Your current Fish tank Setups!

Gibbs said:
Howdy gents,

just picked up a 180l tank for the wee ones goldfish (I know I know ) and been looking for a combined filter and air pump in one unit?
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A Fluval U3 or U4 would do the job of creating sufficient water surface rippling.

Air pumps/stones are not required with suitable strength filters and suitable positioning of the output. I have a number of rheophilic species in my six active tanks (Steatocranus casuarius; Chaetostoma joropo/formosae/L445.; Panaquolus albevermis; Illyodon xantusi; Synodontis brichardi/angelicus/congicus/notatus; Euchilichthys royauxi/guentheri; Chrysichthys ornatus etc.) which are relatively sensitive to low oxygen levels, all completely dependent upon filters to agitate the water surface sufficiently.

A 180l tank is brilliant for a single or even two/three fancy goldfish for life, but a non-fancy will soon require a garden pond and a suitable adjustment period to an outdoor pond temperature dependent upon how different the temp is compared to the tank.
 
You don't need an air pump, you just need a filter of some kind. Doesn't matter if it is air or motor powered.

Fluval 306 should be more than sufficient. Decent balance is between price and quality, you can get cheaper, you can get better but you get what you pay for.

You could run the whole tank off a single sponge filter but they are ugly and don't provide much circulation.

As with all filters, you should ignore what the manufacture says and do not change the sponges unless they are falling apart. You do have to clean them though and change any poly filter stuff as it clogs. But just buy it off ebay, its a few £ for a lifetime supply.

EDIT: As above U3 or U4 are decent as well if you prefer internal to keep things simple. I would go with the bigger U4 for the extra water flow.
 
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Heres a quick pic of my desktop tank - got some blue dream shrimp arriving tomorrow and it'll probably end up just being a shrimp tank. Anyone recommend some good shrimp food


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UTmaniac said:
A Fluval U3 or U4 would do the job of creating sufficient water surface rippling.

Air pumps/stones are not required with suitable strength filters and suitable positioning of the output. I have a number of rheophilic species in my six active tanks (Steatocranus casuarius; Chaetostoma joropo/formosae/L445.; Panaquolus albevermis; Illyodon xantusi; Synodontis brichardi/angelicus/congicus/notatus; Euchilichthys royauxi/guentheri; Chrysichthys ornatus etc.) which are relatively sensitive to low oxygen levels, all completely dependent upon filters to agitate the water surface sufficiently.

A 180l tank is brilliant for a single or even two/three fancy goldfish for life, but a non-fancy will soon require a garden pond and a suitable adjustment period to an outdoor pond temperature dependent upon how different the temp is compared to the tank.
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I have a EHEIM pickup 60 Internal Filter running at the moment in this big tank as I broke the air stone while moving the current 2 residents over but would like to add one even if it's not needed. They are used to it and swim round it like 2 wee head cases chasing each other. Quite amusing to be fair.

Going to replace the filters in this unit, if I dont see something else in the store tomorrow that is.

So looks like 2 separate units still?

Another quick question, any smallish species I can add in along with the golds, or are they are one species only type of fish.

Fishing season be coming to an end soon, might drop a trout in......probably still couldn't catch the swine anyway
 
Gibbs said:
Howdy gents,

just picked up a 180l tank for the wee ones goldfish (I know I know ) and been looking for a combined filter and air pump in one unit?
Click to expand...

You don't need an air pump. Just get the biggest filter you can afford if you want to keep goldfish in a tank. They are messy and require a lot of filtration and space.

Ensure the outlet of the filter disrupts the surface of the water to help the water remain oxygenated.

Ideally you will want a external canister type. Something like a Fluval FX4.

180 litres is just about big enough for one (maybe two) "fancy" type goldfish.

Oh and don't feed then more than once maybe twice a week, otherwise you will have terrible water quality. I would also suggest at least a 20% water change a week at least until you have a testing kit and can be sure of the tanks levels are stable. Then you can adjust water changes/feeding/temperature to suit.
 
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Malt_Vinegar said:
Oh and don't feed then more than once maybe twice a week, otherwise you will have terrible water quality.
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This is an approach I strongly disagree with. Do you have just two meals a week to reduce the amount of waste you flush down the loo? As fishkeepers, we are the gods of our fish, it's our responsibility to feed them and do suitable water changes. If you have chosen to "fish in cycle" a tank/filter system, you must be prepared to change up to ~95% of the water daily (depending upon daily ammonia/nitrite/nitrate liquid test results) for up to ~12 weeks.

Most fish require food daily, a decent ballpark is at least the rough size of one of their eyes. The only one of my ~200+ fish that does not always get a daily meal besides on the universal "famine Tuesday" is my ~24cm SL Chrysichthys ornatus, who is an extremely inactive predatory catfish with a mouth that opens up to ~6cm diameter, it literally stays stationary on the tank floor for at least 23 hours in every 24 hour period. I typically offer it a ~1.5cm compacted ball of food at least five nights per week, but sometimes it does not eat the ball and I can tell because of a big heap of Malaysian Trumpet Snails, in which case I don't feed the next evening before my bedtime.

@Gibbs A good rule to go by when mixing species is if another fish can fit in its mouth, it probably will at some point! My Chrysichthys ornatus grew from a tiny ~3cm SL baby to ~21cm SL over about two years, living in a community until one day I saw it open its mouth to at least 5cm SL... Big enough to be able to swallow my adult Synodontis brichardi/schoutedeni; Euchylichthys royauxi/guentheri; Ctenopoma acutirostre; Xenomystus nigri etc. and has spent the last ~2.5 years in its own tank. Goldfish are greedy fish, but at the same time, fancies are not great swimmers because their caudal fins are unable to propel them very quickly, unlike the speedy nature of Rainbow and Brown Trout when they want to move!

IMO the best fish to mix with fancies are other fancies, they are social fish, the current thinking is a minimum of 100l for single fancy and 40l for each additional one. Three often works better than two in a social species group, it tends to reduce the bully/victim scenario, but the bigger the group in a suitable setup the better. My biggest social group is 25 Pareutropis mandevillei, a midwater diurnal catfish from the Congo river system, that have reached ~5cm SL in one of my 120cm long tanks over the last five years.
 
Anyone familiar with/can recommend a shop for marines around the NE of Birmingham?
Going to go have a browse at the weekend, so far considering:

World of Fish and Pets on Coventry Road
Deep Blue Aquatics Hinckley
Erdington Aquatics
Marine Aquatics in Walsall
 
UTmaniac said:
This is an approach I strongly disagree with. Do you have just two meals a week to reduce the amount of waste you flush down the loo?
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No I feed mine twice a week as it's far better for them. Feeding every day is unrealistic, unatural and not healthy for them. Depending on species of course.
I don't use feeding to regulate water conditions, but when someone is starting out without a testing kit, it is very sensible to feed at the lower end to ensure they can keep control of the tank, at least initially.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
You don't need an air pump. Just get the biggest filter you can afford if you want to keep goldfish in a tank. They are messy and require a lot of filtration and space.

Ensure the outlet of the filter disrupts the surface of the water to help the water remain oxygenated.

Ideally you will want a external canister type. Something like a Fluval FX4.
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I would not follow this advise either. An FX4 is extremely overkill for a 180L tank and will produce way too much flow for fancy goldfish. They are not good swimmers at all. FX4 is rated at 2650l/hour :eek: compared to a 306 @ 1150l/hour and a U4 @ 1000l/hour. You do not need to spend that much money. Fluval 306 is more than sufficient.

Filtration is about surface area to grow beneficial bacteria, you really do not need much to grow enough bacteria to sustain a tank. More surface area does not mean more bacteria, the amount of bacteria is determine by how many fish you have and how much you feed them. The marketing that gets put into filters is insane and almost all of it is nonsense.

I would also follow what UTmaniac said about stocking. No more that 3 fancies in a 180L and don't stock them with anything else. Goldfish are beautiful and don't need anything else in with them. Goldfish put everything in their mouth, literally. Even if it didn't fit, it could harm all but the hardiest of fish.

I would recommend a heater also, set at 18-20C. It is not needed but will stop big fluctuations over night and Fancies do not tolerate cold water well.
 
Couple of pics from my now mature tank setup. Not great pics, but not bad for a phone.

dWQVpm6.jpg


Tw5nik1.jpg


Fluval Roma 90. Replaced the supplied U2 filter recently with a JBL e901 external. What a difference.
Current stock:
1 x Siamese Fighter
5 x Lampeye
8 x Neon
1 x Skeleton Fish ?
6 x Dwarf Rainbow
3 x Indian Barbs
4 x Cherry Barbs
3 x Peppered Cory
4 x Leopard Cory
1 x Bristlenose Plec

Probably overstocked for some people. Tank is now 2 years old. Really want a bigger tank, but short on space. :(
 
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rebel rebel said:
This is also what I would do.

Btw awesome pair of clownfish! Hope you're pleased with them.
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Yeah, they are cool little dudes, still loving that same corner, but they will come up to the front of the tank when I go close to it, and come up to the top at feeding time when I take the lid off :D

We got a couple of corals over the weekend; Toadstool leather, xenia, and a little zoa frag:


The poor toadstool ended up having a bit of a traumatic experience - I spotted an aiptaisia on the rock after I'd put it in the tank, so ended up putting it in a bucket and chiselling off the part of the rock it was on... and found a gorilla crab inside!

He's now living in the chambers in the back of the tank.

The toadstool's "stalk" was completely bent over when I put it back in the tank - I put it in a temporary spot to see how it was doing, it seemed fine, straightened up OK, and all the polyps were coming out, but it was lying down against the rock:

fZ6CgHL.jpg


I put this down to the angle of the rock, so after a couple of days of it looking OK, I moved it to where I wanted it, it seemed OK to start with, stood straight upright, but over yesterday and last night, it's completely fallen over:

W2I2zwc.jpg


It doesn't seem to be that unhappy as it's extending its polyps, but why is it lying down like that? Is it trying to get further into the flow from that powerhead?

It also now only seems to extend the polyps at night when the lights are off (there were 2-3 out yesterday, but the bottom photo was taken this morning when it was dark - I only turned the lights on for the picture).

Any ideas what's wrong with it? Or is it just normal? In which case what can I do to encourage it to come towards the front of the tank a bit more - would be nice to be able to actually see it properly :p

Water parameters are fine I believe:

Ammonia + Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: ~5ppm
PH: 8.2
Phosphate: ~0.06ppm
SG: 1.025
Temp: 26c

I have the lights at max 45% at midday - is this too high/too low?
 
Countcussy said:
Couple of pics from my now mature tank setup. Not great pics, but not bad for a phone.

Fluval Roma 90. Replaced the supplied U2 filter recently with a JBL e701 external. What a difference.
Current stock:
1 x Siamese Fighter
5 x Lampeye
8 x Neon
1 x Skeleton Fish ?
6 x Dwarf Rainbow
3 x Indian Barbs
4 x Cherry Barbs
3 x Peppered Cory
4 x Leopard Cory
1 x Bristlenose Plec

Probably overstocked for some people. Tank is now 2 years old. Really want a bigger tank, but short on space. :(
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That's very overstocked for a 90L tank :eek:
 
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