Here goes..... I'm a bit nervous posting my first attempt at freshwater for all the experts to see, so please be gentle:smile1:. I figure the best way is to bite the bullet, swallow my pride.... can't think of any more clichés, and let you guys and gals advise me as i go along..... pleeeeeese:unsure: The tank is my old 1.5m marine tank. Should be about 600l. I converted the overflow box into a filter. The reason is that I didn't want to have the hassle/noise/power consumption/maintenance of a sump again. Anyhow, when I built the tank, I made the overflow box far too big. Seems that a conversion to a fw filter was written in the stars. Okaaaayy... dunno why the pic is that small? 600x800? Anyway, you can see the entire filtration and all hardware in the pic. The only thing that's hidden is the 5000 l/hr pump under the bioballs. Is that too much flow through the filter? I have other, smaller pumps that I can use. I still am going to add some form of mechanical (foam?) filtration over the bioballs. Ideas would be appreciated:unsure:. Then I added 40 kg of 1.3mm pool filter sand and 40kg of koi sand. I hope that this will be okay to plant in? I'm planning on burying palm peat under the plantings, but I'll still ask about that when I have selected the plants. Then I got some rocks from a stream close to my home. Hope that's okay to just add them like that? Last night I added another piece of driftwood. Had them soaking in a goldfish pond. I tried to add photos using Photobucket, but not sure which url to paste as I keep getting an error message?
Looking nice dude, dig the driftwood you got. Placed it in a nice way, you might have to remove some of the rocks when you start planting. What type of plants do you have in mind? Yeah the substrate will fine for your plants, I only use pfs and my plants are growing sweeet. Do you have any specific fish in mind that you will be using in this tank. Really looking nice but will look even better when you start planting. That 5000 lph pump might be a bit strong for this tank just make sure the current is not to strong, I would rather add 1 x 3000liter pump Remove half of the bio balls and replace it with Seachem Matrix also add some purigen in your tank it is awesome for polishing your water and removing nitrogenous organic waste. Also add some fliter floss on top of all the media it also helps with removing all the finer particles.
Hi Broder!!welcome to FW fish..i know your name from the salty forums (im 4age)..im sure you gona enjoy the bathwater fish as the salty guys say.lol..what fish do you intend keeping?
Shotto! No idea about the fish yet. So far I've chosen an Amazon biotope, but that's not cast in stone. Thanks for the advice! So flow is not important to keep detritus in suspension as in marine tanks? There is slight water movement throughout the tank. Is that too much? Don't know about the plants yet, but they will be Amazon types as well. Hopefully I can find someone from East London that can get me started. (got lotsa hardware to trade:blink1. Should I add purigen if i'm going for a blackwater tank?
Hehehe... Thanks for the welcome dude. I still have a simple marine tank in my kitchen, but quite excited about fw. I like the combination of design elements, ie gardening/lanscaping/fish swimming levels and selection. Seems there is a lot more emphasis on this than in marine tanks.
Pleasure dude, Yeah you dont need hectic movement like in marine tanks. When you have plants all your plants needs to be swaying in the water. This is needed for the ferts to be available all over the tank so the plants can flourish. No you dont need to add purigen if you want to go for the black water effect sure the purigen will remove the black water additives. Good luck man.
Thanks rednox and Aceman. Will I be able to start planting this weekend already? Gonna go for Amazon plant and fish species. Any plants that I should avoid at all costs?
Yeah you can add plants to the tank so long, just make sure they are aquatic some lfs sell non-aquatic plants.
Hello and welcome to TASA. If you are going with plants then you need to decide between low tech and hightech (hightech being expensive for more demanding plants) The question is more of what fish you should avoid,most large cichlids will uproot plants while smaller ones will bite them to pieces and dig at their base.Some fish like silver dollars on the other hand will eat all types of plants except for a select few.You do get peaceful cichlids like kribs,angelfish (aggressive when breeding) and a few others that are just fine with plants. Just research the plants and fish before you buy them,it's all good to go to a petshop to see what they have but don't buy anything unless you know about their needs.
Thanks DC. I think I'll go with low tech for now. Seeing as I'm only adding some fish in 3 weeks, I think I'll get the plants in so long and then make sure that the fish that I get are compatible with them. Does that sound all right?
Yes that is the right way research your fish and plants before you buy them, then you dont need to take any fish back if they cause havoc in your tank. Good luck.
I did some water checks this morning. Ph is at 7,5. Dkh is 4.2. Will these parameters be suitable for Amazon species? Or is that too broad a question? Temperature range will be from 23C in winter up to 29C in summer. I also measured ammonia, but got a reading of 0???? After a week, surely the cycle should have started? I chucked in some small fish pieces when I filled the tank. Could I add anything else to get the ball rolling?
Dude the best thing is to go google read on all the amazon setups, what do you mean you chucked in small pieces of fish? you could throw in some flakes every 2nd or 3rd day but only little bit. When you see the presence of nitrites then you know the cycle has started, and also if you dont add any food on a regular basis for the bacteria it wont grow get some Seachem Stability awesome stuff.
