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Setting Up An Aquarium


Stu8
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Hi all,

I've been wanting a Tropic Aquarium for sometime now, so after reading alot of beginners books i think i'm ready. :help:

Basically what i've picked up is, the larger the tank the easier it is to manage?

(am i right in thinking that?)

so taking that in mind and measuring how much free space i have available i decided this tank is most suited for me.

Juwel Trigon 190:

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it comes complete with heater lamps and internal filter, and is triangle shape (perfect for corners)

Now i've been looking very hard into what fish I really want and have decided I would like Tropical Sal******er Fishies.

finding compatable fish was the hard part, so please let me know if these arent :wacko:

Ocellaris Clownfish & Heniochus Black & White Butterflyfish

p_88039.jpgp_68377.jpg

Purple Stripe Pseudochromis & Bicolor Pseudochromis

pw72394purplestripe_pseudoc.jpgp_72472.jpg

Theres is local Aquariam Store near to me that tank breeds all of those.

The owner informs me that tank breed fish usually live longer.

(he gave me a long reason why, but it totally blagged me head :lol:)

I might get more at a later date but a 190litre tank might struggle holding alot of big fish like those?

Obviously this being a car forum and all, i'm not expecting many tips but they are such pretty fishies I thought you should see them all :D

Stu.

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You are correct that bigger is easier to manage (A larger body of water is more stable)

However if you are a total beginner I would not get marine fish!!!!!

The Trigons are ok tanks. The lights and filter are more for freshwater use though, (heater will be ok, bit IIRC it is built into the filter anyway)

You would need to add a decent external filter, and a protein skimmer to run marines... the equipment and fish are far more enpensive, and it is far easier to co catatrophicly wrong and kill everything..

I would go for tropical freshwater if I were you... there are equally inteersting fish avaliable, and this are a little easier (and cheaper!) to manage...

Is the tank definitely going in a corner??? a long wide rectanular one usualy works out better, expecially if run on a big external filter... (or 4 in my case lol)

What aquatic store is it?? They like tank breeding fish as they make 100% profit on them ;) Some fish have to be wild caught!!

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thanks Charlie :thumbsup:

I've looked at Rectangle tanks.

I could get a 90 litre tank that would fit nicely, thats without a cabinet though.

Looking at other options I've noticed anything over 100 litres seems to be always 10cm to long for the space i've got available. :unsure:

So you say Freshwater fish, I cant complain already been looking at that option. :yes:

Also that should mean the existing filter will be ok to use want it?

It's my GF who suggested I get the sal******er variety as the Clown Fish looks like Nemo. :rolleyes: :D

p.s why is the swear filter blanking out salt_water???

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oh yeah the Aqaurium Shop is called "CHESHIRE WATERLIFE" which is located in the blakemere craft centre.

...... Which probably means nothing to you :P

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The swear filter does odd things........ :lol:

You can always get a cabinet and tank built to your own specs (I did lol, 5 foot long, 2 foot wide and only 18" high, for my stingrays). I am not sure how much they will charge you.. just remember that you can get things cheaper by going direct to the company!!

The filter and lights it comes with will be fine.. it will pretty much be a matter of just add water and fish.. (please don't actually just do that though lol)

I would reccomend staying away from sand (its a PITA to clean) and just use regular type gravel (I like really dark stuff, if you have colourful fish it shows them up better)

You will also need some dechlorinator, some live bacteria, some plants/bog wood for the fish to hide behind, gravel cleaner, new "for fish use only" bucket, small net, a glass scourer, water test kit (just amonia and nitrite will do, don't let them sell you the rest, you don't need them) and a thermometer..

Food depends on what fish you get...

You will have to let it sit for about two weeks all setup without any fish, then add them in slowly just two or three at a time.... people are tempted to rush it all then wonder why they all croak it!!!

I only asked what shop it was to see if it was a company I recognised... ;)

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Stingrays!! They sound cool B)

the plan is to fill the tank, add some plants and bacteria and let it do it's thing whilst i'm away in nurburg.

Then if all go to plan, test the water and start adding fish (in stages) when I get back.

I can get PH strips from work ;)

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buy fish to suit your ph of the water too mate , buy a ph test kit and go from there , you can alter the ph but i found it a mess on .you also need a nitrate testing kit , this is what kills fish

set up the tank for at least 2 weeks with nothing in to let its own bacteria grow , add some stress zyme to magnify the bacteria quicker to keep the nitrate levels down, then add 1 or 2 fish each week there after

here's 2 of my tanks . ignore the hammer lol , i'm busy

33450027.jpg

33450026.jpg

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Someone likes their cichlids :thumbsup:

Personally I would totally ignore the PH. No need to test it, no need to alter it.

Fish will addapt to your local conditions, if you are buying them locally, you local aquatics vendor will (hopefully!!) be keeping them in the same water you will have at home... i.e. they will be perfectly used to whatever water you will be putting htem in, be it hard/soft, etc etc.

Just remember most of the "beginners guides" are published by aquatics companies (usually Hagen or Interpet) they are very usefull, but they are also "tweaked" to make people buy more stuff!!!

We have had freshwater Amazon (soft acidic) stingrays breeding in hard alkaline water.. no sweat.

Once you start buggering aobut with adjusting the pH, you open a whole new can of worms and potential new problems!!!

If anything some of the plants suffer more from water changes then the fish!!!

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Is that a cichlid in the 2nd pic?

it's huge or you could have a small tank and hammer :P

so i just need to keep an eye on the nitrate and amonia levels

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NitrIte and Amonia..

Nitrate is relatively harmless, and is taken care of with the regular waterchanges ;) :thumbsup:

From a quick glance every singly fish I can see is a cichlid of some sort ;)

Edit.. I lie I have notice some plecs too lol

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yes thats a frontosa , its like a swimming slab of numb steak . untill i add a fish thats blackish , boy does he go mental , its like a dog when it starts biting.

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I thought it was, pic was small and I thought it was a tilapia, then I saw the hump lol

We used to have an elderly male Frontosa called "Elvis" (guess why lol) he was pretty placid.. Might have a pic somewhere lol

I'll bet you have given up trying to keep the gravel flat!!

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nitrite lol, sorry i work in labs and muddle them up but i knew what you ment :P

frontosa.jpg

thats one impressive fish you've got there :D

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i also keep parrot fish - such characters - they get to know who you are and follow you about , very playfull things with each other too - they have faces like a "bo selekta" character lol

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I have had more then one blue crayfish in one tank and they have been fine...

Just don't mix them with anything with a long fins, or anything small...... :lol::lol:

We once had a rainbow crab that escaped and was running around for two weeks... we found it trapped in a bucket and put it back in tha tank :lol:

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Just don't mix them with anything with a long fins, or anything small...... :lol::lol:

I found that out the hard way... ooops.

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If you're just starting out what's wrong with a goldfish or two? They are quite hardy and would be good to have whilst you get used keeping fish (you can keep goldfish at tropical temperatures, but obviously only freshwater). They can grow quite big though! they my look cute at the fair when they are 2inches long, but when they start to approach 10inches you realise that your new 3ft tank is getting rather cramped.

Get an algae eater or two as well, it's amazing how quickly algae builds up on everything! It's easier to have the fish do the cleaning that cleaning the glass every fortnight.

Get some real plants in your tank, plastic ones may be low maintenance (until they get coated in algae) but real plants help as part of the nitrate cycle (fish like hiding in plants, but also like to eat them), you'll still need to do regular water changes though. I agree with using gravel instead of sand, especially considering that you'll have to clean it out regularly.

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I've had goldfish in a Biorb there virtually zero maintenance though.

As I never checked the amonia or nitrite levels.

When I was a kid I used to have a cat fish in the kitchen and that thing lived for years ended up being to big for my tank

so I sold it to a mates Mum.

I want something more exotic, but yeah if i was a complete novice i'd take that in what you said :thumbsup:

and i totally agree on the suckers and plants :yes:

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Well I've kept the lot! Started with goldfish then progressed to tropical and then marine. Wouldn't recommend marine - they are very demanding to look after, loads of testing etc, very pretty though.

Go for tropical cos they is pretty and easy to look after. Once you've got the tank set up and given it time to settle in go to the shop and take their advice on what to get. There are fish which swim on the bottom, fish that swim in the middle and fish that like the top. Fish that act as cleaners.....oh loads of different fish. Most fish get along well together but a few dont - so as I say listen to what the shop people say, they should advise you.

If you take advice you should end up with a well populated and balanced tank. Happy fish keeping!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

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Nothing wrong with going straight into marines so long as you do your research first :thumbsup:

However you say intend to put plants in then introduce a Clownfish, plants will not survive in a sal******er aquarium mate. I've had one of the Trigon 190's and they are good quality gear, the three marine tanks I have at the moment are all Juwel tanks. A Rio 180 that has the bairns fish in along with a Mantis Shrimp that'll take your finger off if too close, a Rekord 70 for the larvae from my Oscellaris Clowns that are breeding in this, my Rio 240 reef tank :D

Reeftank004.jpg

If you go for marine you will need to adapt the top of the tank to fit a skimmer, easily done with a dremel as the top's plastic, I'd recommend a Deltec MC500 which are around £190, I run two of these and they are excellent. If you want to eventually move on to light demanding corals you'll need to upgrade your lighting too, I have a 250 watt metal halide pendant above my reef tank and improve water flow with extra pumps, I have six in the one above. And expect your electric bill to increase :lol:

And don't worry about sand getting dirty, just put the right clean up crew in, ie, hermit crabs, snails, starfish, urchins etc and it'll stay clean :yes:

If you need any help or advise just ask or go to ultimatereef .com :thumbsup:

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Nice setup :thumbsup:

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Wow that is impressive B)

i was talking about putting plants in a freshwater setup, If i do go the salt-water route then yeah i'd put coral in there. :yes:

quick question does coral reef require as much CO2 as plants do?

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Cheers :thumbsup:

The only supplements you will need for soft corals which would be what you'd need to start off with would be sufficient water flow. lighting (of the correct spectrum) and possibly phyto (live plankton) if they need it. Only if you move on to hard, lps or sps corals do you really need to start with additives such as calcium etc. I used to spend fortunes dosing the tank, calcium additives, strontium, iodine etc etc. But I rarely bother now, tank seems to look after itself. Forgot to mention in my earlier post but I'd recommend getting an RO unit. Reverse Osmosis water is mains pressure passed through a membrane and is virtually 100% pure, you wouldn't believe the cr*p in mains water. Since I got my RO unit I've never drank tap water! :eek:

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BTW the Bannerfish, looks like Heniochus Singularis, will grow to about 10 inches and will need about 150 gallon tank, the one you're looking at buying is just under 42 gallon so PLEASE don't buy one, wouldn't be fair on the fish :unsure:

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