Completely New Tank

[robjwood]

Hi all,

Ive just bought a 24x12x12 ~55ltrs, i'm wanting to build up a tropical aquarium over the course of the next month or so. I would like to use a combination of allpondsolutions.co.uk and my local pet supplier, (due to free delivery and supporting my local shop respectively).

Anyway onto the good stuff!

Filtration
I was thinking about an under-gravel filter, I can get this from the pet shop.

Powerhead or Normal pump?
The smallest powerhead i can find is about 200l/h, but i've since been told that this would create too much turbulence for the size of the tank. I liked the fact they are silent and also provide aeration at the same time, rather than a traditional pump with sits outside the tank and 'buzzes'.

I've seen normal pumps at about 90 l/h or a twin one at 180 l/h, is there a limit as to how many times the tank water should be 'turned over'? Will 90 l/h be too weak? If i had a twin one, could i use one in each of the two airlift tubes, one either side of the Under Gravel Filter? Or would this be too strong and blow the gravel about?

http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/180l-h-aquarium-air-pump-with-two-airstones-and-airpipe-5757-0.html


Reverse UGF or Normal flow?
If i have the UGF in reverse mode, will i need an additional small filter elsewhere, just too catch the other bits the gravel 'throws out'?


Substrate
I've been told not to use sand, so i assume gravel then. Is there a size/coarseness to avoid? How much should i fill over the UGF, if it's 12" i assume the UFG will take up about half an inch, so if i have about an inch of gravel on top with leaving an inch of space not filled at the top of the tank, will this be ok? Should two kg's of the following be ok?

http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/fish-tank-gravel-sand-blue-5738-0.html


Heating
My room goes fairly cold during winter, will this heater be ok? Are there any advantages to getting a titanium one?
http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/50w-aquarium-heater-3927-0.html


Lighting
The tank i bought is all-glass, and came without a hood or light. I think LED lights are too expensive for now, so that limits it to fluorescent bulbs then? Is there a strength relevant to the size of the tank? Also, are there timers i can use to turn it off on 12/12?



The overall feel for the tank i'm thinking, very clear and bright. Eventually i want about 10/15 small (<1") fish of about 3/4 different types.

Thankyou for reading, and tips suggestions welcome!

Rob

p.s. i'll upload some pictures soon

 

[Uriel]

Have you read the wonderful section on cycling in the beginners resource center.

 

[Help78787]

That tanks is so small that it would be difficult to do much with it. You could keep two small fish.

 

[Uriel]

That tanks is so small that it would be difficult to do much with it. You could keep two small fish.

Not true. i would always advise someone buy as big a tank as they can afford but there is plenty you can do with a 55 litre tank. You just need to research appropriate fish. I've seen some truely beautiful nano tanks which are far smaller than this. Plus it was stated he was thinking of having 10/15 small fish.
Neon tetra
Cherry Shrimp
Endler's (either only male or only female)
Betta Splenda (Uses up a lot of your allowance but i love em)
Pygmy corydoras (need a group of 4 minimum)
All come to mind

 

[Jenste]

Were your measurements in INCHES? if so, then your 55 liter is just about 14 - 15 US gallons

for freshwater tanks -- u dont need a powerhead or pump, especially for this small of a tank

Personally, I do not like undergravel filters because a sand substrate lets you have more species fit for your tank than gravel or rocks. a standard hang on the back filter will do just fine for you.


now, if you did sand....here is what I would suggest.

a nice shoal of neons or other tetra that catches your eye (the smaller species) with about 8-10 fish.

then a shoal of dwarf cories with about 6-8 fish. (cories need sand - gravel/rocks will break their barbels (feelers) and they like to root around in the sand and it is quite cute when they do so)

Then have a little centerpiece fish such as a single dwarf gourami


that is just my suggestion

 

[Geoff-]

That tanks is so small that it would be difficult to do much with it. You could keep two small fish.

by what metric?

55L is about 15 gallons, which by the usual metric (which is not that accurate anyway) that's 15 inches of fish.

2 x 7 inch fish yeah that's probably about it. But those are big fish. Small fish produce less waste per size than big fish so you can put a lot more in. Jenste is spot on, that sounds about right for a 55L tank you can do plenty with a tank of that size. BUT read up on cycling, either do fishless or fish-in with 5 of the tetras you want to end up with and add the other 5 later. Fishless cycling is probably easier, I did fish-in because I wanted to see things swimming around right away but all the water changes to keep them healthy gave me the sh1ts.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi robjwood and Welcome to TFF!

A 55L/14G AllGlass tank sounds like a nice beginner tank to me! Its wonderful that you've started thinking and asking prior to actually finalizing your equipment, much less your water and fish! I do agree that gravel seems a bit easier for the very first beginner tank (sand is quite alright too but a slightly trickier skill to learn, so if you don't mind, gravel can be a best first experience I think.) But.. I do disagree with the choice of an undergravel filter. There is nothing at all wrong with a UGF (undergravel filter) and a RUGF is even better but they really ultimately only accomplish one of the three major types of filtration well: biological filtration. They give you no container for mechanical (debris pickup) filtration and no tray space for the occasional use of chemical filtration (an optional, special-case type of filtration.) What's happened is that newer filters have really added so many significant improvements to the filtration process that most experienced aquarists choose these newer filters now. I can detail more details later if you'd like.

In a 55L/14G you opt for an internal filter, an HOB (Hang on Back) filter or a small external cannister (EC) filter. All filter types have plusses and minuses. Media volume is the core feature, it tends to go up as you go from internal to HOB to EC, but there is overlap. Different companies produce different qualities of pumps and plastics and their designs provide differing ease of maintenance and setup. Fluval make nice internals that are frequently recommended by our members for tanks in your size range. Aquaclear make nice HOB units that are inexpensive and quite flexible for different media types. Rena, Eheim, Tetratec/Marineland and Fluval make EC filters, among others. Internal and EC designs are often slightly quieter than HOBs because of water noise. HOB and EC designs are about equally easy to carry away for the monthly clean. ECs are especially flexible if they have multiple media trays. Internals and HOBs can be sometimes be hobbled by manufacturers who want to lock you in to only their type of media, so you have to watch out for that.

If your room is chilly then you may indeed need to go beyond the usual 5 watt per US gallon guideline. Let see, you'd fit between these two lines of my table:
075 watt : 050 liters (13 gal)
100 watt : 065 liters (17 gal)
I think you might want a 150watt if the room is cold enough or maybe OM47 will come along or someone will remember the rule about how much power it takes for X degrees of drop to the room temp.

A fluorescent tube will actually be one of the best choices for your tank. In fact I suspect a 15 watt tube might be the type to fit. 15 watts would give you one watt per gallon putting you right on target for low-light technique in your plant raising and that's a great place to start in my opinion (assuming you are slightly more focused on fish than plants at first, as most beginners are.) I would not get too close to 28 watts or higher as that would change the whole picture. Also, the tube needs to be an older T8 type, not the new super-bright T5 type for these things I'm telling you. Tubes come in a range of colors and I'd recommend a 6500K one for starters.

The aquarium hobby (again, in my humble opinion) can be a wonderful contrast to all the other great new things we live with, computers, internet, phones, quick transportation and communication, etc. You can come home and decompress in a dark room in front of a beautiful underwater scene and allow life to slow down. Likewise, the hobby itself compliments this if you have great patience and go about all the stages slowly and try to enjoy them for themselves... the picking out of equipment, the preparation and learning about the water chemistry, the types and habits of the possible fish, all these things.

Of course, as a beginner you have to draw the line somewhere and it's pretty much guaranteed that you won't be able to absorb everything during the first go-round, but that's ok, it's been like that for all of us. There's a hardware section where you can sometimes get the gear guys to comment and our members who frequent here will gladly offer equipment opinions too.

Most important though is that after all the gear choosing comes something usually much bigger for beginners and almost always unexpected. It's the Nitrogen Cycle and learning about water chemistry. I recommend you plan to Fishless Cycle your filter to prepare it to be a "working biofilter" and your first homework assignment is to read the Nitrogen Cycle, Fishless Cycle and Fish-In Cycle articles in our Beginners Resource Center so you can ask questions of the members. You have stumbled in to a real hobbyist forum and the experienced and fun members here can help you have a beautiful, pristine environment for your fish from day one when they come home. The hard part for you may be that it could take as much as a couple of months (if a few things go wrong as sometimes happens) to prep your biofilter properly. This is preferable, however, to watching fish die and having to run around and learn about medications before you've ever enjoyed your fish!

Anyway, the members will chat you through it all, they're great and you can look back at this big mess I wrote from time to time to see if it still provokes questions .

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Jenste]

doing a "Fish in " cycle with tetras is not recommended - - most tetras, esp neons, are very very sensitive to water conditions and should not be added to anything but a cycled tank.

 

[Help78787]

There is one thing that I would use a small tank for. I'd take a 3 or 4 gallon tank and fill it with water from a main tank, and I'd take one of the gold fish or whatever type that is able to handle cooler temperature, and I'd put one in that tank and transport it to where I wanted a fish to be for however many hours. Say for example on a desk somewhere in the house. Than I'd put the fish back in the main tank afterward. That might be an alright thing to do.

 

[Doc7]

you really need a fish on your desk for a couple of hours?

 

[Uriel]

There is one thing that I would use a small tank for. I'd take a 3 or 4 gallon tank and fill it with water from a main tank, and I'd take one of the gold fish or whatever type that is able to handle cooler temperature, and I'd put one in that tank and transport it to where I wanted a fish to be for however many hours. Say for example on a desk somewhere in the house. Than I'd put the fish back in the main tank afterward. That might be an alright thing to do.

Can't decide if your trolling or if your just genuinely this ignorant.

 

[Jenste]

There is one thing that I would use a small tank for. I'd take a 3 or 4 gallon tank and fill it with water from a main tank, and I'd take one of the gold fish or whatever type that is able to handle cooler temperature, and I'd put one in that tank and transport it to where I wanted a fish to be for however many hours. Say for example on a desk somewhere in the house. Than I'd put the fish back in the main tank afterward. That might be an alright thing to do.

Can't decide if your trolling or if your just genuinely this ignorant.

I pray this is a troll - - anyone who things this is an acceptable thing to do to a fish is just down right clueless. It shows that they have no knowledge or understanding about what a fish needs - -

Fish need more than just water!

 

[robjwood]

That tanks is so small that it would be difficult to do much with it. You could keep two small fish.

Really?

 

[robjwood]

Thanks for all the comments guys! I did have a quick look through the Beginners Section, in fact i've been reading about tropical aquariums in general for about 2 days now (literally). I just wanted to get your opinion's before i bought anything more.


Waterdrop - you said other filters would be better than a UGF. I was drawn to UGF because the whole 'system' seems a bit more encompassing, rather than just something stuck in a corner/hanging on the back?! Or am i just being skeptical?

I don't know if i want to use gravel now, will it really limit the choice of fish a lot?

I said gravel because my initial thought was to have the UGF in reverse mode, and then a small separate filter acting mechanical (maybe an internal one in the corner?).

If these power filters are really good then i'll probably go with one of these and sand/plants rather than gravel/ugf/non-planted. I just liked the idea that the floor wouldn't be 'stagnant' with a RUGF.

One last thing, are there any hood requirements with filters? I havn't bought one yet but i assume they're have gaps for EC piping or clipping space for a HOB?

Cheers again!

Rob

 

[robjwood]

you really need a fish on your desk for a couple of hours?

lol