Help! Quality Of Fish Stock! Re-Thinking Community Tank!

[major]

Hi,
new to all this after a 40 year gap in having a tank. I am starting to get the impression that the quality of fish stock has reduced since back then.
I used to keep guppies, tetras, red-tails sharks, cat fish etc and had very few problems given the very poor water testing routine I used to carry out then.

Just heard from someone who even has problems keeping guppies!

Have bought the tank now! Shall I just keep goldfish???!!!!!

 

[Mowbz]

In a 270lt you could only really keep a few, which would be a shame given you came back to the hobby after such a long time to set up a community.

Its almost like the way kids these days seem to get everything, i never remember having as many colds and flu as kids these days, and its likely the advancement of medical aid and "being wrapped up in cottong wool", no exposure means no immunity.

Its possible that the way fish were kept years ago made them more hardy. Ive had several fatalities in the last 6 months, but from a stocklist of nearly 60 odd fish.

 

[major]

thanks for that! am going to be brave and drive in! (not literally) with both feet.
Not going to rush things, don't plan to have any fish in there for a month or two.
In fact waiting for some friends to come round to lift in to position, it is sooo heavy!

The journey begins!

dive in

 

[Mowbz]

Where abouts are you?!

Its always best not to rush. If you;ve not got fish waiting to be rehoused, you can take your time scaping the tank etc.

Heres my 4ft;

 

[major]

Over in Essex. Will post a photo when in position.

Love your set up! that looks so crystal clear! are they real plants?

 

[Mowbz]

Yup, all real, no CO2. Just premixed ferts from a bottle to keep them healthy.

The water quality is the result of being able to filter externally with 4.1x per hour turnover of ther tanks volume, coupled with about 1/5 to 1/4 fo the filter rammed with filter "floss", like pillow stuffing, which filters out most of the smaller particles. If you put your face up against the glass you can see tiny bits of stuff in the water which still bugs me!

 

[major]

going to go for an external pump now, think you have just saved me a fortune in trying internal filters on a tank of 300ltrs!

What makes do you have/recommend?

 

[snake007]

Fluval FX5 or Tetratec EX1200

 

[major]

I went off there on a tangent, saw a marine fish aquarium and looked into it and found another world of expense and heartache!

the equipment alone looked like it could run a swimming pool!

back to common sense now!