New Member With A 55G Tank

[1stRaven]

Hi,

Just purchased a used Juwel Rio 240 2 weeks ago and just in the process of getting it ready for plants and fish.

Picture of the setup below (although the tank light is nowhere near as blue as shown)

Its filled with Black Sand Substrate and two pieces of driftwood (soaking in the tank now after a week in a bucket and still waiting for it to sink - currently weighted down with sand). Also waiting for a third piece to arrive (the current 2 don't fill the tank enough in my opinion) which will also need soaking for a while. Tank is also going to have a black card background in order to help hide the filter pipework.

Current plan is to tie Christmas moss (donated by a friend) to the two longer pieces of wood and allow it to grow up from there, with some Vallisneria planted in bunches near the back.

However, I am struggling for fish ideas. Really like the idea of a large number of cardinal tetras but no idea how many this tank can support or if a tank with just one type of fish would be boring.....

So, anyone have any ideas? I have some time as need to allow the tank to cycle fully first (test kit just arrived at my desk ready for tonight)

Thanks for your help.

 

[Tizer]

I have a hard enough time stocking my own tanks let alone suggestion what others should do. What other fish do you like?

 

[the_lock_man]

Unfortunately, I'm not very good at knowing what complete strangers want to look at

A better idea is if you post up a list of options, people can comment and suggest what will work and what might not.

How far through cycling are you?

 

[1stRaven]

Well, tank has been running for two weekends but haven't tested it yet (will do tonight) so no idea. Only prime has been added to the water so I need to read up on the 'how to cycling the tank' thread a bit more. Not looking to stock with fish until after Christmas anyway.

As for fish ideas, I saw this http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmovE40nLDg which looked quite nice and gave me the idea for a larger number of tetras however I have read that Cardinals are not hugely suitable to new tanks so might need to be careful there.

I'm not looking for a high maintenance tank if that helps some. I get the impression I also need to go to a LFS to have a look as well.

 

[Tizer]

need to go buy yourself some ammonia then and read up on fishless cycle, could take a month or more to get the filter up to scratch and dont buy any bottled bacteria products, they dont work. gluck!

 

[the_lock_man]

Well, tank has been running for two weekends but haven't tested it yet (will do tonight) so no idea. Only prime has been added to the water so I need to read up on the 'how to cycling the tank' thread a bit more. Not looking to stock with fish until after Christmas anyway.

As for fish ideas, I saw this (I removed the YouTube link for clarity) which looked quite nice and gave me the idea for a larger number of tetras however I have read that Cardinals are not hugely suitable to new tanks so might need to be careful there.

I'm not looking for a high maintenance tank if that helps some. I get the impression I also need to go to a LFS to have a look as well.

I can be pretty certain that your results will be 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite. There's nothing in the tank to make it anything else. Assuming you're in the UK, whizz over to Homebase, and get some of their Household Ammonia, and have a good read of this link. I'd suggest that you follow the "Add & Wait" method, it seems this works a bit better than "Add Daily".

Have a look round all your local LFSs, make a note of the fish that you like (scientific names help avoid any ambiguities), and as I said earlier, there'll be loads of people to advise on the do's and don'ts.

 

[1stRaven]

I can be pretty certain that your results will be 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite. There's nothing in the tank to make it anything else. Assuming you're in the UK, whizz over to Homebase, and get some of their Household Ammonia, and have a good read of this link. I'd suggest that you follow the "Add & Wait" method, it seems this works a bit better than "Add Daily".

Have a look round all your local LFSs, make a note of the fish that you like (scientific names help avoid any ambiguities), and as I said earlier, there'll be loads of people to advise on the do's and don'ts.

I agree but will be good to get a ph and water hardness reading (i think the kit includes this) to then help with fish stocking. May as well match the fish to the water than the water to the fish.

Homebase is on my way home so will pick some up then.

 

[1stRaven]

well, ph test is done and I'm guessing its around the 7.6-8.0 mark.

Also visited Boots, Homebase and (dare I say it) Pets at Home but none stock Ammonia anymore so might need to search further afield for that.

Thats said, I did take a look at some fish there and liked the corys and tetras (sounds boring but they had a number on the tank, shoaling around). I guess I just need to work out what number my tank can hold.

 

[phocoena]

Boots you can preorder for collection online although it is showing as being out of stock.

Also there are several people here who got ammonia out of Homebase in the last few weeks. It would be in the household cleaning section.

Also there are some available on amazon

 

[Tizer]

homebase = white bottle, blue lid, most should stock it, its used for cleaning.

 

[1stRaven]

Yeah, I found the homebase product online for a picture but one of the attendents there said that they had removed it from sale. I'll keep looking.