Et Anther Noob

[FlaNoob]

Howdy all, New to this forum, and while i cannot say i am entirely new to aquariums i have been away for over 16 years.
Started into aquariums in high school with a single 10g tank plastic corner filter operated by air, and a ss hood w incandescent lights, over the next few years i grew this to a collection of 6 10g tanks using one for hospital, one for fry ( was breeding Green Swords ), two with live plants.
A short hiatus while in the Army, well ok i did two stints in the Army so it was not so short, Then returned to civilian life in '77, and restarted my Aquariums with a new 10g frameless, Plastic hood with Fluorescent light, That was High tech to me then, looked good even started back into a couple of live plants.
As things usually do, i soon ended up with a 30g, outfitted it with a sparse sprinkling of live plants, and the usual staple fish, nothing fancy, but did like working on what i guess you all now refer to as "aquascaping". I really liked working towards a natural appearance.
All this led me into my first foray with Marine aquariums, I really liked the colors, and settings, maintained a pair of Scallops, a pair of Candy Cane Shrimp, pair of Clown fish, and a pair of Blue Damsels, and my favorite, my Voltains Lion. Now fully outfitted in a new 55g newest lights and ugf's
Xmas of 82 brought that all to a screeching halt, I lived in N.H. and had gone to visit with Sister and Family for a few days, and while gone, the power went out for 4 days. Total devastation.
A year later, reset the 55g for tropical and then stumbled onto a McD's that had remodeled, and had a 300g sitting in storage taking up space, I offered them 150.00, and they accepted it YES !!! a complete 300g setup for 150.00 cash Sweet.

Well 91, single again w 2 kids, Moved to Fla sold all the tanks and equip. and have been without ever since.
New Wife had offered to buy me a new tank for last B-Day, and finally she did for Xmas of this year, so now i have a new 55g rect under the tree ( hmmm wonder what that is ??? ) now unbeknownst to me, my daughter who is now herself in the Army ( and in Iraq ) gets the bright idea remembering my tanks, so i get a nice acrylic 50g corner pent. tank from her.

So now i have two brand new complete tank set ups

Time to start reading up, WOAH things have changed a bit over the last 16 or so years.
T5 Flour, CFL, Metal Halides, Watts per gallon requirements, color temp requirements, Cannister filters,UGF both standard and reverse, Bio wheels,Bio Balls, Sumps, protein skimmers, GPH requirements, Water turnover and flow rates, CO2 reactors and injectors, Light sequencing, Lunar lights, Special substrate, Chillers etc etc etc, damn the list goes on and one.

While i may not be entirely new, i sure feel like it all of a sudden.

So here i sit two brand new tanks, still in their boxes, I do have a basic idea of what i desire to see as a completed set up as far as fish and contents, i have yet to fully flesh out the exacts yet, this is where you all will come in hopefully.

I expect to have many questions, some on the level of a raw beginner, but requiring the whys of a more experienced aquarist.
so bear with me, point me towards some pictures as well, links etc. And talk with me, explain to me why's, why nots etc etc etc

 

[Colin_T]

Howdee & Welcome

 

[rabbut]

Hi and to TFF.

What ideas did you have for these 55g's? Marine by the look of things?

One great and frustrating part of marine fish keeping is that the hobby moves at such a pace that 5 years out of the loop makes you a total newbie... No doubt with past expreience though, you'll soon get back into the swing of things

All the best
Rabbut

 

[LellowFish]

Hey there and welcome to TFF!

 

[james morrisontoxic2]

hi and welcome to the forum

 

[FlaNoob]

Hi and to TFF.

What ideas did you have for these 55g's? Marine by the look of things?

One great and frustrating part of marine fish keeping is that the hobby moves at such a pace that 5 years out of the loop makes you a total newbie... No doubt with past expreience though, you'll soon get back into the swing of things

All the best
Rabbut

That is still up in the air but still 1 of the 2 strong runner plans for the 55g Rect.
my current thoughts are a planted tank, w/ large section of driftwood set off center as the focal pint, Substrate for both tanks will be close to black or black/gray in tone. This tank will be the reciepient of upgraded lighting 130w linear CFLs, a Canister filter ( have not decided on the unit yet) will replace the included power filter ( this will relocated to the 50g corner tank), and a DIY Co2 setup

The 50g corner is ( well it's current plan anyways) is to be a Discus tank, Artifical and or limited live Plants, but natural motif, lighting issues being the primary guideing issues on this one, I can get another set of lights and go with some low to mid light live plants but they would have to be custom built to fit that tank, OR build a canopy and simply set some fixtures ( from the 55 kit ) into that. BUT plans can change. As this would make for a real nice Marine setup as well.

Primary plans right now is build some real stands ( staying clear of that MDF stuff being sold out there ), Then a primary set up and fishless cycle. So i am looking at at least a 3 to 5 week period for this to occur before the tanks even get wet, But then i am impulsive sometimes, and have the entire week to work on them,( My work week is the entire weekend, so have the rest of the week days off) now just gotta figure out who i can borrow some power tools from.


Whos kidding, i still havnt decided WHERE i'm putting the tanks yet,
This was all so much easier before..... put the tank on a desk or dresser top, fill it with water, toss in a few fish and poof done.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Welcome to the forum!

Yeah the hobby has changed a lot over the last few years (definitely for the better though). Sounds like great plans for the tanks and look forward to hearing how they go. For the planted tank ADA do some very good substrates (including black ones) which perform really well in my experience. They do come with a fairly hefty price tag though. I used ADA substrates and ferts on my planted tank for about the first 6 months and they work great and are really simple. Once I got into it though and knew more about what I was doing I switched to mixing my own ferts and trace mixes which worked just as well and cost a hell of a lot less.

 

[FlaNoob]

Welcome to the forum!

Yeah the hobby has changed a lot over the last few years (definitely for the better though). Sounds like great plans for the tanks and look forward to hearing how they go. For the planted tank ADA do some very good substrates (including black ones) which perform really well in my experience. They do come with a fairly hefty price tag though. I used ADA substrates and ferts on my planted tank for about the first 6 months and they work great and are really simple. Once I got into it though and knew more about what I was doing I switched to mixing my own ferts and trace mixes which worked just as well and cost a hell of a lot less.

who what is ADA?

 

[rabbut]

ADA is a company name aberviation for Aquarium Desing Armano, headed by a leading planted tank designer Takeshi (spelling?) Armano I believe...

The planted tank set-up sounds fairly well planned out, so this shouldn't be too much of an issue. What I would surgest though, is using the rectangular tank for Discus and the corner unit for a planted tank. This is because it is best to buy Discus as a new Discus keeper at arround 4", and grow them on. They settile better at this size and are harder to stunt... As they approach adulthood, they become rather boisterous with each other. They will need the length to run from each other at times, and a corner unit of 50g won't provide them with the broken sight-lines they will need to avoid eachother, without a lot of decoration - something to avoid with imature Discus, as dirt accumulates arround decor, reducing water quality and increasing the chances of stunting them...

You want a minimum group of 5 realy, which would mean just mebe 10 smaller dither fish in with them in a 50g, as Discus are realy messy fish. They will also idealy have two large canisters for "over the top" filtration, to keep water quality impecable, and will be given regular (Idealy 50% twice a week) waterchanges to prevent stunting. They will require 5 feeds daily untill adult, and then 3 feeds daily after that

Discus aren't "hard to keep" as many people tell you, but they are considered an advanced species for a reason. People fail to reseach, and thus don't understand the fishes needs preperly before purchase, hence they place them in an un-suitable tank and find them struggling after a while. Poor care on some keepers parts will also contribute to failure. These fish need "pampering", and this invariably makes them a bit more time consuming than other "run off the mill tropicals" You do however sound like an ideal keeper though, as you have plenty of time and some experience on your hands

Rabbut's 7 "rules" of Discus keeping;

1) Keep them in groups of 5+. This spreads agression and reduces stress on individual fish.

2) Keep them "overfiltered". Aim for 8X an hour turn-oer through canister filters to keep water quality perfect at all times. Some people say this is too much flow, but I don't find it to bother mine

3) Keep them clean. They need large and regular waterchanges to do well, and the tank needs to be kept as "dirt-free" as possible

4) Keep them in mature tanks. IME Discus struggle if they are kept in a tank newer than 6 months old, so wait before you introduce them.

5) Keep them well fed. Discus need a high-protien diet untill they are adults to grow well. Mine get 2 feeds of Vipakraft Discus pellets and two of frozen Tropical Quintette daily, with veg feeds every few days ontop of that...

6) Keep them warmer than most. Aim for a temperature of 28-32 centigrade, 30 IME being best, as this reduces issues with parasites. Unlike most fish, Discus are happy with the temperature as long as they aren't literaly cooking and there is still oxygen in the water Other fish to be kept with them need to be chosen with care due to the heat. Size and the activity levels of other fish need to also be considered. Large or fast moving fish will stress the Discus, and some fish may latch onto Discus for the slime coat

7) Research them, research them and research some more. The most common error you can make is not researching these fish before purchace, and this will invariably lead to issues. You have 6 months before you can get Discus, so I'd advise you to spend plenty of time on Google and in books for that time learning about them. There is more than one way to keep Discus, and there is a lot of argument over the "best way" to do it. This leads to a lot of conflicting information. Read everyone's point of view and look at their supporting evidence where applicable and form your own opinions. When you can answer all the Discus questions in the "New World Cichlids" section, you are ready and researched enough to get a few, assuming the tank has matured as per "rule" number 4

These rules are flexible and build from personal experience. This makes them not so much rules, more guidelines, but it gives you a good starting base point for researching from, and evaluating the likely-hood of you keeping up with their demands

HTH
Rabbut

 

[FlaNoob]

Great information there Rabbut, most enlightening about the care and maint of the discus As i had not really researched them as yet. Still getting the Lights issues nailed down, which i believe i have as of today, we will see.

Filters are next up based on threads am assuming cannister filter for planted tanks or more accuratly for reduced Co2 loss from less surface disturbance

I have found a source for the Substrate i am after, which gives me two choices in my desired line.

damn it's all starting to come togather Stands next week, by then i should be settled on the initial plants and ready to start up, i will be doing a silent cycle, so will also have to search the LFS for a pair of SAE's as well, but from all the reading, i know exactly what to look for anyways.

Ya'll have been very helpfull especially the info above, i had not even taken that consideration into account, Hopefully i would have before makeing the error of buy first figure it out second.

 

[james morrisontoxic2]

hi and welcome mate

 

[cowbla1]

and hi