New Upgrade!

[crago1990]

This morning i got paid so i went an orderd the roma 200 and a fluval 206 external filter off sea pets. Few things i need to ask tho..

In my current tank i have an internal filter that came with the tank. Never seen an external before but im guessing there aint going to be room to put the the stuff outa my internal and put it in the external? I dont want to cycle the tank if possible should i just leave my old filter in the new tank for a few weeks?

Before i add my fish i want to set the tank up and just see what plants i can get growing well and then scape it then add the fish is that possible? does the plants need all the fish waste to help them grow or will dosing it with TNC complete be ok?

The deal i got with sea pets includes gravel if its very simular should i add some of my gravel from my other tank will that have some good bactiria to help the fish?

Also comes with nurifan cycle if i can somehow get the media in my new filter or i add the filter in to the new tank with the fish so i dont need to cycle shall i just add the nurifan cycle anyway just to help? or will it be bad for the tank?

 

[CezzaXV]

1. External filters generally have more space for media than internal ones. When you're ready to move your fish across, just transfer the media to the 206. I have a 205 and it holds quite a lot of media. You might have to watch for a mini cycle for a few days but that's it.

2. Fish waste will help the plants grow, though if you're going for a lot of plants it certainly doesn't hurt to dose fertilisers. I don't know how committed you are to your plants, but you can make your own fertilisers which is generally much cheaper, but they do need to be dosed every day to make sure they're not running out of anything important. I can set you up with some links if you want to go down this route.

3. The amount of bacteria living in the gravel will be negligible. Your decision to transfer the gravel or not will be purely an aesthetic one.

4. Most people doubt the helpfulness of these bacteria in a bottle type products. They don't do any harm to add if you already have it, but don't expect any miracle results.

 

[crago1990]

Hopefully there be enough room to add my media in the external then. Dont like the sound of making my own fets, seems like alot of work lol thanks for the idea though! i have TNC lite but ive been told to use TNC complete because its better is that correct? Im not using co2 though. Need to get some root tabs aswell. Oh i wont take any of the old gravel out then would make my other tank a right mess due to it having dirt in the bottom. I may aswell add that cycle stuff in there then give it as much help as possible i guess. Thanks for your help btw just need to learn how to scape it now, wasnt to pleased with my other tank lol.

 

[Tizer]

Personally i would put the old filter into the new tank and setup the new filter to run alongside it for about 2 months. The 200 is quite large, the additional water movement of having two filters running will help keep the surface rippling/moving and help oxygen to enter the water column. Then, in two months time, you can open up the new filter and move over the old filter media from the internal to the new filter and you will have an external filter packed with mature media. You could then ditch the internal filter and put a powerhead in there instead. The reason i say this, is because you plan to have plants, all planted tanks need good water movement, even if you are not adding CO2, its good to avoid dead spots.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[crago1990]

i want to sell my current tank so i dont know if i can keep my current filter in my new tank for couple of months. maybe a few weeks. hope that will be ok. my current stocking will look empty in the new tank but i think i will leave it a while before adding new fish just to help the filter.

my next queston is my substrate. i use john innes in the bottom of my current tank and i quite like the way it looks so im thinking about using it again. ive also read that its good to have clay in the substrate to help plants. also understand that cat litter has clay in. so is it best to have soil and add clay in then cap it?, or soil with cat litter on top and then gravel? or isit best just to use cat litter and cap it with gravel?

 

[Tizer]

In that case, move the mature media over to your external as soon as you can and try to include some of the new media. Don't let it dry out when you transfer it. Just sell the old filter without media, job done.

Yeah you can use all sorts of substrates and cap it off with a sand or gravel. I've used cat litter clay capped with sand. But found my fish and the movement of the water caused the sand to move and the clay would appear. A gravel would have been better, but i think gravels look crappy. i use tescos low dust cat litter this time around, very very small gravel i suppose.

Looks a bit like JBL Manado planted substrate. But at £3 a bag, 10 times cheaper.

 

[crago1990]

yeah i think ill try and put my media in my new filter and sell the old tank without the media. what about using john innes and then cat litter capped with gravel?

also what you think about ferts? im going to order some root tabs now and i currently have tnc lite and flourish excel. but by sounds of it excel is only really for using co2? should i just stick with the lite or buy the complete. i used to use api leaf something which didnt really see any results but it works really well in a mates tank.

and your tank is huge! uve planted it really well! been loking at ur journal on it wish i could plant mine like that

 

[Tizer]

it used to be like that

have a look at this. Dry ferts last so much longer than the bottled stuff you have to get every month.

 

[crago1990]

do you use them? if so can u explain a little bit for me to understand it. just looked at the link and started reading it, way to many numbers and too much words lol.

 

[crago1990]

just been to the woods to look for some wood for the tank didnt find anything been looking online aswell cant find any i like... will just have to keep looking

 

[Tizer]

dry ferts starter kit = mix up powders using instructions given in box, add water, then dose the tank daily with recommended dose easy, cheap!

 

[crago1990]

got some TNC lite left once that is used up i think i will give that ago! spent too much on this new tank already could do with things being cheaper lol.

Finally found some wood on ebay i liked aswell. Expsensive but i been looking around for ages and couldnt find anything so i just went for it. all i need is some john innes or some cat litter im still undecided on that.

mite make a journal when the tank gets delivered so i can get the forums ideas to make it better

anyone buy driftwood in this forum? when i get my new wood i wont need the old stuff and will probs put it on ebay unless its some people buy it on here. looked on the classified section people normall sell it with plants on. which mine doesnt have.

 

[crago1990]

been reading stu40s journal, first thing looks amazing! anyway he used tetraplant complete substrate. anyone else used it seems like its worked amazing for him. quite abit more exspensive then cat litter and john innes though. found it on www.zooplus.co.uk for £13 for £13.99 for 5.8kg. doesnt seem to bad, what do you people think?

 

[crago1990]

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