Your current Fish tank Setups!

[Malt_Vinegar]

I am down to one tank now, and as I have some pics before my recent BGA outbreak, figured I would post them up, with my stock list, and see what other OCUK peeps have in stock currently!

My Trigon 190 in its new home after a move of about 70 miles to my new place

Current stocking
1 - Geophagus Brasiliensis
1 - Polypterus senegalus senegalus
6 - Brilliant Rasbora
2 - African knife
1 - Random tetra (Who the Polypterus seems to like, and therefore does not eat, unlike the other 4!)

Room shot

Flat (side) viewing panel shot

Front panel shot

Only the one tank for the foreseeable future, new place is a bit too small to have room for others!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Thats quite highly stocked for a 64Ltr tank tbh, the general rule is around 1" of fish per gallon, maybe a little more if the tank has a large filter. The clown loaches will get too big for that tank aswell, they get to around 10" maybe a little bigger when fully grown.

Good advice, it does seem a bit over-stocked, and you have a couple of tank-busters in there, so you will need to get a bigger tank asap if you are going to keep them

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I wish i could get rid of my Algae which grows on the tanks sides. Every other week i'm scrubbing it down.

How often do you have the tank lights on a day, how much do you feed your fish, and also how often fo you do water changes, and what percentage of water do you change?

What does the algae look like?

I used to keep freshwater fish myself. However my main problem was I never had the time to clean the tank. I'm always working till late and when I get home I just collapse in bed. Although I did like my fish tank but if I just had more time to clean it then I'd be intrested in getting another one.

Your should not need to do much more than small weekly water change, and a squeeze of the filter media in the old tank water once a month. About 10 minutes a month really! Basic freshwater tanks are not a lot of work!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I have had BGA problems in the past, and it appears to be less since moving to a new area. The water into the new house is filtered before it comes from the taps now.
I am going to attempt a 4 day blackout of the tank to kill off what is left, and then introduce some more plants. I am also going to try and remove any dead spots to stop it from getting a foothold again!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I've been messing around with light for ages. I tried 6 hours which didn't make too much difference but killed off the plants. 10 hours the tank got green in days so with 10 hours daily the growth slows down but it's back within two weeks.

I fail to understand how I can stop it. With water temperatures at 24 it's a breeding ground for the stuff. oh and feeding is once daily.

Do you ever do water-changes? Can you turn down the temp of the tank, im not sure what temps are ok with your stocking, but knocking it down a couple of degrees should not do too much harm.

What kind of algae is it? If it grows back in a matter of hours, it might be BGA?


http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm - look here

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

current fish have ben in 2 weeks all levels have gone back down so it should be ok to add more

Just keep an eye on the levels, and make sure you are ready to do a big water change if any spikes arise.

You are stocking that thing up a bit quickly!!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Is having bog wood beneficial? Is so why?

Also, how can I get more CO2 into my tank?

Bog wood is generally decorative, and can sometimes colour the water, so some people dont like it, however for some fish species its good to have it for cover/fiding spaces.

CO2 can be added by kits. I run a yeast based CO2 unit. They are about 15 quid from most aquatics shops, and need filling roughly once a month to keep them running

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

l]
How are you getting with the yeast set? I've reccentyl got a D-D complete pressurised set, unfortunatley the solenoid is a dud has had to be returned

Seems to be working well, although I dont think CO2 is the bottleneck on plant growth in my tank.
I think CO2 addition is actually over-rated in most cases.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I think I might have seen some discussions that certain types of fish need some tannins in the water to stimulate breeding. In general though, I think they are decorative. (Tannins are a substance that can come out of soaked wood)

Tablets for what?

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Hi,

Couple of questions:

We've got a 15L freshwater tank, with a few goldfish in. However, we're finding that the water's going cloudy/green after 3/4 days - how would we stop this happening? We've got a Fluval 1 filter, and have used the basic water treatment stuff. Could this be a problem with the water? I've read a few comments about London water, is there anything more we should be doing?

How often/how much should we be doing water changes?

Thanks

Daily, 75% changes might just about cover it... Probably twice a week filter rinse (in old tank water)
Fluval 1 in 15 litre tank with multiple goldfish is amazing they are still alive...
London water is the last thing you have to worry about. lol
Too many fish, of the wrong kind, underfiltered in a tank that is too small.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Would it work if I connected a simple air stone to the end of the C02 pipe and just bury this under the gravel? Surely this is a more effective way of trapping the C02 in the aquarium, the gravel will help to break the larger bubbles down into smaller ones.

Essentially,it should work, the problem with these things, is you will need some way of delaying the bubbles so they stay in the water as long as possible to maximise the transfer.

My unit has a little tray that is up against the glass, with a track for the bubbles. Look up CO2 diffuser.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

It will to a certain extent delay the CO2, and will probably increase CO2 levels, just not as much as a unit with a diffuser.
You can pick up a generic diffuser to stick on your own CO2 system for a couple of quid from an aquatics shop. Might be worth a look if you get a decent home made system working well

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I just got together my bits for my new aquarium on my desk at work.

Its 8 litres....

Tank - 20x20x20cm cube!

Filter - Tiny Hang on Back Variety:

Light - Arcadia Arc Pod

It will initially house a couple of plants, shrimps, and a snail. If its stable, and water conditions look like they can cope, then I might add a couple of the tiniest rasbora species I can find. Although, I am not sure how the filter will cope with the bio load in such a small volume of water...

Still, should be a fun little project, and end up looking something like this...

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I like your plan, I fell foul of having a small tank and overstocking it a few years back, but I like the idea of having a mostly planty tank maybe with one or two tiny fishies in it... Let me know how it goes!

Where did you get your stuff from, anyway?

Finally the only other thing is that a lidless tank evaporates easily, leaving you with a lovely crusty tidemark around the top, and also concentrating any chemicals in the water... so be sure to be good on your water changes, a pint per day would probably be a good plan for something that size...

The tank/filter and light were all from ebay. Had some advice from a couple of people who run small tanks from a forum.

To combat the problem of tide marks, I am using filtered/treated water for the initial fill and all water-changes. Not to mention it will not exactly be a difficult task to keep such a small rim clean, access is easy for a start!

I will be checking tank parameters during the first month to establish the required water change schedule. However, with the low load, over-filtration, and plant stocking I don't think 50% weekly will be out of the question. Certainly with the starting non-fish stocking.

If I add fish, then I may have to re-evaluate the water-changes.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I wanted to take some new pics of my tank, but it's currently under a blackout to finish off a BGA colony.

My new tank at work will be up and running by in a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to it, 8 litres is going to be quite a challenge to keep stable and healthy

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

My m8 has some Red-bellied piranha i'll try and get some pics of him

I hope he has a decent sized tank.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I finished my tank blackout yesterday. So got some pics

Geophagus Brasiliensis pair

Senegal Bichir

Better picture of the male Geophagus

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Picture of my tank,

5x2x2 Feet is about 550 Litres

oooh, i like! what type of Geophagus is that in the middle?

Is that a polytpterus in the bottom left?

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

re: snails..

Most (any?) Botia loach should do well at cleaning up snails. They also dont grow as large as clown loaches. Much better alternative.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Nano setup - Day1