New hobby, new forum, hello!

[oafish]

Hi, I just joined as I wait for my tank to arrive sometime in the next week, following months of thinking about pulling the trigger and visiting fish various stores (not my usual battered variety), plus watching hours or probably days of YouTube on the subject

My tank will be 240 litres (120cm Lx41Dx56H). Not really decided on fish yet but I like some of the colourful and calmer cichlids and always open to suggestions. Very hard water with me at about 19.5dh so that will probably also play a part in choosing fish once the tank is eventually cycled and ready to go.

Looking forward to reading up and learning from experienced fishy people using this forum, as well as hopefully sharing successes and no doubt some failures!

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Welcome! Feel you on the hard water thing, living in the South East lol. Would love to see your tank when it's set up!

 

[emeraldking]

Hi and welcome to TFF. Can you still hold your enthusiasm now you're still waiting for the new tank to arrive? Looking forward to some photos of your tank and cichilds once it starts running.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Look at African Rift Lake cichlids, they will do well in hard water.

The peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) are nice and colourful and reasonably peaceful for a cichlid.

 

[oafish]

I will definitely get some pictures up once set up. Still debating whether to go with live plants or not because growing and keeping then healthy seems like a challenge in its own right and I want to to avoid running before i can walk.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

I will definitely get some pictures up once set up. Still debating whether to go with live plants or not because growing and keeping then healthy seems like a challenge in its own right and I want to to avoid running before i can walk.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I would totally go for live plants! I'm absolutely dreadful at keeping plants alive, but I think anubias are pretty easy to keep (well, hard to kill) and look great. Slow growers but rewarding in my opinion. For quick and easy plants, valisneria and elodea densa are easy too, and add a lot of height to the tank in terms of greenery.

 

[Wills]

Hi, I just joined as I wait for my tank to arrive sometime in the next week, following months of thinking about pulling the trigger and visiting fish various stores (not my usual battered variety), plus watching hours or probably days of YouTube on the subject

My tank will be 240 litres (120cm Lx41Dx56H). Not really decided on fish yet but I like some of the colourful and calmer cichlids and always open to suggestions. Very hard water with me at about 19.5dh so that will probably also play a part in choosing fish once the tank is eventually cycled and ready to go.

Looking forward to reading up and learning from experienced fishy people using this forum, as well as hopefully sharing successes and no doubt some failures!

Welcome to the forum Don't let the hard water get you down just work with it! Loads of really exciting options, all the African Rift Lakes, Mbuna, Peacocks and Haps, Tanganyika etc. Rainbow Fish, Livebearers and Central American Cichlids. Loads of options just make sure you do your research and ask loads of questions

Wills

 

[Naughts]

Hello and welcome

 

[FishGuyBri]

Hello and welcome in! I'm in a similar hard water situation (not quite as bad) - so I have to be careful not to go overboard. Lots of Chlorine and Chloramine here in SWFL too. Interestingly, I was always obsessed with clean water (distilled or RODI) but for some reason never considered just a simple sediment and catalytic carbon water filter. Saved me a ton of time and reduced my hardness but didn't eliminate it, which is what I wanted.

And when I got back into fishkeeping, I couldn't wait to set up my first tank again. 7 tanks later, here I am hahaha. So excited for you!

 

[MonsieurLaGrenuoille]

Hi, I just joined as I wait for my tank to arrive sometime in the next week, following months of thinking about pulling the trigger and visiting fish various stores (not my usual battered variety), plus watching hours or probably days of YouTube on the subject

My tank will be 240 litres (120cm Lx41Dx56H). Not really decided on fish yet but I like some of the colourful and calmer cichlids and always open to suggestions. Very hard water with me at about 19.5dh so that will probably also play a part in choosing fish once the tank is eventually cycled and ready to go.

Looking forward to reading up and learning from experienced fishy people using this forum, as well as hopefully sharing successes and no doubt some failures!

welcome and good lucking

 

[oafish]

Tank finally set up, I decided to do fake plants as I'm still looking towards cichlids, although potentially Central and South American rather than African. Found a good local store with same parameters that has a good range of cichlids from juvenile. Main issue I found was the nitrates in my tap water were already 40ppm, so I bought a pozzani nitrate filter and does what it says, reduced nitrates to zero.

Currently cycling with seachem stability and Dr Tim's ammonia, will see where I am over the next few days. Pictures below.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Looks good, welcome to TFF

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Wow! I don't think I've ever seen fake plants look so good. The way the substrate is layered and piled up in certain places really gives your tank a unique look.

 

[The603]

Welcome, and a great looking tank.

 

[oafish]

Thanks, I sampled a number of fake plant ranges and decided on the Hugo Kamishi range of silk plants, so these are mainly Anubia, Shinnerisa and Ludwigia of differing heights. I tried some of their brighter oranges / yellows too but they looked very fake so I removed them. There are a few of the Aqua One silks in there, which added a tiny bit of red. They are all very soft to the touch and move well with the water flow.