New Tank Arrives On Friday

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

I am picking up my new tank on Friday (hopefully) and want to set it up for corys mainly.

tank will be 30in (L) x 18in (W) x 14in(D) about 105 litres (i think that is about 27 gallons)

what i was hoping in doing was getting maybe

3 bronze
3 albino
3 peppered
3 julii

are those corys compatible with each other? Is that too many or too little for the tank size???

It will have sand substrate (how deep???) I was hoping for black but it seems the local aquarium does not have sand, I will try the other aquarium just out of town but if they dont have any can i go down to the local landscape people and just use normal sand???

What plants best suit corys???

I have a EHEIM filter (max 200lt) (is this too big???)

I have a heater for a tank up to 150lts

They will have some caves/hiding places of some sort.

My main querie is the lighting and hood. (The tank wont get much natural light because of the position of the tank, it is the ONLY place I can put it)
How big???
What wattage???
What kind of tube???

Thanks to any one who will take the time to answer any of my questions.
There are alot of questions but i want to get it right.

cheers

 

[drewry]

hi cmfoggy

as long as your tank is mature and cycled thats fine, your spot on 27 gals uk is ure tanks vol
1 )about 2 inch of substrate is fine but less is acseptable
2 ) albino and bronze are the same species but just diffent coulors and names but still the same latin names and breed
3) i keep my bronze with my peppers no problems at all iv never had
julii so some 1 with more exspariance will help u on that subject
4) uv got room for more corys if u keep water conditions to a high standard
5) has to be play sand or silver sand as building sand has salt in it
6) plants amozon swords is best iv discoverd seem to prefair to lay eggs on them and the glass walls
7) filter should be fine aslong as the curent isnt to powerfull if it is u can always point it away from them into a corner as in the wild they get the floods of the rain fall but a tanks a differnt enviroment
8) ure heaters fine id say 24oc to suite all the specise u want should be fine but if any one wants to corret me feel free as im just a novice on corydoras
9) iv got a 36inch x18x18 and use a 25-30w bulb natral sun light . and on my smaller tanks i use a 15w bulb wich is also natrul sun light and works fine for me and my corydoras .
thats what every ones here for to help i was the same as you a few months back if u dont ask you never know

 

[rocknurworld2006]

all them corys will go fine together!

heater should be fine also just make sure its maintaining a stable temp!

you could probably get another species of cory in ther etoo if thats what your doing

 

[drewry]

yeah forgot to say about constant temp rocknurworld2006

i was sounding really inteligent then rocknurworld2006 lol

 

[cmfoggy]

yeah thanks drewry and rocknurworld2006

I would love as many corys as my tank can safely hold, over time of course.

So play or silver sand and some amazon sword.

Here another silly question.
If i set my tank up on friday to cycle for 6-7 weeks i dont need the light straight away do i? Cause i was hoping to wait about 2-3 weeks before buying the light.

What about plants, is it best to cycle the tank with or without plants?

I was thinking of

1) clean tank
2) clean sand
3) put in sand
4) put in dechlorinated water
5) put in filter and heater (and turn on of course)
6) purchase light (2-3 weeks)
7) purchase plants soon after
8) when tank has finished cycling buy 2-3 corys every week or so

cheers

 

[drewry]

well to be honist iv had a spair tank empty for a wile now just got 6 stebie corydoras today set my tank up again on sunday wich is 2 days ago.
but poured water from a mature tank into it with fresh water got a new filter aswell and sqeazed a mature one in the new tank set up 2 days ago .
iv allways done it this way and never lost a fish yet,
but that doest work for every one thats just the way i am inpaitant lol
therse a right way and a wrong way of doing things iv added my plants today with the new corydoras iv bought but
not been big headed or out but i know they will be fine

 

[cmfoggy]

hi

another question.

I was just reading up on using sand as substrate and someone mentioned using pool filter sand, is that another good choice?

Where would you get pool filter sand from, from a pool shop or a landscape place?

Apparently its a bit dearer but there is no need to rinse it.

Just a thought

cheers

 

[jollysue]

The play sand that I got from the hardware was very clean. I rinsed it but there was not much dust. It is for children after all.

If you use media to "seed" your filter when you put your fish in and do some extra water changes, while keeping an eye on the water stats, you should do fine. But that said I would not add 12 fish at once unless they are small fry. 3 at a time with a few weeks between and your fish should suffer no ill effects.

Keep the temp for that combination of fish about 74 to 75 F/what is that about 25 C.?

 

[rocknurworld2006]

argos playsand is the easiest and cheapest , i used this and its really good.
i think its 15kg for £2.49!!!

 

[cmfoggy]

yeah thanks for that info

i think i will go for the play sand.

yeah i wasn't going to put all the fish in at once, over a few weeks.

if i use media to "seed' the new tank do i just squeeze the old filters sponge into the new tanks water (old water from old tank) or straight onto the new filters sponge?

cheers

 

[jollysue]

Into the filter sponge. If you have time put the new filter on the old tank for awhile or the new sponge in with the old one. If there is a carbon or media bag, take some of the old media out and add it to the new media bag.

 

[cmfoggy]

Hi everybody

I picked up my tank today (its a beauty) and 2x20kg bags of playsand ($15)

Here's my plan....

Tomorrow I was going to rinse the sand and place it in the tank,

then 1/2 fill it with water from my other tank (already cycled) and the rest dechlorynated water (should be about 50% of each)

I have 1 medium sized filter plus a small filter in the larger tank, I was going to squeeze both the sponges onto the new (bigger) filters sponge and place it in the new tank. (My plan later was....because my larger tank has a small and med filter, when both tanks are fully cycled and the water parameters are right i was thinking of putting the big filter in the big tank and the small and medium filters in smaller tank) Then I have a small filter for a quarintine/hospital/fry tank if needed.

If that is easy enough to understand and all goes according to plan, can i put my existing corys straight in their new home

cheers, hope to hear from someone soon

 

[jollysue]

Hi cmfoggy

It will most likely do the job. Just keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrites. If you see a spike in either do extra waterchanges. You can also "seed" the new sponge more than once. Frequent small water changes will help keep the water quality good.

Corys in general are a hardy creature. If you watch the water quality and give them cover they will likely thrive. I would also keep lights down for awhile. Also keep the temp at the lower end of the fish's acceptable range. It keeps the ammonia levels lower. Also do not feed for a day and then minimally.

Sorry for the delay. I think we are on other sides of the world. $15 is high for play sand. Shouldn't be more than about$5 at a Home Depot or Lowes type outlet.

 

[cmfoggy]

Hi all

Small change in plan, hope it wont end up being BAD.

Being the silly person that I am, I didn't check to see if the new filter (EHEIM) would fit in the new tank (being only 14inches high) and guess what.....its doesn't quite fit , so I squeezed the two existing filter sponges into the eheims sponge and put the eheim in the bigger old tank (hoping it has enough good bacteria to do the job) and put the old filters into new tank. That was this morning, so if it goes bad how long should it be before it starts going bad.

And instead of putting the corys in the new tank I put in 6 small hardy fish instead.

AND....in the new tank (with old filters) is it best to have plants in there now (so far all thats in there is sand, 2 filters, heater and 6 fish) or can I wait a week or two, as I dont have a light yet, or should I get a light ASAP, so I can put in some plants.

thanks all

cheers

 

[jollysue]

I am guessing it will work.

I would start testing the next day unless a tank is very heavily stocked. I don't really know how long or even how to gauge with the seeding. There may be very little problem at all and some small water changes might be more than sufficient. I have to admit that I am a wing it kinda gal and don't measure often with exactness.

I have started a large--125 usg-- tank with big fish with only slight seeding and some water changes with no loss and only minor spikes that were easily controlled with water changes. I usually keep some bio spira on hand in case it is needed.

As for plants, that is way over my head. I think though that they can wait for the lights and the tank to settle in. You are putting the fish through quite a lot already and keeping the lights low will help them with stress. If you have Java moss that is always appreciated by any fish and is able to do very well while light deprived. Java moss is a big boon to the hobbyist arsonal.

I hope you plan to post some pics. As a matter of fact you are welcome to post some of the drama along the way in setting up.