Your current Fish tank Setups!

Makhaira · 4 Jan 2013 at 09:15

Nope, those T8's will be more than sufficient for you. The single best piece of advice anyone ever gave me for planted tanks is to head over to www.ukaps.org and join up - possibly the best source of information for anything that I've ever been part of.

In short, those bulbs are more than sufficient, even if you got a high tech setup with CO2. That said, you may find a pure sand substrate a challenge with a planted tank.

famas · 4 Jan 2013 at 10:31

thanks for the link Makhaira loads of good info on there.

cheers.

King4aDay · 4 Jan 2013 at 12:40

Yeah UKAPS is amazing. I'm a long time member over there as well (user name BigTom).

Makhaira · 4 Jan 2013 at 15:31

It's true, he is. We even pretend to like his scapes sometimes

.

.one. · 14 Jan 2013 at 23:58

arc@css said:
@ .one. - looks just like my tank (Rena)?

Rena is the filter system i have with the set up but the tank is an Aqua one.

The tank shown on the Rena filter system booklet does have picture of an Aqua one tho.

Unless I am wrong and my tank is a Rena

JoeF1 · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:30

JoeF1 said:
Hey guys looking for some advice.

Me and the GF decided it would be a good time to buy something for our rented house, just to make it a little more homely and decided to go with a cold water tank set up just because we have never had fish before (except the standard plastic bowl ) growing up.

We have 4 little fish in our 20ltr tank and it came with a filter/pump etc.

The problem im having is, the pump isnt really a pump its more of a water drip! Which i personally isnt doing a good enough job cleaning the water etc. Do i need to buy a different pump, as i know the current i have looks nice but id rather have better standards for the fish?

Im on day 4 now, 1 day old fish and the water is getting cloudy. Iv cleaned the filters etc.

Thanks.

Ok, so i took all your advice but the pump/filter on these are pants. I mean pants. Im wanting to get ride of the pump and filter (middle brown fancy looking thing) and go for my own set up. I have been told to look at the under gravel filtration system because it will help against the ammonia?

What im wanting in the end is; to take out the bottom plant holder, swap it with a a pump which will pump bubbles from the bottom up. Can you guys spec me a pump / filter and anything else i will need to do this?

Thanks.

Makhaira · 16 Jan 2013 at 17:45

Under gravel filters are no more special than any other type, and have their own pros and cons. Any filter will help with ammonia, that's their primary purpose. Thank the issue you have is that you'll need to transfer over the filter media to keep the good bacteria that you've grown in there. A fluval chi should give decent enough flow, so I'd check for blockages and whatnot, but it should be fine. You don't need massive flow in a tank that size.

JoeF1 · 17 Jan 2013 at 09:56

Yeah this is what i thought. Its just hardly flowing at all, maybe a dodgy pump then? its less than a trickle. The water is so dirty. I did water changes, cleaned all the filters in the dirty water etc etc. Just isnt staying clear.

Axis64 · 19 Jan 2013 at 21:52

I have just got piece of wood that's just from a tree that I was hoping if I wash up and boil a few times I could add to my tank, would this work? It literally is just a bit of what I assume was a quite thick branch from a tree!!

King4aDay · 19 Jan 2013 at 22:25

Axis64 said:
I have just got piece of wood that's just from a tree that I was hoping if I wash up and boil a few times I could add to my tank, would this work? It literally is just a bit of what I assume was a quite thick branch from a tree!!

No problem using (most) found wood as long as its completely dead and you remove any bark and soft bits which will rot quickly.

I've used beech, oak, heather, alder and spruce before, and most other woods are fine (blackthorn looks really good). BUt like I said, make sure it's dead and dry all the way through.

Axis64 · 19 Jan 2013 at 22:35

King4aDay said:
No problem using (most) found wood as long as its completely dead and you remove any bark and soft bits which will rot quickly.

I've used beech, oak, heather, alder and spruce before, and most other woods are fine (blackthorn looks really good). BUt like I said, make sure it's dead and dry all the way through.

It's not going to go in my current tank (I'm looking for a new bigger one) so could be a few months before its used so ill keep it in the airing cupboard to dry out till I'm ready to use it!

Will it need to be boiled and cleaned?

King4aDay · 19 Jan 2013 at 22:48

Axis64 said:
It's not going to go in my current tank (I'm looking for a new bigger one) so could be a few months before its used so ill keep it in the airing cupboard to dry out till I'm ready to use it!

Will it need to be boiled and cleaned?

Can't hurt. Definitely remove any old bark, dirt and soft bits from the outside and I'd soak it a bit if its large. Could you post a pic?

Axis64 · 19 Jan 2013 at 23:14

King4aDay said:
Can't hurt. Definitely remove any old bark, dirt and soft bits from the outside and I'd soak it a bit if its large. Could you post a pic?

Here you go

cyber69 · 20 Jan 2013 at 11:34

cyber69 said:
My new (and small) fish tank:=

Had this tank for awhile now and decided today that i've had enough of it. It's a starter tank granted but the filtration system is **** poor and maintenance was always an issue. Even with regular water changes the filter and pump could not cope.

I've thought about removing the filter/pump system and using a Fluval internal one but as the tank is only 19l size anyway it would take up too much space. The other option is an external Fluval one which a friend of mine has and recommends but I think I will just dump this in the bin and wait until I have more space to buy a proper 60l+ fish tank with a stand etc.

I'm not even going to bother selling it as I don't want other people to fall into the same trap as I did.

I think they have been withdrawn from sale in petsathome where I bought it from.

Makhaira · 20 Jan 2013 at 12:02

Don't bin in, keep it in the loft, as a hospital emergency tank is always useful to have on hand. What's your budget for a new tank, and what sort of size are you after?

Axis64 · 23 Jan 2013 at 14:06

Just after a bit of advice, I have just got a new tank (3ft and 120 ltrs, I think) and wanted to have an external filter as well as the internal.

What would you guys recommend?

gitbags · 23 Jan 2013 at 14:43

Tetratec ex1200 gets my vote. Got one running on my lido120 alongside the internal filter. It is a big bugger though.

cyber69 · 23 Jan 2013 at 15:21

Makhaira said:
Don't bin in, keep it in the loft, as a hospital emergency tank is always useful to have on hand. What's your budget for a new tank, and what sort of size are you after?

Practically don't have any spare room for the tank I would like which is a Fluval roma 90 or 125 with an external filter/pump.

Might be moving house in 6 - 12 months time so will put this on my list of things to purchase if I do. I suppose having never kept tropical fish before, the starter 19l tank did get me started and introduced me to how to measure the water levels etc but I don't have any room for a bigger tank and therefore I made the decision to not restock the 19l tank once the fish had expired.

I've seen a few of these small fishbox moon tanks on ebay and most the time the description says 'selling due to upgrading to a bigger tank'.

Makhaira · 23 Jan 2013 at 20:22

Axis64 said:
Just after a bit of advice, I have just got a new tank (3ft and 120 ltrs, I think) and wanted to have an external filter as well as the internal.

What would you guys recommend?

JBL e900 or e901 if you want a single, or e700/701 for a pair. You could also consider an Eheim 2217 or pair of 2215s on that.

BusError · 23 Jan 2013 at 23:19

http://youtu.be/kTekoR0BVic

Now that's a nice Nemo! :-)

PS: Sorry to hijack, but, these are actually called "Le Fish" :-)

!