Second-Hand Newbie From Oxfordshire

Andyhingston

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Hi all,

Have just returned to this hobbie after a few years of absence and why have I forgotten so much!

Can't even remember how long I should leave the lights on for or what temperature to set the tank!

Have purchased a Fluval Roma 125 (ltrs) with a Fluval 205 external filter unit. I filled the tank last night with water and fine gravel. We added the enclosed water conditioner for chlorine and I have added two doses of Cycle with one more planned for tomorrow. I have purchased a complete water test kit but not used as of yet.

We plan to try and house live plants so I have purchased 12 of different types. We have also purchased an air pump which I have yet to install but felt as the external filter has not real aeration although I am not sure where to situate the air outlets.

For live plants is it recommended to use a CO2 system?

The fish we wish to keep are likely to be community Neons, Tetras, Clowns, Silver or Albino Shark, some kind of cat fish. Not concrete but they are the fish that we enjoyed keeping before.

Any advise would be very welcome indeed during the early stages due to memory loss!

Kind Regards

Andy and Gill
 
Welcome :)

hope you enjoy your stay. If by Clowns you mean clown loaches i would steer clear. They prefer to be in groups and can grow upto a foot long.

Im in Banbury and looking to thin out a tank so could sort you a few fish out.

:hi:
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum! :good:

Firstly, are you going to fishless cycle your tank? This involves adding ammonia to the tank to feed the filter bacteria until there are enough to remove the waste of your fish. This is the best method of cycling (unless you have some mature media) as your fish won't come into contact with ammonia at all. A lot of people still think that you can just chuck the fish in after a couple of days and hope for the best. Here is a link to a thread about fishless cycling: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

The usual temp for a tropical tank is 24c, although when you decide on your stocking you can research each species to find a good temp for all of your fish.

Most people have their lights on for 10 hours each day, although it varies with people who have heavily planted tanks.


As for your intended stocking:
The clown loaches and silver sharks would outgrow your tank quickly, and they need a minimum of a 6-7ft tank and must live in groups, so they aren't suitable. Albino red fin sharks are quite aggressive, and can bully smaller fish. Small tetras, barbs, cyprinids, dwarf cichlids (although these can be aggressive when breeding), Corydoras catfish and smaller plecos are good choices. Be sure to stay away from the bigger plecos though such as common plecos, which can grow to 2ft long. Good little plecos are Otocinclus and bristlenose plecos and there are some others as well.

cheers :good:
 
Hi and thank you for such prompt replies! It is nice to find and active forum.

I must admit I did not know the terms but yes I had planned on cycling my tank for at least two weeks. I had never heard of using ammonia so was just using Nutrafin Cycle as an additive, but can relate with the post and the fish not having come into contact with ammonia until they are introduced. Where is the best place for Ammonia?

The tank temperature has stabled out at 27 degrees which I gather maybe a little too high when I decide on fish, but then the fish less cycle did indicate turning the wick up a bit to speed up the cycling. I will test our tap water and the tank tomorrow to get an idea of what is happening.

I have set a timer for 8.30-12.00 and 13.00-9.00 on the lights, only because we have live plants. I guess I won't know for a while If this is too long.

Thanks for the advice on fish we will not bother with Clowns then as the tank is too small and Matt I may well be in contact when the tank is ready as you are not too far from us. What are you looking to thin out?

Thanks

Andy
 
Welcome to the forum, Andy, and welcome back to the hobby :D

Just a couple of points; that's too much light. You need only 6 or 7 hours or you'll encourage too much algae.

Homebase have ammonia (I think they call it 'Household cleaner', or something similar); Boots do do it, though if you go in and ask they'll probably tell you they don't; you need to order it online to be delivered to you or to pick up instore.

A proper fishless cycle will almost certainly take you longer than two weeks; in the 'old days' we just used to run our tanks to let them 'mature', that is not a fishless cycle! You can shorten it if you use some used filter media that will have a starter colony of the bacteria; either from your LFs or another aquarium owner :good:
 
Hi,

I decided to. Send wife on an errand, but alas Boots no longer stock household ammonia, but I will check if that is online also!

Today I. Tested the PH and it was last on the scale of colours ( am I. The only one who finds the colours hard ro distinguish? Even my young daughters could not decide! ), so at 7.6 I guess I need some PH down.

Thanks for all of your advise.

Andy


Welcome to the forum, Andy, and welcome back to the hobby :D

Just a couple of points; that's too much light. You need only 6 or 7 hours or you'll encourage too much algae.

Homebase have ammonia (I think they call it 'Household cleaner', or something similar); Boots do do it, though if you go in and ask they'll probably tell you they don't; you need to order it online to be delivered to you or to pick up instore.

A proper fishless cycle will almost certainly take you longer than two weeks; in the 'old days' we just used to run our tanks to let them 'mature', that is not a fishless cycle! You can shorten it if you use some used filter media that will have a starter colony of the bacteria; either from your LFs or another aquarium owner :good:
 
so at 7.6 I guess I need some PH down.

You don't need PH down :) Your PH will be absolutely fine for a wide variety of 'normal' community fish. Also, people on here will strongly advise against tinkering with your PH as PH swings are considered far more harmful to fish than a stable PH at any level.
 
Good morning and welcome! :good: . Alot of good advice in the above posts. Make sure to cycle your filter. Read up on it in the beginner's resource section. Good luck and any questions you have we will be happy to help.
 

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