Photo of my 520L tank

[CRS]

Finally with help from 2 others my tank is in position and ready to go!

The tank is 520L, i would appreciate any help if someone could point me in the right direction to what pump/filter to buy suitable for a tank of this size?
This is the first set up on my own, any other help is appeciated!
So far, i have put the gravel in about 40mm deep, all the bogwood/driftwood are in multiply buckets, is the a certain amount of time i need to leave them in for? Bearing in mind i won't be putting fish in for awhile.
I have two heaters, one is 300W and the other is 200W, is this correct?

I'll post photos along the way, thanks for any help

 

[Wills]

Wow nice thats a good sized tank! In terms of filters on a big tank like this I would go with the Fluval FX range I had 2 FX6 on my 512 litre tank, one at each end and a good back up incase one ever failed.

For the heaters I'd go with 2 300 watt heaters rather than a 200 and a 300 as it will mean you can rely on one of them if one ever failed.

Are you 100% on gravel? The reason I ask is that sand gives you more options in terms of bottom dwellers like catfish and loaches and also some cichlids.

Wills

 

[imw]

Hi,

What a fantastic tank

On the filter front look at the Oase range -

Good luck with it going forward.

ATB

 

[CRS]

Wow nice thats a good sized tank! In terms of filters on a big tank like this I would go with the Fluval FX range I had 2 FX6 on my 512 litre tank, one at each end and a good back up incase one ever failed.

For the heaters I'd go with 2 300 watt heaters rather than a 200 and a 300 as it will mean you can rely on one of them if one ever failed.

Are you 100% on gravel? The reason I ask is that sand gives you more options in terms of bottom dwellers like catfish and loaches and also some cichlids.

Wills

Hi,

Yeah i only have gravel at the moment, roughly what percentage of sand would you recommend for catfish? I'll have a look at those filters, thanks

Hi,

What a fantastic tank

On the filter front look at the Oase range -

Good luck with it going forward.

ATB

Thank you, i'll check out those filters too!

 

[Wills]

Hi,

Yeah i only have gravel at the moment, roughly what percentage of sand would you recommend for catfish? I'll have a look at those filters, thanks



Thank you, i'll check out those filters too!

If its early on and you've not added water etc I would change all the gravel to sand as thats the best way of preparing it for the broadest mix of fish. Its to do with fish that sift the substrate through their gills or that have barbels or whiskers that can get damaged by gravel. I think sand is best because there are no fish that need gravel where as there are fish that specifically need sand. It does not need to be too expensive either as in the UK you can use Argos play sand which is about £8 for I think a 5kg bag. If you are interested in aquascaping you can also look at grading it so once you have bigger rocks and wood in use some of your gravel around it to make it look more gradual and more natural.

Wills

 

[Naughts]

which is about £8 for I think a 5kg bag.

£5 for 15kg, bargain!

 

[Myraan]

if ur buying new filters - i always liked the look of the oase ones with the space for heater
just to make tank look nicer

 

[CRS]

If its early on and you've not added water etc I would change all the gravel to sand as thats the best way of preparing it for the broadest mix of fish. Its to do with fish that sift the substrate through their gills or that have barbels or whiskers that can get damaged by gravel. I think sand is best because there are no fish that need gravel where as there are fish that specifically need sand. It does not need to be too expensive either as in the UK you can use Argos play sand which is about £8 for I think a 5kg bag. If you are interested in aquascaping you can also look at grading it so once you have bigger rocks and wood in use some of your gravel around it to make it look more gradual and more natural.

Wills

The gravel has cost me alot If i take 50% out and have 50% sand, due to the size of the tank do you think it'll be alright?

if ur buying new filters - i always liked the look of the oase ones with the space for heater
just to make tank look nicer

I'll check these out to Cheers.

 

[CRS]

I've just come across this on Amazon, available for delivery tomorrow: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HZZD9ZA/?tag=ff0d01-20

What would you typically pay for a decent pump/filter for a tank of this size?

Looks like it has a built in heater to, so i could use my 200w as an emergency spare. Use this one and the 300W heater that i bought yesterday.

 

[Wills]

Half sand half gravel could work just divide it up so sand at the front gravel under the decor at the back? I knew the gravel would be expensive so sorry to have suggested it.

The oase filters are great I have the 350 on my 100 litre tank. On bigger tanks I’m not 100% on them as their flow rate is quite low for the money the biggest one is £300 and does 1550lph or a fluval FX6 does 3500 for £250 ish and you could get an inline heater to keep it all external for about £40 too.

Do you know what kinds of fish you want to keep yet?

Wills

 

[CRS]

Half sand half gravel could work just divide it up so sand at the front gravel under the decor at the back? I knew the gravel would be expensive so sorry to have suggested it.

The oase filters are great I have the 350 on my 100 litre tank. On bigger tanks I’m not 100% on them as their flow rate is quite low for the money the biggest one is £300 and does 1550lph or a fluval FX6 does 3500 for £250 ish and you could get an inline heater to keep it all external for about £40 too.

Do you know what kinds of fish you want to keep yet?

Wills

Don't worry about suggesting the correct way of doing it! That's why i joined this forum, ok i've found the Fluval FX4 and FX6 on amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N45GLZQ/?tag=ff0d01-20

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BJQ50HC/?tag=ff0d01-20

There's £40 difference, you're going to suggest i buy the more expensive one still arent you?
I'd rather spend the extra if needed anyway.

Yeah Neon tetras, angel fish and pleco so far, assuming these all get along fine, i'll be doing alot of research before i put any fish in.

Craig

 

[Wills]

Ok so… sorry to be the bearer of bad news again… but angels will eat the neons so it’s an either or situation lol. Do you know what your tap water is like? Is it hard or soft and what’s the ph? Best way to choose your fish is based on your tap water.

Id go for the bigger one it won’t hurt lol. Just check if you get all the media with it these days I think you do but I know in the past you only got the sponges and needed to buy some bio media separate.

Wills

 

[Myraan]

I've heard if the angels start small, it's fine because the neons will not fit in their mouths. The theory is that by the time the angel grows it doesn't view the neon friends as prey. More likely by that time the neons are also massive and still don't fit.

That sounds reckless to me tbh..... and if I had to guess the neons are evolved to be terrified of angels, so you would likely be putting them under avoidable stress.

 

[CRS]

Ok so… sorry to be the bearer of bad news again… but angels will eat the neons so it’s an either or situation lol. Do you know what your tap water is like? Is it hard or soft and what’s the ph? Best way to choose your fish is based on your tap water.

Id go for the bigger one it won’t hurt lol. Just check if you get all the media with it these days I think you do but I know in the past you only got the sponges and needed to buy some bio media separate.

Wills

Ooh Haha, neon tetras are my favourite so i'll chose them over angelfish, my dad had both marine and tropical tanks back in the early 2000's i seem to remember the water being good, 7ph i think. What fish go well with Neons?

Right, i'll get the bigger pump ordered this afternoon

I've heard if the angels start small, it's fine because the neons will not fit in their mouths. The theory is that by the time the angel grows it doesn't view the neon friends as prey. More likely by that time the neons are also massive and still don't fit.

That sounds reckless to me tbh..... and if I had to guess the neons are evolved to be terrified of angels, so you would likely be putting them under avoidable stress.

I'm sure we used to put them together, we had multiple tanks, it's its going back many years when i were young so i could be wrong, i'll be safe and keep to neons.

 

[Wills]

It would be good to know if you have soft or hard water if you go on your water companies website you might be able to find some info - do you ever have problems with limescale?

In a big tank like this with neons if you have soft water I’d do a South American tank with some dwarf cichlids like apistos or laetacara maybe some Cupid cichlids. Some of the nice corydora species, some headstanders, red lizard whiptails, hatchet fish. You might be better with cardinal tetras too very similar to neons but get a bit bigger and also are a bit healthier as neons are a bit over bred these days.

Wills