Starting Advice Please........

[stormstaff]

Hello
Posted this further down....apologies after looking this is probably where it should be...

I`m thinking of starting a tropical tank again and was wondering what would be a good up to date book to read concerning just about everything.

Also....I`ve been looking at tanks/cabinets and the "seashell" aquariums look nice. Has anyone got a contact for these people or a website as I can`t seem to find out anything about them.

I`m also stuck due to alcoves and baywindows with size and three foot length is a maximum at the moment....Seashell apparently customise height and width......what would the ideal dimensions be

many thanks for eny answers either here or personally at
stormstaf1@aol.com

Many thanks................

 

[PRW1988]

The ideal size of your tank realy depends on your personally choice, my ideal sized tank is a 55gallon tank, but you say that you have 3ft of room, which makes it tougher for you. You could get a tank ranging from 33-40gallons, both are 3ft (36") long, the 33 gallon is 12" deep and 18" high, the 40gallon is 14" deep and 16" high, both may fit, or you could go smaller.

A great up to date book that I personally enjoyed was "A Guide to Freshwater Aquariums" and "Freshwater fish for Dumbies." These 2 books have some nice information in them, another way you can get access to info like this is the web. Check around on here and on google and hopfully your questions will be answered.

As the the "seashell" company, never heard of them. But Topfin and Hagen have pretty decent tanks.

Hope this helps,

Ryan

 

[LineDropper]

Hello
Posted this further down....apologies after looking this is probably where it should be...

I`m thinking of starting a tropical tank again and was wondering what would be a good up to date book to read concerning just about everything.

Also....I`ve been looking at tanks/cabinets and the "seashell" aquariums look nice. Has anyone got a contact for these people or a website as I can`t seem to find out anything about them.

I`m also stuck due to alcoves and baywindows with size and three foot length is a maximum at the moment....Seashell apparently customise height and width......what would the ideal dimensions be

many thanks for eny answers either here or personally at
stormstaf1@aol.com

Many thanks................

Hey stormstaff -- I just went through the same process. I got back into it about 3 months ago and now have 5 aquariums running.

I didn't go the book route. You will be surprised at how much information is available on this site. More importantly, there are a lot of people that are willing to help you.

Sounds like you might be limited to a 36" aquarium. I have a 36" Top Fin and seems good to me.

I made some mistakes so here a few things to think about:

1) As you begin, try to have a real good idea of the kind of fish you want. Someone else in here wrote that fish species are vary as widely as animals. So you can think of it like this - an environment that works for your pet dog won't work for a lion. Knowing the kind of fish you want to keep can influence the type of tank you buy (in both galons and dimension). It also affects the type of substrate you should use. In some cases, you may want a substrate that will help elevate your Ph, or you may want to get a substrate that best matches the native substrates for all your fish, heck - sometimes people don't even put in substrate.

2) Study fishless cycling. There is a great pinned article in this forum. Cycling a tank w/ fish can be done (I did it) but its hard on your fish. I will never do it again.

3) Invest in a liquid test kit asap. As your starting your tank, you will want to keep an eye on Ph, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. There is a natural cycle (http/fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html) your filter goes through and a test kit will let you monitor your tank. It's absolutely necessary if you are doing fishless cycling IMO.

4) Invest in 5 galon buckets now! haha. I started with 2 now I have 8.

Those are just some things to think about. Good luck.

 

[vinylman]

Hi Stormstaff and welcome.
IMO the most important thing to bear in mind when buying a new tank is to consider how easy it will be for you to do the necessary maintenance, whether it be gravel vacuuming, arranging/rearranging plants etc. A 3ft tank is a decent size, just bear in mind not to get one too high to make working in it dangerous. It may sound unlikely, but people have been fatally injured after leaning too far over a tank and falling onto it. I can only echo what an earlier poster said and read all the pinned threads on this site. Whatever questions you have, ask here first, there's always someone around to answer, whatever the time. Nobody here will take a penny from you, unlike some shops that will try to sell you things you'll never need. A little patience at the start is so important - it can avoid so many problems later on. Happy reading.

 

[Underwurlde]

Yep, the best, most informative & up to date read you can have is this forum, be it searching for past info or asking advice about a particular point...