water, of course) as it does help to be able to take them out and swish off any lumps of 'mulm' (technical term for fish poop and bits of plants etc) in old tank water, which is quite difficult to do with loose media in built-in filters.

LED lights should be fine, as long as you don't want to grow any plants that need high lighting, but I'm not a lighting expert.

 

[fishypps]

Thank you... It's not a tank i would choose but as i said, the tank was given to us! lol. Thanks for your advice, i thought the cogs were media, will invest in a bag of some kind and some more balls, thanks! It is filthy in the bottom of the section with the cogs but there isn't a lot that i can do about it as i can't get to it lol!

The instructions were very vague and didn't really tell me anything about the tank atall, i THINK the white things are some sort of carbon filters, they SAY they need to be changed every 6 weeks but i don't know if it's necessary atall.

I wouldn't even know where to start with planting though i know that i need to plant more! So i can, technically, stop using the inbuilt light if i buy an LED strip and use the LED lights instead? As long as the planting is right and the light is still on for around 8 hours a day?

This forum is going to get me in trouble, i'm already looking at bigger tanks but the thought of "cycling" scares me a bit lol!

 

[fluttermoth]

If you take all the media out of that section, you should be able to get a syphon tube down there and suck the mulm out

You should be fine with LED lights; do make sure they're ones suitable for aquarium use though, or they might rust or be damaged by condensation.

Look out for Java fern (it needs to be tied to rock or wood rather than planted in the substrate or it'll rot) because that does very well in low light tanks, as do nearly all species of cryptocoryne; they come in lots of different sizes and leaf shapes as well, so you can have some variety.