Help me i'm new

[Ste_J]

Firstly i'd like to say that i have found this forum great reading over the last few days infact my gaming has been put on hold and my gaming buddies will declaring me MIA soon!
So my story started when i moved house and had to leave my fish pond behind but with not knowing what the people who were buying the house were like i decided to take my goldfish with me and obtained a 66l from a friend, some 3 years later my goldfish were living with a rainbow shark and 2 sucking loach's (yes i didn't have a clue about water temps and anything else to that matter)
By this point i felt that the goldfish were not happy at all and i was trying to introduce plants to the tank but the big fat goldfish just ripped them to shreds so i decided to re home the goldfish to a neighbours pond as i felt that they would be happier there.
So that left me with
66l tank
fluval 4 filter(with foam that had been in there a few months)
some bog wood that was well established as it had been in the tank since day 1(3yr)
Gravel and rocks which were all in there for the full term
2 suckers
1 rainbow shark

The gravel was rinsed through but with tap water )
The tank was rinsed through with water from the tank and i left some of the sludge at the bottom?
The filter was lightly rinsed with tap water )
The rocks were left by the side with the bog wood untouched by any water

Bearing in mind that i didn't have a clue(and still don't to some degree) i re introduced 75%of the gravel for a base as i had bought some new volcanic type gravel (very fine and rinsed very red) which went on top
Rocks bogwood plants etc went in along with the filter and heater and then i filled with treated tap water. The tank was brought up to 28 and the remaining party of 3 went in, after 1 week i introduced 7 platy's and a Co2 unit, a further week on 2 clown loaches went in to cure a snail issue that i had.
I am also looking at replacing my fluval 4 for a 104 next month and i am working to get my temps down as they are hitting 30
So i know that i made a few mistakes there which upon reading through posts on here i feel really quite stupid but now i want to learn and ensure that the future is brighter.

Regular testing from day 1 has revealed quite constant readings of

pH 7.2 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 ammonia 0 kh is unknown at the moment as the test kit i bought today was missing the chart!

The tank is also quite planted now with more going in each time i find some new one's that i like (i seem to have a thing about tropica plants) and i am looking to replace my 2 15w arcadia original tropical lamps with 2 lifeglo's (when i find a stock of them in Manchester)

So can anybody lead me in the right direction before my aquatic world turns into a roller coaster nightmare? and yes i know i made a mistake with the suckers but my daughter loves them and calls them monsters and they are still quite small.

Sorry for the length of the post but i really want to get this right now as i am thinking that i could have messed up big time here!

Thanks in advance for any advice

Ste

 

[maestro]

Howl long ago did have the clear out?

U did a great thing testing the water, that seems really good although it keep testing everyday

The 2 "suckers", do you now exactly what fish they are? to be honest the fish you have apart from the platies need a larger tank

When you change the filters add all the media from the fluval 4 into the new canister or run both for a few weeks

 

[Ste_J]

Howl long ago did have the clear out?

U did a great thing testing the water, that seems really good although it keep testing everyday

The 2 "suckers", do you now exactly what fish they are? to be honest the fish you have apart from the platies need a larger tank

When you change the filters add all the media from the fluval 4 into the new canister or run both for a few weeks

3 weeks since clear out and i think that the suckers are Chinese Algae Eater but i'm not 100% sure!
As to the size of tank in relation to the fish i had a feeling that the tank was not big enough and after getting the platies i didn't really want to go bigger but the snails have been getting out of hand and there is a slight chance that i may have transferred some dragonfly larvae from my desktop via some plants hence the clowns.
I have a feeling that the suckers will be getting an eviction notice at some point but my daughter likes the clowns now so that may be a harder task

Thanks for the advice on the filters and i had thought of adding all of the old media over into the 104, is a canister the right thing to be looking at ?

I shall carry on testing as daily as i can and i'm hoping to pick up a chart for the KH within the next day or so.


Any further advice?

 

[maestro]

The clown loaches and rainbow shark need a 36" tank minumum.

You cant really get a canister filter small enough for that size tank.

Can you not save ur money on the filter and buy a 3 foot tank instead and transfer everything over?

 

[Ste_J]

I would love to get a larger tank(mine being 31") but i think my wife would need some convincing!
I have not seen the rainbow since the big move but that could be because it has more hiding places now and i really like the clowns but know that they will not be able to stay for long.
By canister are we referring to the 104? and if so do you not think that it would be worth getting i mainly want it so that i can loose the internal fluval4 but i was under the impression that it would be a benificial addition to the tank.

/going to bed now with ideas of how i could justify getting a larger tank

Another question that i have is about water changes i.e. how often and how much? i was planning on doing one this weekend

 

[maestro]

I have a same size tank and i do 2 water changes a week or about 20-25 %, to me it only takes 5 mins so isnt any hassle on a small tank like that.

If i were you id do atleast one a week, using treated tapwater.

Sorry canister is another word for external filter like the 104, to be honest the 104 would be better only because the fluval 4 is designed for a 4 foot tank so it must be creating a tidal wave?

But its keeping the water quality good from the tests u did so its doing its job and the 104 could only match that.

A 3 foot tank and a canister filter would be ideal, a 3 foot tank and the fluval 4 would be better than ur curreent one with a 104, the fish just need that extra room.

To persuade your wife why not buy a nice cabinet with tank included to make it looks really smart? there not as expensive as you imagine and you could pick up one for about £100 if you look around

 

[Ste_J]

Sorry canister is another word for external filter like the 104, to be honest the 104 would be better only because the fluval 4 is designed for a 4 foot tank so it must be creating a tidal wave?

No tidal wave as i have turned the output down as low as i can without it getting too loud and there is a spray bar attached which points the output down the glass at the back.

I know for a FACT that my wife will not go with the new tank idea although it's not long till my 30th so if all is still going well with my current tank then i shall be dropping hints in March!

I have a feeling that the 104 is going to win above the new tank

/mental alert i have been sat here trying to work out why something does not seem right about the size of my tank, i went downstairs to re calculate and have found that my tank has grown
When i changed over i could not locate a bucket that i trusted and as such used a large measuring jug which i poured into a v large pan... calculate the amount of jugs into the pan and hey presto you get the volume.... no you miss a couple of jugs and work out your volume 30l out!!!!
here are the correct details for my tank and does this now changed matters slightly??

Dimensions: 80cm L x 30cm W x 40cm H/31" L x 12" W x 16" H
Volume: 96 l./21 gal.
Volume after displacement: 86 l./19 gal.
Surface area: 0.24 sq m/2.58 sq ft

 

[maestro]

it would change things, it seems a bit of an odd size though, the easiest way to do it is to just measure it with a tape measure and then you an one of the helpfull culculators online that work out teh exact volume for you

 

[Ste_J]

it would change things, it seems a bit of an odd size though, the easiest way to do it is to just measure it with a tape measure and then you an one of the helpfull culculators online that work out teh exact volume for you

That's what i did last night

I was going to crash out and then my mind started to tick over, the details documented above have been obtained by measuring the tank and then inputting details into a online calc (i think it was from practical fishkeeping??)

So based on the new found size of my tank would the 104 be a good option and do you think that the clowns would be happy in there?

 

[maestro]

It wouldnt be ideal but i think you could get by untill there grow alot bigger, It just wouldnt be worth the hassle of changing everything over for an additional 5 inches.

If you get get an external filter then great, but get the eheim classic 2213 over the fluval 104, you can get it for about £50 online (if ur in teh uk) and its much better quality

 

[Ste_J]

Just found a 2213 HERE

I will place an order if that is the right one

 

[maestro]

Thats an excellent price but you can only prebook them, not order, i doubt it will come with media for that price but its still great value at £31

 

[Ste_J]

Yeah i suspect that the media will be extra but i have seen them elsewhere for under £50 so if that place has not got them by the time that i am ready to spend i shall look eleswhere.
Would a 2211 not be better option due to the fact that it is for smaller tanks or will i be able to regulate the output from the larger 2213?

Thanks for all your help on this one and i'm looking at my water change this weekend

 

[maestro]

Yeah go for the 2213 definately, i have a 2211 (i didnt think they sold them anymore by the way, where did you see one for sale?) on my 2 foot tank and it although it says it can handle bigger tanks the output is only moderate once you fill it with media.

Both models come with a long spraybar that sprays water along the surface (the sraybar is about a foot long and goes along teh back of the tank) so it wont create a surge of water or anything like that at all, it will also be completly silent, i cant recommend the eheim classic range enough and if you do a search on here ull see that everyone agrees.