Your current Fish tank Setups!

robfosters said:
Seachem Prime. Dechlorinates and detoxifies Ammonia and Nitrate for 48 hours.

Smells like farts.
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Seachem Safe has been the most ecomonical of the two for ~2 years, since Prime prices shot up due to Seachem being unhappy at the undercutting going on on Ebay and alike.

The 50g size costs <£8, comes with a measuring spoon and will typically last years for hobbyists with upto a few moderate (~240l) sized tanks. ;)
 
Thanks all, apologies for the typo :D

The 48hours part though? Does that mean I should be adding more every few days or just during mini water changes?
 
25% change done, 4 weeks into cycle. Nitrites have spiked at 5.0ppm :O and are dropping now, amonia is 0.25ppm and nitrates are at 80ppm. Keeping a close eye on them.

Current stock is still 7 fish, My black widow is doing incredibly well in terms of growth, I think ill be getting some more tetra's though.

Quick question with tetra's will different types school? I.e my x-rays school up with neons etc?
 
UTmaniac said:
Seachem Safe has been the most ecomonical of the two for ~2 years, since Prime prices shot up due to Seachem being unhappy at the undercutting going on on Ebay and alike.

The 50g size costs <£8, comes with a measuring spoon and will typically last years for hobbyists with upto a few moderate (~240l) sized tanks. ;)
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Where do you typically buy yours from? Rainforest is £11+
 
Unicorn said:
25% change done, 4 weeks into cycle. Nitrites have spiked at 5.0ppm :O and are dropping now, amonia is 0.25ppm and nitrates are at 80ppm. Keeping a close eye on them.

Current stock is still 7 fish, My black widow is doing incredibly well in terms of growth, I think ill be getting some more tetra's though.

Quick question with tetra's will different types school? I.e my x-rays school up with neons etc?
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Generally no. My lemons stay together while the Cardinals seem to not even school with their own species and never with the lemons.
 
Well...I went out to buy some Seachem Prime, 100ml for £6.99 however we ended up buying a new tank to replace my abysmal small thing that was just going to be too hard to keep on top of...So we came back with a 63L tank :D Should be a bit more manageable!

Got it all filled up and what not, just need to buy some plants and things now however they're so expensive in the shops we're tempted to get them online again. Any recommendations?
 
Unicorn said:
25% change done, 4 weeks into cycle. Nitrites have spiked at 5.0ppm :O and are dropping now, amonia is 0.25ppm and nitrates are at 80ppm. Keeping a close eye on them.

Current stock is still 7 fish, My black widow is doing incredibly well in terms of growth, I think ill be getting some more tetra's though.

Quick question with tetra's will different types school? I.e my x-rays school up with neons etc?
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If those test results are current, never mind 25% change, you should be replacing ~95% of the water, to get nitrite below 0.25mg/l.

0.25mg/l ammonia is unlikely to be harmful in most hobby tanks, that figure is showing you the TAN level, an equilibrium exists between toxic ammonia and far less toxic ammonium ions. In wamer and higher pH water, that equilibrium becomes more toxic, a 1mg/l need urgent attention in a Rift Lake tank but is absolutely safe in an acidic temperate setup.

Social fish should be kept in social number of their own kind, at least a group of six (often needing more careful balance in mixed sex groups), but 10+ groups do far better.
 
thepharcyde said:
Got myself a Fluval Edge 23l last Saturday as it was on offer at £70 at P@H. In the week I added an Amazon Sword and Small Fern plant.

I went back last night and purchased 8 Cardinal Tetra and a couple of Amano Shrimp. Unfortunately an hour later one of the Shrimp was feasting on a dead Tetra. I can only assume this was stress related as my water was fine by way of the litmus test I had carried out.

I went back to the shop this morning with some test water and they replaced it free of charge after also testing my water and saying it was fine.

One thing I have noted is that one of the remaing Tetras has part of it's tail missing. What is the cause for this and is this another impending casulty?

Pic excl fish. I have since moved the rock to the left of the tank. I moved the rock as the Tetra's were hidden by the rock, that may be a bit big for the tank.
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While the Fluval is a nice looking tank, it's very hard to keep things alive, especially in a non-cycled tank.

If you get anything that has disease or is ill, then it'll decimate your tank in no time, due to the lack of size of the tank.
I cycled mine for 8 weeks and just about got the water right, then added fish, but suffered multiple losses and frustrated with it, so stopped running the tank when the fish passed away.

It's a lesson learnt, but never totally trust anything P@H tell you as they want to sell you fish and will tell you your water is fine, when in your case it isn't even cycled yet.

It's a harsh reality and one you'll learn from. Don't rush the cycle and learn as much as you can.
 
UTmaniac said:
Nice photos, but they do not prove pH is important. ;)

The pH scale simply tells you of the ratio of H an OH ions, not how many of each are present.

Water hardness (TDS and gH) are far more important, they tell you how much is dissolved in the water.

You added pure RO (~ gH 0) from the sound of things to your tank (tap) water, lowering the gH to 2-3, but you don't state what gH your initial tank water had.
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As maniac said, this is more likely to be down to the hardness of the water (particularly carbonate hardness) than the pH value.

In fact, it could just be age related - we often get lemons in at work that are just a faded silvery colour. They sit there for a month or two not selling, then all of a sudden turn bright yellow and sell like hotcakes.
 
Radec said:
I want to start a setup so badly.
But I know it'll be a massive money sink, so I'm holding back from buying a tank :P
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It can be a massive money sink, but it does not have to be. Of my five active tanks, ~140l to 450l in volume, the one of those I bought new (~£350) cost more than the price of the other 4-6 foot tanks put together.

You can also reduce costs by choosing temperate species rather than tropical, to an extent that a heater is not required, unless it gets exceptionally cold (if like me you tend to set the house heating to keep ambient room temps ~19C).

Lighting is another aspect that can save plenty, by using "low tech" plants with T8 lighting for 6 hours per day, or simply using artificial plants. Most fish are happier in less bright conditions.
 
I'm fairly new to this hobby and it feels like I'm falling down a large rabbit hole. I now spend my Saturdays with plastic tubes, buckets, test tubes and various chemistry kits haha.

It started in the New Year when I bought a Aquanano 40 (55L). This seemed ideal because it had all the bits needed to get myself up and running such as heater and pump. To date, I've been really impressed with it, and it looks great. Love the LED lamp too.

So.. after staring at 55L of water with some plants for about 6 weeks (felt like a whole year), including 3 or 4 visits to the LFS with our water samples, I've slowly been introducing new fish. I think I'm at capacity now with 6 tetra neons, 5 panda corys and 7 guppies of various colours. I'm doing a 15L water change each week and my water samples are ammonia 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates 20-40ish.

I know it is not nearly as impressive as the tanks I've seen in this thread, but here is a quick pic:

G8Yb4ejl.jpg

At the moment I'm just enjoying it and its not unusual for me and the gf to turn off the TV in the evenings and just watch the fish. I especially love the panda corys they are crazy and don't stop swimming all over the tank.
 
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