New Tank 4x2x2ft, Equiptment Info An Stocking Advice.

[tr0p1cal]

so im getting a new tank, probably going to be set up around xmas, but im looking to buy the equiptment and do as much research as i can about it so i can get it looking super. I will be ordering a 4x2x2ft tank ( just the shell ) so if anyone knows of a reliable company they have used please let me know. My dad is a carpenter and will be making me a custom stand made out of walnut. The tnak is going to be in my lounge so the stand will come up to the height of my sofa arm chair so that it can be viewed from everywhere in the room.

I have a fluval 205 filter and a 200w heater that i currently have to go into it, i was looking to set this up at one end of the tank and then stick a fluval 305 and a 300w heater at the other end. If you reccomend anything else would do it differently please feel free to let me no.

i wasnt going to have a hood on it and was going to go for a lighting system similar to an ibar, i was thinking of perhaps getting 2, 1 bar for normal lighting and for my plants to grow and another bar to turn on towards the end of the night acting as a night light to encourage the fish that are abit shy to pop out and say hello.

Substrate??? i currently have sand which is jsut your normal sand colour mixed it with a bag of soil i got from the lfs, im not sure what brand the soil was but it cost me £31 and it wasnt all that big, do u reccomend the soil? if so how thick would i need it or do i jsut mix it with the sand.

current fish

3 corys
5 guppys
1 armoured rock shrimp
2 Bristlenose
7 neons
3 clown loach

what else would you add to this?? personally i was thinking of increasing my neons or adding cardinals so that i had a decent sized shoal of perhaps 40-50ish, also was thinking of adding a few more corys. I like the opaline dwarf gouramis but im not sure how they would get onm perhaps a few more different types of loaches but jsut looking for idea at the moment, i hear alot on here of people mentioning bolivian rams, but havent found out to muc information about them yet and what they are like.

do neons/shrimps follow the same rule of 1 inch of fish per gallon?

thanks very much for reading, im still new to fish keeping so any help is appreciated.

 

[yvez9]

the 1 inch per gallon "rule" (emphasize on the "") is a rule of thumb and is by no means anyhwere near scientific.

I have a 90 gallon tank that's 48"x20Xx24" and stocked 40 cardinal tetras. I coudl easily up that to 60.

I have 12 loaches (6 yoyo and 6 zebra) and 6 pepperred cories for the bottom.
I also stock 4 german rams, similar to bolivians but more colorful, docile and unfortunatly delicate. Bolivian rams are much hardier and grow to about 3 inches. they're lots of fun but they do tend to bully around other fish, although in a tank this size it shouldn't be an issue to stock at least 2 of them.
Finally, I have 4 boesemani rainbowfish and 4 dwarf rainbowfish.

A 14 inch common pleco to eat any leftovers as well.

the tank looks full and is alot of fun to watch at all times as the rams, rainbows and loaches are very active. the tetras mainly light up the aquarium because of their blue line that glows in dim lighting.

I'm looking at adding shrimp as brown algea is growing everywhere...

As for your filters, I don't know how good they are so won't comment. I use an aquaclear 110 and a filstar xp3 to filter the water.
i use a single 300 watt heater but 2 heaters is always a good idea.

as for lighting, you'd need pretty strong lighting if you want a planted tank so make sure you buy the best stuff, look in the planted tank section.

 

[jmkgreen]

Hi,

A number of us have custom built tanks from ND Aquatics. In the photographs forum you'll see my ND 4x2x2 complete with stand and hood, together with one or two others (4x2x2 seems the most popular size of their customers judging by those threads I've spotted).

Lighting with that height of tank will be T5. More intense to reach the bottom. You pay more for the controller but get cheaper tubes. I now have the Arcadia 54w twin T5 controller and am expecting a couple of tubes to arrive tomorrow funnily enough, I'll post some pics before & after. Please note that the I-Bar has been discontinued.

Twin filters and heaters = smart move. Inline heaters like the Hydor ETH range even better (no risk of fish rubbing against them and burning themselves, takes zero tank space up).

Substrate: Ask in the planted section but I paid £2.95 per bag of Argos Play Sand (popular choice) and have used two bags so far. I'm adding a third to let the plant roots go deeper. Liquid ferts can be expensive so check in the planted sections first!

 

[tr0p1cal]

the prices from ND aquatics are very reasonable, does the tank come with brace or is it not needed for this size? also is there any difference on clear or black silicone? and has anyone bothered with the optiwhite front thingy and does that make a noticable difference. also on ND aquatics it says the tank is jsut under 400liters, but using the forums calculator it comes up about 450ish liters, am i missing anything??

 

[always4lora]

hi , they take into account substrate etc.
clear and black silicone is just colour difference thats all , i went with black it looks quite good Can't remember if it has a brace in the middle if thats what you mean , it comes with whats required though. well made aquariums IMO

 

[tr0p1cal]

have u got a hood on ur tank?? i prefer the look of one without but im worried fish may jump out or sumthing gets into the water. have u used normal coloured sand or gone for the whiter looking stuff?

 

[always4lora]

i've got normal sand in mine looks alright , check the pics in http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=301596 as for the hood it depends on the fish , if you have something thats jumpy, snakeheads bichir's etc then id deffo use one