Recommendations

[Chubbywubs]

Hello,


Id just like to know if there are any websites or books you could recommend about tank maintainence. Because at the moment i have a small tank, and cleaning it is really really easy, because i dont have much gravel or ornaments to move/remove to clean. But obviously with larger tanks, you have alot more gravel to tend to and rocks and plants, and undergravel filters/heaters to maintain..

And one day after ive got my degree in a few years time id like to treat my self to a bigger tank. But i want to be able to do things right, and i've no idea how i would maintain such a tank, so obviously i want to learn as much as i can now so i can be prepared for the future.


At the moment i have a small tank with quite large pebble like gravel which is easy to clean with a hand preasure vaccum (just a plastic tube you push up and down until gravity takes its toll and causes the water to flow through it) but obviously this wouldnt work if i were to buy sand/plants.. I assume cleaning the filter and the glass would be the same. But i've yet to find a book or website to explain how one maintains something under the gravel or how to maintain a sand or earth like substrate with plants.


Im not getting a new tank for at least another couple of years so dont panic... Im just trying to learn enough about it to make sure its a wise decision. Because i do love keeping fish and i would like to evently increase my fishy family.

 

[scorphonic]

To put it simply man, the best book you can get on tanks is right here on this forum!! Keep reading this forum and you'll learn enough to set up a very successful tank.

Trust me when I say that its not hard to keep a bigger tank clean. You can buy a battery powered gravel cleaner which will vacuum the dirt from the tank and then you just do regular, weekly water changes.

Nothing to it really!! Keep up the good work with your tank and ask any question here!! O and an undergravel filter is a no no with a big tank...they are just problems to work with. If your going to treat yourself in a few years to a bigger tank you should buy an external filter (canister filter). These are easy to maintain, and no need for you to put your hands into the tank!!

Keep reading and I can assure you that in a few years you will be well up there in the information department!! I have only been keeping fish for a few months and already I'm quite comfortable in caring for everything.

O and if your looking for a book that can tell you about many many types of fish, how to care for them, how to keep your tank clean and how to identify diseases then you should buy this book:

http/www.aquariumsuppliesmarket.com.au/i...20atlas%203.gif

Its quite pricy but if you look around the internet you should be able to pick it up for a low price! The one I have shown you there is Volume 3. You can also buy Volume 1 and 2 but to get all three could cost you 100 euro or more and if your in the USA I think this is about $150.

 

[Chubbywubs]

Cool thank you. I allready do weekly water changes, and im more than happy to put my hands in the tank as i have no intention of owning paranas

The tank im currently drooling over is the Juwel 450. its 198 gallons, which is a big jump from my 15 gallons Hence my early start for research. I've also never looked after tropical fish (or at least not knowingly) and so its something im going to have to look into as well.

Are maintaining larger tanks more expensive? Obviously you have to buy more food and chemicals because of the increased number of fish.. but at the moment im spending about £15 a month or less (sometimes more though depending on what runs out and when) on chemicals and food. (i tend to buy the bigger bottles and tubs as they seem to last longer)


Or is it a sort of similar price bracket? I realise theres alot more cleaning involved, but cleaning a tank is free so im not really fussed about that.


would i be better off just buying plastic plants or should i read up on keeping real plants? because in all honesty i cant really tell the difference. They all look green and plasticy to me.. (not a green fingered kind of guy plants all look the same to me). If it makes no difference to the fish, then from a maintaince point of view? at the moment i have like a little plastic bushey thing in my tank that i rinse every now and then because it goes brown with algae. but obviously with real plants you have to trim them, feed them and provide them with CO2. Can this be expensive, obviously i expect to pay more than what i am in upkeep for a larger tank, bt if the fees are going to be astronomical then id rather just go with plastic plants.

 

[scorphonic]

I'll tell you what I learned today, because I bought plants today for the first time. I was scared about buying plants before today but its easy to look after certain species of plant. Some dont need CO2 added to the water at all, some only require normal lighting (you will hear about people buying extra lights to keep their plants alive but some plants can survive on low light so no extra cost to you at all). Also to feed the plants is quite cheap. There are these tablets that you can bury near to the root system of the plants and these will offer food for a few months..so no need to add stuff into your tank!!

The fertilizer that I bought is called AQUACARE by Tropica, they are capsules.

O and just to point one thing out to ya, if your going to be putting your hands into your tank make sure they are clean and that any detergents/creams/soap (anything really) is not on your hands coz this can harm the fish...Alot of people say never to put your hands into the tank coz you introduce bacteria every time you do (its an inevitable occurance really).

450L...thats nice!!

I think my monthly expenditure on the tank is about ZERO!! I always buy large stocks of everything, I have a massive bucket of fish food that will last at least a year and enough dechlorinator to remove chlorine from a 50 meter swimming pool!!

All in all my 180L cost about 1000 to put together with the best equipment. A 450 will be about 1500 I'd say, you will require two external filters coz its always best to OVER filter your tank...and an external will be capable of keeping your tank crystal clean too!! All prices are in EURO so whatever you deal with may be cheaper!! (I do live in Ireland afterall...rip off Republic is what I like to call it!!!)

 

[Chubbywubs]

Well i rinse my hands with warm water before i put them in, and its only really ever to pull my ornaments out or to tilt my gravel (thick at the back thin at the front).



Yeah Its like £700 though and thats without the fish/plants I've not decided what fish i want yet, but id quite like to get some shaoling fish (little ones) and maybe one or two bigger ones like angel fish, but ive not done my research yet as to what fish can be mixed with what, and what choice of tropical or coldwater fish to get..


The tank setup comes with:

It comes complete with filtration, jumbo size, driven by a one thousand litres an hour pump plus the necessary filter mediums. A lighting system of four 36watt fluorescent tubes and a heater thermostat of 300 watts.

all included in the price, but im not sure if im better of removing the heater themostat and keeping it cold water, or running a tropical tank.. i dont even know what a heater thermostat is lolol.. It all just seems so complicated at the moment. I think ill start browsing the forums for maintainence of tanks and start from there, otherwise ill just end up confusing my self if i google cool looking fish lol. ( is still tempted)

<-- really undecisive. Hence why im so eager to do alot of research.


Thanks for all your help though, If your still here in a couple of years time, and ill let you know how i get on

 

[Chubbywubs]

well my 15 gallon coldwater tank that ive currently got in total id say has come to about £200. £90 for the tank the rest on fish/gravel cleaning and chemical products.



(excluding food, no idea what i spend on that but its like £5 a tub of flake food, £3.99 for alage tablets for my pleco and £3.99 for the tub of tubeflex worms)



Luckly most of it was paid for by my parents for my birthday but as they say "im old enough and ugly enough to pay my own way" and so its likely ill have to fork out for the next one on my own.. Guess its job hunting time lol..

 

[scorphonic]

Alright...just a quick question..

You living in England right? Do you have relations in Ireland (either NI or the Republic?)

Reason why I ask is that there is an irish company that sells such tanks at a fraction of the price which you have mentioned.

You said 700 pound...this is 1050 euro. They sell the kit for about 800 euro...and this includes free delivery in Dublin and Wicklow but you may be able to get them to deliver further afield for nothing or for a small fee.

Keep searching for prices...online tends to be much cheaper than in a store...much much cheaper!!

The only difference between a coldwater and a tropical is the heater...nothing else and trust me...its bloody simple to run tropical...you just select the correct temperature (usually 25 degrees celcius is considered good!!) and then thats it!! For a tank the size of a 450L two heaters would be good...just to keep everything at the same temp. There's nothing to it...and tropical fish are so pretty!

Marine fish (salt water) are even nicer so after a few years of study you may feel ready for this type of set up instead of doing a freshwater tropical. Many people would discourage you but dont mind them...if you do your study well you're in a better place than someone who has been keeping tropical freshwater fish and who decides to jump across to tropical saltwater fish with little study. The only main problem with marine fish is the massive initial price.

 

[Chubbywubs]

wow thanks for the hint about pricing, Unfortunatly i dont know any one in Ireland, but ill deffinetly look around now. Cant believe the price difference.

I dont like Ebay though, i've heard to many bad storys and i dont really trust them. But ill deffinetly look around, thanks for that. I think ill go tropical then, because this is a Tropical fish forum and most of you seem to know more about tropical fish, so im better of going with tropical as i can always pester you all with my questions


Looks like my research list is increasing.

 

[scorphonic]

haha

You'll be fine. Start off by learning what tropical is. Then look at the fish types one by one to learn them. Then learn water chemistry (i'm sure you already know about cycling a tank). I would advise you to read up on cycling a tank using an artificial source of ammonia...this is called Fishless Cycling. After that you can read up on plants if you want real plants in your tank. When you decide on what type of plants you will put in you can consider lighting (and if you chose low light plants you wont have to buy any extra lights, the lights in the tank hood which are supplied to you will be enough to allow them to grow.) Once you decide on the plant you can chose your substrate (gravel, sand, fertilizer substrate etc..)

Its not rocket science, keep an open mind while reading it and enjoy it! Ask so so many questions and bug the life out of everyone coz we love it really!!

the store that I buy off all the time is called www.petshoponline.ie

You should consult this site if you want gain an idea of what a tank will cost ya. If you want to buy heaters, filters and anything else like that then buy them off www.zooplus.co.uk. They offer free delivery on their items once you spend over 39 euro..so whatever that is in pounds!! They offer a very quick service and they kick ass on good value too....they are 50% cheaper than my local fish store!!!

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Really the only differences in expenses are:
1) The initial price of equipment and fish
2) Small increase in fish food/water conditioner use
3) Water bill. Depending on what kind of water changing schedule you plan to have you'd be looking at a minimum of an extra 200 gallons per month.
4) Possibly a slightly higher electric bill

One of the best pieces of equipment that a large tank owner can buy is prob. the Python No Spill system.

You may want to think about upgrading or buying a second filter. That one would only filter the entire volume of your tank about 2x per hour...I think a lot of experienced aquarists shoot for 6-10x an hour.

Also it's better to go with 2 or 3 smaller heaters in large tanks when possible. This allows for more even distribution of heat, and less chance of killing all of your fish if one of the heaters malfunctions. There are a lot of stories about peoples whose fish have been cooked by a heater that malfunctions and stops turning itself off.

 

[Chubbywubs]

You should consult this site if you want gain an idea of what a tank will cost ya. If you want to buy heaters, filters and anything else like that then buy them off www.zooplus.co.uk. They offer free delivery on their items once you spend over 39 euro..so whatever that is in pounds!! They offer a very quick service and they kick ass on good value too....they are 50% cheaper than my local fish store!!!

Excellent thank you very much. My local fish store is 40 miles away and is a pets at home, and they are quite expensive.

One of the best pieces of equipment that a large tank owner can buy is prob. the Python No Spill system.

You may want to think about upgrading or buying a second filter. That one would only filter the entire volume of your tank about 2x per hour...I think a lot of experienced aquarists shoot for 6-10x an hour.

Cool thank you i didnt know what sort of cleaning it would do. You know with these external filters? would they fit in the hood? or am i going to have huge boxes sticking out every where?