How about the plants, i have a lot of vallis and java fern that i can move from my 3ft, and ill buy some others, but do you put in root tabs in the sand for the larger plants? as well as dosing the water column (i have TPN+ and easycarb).
I *occasionally* put in root tabs, but I don't use anything else and do the root tabs regardless of the substrate.
B. what size (wattage) heater would i need to buy? I will definatiely get the Rena `smartheater, because i like the one in my 3ft.
In an average house, 1 watt per litre is about right, and for anything over 3 ft, I like to use at least two heaters, one at each end. So for a 240 litre aquarium, 250-300 w of heating would be right. My choice would be 2* 150w, as mentioned above.
C. Currently i have 5 silver angelfish, a trio of cockatoo apistos and 20 cardinals tetras. I'm planning to move 3 Angelfish and the Cardinals into the 4ft and get a 4/5inch pleco, so that the pair of angelfish breed (apistos already are!) or apistos have a better chance of looking after the fry. would I be able to get any other fish in the 4ft?
I would increase angel number to at least 6 in the 4ft: two of three will often harass the weakest to death, and then one of two will do the same to the other (unless they pair up). Why don't you get a group of unusual 3-5" plecos which have been bred in captivity and see if they'll breed for you?
My Bristelnoses can make the water murky with the play sand, hence why i don't like it anymore. But you get what you pay for. When my L001 Plec decides he is going to waft his tail to make a pit the Unipac sand just drops back down straight away with no cloudiness at all.
That is very unusual, in my experience. I have never had plecos make water murky from play sand.. the only thing I can think of which could cause that is if the sand wasn't washed properly or there was lots of fine #105### mixed into the sand, which they stirred up.
My cardinals are quite large now, they definately haven't attempted to go for them yet, but i am watching! at least with 2 identical tanks i can quickly move them around quickly. I suspect because they grew up together they dont really care about them...it seems that way anyway.
Being moved into a new tank is the point at which "friends" can become "food", but the cardinals should be quick enough and have the space to get away from the angels in a tank that size.
how about fish, can i get anymore in? I love the zebr pleco, but obviously cant afford it, any other plecos which people recomend? i dont mind paying up to about £30/40 for a pleco.
I recommend you go to planetcatfish, then do a search for all plecos up to 5" and pick one you like: there are a couple of other species which have markings similar to zebras.
3. How deep do you want it to be? You want just under 5 litres per 1 cm of depth.
probably just 2inches, but sloped from low to higher at the back.
So two inches is 5 cm, 5*5 is 25 litres, which I would estimate to be about 30 kg or so, because sand is heavier than water.
I found the play sand quite abbrasive to the touch […]
Hmm, I also find that very unusual.. I've never used Argos play sand, but the other 5 (Tesco's Value, and a few others) odd types I have used have always been soft to the touch.. maybe you should try a different brand, next time?
another thing i have to work out while im in the checkout basket is an airpump, i want to get a small one for hatching brine shrimp and a bigger one for the tank (2 2inch airstones).
In my 30G i have tetratec 300, but i dont think its the quietest. are there any others better on the market?
Hailea are the best I've had, but they're still loud compared to a filter and you won't find them in most shops, as far as I know. eBay was my friend for these.
Its also quite a light colour, the fish tend to stand out a lot more than they used to which is nice.
