Tank And Filter Advice For A Newbie

[Warehouse]

Hello, I'm new. I've had tanks in the past with just coldwater fish, and these were nice and easy to run with the odd water change and filter clean every couple of weeks or so. So now it's been a few years since the last tank was emptied, I'd like to move up a level and go for a warmer tank in a nice little place vacant in the front room. I'm looking for a little advice on a few questions I have.

I have a space about 103 cm wide, and want to buy a tank on a stand. Are there any out there that have a plastic separator between the water and the lights? The fluvals I looked at this morning didn't. Why? Well past tanks have always rotted away at the light fittings or hood due to the odd water splash and I'd like to stop that if possible. Any recommendations are welcome.

Are there any brands of filter that can be placed in the tank stand/cupboard? I'd love to have something that meant I didn't have to disturb the tank if at all possible. My last filter system never seemed to hang on the side of the tank without slipping down every few days to the gravel! if there is something that can be plumbed into the stand then I'm happy to pay a bit extra or do a bit of DIY if necessary.

Finally, I'd love to fill a tank with greenery, almost like an aquatic garden. Does anybody do this or have any tips, or even be able to put me off?

I'm off to read your guides now, but any advice on the above will be very welcome.

 

[Fishkeeper4567]

Welcome. I would recomend a external filter if you want a filter to keep in a cabinet. Be warned though they are quite expensive. As for the light hood thing I have never heard of that happening before, but I take your word for it. Shop around and check with other members. Live plants are great. Check what substrate you have and again shop around. Be again warned though that many bright green plants or red need a CO2 diffuser and a little extra care. The fish will benifit from live plants and they will also compete with algae for nutrients. Some fish you can only have with live plants. Good luck

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hello, I'm new. I've had tanks in the past with just coldwater fish, and these were nice and easy to run with the odd water change and filter clean every couple of weeks or so. So now it's been a few years since the last tank was emptied, I'd like to move up a level and go for a warmer tank in a nice little place vacant in the front room. I'm looking for a little advice on a few questions I have.

I have a space about 103 cm wide, and want to buy a tank on a stand. Are there any out there that have a plastic separator between the water and the lights? The fluvals I looked at this morning didn't. Why? Well past tanks have always rotted away at the light fittings or hood due to the odd water splash and I'd like to stop that if possible. Any recommendations are welcome.

Are there any brands of filter that can be placed in the tank stand/cupboard? I'd love to have something that meant I didn't have to disturb the tank if at all possible. My last filter system never seemed to hang on the side of the tank without slipping down every few days to the gravel! if there is something that can be plumbed into the stand then I'm happy to pay a bit extra or do a bit of DIY if necessary.

Finally, I'd love to fill a tank with greenery, almost like an aquatic garden. Does anybody do this or have any tips, or even be able to put me off?

I'm off to read your guides now, but any advice on the above will be very welcome.

There are plemty of tanks that will fit into that space. Do you want it to fill the space or have gaps around it? My tank would fit perfectly in there as it is 100cm long.
The filter you are talking about is called an External Canister Filter. I run a fluval 205 which sits in one side of my tank stand, the other taken up buy my co2 system.
Planting your tank is a joy in itself & we have a host of experts who will help when the time comes. I will post a few pics of my tank so you can see the filter etc to help you decide.


Tank on stand.

Filter

Filter & co2 system

 

[Warehouse]

I looked at that exact tank this morning Aqua Tom, and yes, I'd like to fill the entire meter width if possible. Thanks for uploading the pictures, that's exactly what I'd like to do with the filter system, what make and model is that you have?

Here's the noob in me coming out, but what does the CO2 system do??

 

[Skins]

Hello Warehouse,
Tom's rio 180 is the tank i want next. I have the fluval 205 just need the tank. The Co2 unit Tom has setup is for the plants.

Keith.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Warehouse.
Don't let the fact that tropicals use warmer water bother you. If you have had no problem keeping goldfish, adding a heater will not make it harder for you to keep tropicals. We may be a bit elitist in our views but tropicals and cold water fish are almost identical in their care needs. I personally keep goodeids which are livebearers that do not require tank heaters. They are rare and hard o find for many people but are the same to care for as more typical livebearers. The real difference that I have found is that I do not need any tank heaters for them. Don't stand in awe of tropicals as a group. They are just as easy care as your goldies were in most cases.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Welcome to the forum Warehouse.
Don't let the fact that tropicals use warmer water bother you. If you have had no problem keeping goldfish, adding a heater will not make it harder for you to keep tropicals. We may be a bit elitist in our views but tropicals and cold water fish are almost identical in their care needs. I personally keep goodeids which are livebearers that do not require tank heaters. They are rare and hard o find for many people but are the same to care for as more typical livebearers. The real difference that I have found is that I do not need any tank heaters for them. Don't stand in awe of tropicals as a group. They are just as easy care as your goldies were in most cases.

Good words of wisdom as per usual OM47

 

[Warehouse]

Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated.

I would like to know a little more about the Co2 system Tom uses. Is it an absolute necessity to have this for healthy plantlife? If so, how much would it cost to install then maintain, IE new tanks? Is it possible to have just a few smaller plants? I always thought that light was the important factor when going for plants?

 

[Warehouse]

So I took the family out today and we ended up buying a completely different tank to the one i had in mind , typical Wife! We now own a Fluval Roma 125, which as you've probably guessed is 125 litres, which is 27 1/2 gallons max. I have put in 2 inches of gravel so I assume the final amount of water is closer to 23/24 gallons. The cabinet is built, tank installed with gravel, external filter setup and running, and water conditioner and bacteria stuff added. I need to add more of the bacteria mix tomorrow and Tuesday, then get the water tested next week to see if we can add a few fish, but I'm not rushing it.

One question for you experts. I purchased an air pump to put bubbles into the tank as I've always thought this was a good idea to help add oxygen to the tank. However today I've been reading that the external filter stimulates the surface to do this job admirably, plus the plants in the tank don't really like too much oxygen. What are your thoughts?

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Warehouse and Welcome to TFF!

Bubbles are just decoration for humans for the most part. You are correct that since you have a good external cannister filter, you will not doubt have the ability to use it's output to direct surface movement which is what takes care of all the oxygen transfer.

You don't need the bacteria stuff it's come with, these don't work. I recommend instead that you take much more seriously the opportunity presented here by the chance happening of you stumbling on one one of the best forums possible for personal coaching in the art of creating biofilters and learning all about fishless cycling - that is our specialty here. It would be an excellent second round of learning in fishkeeping, the next since your previous coldwater experience. Our three articles: The Nitrogen Cycle, The Fishless Cycle and The Fish-In Cycle are excellent articles for forming questions but the real benefit comes from the hands-on learning by doing your own. Aquarists such as Skins and Aqua Tom, Fluttermoth, Kitty Kat, Curiosity 101 and many others will often pitch in to help you understand your fishless cycle and keep it on track.

It may take some slowing down of the family expectations (I was thinking a 3 foot tank would be perfect for your space and I see they've already hurried you into a smaller one, lol!) It takes between 3 to 8 weeks to "cycle" a filter. Prior to this the tank is not yet ready for fish, though many will tell you it is. It is much, much harder to become the "manual filter" for your fish by having to change water day after day. Instead, a fishless cycle makes it impossible to hurt the fish and offers you the wonderful baseline experience of understanding about ammonia and nitrite, while at the same time learning to work over your stocking plan with lots of changes and refinements as you interact with the members.

To give you a tiny start about your plant questions, no, it is not necessary to invest yet in the kind of CO2 equipment pictured in Tom's setup. That is gear that can be used to implement an approach we call "high tech planted" where there is enough CO2 to provide the carbon nutrient level necessary with high light levels (above 2 watts per US gallon) are used. There is another major approach called "low-light technique" that is quite popular, especially as a learning tool for beginners doing their first tropical community tank and trying to learn a number of skills at the same time.

You are quite correct that light is very important. Light is a skill set. CO2 is a skill set. Nutrition (macro nutrients and micro nutrients) are a skill set. Algae is a skill set that requires some mastery of the three previous skills. All of these together are generally too much to ask at once and luckily there are enough generalizations and shortcuts that you can have plants and begin to learn them and often have enough success with the plants to spur you onward to wanting more.

Good luck with your stay here. There are a great bunch of members currently active and thousands more great discussions from the past that are ready to be discovered when you have some quiet time to do searches on your topic of interest.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Warehouse]

Wow, thanks for that amazing post Waterdrop. After reading that I will now be off to read all about The Nitrogen Cycle, The Fishless Cycle and The Fish-In Cycle.

With regards to the tank size, my original post about filling the whole 103cm would have meant squashing a tank into that spot, wheras the actual tank we've purchased is much more practicle as I can get all around it, as proved invaluable when setting it up yesterday. Thanks for the info on the air pump, I'll be taking that back to the shop tomorrow and hopefully get some credit for buying some internal decorations later on.

The people in the shop where we purchased the equipment, (I won't name them but they're a well known and respected chain), told me to take a sample of water back in after a week, and if it tested Ok we could buy a few fish already. They assured me a week was enough time to get the levels to the correct state. I will have to disagree for now.

 

[Warehouse]

I've read the fishless cycling article and it's very well written and easy to understand. I've found a place to buy the ammonia and will be picking some up at lunchtime today.

I don't have a test kit. What would you experts recommend I buy?

 

[bigfishlittlefish]

Im no expert warehouse but generally the most popular is API freshwater master test kit.Prices vary but cheapest is usually Ebay at around £20.
The test enables you to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and PH.

Gez

 

[Aqua Tom]

Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated.

I would like to know a little more about the Co2 system Tom uses. Is it an absolute necessity to have this for healthy plantlife? If so, how much would it cost to install then maintain, IE new tanks? Is it possible to have just a few smaller plants? I always thought that light was the important factor when going for plants?

co2 is not a necessity. There are plenty of plants that will grow quite happily without co2.

 

[Warehouse]

Im no expert warehouse but generally the most popular is API freshwater master test kit.Prices vary but cheapest is usually Ebay at around £20.
The test enables you to test Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and PH.

Gez

Thank You biglittlefish. There appear to be 2 forms of this kit, the one I can get quickly is called a "liquid" version, but seems to be more expensive. Is there a benefit to this?