Starting Soon

[bulldogsimon]

hi, im simon. i kept trops a few years ago and then went to marine. now due to running costs i am going back to trops. in a few weeks i will be setting up, im just waiting for the rest of my marine stuff to sell

heres what im planning

main tank 7ft x 30" x 30"
sump 6ft x 20" x 20"
wet/dry trickle tower

i am going to fill sump with various densities of foams and some ceramic media

lights will be one 150w metal halide and some t8 or t5 tubes

water changes will be constant flush at a rate of around 2 ltr per hour which is around 25%/week

i will be using axe filtered water


i will be keeping discus, plecs, corys etc

i want to have a small area of around 2ft x 2ft with aquatic soil about 3" deep for planting, this will be under the halide


does this all sound ok or am i missing something

 

[`Peter]

Nice hope everything works out and you set it up soon. Post some pics when you're done. Consider some sngelfish as well?

 

[bulldogsimon]

heres some pics of the build

 

[Wills]

Holly bajebus that is amazing! For me in a 7 foot x 30 inch I would be keeping rays haha but a discus tank of that size would be fantastic as well

I tried marine on a small tank once mainly a coral stuff and the amount of money I just poured into it was insane only kept it for a few months before I had to sell it so a tank of that size I cant imagine how expensive it must be.

You seem to be pretty knowledgeable so please dont think Im patronizing you but just double checking you know how to fishless cycle a FW tank, with pure ammonia?

Really looking forward to this one

Wills

 

[bulldogsimon]

i am NOT going to cycle, just chuck in a shoal of small discus and go from there

 

[bulldogsimon]

hi i have approx 1500l inc my sump

in the sump i have about 45kg alfagrog, japan matting, and 3 layers of sponge of different coarseness.

is this enough to keep my water in good shape?

stock so far is 60 cardinal tetra, 10 sterbai cory, alligator plec and 3 clown loach

future planned additions are 20 discus

 

[Wills]

Its not really about what you have in your filter its all about the bacteria, did you do a fishless cycle with ammonia or did you just add fish? Have you lost any so far? What is your ammonia reading like? If you just added fish without the bacteria present the water wont stay good for long.

Its a massive tank and its going to look fantastic with all those fish in there, have a look in the new world cichlid section and have a look at markandhisfish s new disucs tank he has some good advice for new keepers.

Few comments on your current fish, I would up your clowns to at least 6 so add three more and you could probs up your cory numbers as well though thats just personal preference but the fish will like it with high numbers.

Wills

 

[bulldogsimon]

i am doing a fish in cycle

its been going 2 weeks with the fish

amm 0, ive never had a reading

nitrite around 1 now, it was off the scale

nitrate around 10

i am changing 20litres per hour.

a fluval fx5 is supposed to filter "x" amount of water and all the other externals ive seen have an amount they are suitable for.
i am trying to find out the amount of alfagrog i need to sustain the stock