Questions About Setting Up My Fluval Roma 125

[Suleika]

Hi guys

Already had some good advice from some members in http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/382012-hello-from-manchester-uk/

I now own the following equipment and have quite a few questions about setting up my community tank.

Fluval Roma 125 including:
Fluval GLO lighting unit,
One Power-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 20W 60.96cm (24in) T8
One Aqua-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 20W 60.96 cm (24in) T8
Heater, Fluval Mirrored M Series Heater 150watt
Nutrafin Aqua Plus water conditioner 100ml
Nutrafin Cycle 100ml
Nutrafin Tropical Flake food 26gm

Eheim professionel 250 2224 external canister filter

JBL Aquarium Thermometer Premium

API Freshwater Master Test Kit
API Stress Coat 240ml

Cycling

We went to several shops today (Boots, Tesco, Wilkinson) to look for Ammonia to cycle the tank without fish, however none of them sold it. Now fishprotector has kindly offered to let me have some mature filter media. Do I still need Ammonia? Need some advice on how the cycling process differs if I use mature filer media. Shall I also use the product Nutrafin Cycle, since it came with my tank for free?

Substrate

I really like the look of black sand. Which one should I use? Where best to buy it from - LFS, eBay, other online retailers?

Plants and decor

Having read lljdma06's Basics In Aquascaping thread, I'd like to go for a Triangle Scape, with a piece of wood as the focal point - bogwood? Which plants would you recommend? How many do I need? Will the Power-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 20W 60.96cm (24in) T8 and Aqua-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 20W 60.96 cm (24in) T8 be good enough? Do I need fertilisers such as TPN+ or Seachem Flourish? Love George Farmer's 80cm - Mother Microsorium tank:

Stocking

I like the looks of the following fish, providing my PH is fine for them (still waiting for the test kit to arrive):

• German Gold Head Rams (Cichlids) - saw these in my LFS
• Labidochromis Caeruleus, Yellow Labs (Cichlids)
• Aulonocara Sunset (Cichlids)
• Platys
• Mollys
• Cherry Shrimps
• Malayan Liveberaing Snails (sand cleaning)

Which of these are compatible? How many of each could I get for a 125l/33 US gallons tank? Any other suggestions welcome (colourful fish are my favourite).

Thank you so much in advance! Any comments welcome!

Nicole

 

[minnnt]

Hey Nicole, welcome to the forum.

If you find out how much media fishprotector will be giving you and how many fish he currently has then you will be able to stock that amount of fish. Fir instance, if he has 12 fish and is happy to donate you a 1/3 of his media then you can have 4 fish straight away in theory. Obviously being well planted also helps in controlling ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.

From the list of fish you mention some of them need specialist conditions. The Rams will need a warmer temperature of around 28+ degrees celcius, soft water and a low PH of around 6.0 - 6.5. The Yellow Labs are African Cichlids and prefer a lower temperature, harder water with a higher ph of around 8.0. As are the Aulonocara.

My personal preferance from the fish you list would be to get a pair of Rams and stock around them. Cardinals can be kept at similar temperatures as can Sterbai Corydoras.

With regards to the tank you pictured, i would replace the Glosso with a moss carpet of some form. Unsure if T8's would grow Glossostigma well enough. Obviously the Anubias, Java Fern and Sagittaria should be fine.

I am quite lucky as my LFS sells alot of substrates so i got mine from there, but if yours doesn't then look online. I tend to go with darker substrates, but it depends on what kind of look you are wanting to achieve.

 

[Suleika]

Many thanks for your comments minnnt!

Does anyone else have some more feedback for me?

Thanks!

 

[littlenemo]

no you dont need to cycle, but it helps to dose ammonia for a few days to check the media can process it before you put fish in and find out that it cant. imo i have decided to cycle my tank so that i can then put as many fish in as i like once completed. as i have a 250 ltr tank. i went for black substrate looks good with aqua scaping. i also bought some
Sumatran Driftwood fromm off ebay seller is http/stores.ebay.co.uk/Biotope-Aquatics?_trksid=p4340.l2563

 

[Suleika]

How much sand will I need to buy for my 125l tank? How many plants do I need to buy?

Thanks!

 

[TropicalJuwel]

Hi Nicole,

As far as I am aware yellow labs are best in a malawi setup with there own kind as can be quite aggressive for normal fish, I was mis-sold these once and they terrorised my other fish for a day until I took them back. Plateys are great fish, you can get such a variety in colour but they can breed like hell, so if you do have alot of plant cover you may be finding fry hiding from the other fish in them.

I would look at loaches or bristlenose catfish as a bottom dweller over snails, much better personalities and can get some real nice loaches.

Have you thought about a plant subsrate to go under your sand to provide your plants with nutrients, I'm no expert on lighting but I think the T8's may stuggle with low grow plants for instance if your looking at a speific plant for a carpet effect. Ordipends on you stocking and plants wether to use tpn or tpn+, but tpn can work out quite expensive and I believe some members on here make there own which does just as good a job.

I am new to the plants scene and at the moment am dosing liquid carbon as a trial and seems to be going well, plants all look healthy. Something that may help you with choosing plants is a book I got of amazon for about £7 called the 101 best aquarium plants, also has a section of plants to avoid. It has photos of plants tells you the requirements of light and how hard they are to look after, I found it very useful in choosing and when I showed my lfs he thought it was a great little book that he now sells it.

Hope this helps. Good luck with getting up and running.

 

[minnnt]

no you dont need to cycle, but it helps to dose ammonia for a few days to check the media can process it before you put fish in and find out that it cant. imo i have decided to cycle my tank so that i can then put as many fish in as i like once completed. as i have a 250 ltr tank. i went for black substrate looks good with aqua scaping. i also bought some
Sumatran Driftwood fromm off ebay seller is http/stores.ebay.co.uk/Biotope-Aquatics?_trksid=p4340.l2563

No need to add ammonia, how do you know how much to dose? The filter already has a colony of bacteria built up and you won't be able to stock what you want. You still have to add fish slowly to allow the colony to increase to deal with increased bio load. Doesn't matter how you cycle the tank, the bacteria is still the same.

I would go for a 20kg bag of whatever you choose as that will give you a good depth to plant in.

With regards to the plants, its impossible to give you an amount, all depends how heavily planted you want it and how far apart you intend to have them. Start off with a few pots. You will more than likely be able to split them anyway. I bought 3 pots of cryptocoryne amicorum and got 37 plants from them.

 

[fishprotector]

Hey Nicole, welcome to the forum.

If you find out how much media fishprotector will be giving you and how many fish he currently has then you will be able to stock that amount of fish. Fir instance, if he has 12 fish and is happy to donate you a 1/3 of his media then you can have 4 fish straight away in theory.

It will be media from my Fluval 405 on my 300l tank. I have two filters running on it so I will give you between 1 and 2 trays, so around 1/4 of my media. It is a fully stocked tank with four 5-6 inch Cichlids, one 6 inch Plec and one 3 inch Plec, four 4 inch Pictus and 17 adult Barbs.

 

[minnnt]

Hey Nicole, welcome to the forum.

If you find out how much media fishprotector will be giving you and how many fish he currently has then you will be able to stock that amount of fish. Fir instance, if he has 12 fish and is happy to donate you a 1/3 of his media then you can have 4 fish straight away in theory.

It will be media from my Fluval 405 on my 300l tank. I have two filters running on it so I will give you between 1 and 2 trays, so around 1/4 of my media. It is a fully stocked tank with four 5-6 inch Cichlids, one 6 inch Plec and one 3 inch Plec, four 4 inch Pictus and 17 adult Barbs.

Very kind indeed.

I would be confident in stocking 10 tetra's of some type without to many issues.

 

[fishprotector]

Hey Nicole, welcome to the forum.

If you find out how much media fishprotector will be giving you and how many fish he currently has then you will be able to stock that amount of fish. Fir instance, if he has 12 fish and is happy to donate you a 1/3 of his media then you can have 4 fish straight away in theory.

It will be media from my Fluval 405 on my 300l tank. I have two filters running on it so I will give you between 1 and 2 trays, so around 1/4 of my media. It is a fully stocked tank with four 5-6 inch Cichlids, one 6 inch Plec and one 3 inch Plec, four 4 inch Pictus and 17 adult Barbs.

Very kind indeed.

I would be confident in stocking 10 tetra's of some type without to many issues.

I just wish that someone would have offered me the same when I started up. I ended up doing a fish in cycle with six zebra danios. Luckily only one died, but it must have been tough for the little fellows...

 

[Suleika]

fishprotector, do you mean this?

http/www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/filters_pumps/filters_and_pumps/fluval_filter_media/189741

 

[fishprotector]

No, that is the small rings. it is the bigger stuff. Laptop is not working so can not post link but its called fluval biomax. They have it in pets at home. Blue box.

What ceramic media came with your filter? Just swap me for that if you like?

 

[Suleika]

Eheim Mech. Looks pretty much the same to me!

 

[fishprotector]

That will be fine, I will swap you for that. When do you want to meet up?

 

[Suleika]

Will pm you. Thank you so much!

Like the look of CaribSea Tahitian Moon sand. Will I need plant substrate underneath?

Think I'm going to get a piece of Mopani wood too.