Setting Up A 38 Gallon

[CKlown]

Typical me, I just wrote a long message and deleted everything by accidentally hitting the back button on my browser

Anyway, I have a new 38 gallon (36x12x20) aquarium with a stand/glass canopy/single tube flo light fixture. I have a 10 gallon aquarium from which I am upgrading and transfering the fish, and keeping a community theme. I have a ton of questions to ask before I start setting it up and making some 'big' purchases.

1.
Plants: I have java ferns (doing great), an amazon sword (not looking too great, but has survived for remarkably long), and 2 other species that I'm unable to ID, but are doing okay. What kind of bulb would be best to put in my strip fixture? I'm not sure what kind of bulb I currently have in there, but it came with the fixture. As such, I'm curious as to which plants would be good for a potentially low light aquarium, aka 'hardy' plants. Did a little bit of research -- are vallisneria a good bet?

2.
Filters: I have a HOB filter on my 10 gallon, and kind of want to stick with a HOB filter for my 38 gallon. The 2 types I've been looking at are Aquaclear power filters and Marineland Biowheel flters. I've heard the latter is excellent at biological filtration, but a little bit noisy. Thoughts?

3.
Stocking: I already have (and am transferring:
1x Angel
1x Rainbow Shark
2x Ottos
3x Neon Tetras
3x Platties
2x Dwarf Gourami (not exactly sure on name; they are tiny, about the size of a platty and are very yellow with a hint of red on their anal/caudal fins)

I want to get some corries; particularly interested in Sterbais. Would a group of 4-6 work? What other types of corries are recomended as well (if any)?

Also thinking about rainbows. Which types (if any) are hardy, somewhat colourful, and commonly found at LFS?
Either way I'm interested in a schooling fish and also thinking about rummy nose tetras. I'm a little, er, bored of Neons, and don't think I want to flesh out my Neon stock.

4.
Substrate: I have gravel in my 10 gallon, but want to know if I should switch to sand for my 38. I know that sand is better for corries, however I'm skeptical since I've never had it before and know there are problems with anoxia and that it can be harder to clean. Also if I ever need to move my tank, it seems like getting out all of that sand would be much more difficult than gravel. Would it be okay if I got some kind of finer, black gravel? Particularly for corries...


Okay, that's it for now, but I certainly will have more questions in the near future as I do more research. I won't be setting up the tank for about another week or so (as in, start the cycling process; I'm hoping its fast because I can donate some media from my old filter -- will this work? I could also hang some gravel in a stocking or something as I've seen recommended as well).

Really appreciate all of the feedback I can get!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hey there, welcome to the forum.

i'll try n answer some of your questions but first why don't you have a look at the pinned topics which should answer a lot of your questions

1 - hardy plants, yes vallis are usually good but they do better in hard water, cabomba are also a good choice as are hygrophilia polysperma

2 - the HOB filters aren't used a lot in the UK so can't really help on that one

3 - a group of 6 sterbais would work nicely, you should also get a couple more tetra's as they like to be in groups of 6+, however once you've got those the tanks gonna be not far off full to be honest, the link in my sig 'guide to stocking lists' should explain a bit more about stocking a tank and how many fish you can have.

4 - i've had sand in many tanks, i don't find it any harder to keep clean tbh, the poop just sits on top and you can suck it up with the siphon. that being said cories won't mind a fine gravel either, so long as you keep it clean they're fairly flexible with substrates.

are you planning on keeping both tanks running or just upgrading to the new one, if you just wanna upgrade then set up the new tank with it's new filter, transfer the old filter onto the new tank and set it running and transfer all the fish over, won't need to cycle it.

if you want to keep both tanks going then just put some of the media into the new filter then do a normal fishless cycle, except it'll only take a few days or a week or so.

 

[waterdrop]

welcome from me too

1. aquascaping with a lot of a single plant can look pretty good and if you've had success with java fern (which is a great low-light plant) you could consider doing a lot of it. That said, if you search on "easy plants" you'll find a number of the other hardy and low-light plants listed here on TFF I think.

2. Personally, I think you should research a little and seriously consider a cannister filter for a bigger tank like that (bigger than you've had before.) Modern cannisters have much more media volume (of main importance) and are even a bit easier to clean than HOBs. They are real winners in the "quiet" department, unlike HOBs which at the least have waterfall noise usually. If you decide, however, to go HOB, I would recommend the AquaClear over the biowheel in that the media choice and placement is more flexible with the AC and if you stick around this great forum you may find yourself learning more about filter media. Other small worry with the biowheel is that your precious bacteria that you've worked so hard to raise can die more quickly in a power outage with the biowheel sticking out in the air (of course if you're home and know this, you can remove it and float it in the tank.) The wet/dry advantage the biowheel is trying to give you is not as significant in my opinion than simply having a larger volume of biomedia in the cannister type filter.

3. stocking: I bow to MW, she's the amazing pro in this department, backed up by a bunch of other great long-timers in TFF.

4. Lots of members here like sand and it can really look great. There are lots and lots of threads to search on this topic.

x. The X-factor: One of the really great things this forum can help you with is understanding the all-important nitrogen cycle and the practical outcome from it, the "fishless cycle." Let us know your status on that - don't want to bombard you with it if you already know it a lot but do want to be sure you know this topic before you move your decisions too far.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[CKlown]

Big thanks to both of you for your replies.

I've done a lot of lurking on TFF over the past few months; I'd like to think I am well versed in concepts such as the nitrogen cycle/cycling in general/fishless cycling. What I truely lack however is experience; I've never done a fishless cycle and I've never owned a test kit -- not to say I don't understand their value. I've had my 10 gallon for 1 month shy of 2 years and have experienced 'new tank syndrome' and made many other beginner mistakes like washing my filter media under chlorinated tap water -- sidenote: I recently began working at a fish store and you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many people do this.

Anyway, I think now I have a good understanding of "what's going on" . I'm delighted to hear from MW that it looks like transfering my filter should be sufficient to 'seed' my new aquarium. After all -- the nitrifying bacteria in its media have supported a 12-fish bioload for some time. I'll be sure to stock the new tank very slowly; I'm in no rush to purchase new fish.

Haha, I'm not sure all that is really relevent in the scheme of things, but just wanted to let you know that I think I have an idea of what's going on. When I eventually get to stocking the tank I'll most likely purchase an API kit (loving the employee discount!)

I'll post more questions when I begin to stock up...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Anyway, I think now I have a good understanding of "what's going on" . I'm delighted to hear from MW that it looks like transfering my filter should be sufficient to 'seed' my new aquarium. After all -- the nitrifying bacteria in its media have supported a 12-fish bioload for some time. I'll be sure to stock the new tank very slowly; I'm in no rush to purchase new fish.

exactly, the bacteria colony can support your current fishload, so they will continue to do so, so long as you don't go and stick loads of fish instraight after the transfer you should avoid a cycle. Just move the fish and filter, leave the filters running in tandem for a month (you can leave 2 filters on permanenetly if you wish, but minimum 1 month running together) then you can remove the old filter, the new filter should manage the fishload fine from there, then leave it a couple of weeks more and build up stocking slowly.

 

[waterdrop]

OK, glad the x-factor is taken care of then. Agree with MW but if you do take the old filter off after a month that will be a period to be doing your testing carefully to be sure the new filter is now doing its job.

So sounds like its down to figuring out filters, sand and other decisions. There are folks over in hardware who are really good with some of those details and there are members all over that know a lot about different media choices for the filters.

~~waterdrop~~