Questions

[dixiedawn]

I've recently aquired a 36"x18"x18" tank from a friend of mine. It came with the lid and light fixture combo, but nothing more. The tank is water tight, she tested it before bringing it to me and i tested it again when it arrived.

I'm due to move house in September ( a ways off i know ) and I am not going to set up this tank until we move. Until then I'm starting to collect things for it so that when I do move and get settled it can be one of the first things to get started with.

according to my calculations (ok so i cheated and used a calculator) It's roughly about 50 US gallons or 196 L .

What sort of filter should i use with this, to make sure that all the water is filtered, and also will i need aeration? If so any suggestions would be greatful.

I'm also looking to put live plants in this tank whilst it's cycling and before i put any fish in. Could someone point me in the right direction for 'live planted tanks for dummies'. Want to research this as much as possible so that I don't mess up again.

Again, any ideas suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[rdd1952]

You're right about the volume, slightly over 50 gallon. You need a filter that is rated at least 250 gallons per hour but 300 to 350 would be better. You could go with dual filters, one on each end but I don't think that's really necessary until you get to 4' tanks. Your heater would need to be at least 150 watts and preferably 250. I would suggest a canister filter but since you're in the UK, that is pretty much the norm there.

If you plan to have live plants, don't worry about aeration. The plants will produce plent of O2 and really need the CO2 that the fish produce. Adding aeration will drive the CO2 out. If you do a fishless cycle, you will need some type aeration during that since the temperature is so high.

The only other thing I can think of is a good gravel vac and a good liquid master test kit.

As for plants, I use this site to read up on plants. I'm sure there are better ones but this one at least gives some general info on care, light requirements and size. One thing you may have to do with the plants is upgrade your lighting. Most tank setups don't have enough light for anything but low light plants. Usually you need at least 2 watts per gallon and the regular flourescents that come with tanks can't provide that.

 

[Meds081603]

I would also recommend a canister filter. My only experience is with magnums and I don't have any complaints with them. You can find retro kits to convert your lights to compact flourescent(sp) fixtures. This would probably be the cheapest way to upgrade your lighting if you feel you need it for the type of plants you choose. Of course you will need substrate, decorations, possibly an air pump, heater, net(s), food, etc. I would start researching what fish you would like to start out with. The type of fish will determine what supplies to get. Cichlids and messy eaters need much more filtration than small community fish would need. The type of fish will also determine what decoratoins and substrate. Also keep in mind that many fish will destory plants so that would have some bearing on what plants/fish to keep. I recommend the api freshwater master kit for testing purposes. You will also need a dechlorinator for the water and for this I recommend Prime. That should give you a good start on what to start looking at.

 

[dixiedawn]

thanks for the info!!!

I'm just wondering if an under water filter would be better than side mounted one? Is there no difference, and purely for the owners preference.


Also looking at fish combos plenty of time to think long and hard about it, but hey one can dream!! lol


I already have an API test kit.not the strips but the vials with the droppers. Nets no problem.........have some flake food coming outta my ears......as i rotate that with peas and brine shrimp for my betta...

I think what confuses me is the filters most...and obviously the whole geek talk that im not quite up on yet

 

[rdd1952]

To add to what med081603 just said, when you get your test kit, test the pH, KH and GH of your tap water. The LFS can do it for you if you want to know before you get your kits. Just make them tell you the actual readings and not just that the water is hard or soft. That will give you a pretty good idea of the fish that will be most at home in your water. It's a lot easier when you don't have to try to change the pH of the water but much easier to raise it than to lower it.

Edit: I just saw your post when I replied. HOB (side mounted) filters work fine but to me require more maintenance and expense than external (canister) filers. I don't like internals (I guess what you mean by under water) because of the room they take up in the tank (less space for fish). If you are talking about under gravel filters, those are totally outdated and you definitely want to stay away from them. The difference between externals, internals and HOBs I guess really is your preference but I have used both HOBs and externals and I will never buy another HOB. Externals are just so much easier once you get them set up.

 

[dixiedawn]

what is substrate?? sorry for asking such a dumb question but if you don't ask you don'tget!

Fonzie (the betta has been with me for almost 2 weeks) and seems fine. He's been in the small tank with treated tap water (dechlorinator and stress coat) making bubble nest and swimming around happily.

Last time i tested the ph of my water it was around 7.4 ph and on high ph (don'tknow how that works) it was something crazy like 8 what's the diff between ph and high ph???

 

[rdd1952]

Substrate is gravel or sand.

The too pH kits are totally seperate and only one will give you a correct reading. Because the pH range is so wide, they have two kits to cover it. If you test with the low pH kit and get a maximum reading like 7.4, then you test with the high pH kit to get the true reading. Sounds as if your pH is very high at near 8. That would make it more difficult to find fish that are totally comfortable with your water. And as I mentioned, lowering pH is difficult if the water has lots of buffering capacity (GH and KH).

 

[dixiedawn]

I read that driftwood or bog wood would lower the ph, is this true?

 

[rdd1952]

They both will but if the effect is dependent on the amount of buffering capacity the water has. The higher the buffering capacity the less effect those items will have.

 

[dixiedawn]

ok is there a different method of filling the tank so that the ph is lower *thinking about buying a hell of a lot of distilled bottled water*

 

[rdd1952]

You can use bottled water or Reverse Osmosis water (buy it at the fish store) but they may not contain some of the trace elements that the fish need.

 

[dixiedawn]

what the heck is reversed osmosis ???

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Reverse Osmosis is a method of purifying water.

Using distilled or RO/DI water is a method you can use to lower the hardness of your water...but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners as it's very expensive to do, and takes a bit of trial and error to get everything at the perfect level.

Most fish will do fine in a pH of 8. I have SA cichilds in my tank with a pH of 8.2, and they are happy/healthy. I also know plenty of people who keep Discus in hard/high pH water. Stable pH is much more important to fish than what the actual pH is.

 

[rdd1952]

Stable pH is much more important to fish than what the actual pH is.

I agree 100%.

 

[dixiedawn]

ok that's cleared things up alot for me thanks loads

one other thing.........


where in the hell am i going to find a table strong enough to hold it for a long period of time!!!!! lmao