Ordered My New Tank

[holidayinn]

Hi, I have just ordered my new tank from ND Aquatics!!! Hurray!! 3 weeks and I’m good to go…it’s a 6*2*2 tank tropical tank and cabinet.

At the moment, I need help in these three areas, would appreciate your feedback.

Fish – I want to keep SA/CA cichlids, I already have 4 Silver Dollars and 4 Clown Loaches from the 5 foot tank that’s now gone. I also have two EBJD that I wish to keep. Other then that, I am pretty open to suggestions. I am interested in severums and have some really small ‘green’ sevs, I may keep one, but the rest will have to be moved along at some stage. Anyway, supposing I keep a sev and the ebjd, what other cichlids would you recommend to co-habit with them? My main criteria is wanting colorful fish that are different to one another…I have been offered Herichtys labridens ‘media luna’ yellow, and geophagus red head tajo’s (sorry 4 spelling)...I have heard the labridens are delicate, I would be purchasing 1.5” size labridens, in what way do you think they would be delicate? I'm guessing it means that if you buy 4 only 1 will live LT, in which case would it be worth just buying one?

Lighting - As I plan to keep cichlids, lighting wont be such a big issue, as don’t think I’ll be going down the road of a planted tank, but may well change my mind at a later date..I’m deciding between T5 and T8:

1 54W 5 foot bulb, 1 38W White bulb and 1 marine blue 38W bulb all powered by arcadia controllers.

Or the equivalent-ish in T5…which I’m not sure about….Anyway I got a budget of around £100, for lighting, but don’t mind if T5 is slightly more expensive but cheaper to run..would this be true?

Filters – at the moment I have two large eheim filters, I think 2226 and a wet/dry version. I also have 2 internal fx4’s just to add some more mechanical filtration. Would this be sufficient? I really don’t want 3 external filters powering my tank, so was thinking of investing in an fx5 (eheim for bio, fluval for mech filtration). Would this be recommened? Any alternatives? which Eheim would you keep??

Your opinions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hol

 

[markandhisfish]

. youre gonna be 1 happy bunny when that turns up. have you ever seen an nd tank before? id think the 2 big eheims should be enough. the arcadia light units are great i use a twin unit on my tank.

id deffinately go for some sevs in that tank superb fish the geophagus would make a lovely addition too

 

[holidayinn]

Hi, thanks mark for your reply.....no never seen one in the flesh, was thinking of visiting them, but with so many positive reviews never felt the need. In actual fact Mark its your previous posts that convinced me to go for ND! Very reasonable prices, and very good service, no complaints with them at all. They actually called your tank some of their 'finest work'. Really appreciate the insight mate.

 

[markandhisfish]

oh my god he remembered me ? now THATS service finest work eh? im honoured lol. seroiusly tho you are going to recieve a top quality tank. what colour did you go for? best thing is they deliver it in person not by courier .

 

[joannajane]

Can't offer any advise as I'm very new to fish keeping but what a great tank going to keep hold of ND's details for my next aquaruim. I wish I had a bigger house and a lottery win, then I'd have a room full of different tanks.
Good luck with it post pictures.
Joanna

 

[holidayinn]

Mark - hope so! In the end went with black. So far i've been very impressed with their service. Just wondering, with your tank, is the hood able to stand up? Can it be rested against the back wall? I'm just thinking for water changes and maintenance. And btw love your sev's, thinking about getting a red shoulder/spotted sev sometime.

Joanna - Thanks. Hopefully i'll have plenty more good things to say about ND. Will post pics, i'm sure to have some issues with cichlids lol.

I'll post about the labs in the cichlid forum, but i'm still thinking about the fx5, only reason being even with regular waterchanges, with my existing filters there was always a build up of debris on the gravel bed. Would the fx5 help? or is vacuuming the only method?

Lighting - is t5 that much more energy efficient then t8?

Cheers

 

[markandhisfish]

mine is black too very nice. il post some pics for you so you can get an idea of how its built .

as for the fx5 i think people on here know only too well my feelings about filters lol so instead of putting peoples backs up by fluval bashing as they like to put it i will simply suggest that you read through this then make your own decision .
http/www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7080

cant really help as far as t5 or t8 gos all i know is mine are t8. to me tank lights are just things that glow so i can see my fish better

another thing to consider is if you plan on having geophagus you really want sand as your substrate as gravel can damage their mouths . to clean my sand i just use a length of garden hose suck thru it to start the syphon and hold it about 1cm above the sand the crud gets sucked up and the sand gets left behind. takes a bit of practice but once you get the knack its pretty easy.
my tank is against a wall in my living room so i just flip the lid up and rest it against a wall but they are the type of hinges that if need be they can open 180 degrees so the lid rests flat open if that makes sense.

thanks re my sevs the rotkeil was that big when i got him but vinny i raised from a tiddler. if you want attractive fish that are fun full of character and make you laugh then sevs are where its at imo.

anyways il stick the pics up for you .

 

[markandhisfish]

ok here we go with your pics

1stly the hood nice and solid

good quality ironmongery

6 of these holes in rear of hood for pipework etc

plenty of cabinet space

big sliding glass cover

enjoy your tank and of course would love to see pics through the setup of it

 

[holidayinn]

Cheers for the photos, tbh I've seen them plenty of times lol..just had to sell my tank before i could make the move

haha, fluval vs eheim, contentious issue, my mate suggested it to me, as on all his tanks he has two different brands of filters, suggesting eheim - bio, fluval -mech..I guess its not a top priority issue, and i'll see how the eheims work out in the 6fter

The gravel I have is very fine, almost sand-like, hopefully this will be sufficient. I will supplement it with more sand and mix the two together. Lol I did try to use hosepipe method, but always ended up sucking sand/gravel, i guess i need to practise, anyway with this gravel, I can use one of those vacuum syphons and really get into the gravel without sucking it through

Yep, got ya, so the hood door can stand against the back wall or open fully, which is just what i was hoping for, thx.

thanks for your opinion and will post pics when it arrives

 

[markandhisfish]

when did you order yours? mine only took about 10 days . youre a lucky so snd so lol i wanted the 6 footer but wouldnt fit in the space . what colour silicone did you go or i went for the black on mine looks great

 

[holidayinn]

when did you order yours? mine only took about 10 days . youre a lucky so snd so lol i wanted the 6 footer but wouldnt fit in the space . what colour silicone did you go or i went for the black on mine looks great

I ordered mine just this wednesday, they said that it could take upto three weeks max, and at the moment they've got a few orders to complete, but they'll call me when its ready. I've just about got away with a 6footer, actually the length isnt quite 2 foot, but 22 inches. Yep, black silicon also. I had a rio 400 in black and really loved that tank, now its time for an upgrade!!!