Your current Fish tank Setups!

Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2006
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23,299
Hey guys, we've got an empty Fluval 180 Tank. What pump and filter should we go with, since it has ports for external canister filter does anyone have decent recommendations for the tank?

And is it possible to home a angel fish in the tank maybe with some smaller non aggressive fish?

Depends how small. Angelfish will eat fish small enough for them to get hold of. They can be aggressive when adults.

If you get a canister filter with a removable pre-filter it makes thing a lot easier. You pretty much never need to open the canister, just clean the pre-filter every few weeks (or months) as that is where almost all the large crap will collect.
 
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Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
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14,056
What's the most inexpensive way to get co2 into the tank for plants?

I've been told that liquid co2 and diffused co2 do different jobs, is that accurate?

TLDR:
Pressurised CO2 for long term dense plant growth under high light.
Liquid CO2, useful in a pinch and for fighting algae outbreaks but other than that not recommended.
If you are genuinely running out of CO2, dim your lights until you can afford a proper pressurised system.


Sort of, both 'liquid CO2' and diffused CO2 do both increase the available carbon to plants which is what you want. But you really need to ask yourself if you actually need more carbon. There will be carbon naturally in the water from the natural gas exchange with the air. You'll only run out if you have a lot of plants or have lots of light. The chances are if you are running 'stock' lighting on your tank you probably don't need it.

Liquid CO2 is cheaper in the sort term but is more expensive in the long term due to the upfront cost of getting a decent regulator and putting a deposit down on a CO2 bottle. You can get systems that use disposable cartridges but honestly, I wouldn't bother. The system isn't much cheaper than buying a proper regulator, the re-fills are expensive and don't last long at all.

Upsides of a pressurised system is that it is set and forget, it takes a little fine tuning at the start but once it's done you only need to touch it to change the tank over. You run the CO2 on a timer which you set to come on 1-3 hours before the lights and shut off just before the lights do. The length of time your tank lasts obviously depends on the size of it, the size of your tank and how much CO2 your pushing. A 3KG tank on my 180 litre lasts 9+ months and costs about £15 to refill. Downside is the initial cost. The whole system was about £200 to set up all in, £50 for bottle deposit, £15 initial fill and about £130 for the regulator, piping, drop checker, diffuse etc. If your running high light this is the only method you should be considering IMO, its the only way to get consistently high levels of CO2 for optimum plant growth. The larger the tank, the quicker the payback period.

Compare that to 'liquid CO2', the upside is that it has no upfront cost but it is expensive to run. You have to dose it daily for it to be effective, that means using a dosing pump if your forgetful. Another plus is that it is pretty effective at killing algae in higher concentrations, you can 'spot dose' it during water changes on stuff like anubias which tends to get algae. Some plants don't like it and do melt/die even at low concentrations. Some fish also don't like it but I have personally never had any problems but your mileage may vary. Don't quote me on this but I seem to remember reading it has a very short life once its in the water so it really needs to be going in before the lights come on to be effective.

The main issue that I have is that I don't really find it effective at the recommended dosage, it just doesn't add enough carbon for a heavily planted tank. It's inconsistent because its 'dosed' and often forgotten. People do use it in higher concentrations (2X or even more) but I really don't recommend it, the costs rack up quickly and there is a risk of fish loss and plant loss. The active ingredient is glutaraldehyde, this is actually an industrial cleaner and disinfectant hence the 'do not overdose' warning. It is possible to kill a tank if you or someone else makes a mistake when dosing (like if you went on holiday...). I just keep a bottle to use in a pinch for fighting any algae outbreaks but other than that I don't use it.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jan 2010
Posts
8,529
Location
Cumbria
I have ran both C02 gas and liquid and only use liquid now, Co2 pressurised yes if you run a really big tank and have some hard to keep plants, but found out liquid is more than adequate for most of us, 3 or 4 bottles a year is hardly going bring on another credit crunch to my finances.

C02 micro bubbles spoil the look of the tank IMO.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2017
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2,040
Location
Aberdeenshire
After a little bit of advice,
I’ve just bought a fish tank for the little mans room but he wants a NEMO,
Would it be hard to convert this tank to Marine?
If this is more suited in another thread could someone please move it across or point me in the right direction.
Tank below

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/fluval-flex-glass-aquarium-34-litre

Would just be for one or 2 clown fish.
The website said fresh water only but not sure if it could be a home build project or not
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,012
After a little bit of advice,
I’ve just bought a fish tank for the little mans room but he wants a NEMO,
Would it be hard to convert this tank to Marine?
If this is more suited in another thread could someone please move it across or point me in the right direction.
Tank below

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/fluval-flex-glass-aquarium-34-litre

Would just be for one or 2 clown fish.
The website said fresh water only but not sure if it could be a home build project or not

Its not impossible but pretty expensive also clownfish (females esp) get quite big so they wont be able to stay in there for long

Off the top of my head you would need an auto top off, live rock and a way to move water (power head etc) then a heater. Salt water, a way to test salt water and a saltwater testing kit. Then an ro unit or access to ro water

dont bother with an expensive light as you wont be keeping corals. You will want to be changing at least 20% of water volume per week as you wont be running a skimmer and be checking levels regularly to see if that 20% is enough.

If you wanna keep coral also you will need a light + fixture


My advice tho and ive said this before unless your prepared to put in the time stick to freshwater
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Jan 2010
Posts
8,529
Location
Cumbria
As NoobCannon said you got your work cut out, Clownfish should be in pairs not on their own, I advise not going into saltwater until you have done plenty of research, constant money spending and time is required.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Dec 2017
Posts
2,040
Location
Aberdeenshire
Thanks for the advice guys,
I think I’ll keep this tank fresh water for him and wait a bit to buy a proper setup in a bit bigger tank. I’ll be back some point in the future with my setup.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,307
Location
Liverpool
So I'm thinking of modifying my Fluval Edge and am wondering if anyone can offer any insight.

Basically I've seen a video of a chap removing the top glass with a Stanley blade, doing this would make maintaining the tanks a magnitude easier as I really struggle to do anything through the tiny gap. Doing the job looks simple enough but I'm a little worried that it will effect the structural integrity. I'd also need some sort of lid to mount a light and stop the cats from drowning themselves. The current LED isn't brilliant either.

You guys got any ideas?
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,012
So I'm thinking of modifying my Fluval Edge and am wondering if anyone can offer any insight.

Basically I've seen a video of a chap removing the top glass with a Stanley blade, doing this would make maintaining the tanks a magnitude easier as I really struggle to do anything through the tiny gap. Doing the job looks simple enough but I'm a little worried that it will effect the structural integrity. I'd also need some sort of lid to mount a light and stop the cats from drowning themselves. The current LED isn't brilliant either.

You guys got any ideas?

Which one is it? Never mind googled it.

Unsure if the top on that is structural, can get clip on/swan kneck/rest on top leds to replace the standard one.

Best off buying another tank tho imo and flog that one on ebay!
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Dec 2011
Posts
4,735
Prepping for summer now, Its getting hotter in here and i want to be sure i can cope without babysitting my tank this year.

tBR8Jfgl.jpg

Don't want to cut my lid for afew small months of heat. Its mounted onto my light :D Ill 3d print a small bracket to take the extra weight and remove the cellotape. (Or maybe the cellotape will stay for this year who knows)

Also recalibrating my doser today to setup for my alk mixture and ca mixture. Dosing alk mixture 4x daily split doses, ca daily and possibly mg weekly as my uptake of mg is quite low at the moment
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jun 2011
Posts
6,012
Really? My reefer 250 has holes for the down-pipe to come thru, this provides more than enough air for the skimmer and fan.

Yours must be the same design.

A main useage point of a sump imo is to hide all possible equipment

Not trying to tell you how to setup your tank btw
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2006
Posts
23,299
So I'm thinking of modifying my Fluval Edge and am wondering if anyone can offer any insight.

Basically I've seen a video of a chap removing the top glass with a Stanley blade, doing this would make maintaining the tanks a magnitude easier as I really struggle to do anything through the tiny gap. Doing the job looks simple enough but I'm a little worried that it will effect the structural integrity. I'd also need some sort of lid to mount a light and stop the cats from drowning themselves. The current LED isn't brilliant either.

You guys got any ideas?

This isn't always a good idea. Rimless tanks usually use thicker glass. I think for 250L rimless the glass needs to be something like 12mm thick if there is no bracing.

And you don't really need to use carbon on freshwater tanks. Peat in the filter is good for the fish though, especially in the UK where we have very hard water. It will tan the water a bit though.
 
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