Your current Fish tank Setups!

Malt_Vinegar said:
Stress kills fish, it's not a rescue till they are in an appropriate environment.
All that chasing will also not be helping the orange one.
Is the tank cycled, as in, is it mature, with a good (not brand new!) filter?
What temperature is it set to?
Click to expand...
I had no choice, they were going to get flushed if I didn't want them.

The tank was filthy. I had to move it from where they were. I cleaned all sides with a tank scraper to disturbed and loosen all the algae. Caught the fish in a bucket.

Drained about 80% of the water so I could move the tank.

Rinised the filter elements in fish tank water.

Filled tank let it filter and heat up for 12 hours and dumped the fish back in


its currently at 26

Malt_Vinegar said:
@katy81 Regardless of all the other stuff, set the temp to between 24 and 26 degrees, and you will need to get a water test kit.
Cichlids need a higher PH (in most cases) given we don't know what 2 of them are, somewhere between 7.5-8 should work for most species of Malawi cichlids.
If the tank is new or recently set up, fairly regular water changes will likely be needed to keep paramers safe, at least initially.
Click to expand...

It's at 26, been running about 36 hours so probably settled at that.

I'll give it another day and get it tested at pets at home
 
Last edited:
Malt_Vinegar said:
@katy81 Regardless of all the other stuff, set the temp to between 24 and 26 degrees, and you will need to get a water test kit.
Cichlids need a higher PH (in most cases) given we don't know what 2 of them are, somewhere between 7.5-8 should work for most species of Malawi cichlids.
If the tank is new or recently set up, fairly regular water changes will likely be needed to keep paramers safe, at least initially.
Click to expand...

Agreed, the tank needs to be cycled, if not, it’s going to need very regular water changes, even if small.
 
I would grab a bottle of bacteria, some people say it’s snake oil but in my experience they generally work at getting the nitrogen cycle going.

They don’t fully finish the cycle but they really kickstart it going and if you have some beneficial bacteria already, it will probably get you over the line.

You can’t overdose and it has a shelf life so use it liberally.
 
Been having fun and games, zoa's have not been doing well, finding bubble algae all over the place then these little ******** started popping up!

8VDKztm.jpeg


On the plus side, I'm starting to see some coraline algae spread.
 
Bubble algae being a right pain at the moment. Sat there with tweezers on Sunday trying to pull chunks out, but the stuff is just everywhere!

I was going to buy a mithrax crab but I've read they can be hit and miss on whether they decide to eat it.

So I've ordered myself some Vibrant algae killer to try. I've heard people have had good results against bubble algae.
 
DEL 707 said:
Bubble algae being a right pain at the moment. Sat there with tweezers on Sunday trying to pull chunks out, but the stuff is just everywhere!

I was going to buy a mithrax crab but I've read they can be hit and miss on whether they decide to eat it.

So I've ordered myself some Vibrant algae killer to try. I've heard people have had good results against bubble algae.
Click to expand...

I quite like bubble algae, it looks cool, but not ideal when inbetween your corals!
 
Thank you very much!

The glass lily pipes need a clean but it's a massive amount of work. I need a new piece of hardscape to replace the wood on the left but currently there is about 20 baby cherry shrimp living in the anubias bushes so I'm leaving it as is.

A lot of the plants were only added about two weeks ago so need a lot of propagating to get things looking good. It was a vallisneria forest before hand.

I wish we could get a low iron tank without a lid but our ragdoll would be dead in a day or two if we did.
 
Does anyone have any experience with CO2 setups? I've been looking into it and I think I'm more leaning towards pressurised CO2 rather than the create your own type setup.

I've just redone my 180l which was becoming a bit neglected. The main reason was because I had a bunch of platies at the time(Thought they would make a nice addition, but was never made aware they gave birth to live fish at an alarming rate!), which exploded in population, followed by a massive algae bloom which overwhelmed the plants I had at the time. I now only have 3 small fish. A Cardinal Tetra, Silver tip Tetra and a Harlequin Rasbora, and they are around 5-6 years old. They are my OG fish that have outlived generations of platies. My tank now has quite a few plants and I want to make sure the plants will grow well/be in good condition before I even consider adding any more fish/shrimp, then slowly start adding more.

From my understanding, plants will need a fertilizer and CO2 for decent growth, but I'm not 100% sure where to start. I feel like a pressured tank is the better option long term and it would definitely need a timer so it switches off at night. Does anyone know of a decent/reputable company that does a CO2 kit? I seems like most will provide the regulator/other bits but not the CO2 tank.
 
Mart2912 said:
Does anyone have any experience with CO2 setups? I've been looking into it and I think I'm more leaning towards pressurised CO2 rather than the create your own type setup.

I've just redone my 180l which was becoming a bit neglected. The main reason was because I had a bunch of platies at the time(Thought they would make a nice addition, but was never made aware they gave birth to live fish at an alarming rate!), which exploded in population, followed by a massive algae bloom which overwhelmed the plants I had at the time. I now only have 3 small fish. A Cardinal Tetra, Silver tip Tetra and a Harlequin Rasbora, and they are around 5-6 years old. They are my OG fish that have outlived generations of platies. My tank now has quite a few plants and I want to make sure the plants will grow well/be in good condition before I even consider adding any more fish/shrimp, then slowly start adding more.

From my understanding, plants will need a fertilizer and CO2 for decent growth, but I'm not 100% sure where to start. I feel like a pressured tank is the better option long term and it would definitely need a timer so it switches off at night. Does anyone know of a decent/reputable company that does a CO2 kit? I seems like most will provide the regulator/other bits but not the CO2 tank.
Click to expand...
Depends on the live plants you have.

I tried high light/ferts/co2 requirement plants early on in my fishtank journey that began in 2010 and it didn't end well... But the OG slow growing Anubias plants are still doing great (apparently this grows on the riverbanks out of water in the wild, but copes fine with being submerged as we usually do in our tanks), the other stuff including duckweed all perished! :cry:
 
Last edited:
Mart2912 said:
Does anyone have any experience with CO2 setups? I've been looking into it and I think I'm more leaning towards pressurised CO2 rather than the create your own type setup.

I've just redone my 180l which was becoming a bit neglected. The main reason was because I had a bunch of platies at the time(Thought they would make a nice addition, but was never made aware they gave birth to live fish at an alarming rate!), which exploded in population, followed by a massive algae bloom which overwhelmed the plants I had at the time. I now only have 3 small fish. A Cardinal Tetra, Silver tip Tetra and a Harlequin Rasbora, and they are around 5-6 years old. They are my OG fish that have outlived generations of platies. My tank now has quite a few plants and I want to make sure the plants will grow well/be in good condition before I even consider adding any more fish/shrimp, then slowly start adding more.

From my understanding, plants will need a fertilizer and CO2 for decent growth, but I'm not 100% sure where to start. I feel like a pressured tank is the better option long term and it would definitely need a timer so it switches off at night. Does anyone know of a decent/reputable company that does a CO2 kit? I seems like most will provide the regulator/other bits but not the CO2 tank.
Click to expand...
Dont do a DIY setup - they are naff and your be fed up of constantly restarting and checking, plus you have the issue of a potential tank dump since they don't use two stage regs. Don't do those small co2 whippets either - absolute waste of money. If your going to do it, do it properly or not at all.

You can get a refillable 3.15KG CO2 Bottle that will last you a good 6-12 months easily. Then you just need a regulator (which is tripped via a basic plug timer) and diffuser from somewhere like CO2 Art. I started with in-tank diffuser, but moved to inline as its much neater and less to clean.

I then use 2hr Aquarist APT 3 Complete (daily) as my fertiliser.
 
Last edited:
So these are the plants in just now:

3 x Limnophila hippuridoides
1 x Micranthemum 'monte carlo'
3 x Ludwigia palustris
2 x Eleocharis sp
2 x Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
2 x Microsorum pteropus 'Trident'
1 x Anubias barteri var. nana
3 x Rotala bonsai
2 x Helantium tenellum green
2 x Eleocharis acicularis
iamtheoneneo said:
Dont do a DIY setup - they are naff and your be fed up of constantly restarting and checking, plus you have the issue of a potential tank dump since they don't use two stage regs. Don't do those small co2 whippets either - absolute waste of money. If your going to do it, do it properly or not at all.

You can get a refillable 3.15KG CO2 Bottle that will last you a good 6-12 months easily. Then you just need a regulator (which is tripped via a basic plug timer) and diffuser from somewhere like CO2 Art. I started with in-tank diffuser, but moved to inline as its much neater and less to clean.

I then use 2hr Aquarist APT 3 Complete (daily) as my fertiliser.
Click to expand...

That's good to know thanks. I take it that most refillable tanks use a standard fitment for attaching regulators?
 
Mart2912 said:
So these are the plants in just now:

That's good to know thanks. I take it that most refillable tanks use a standard fitment for attaching regulators?
Click to expand...
The only plants you have that could really do with CO2 are the monte carlo and Rotala, but obviously all plants benefit from CO2.
Yes they use the DIN 477 / JIS m22-14 / BS 341 No. 8 / W21.8-14 / .860" x 1/14 connection standard.
 
Last edited:
Tanks are doing well, cleaning day today.





I think we’ve lost our final cleaner shrimp from the salt tank. Shopping list next week:

Fresh:
  • More elodea
  • 2-3 flying foxes (need some algae eaters)
  • 3 khuli loaches
  • Maybe some more tetras
Salt:
  • Yellow watchman goby
  • 2-3 cleaner shrimp
  • 5 turbo snails
  • Dwarf angel
 
I picked up a blue neon goby yesterday, quite glad to see he's settled in nicely.


I bought 3 berghia nudibranch last weekend to help with the aiptasia problem, hopefully they start doing their job, because the stuff is taking over.
Also been dosing vibrant to try to tackle the bubble algae problem. It's a slow process, but after a few weeks, I am starting to see some die off.

I've ordered some more zoas, a toadstool and a kenya tree that should hopefully turn up this week.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom