New Tank- Need Some Advice

[Tathar]

Hey guys.

I recently got myself a new tank my brother wasnt using, getting it rather cheap. It's an Aqua One Aquastart 320, which came with the under-gravel filter. I'm planning on a tropical setup. Now throughout reading I havent heard much good about UGL's, and so I was going to exchange it for something else, an internal filter, something like the Fluval U2, but I wanted some advice on this, as I'm not 100% sure about what I'm doing.

Another question I have is what fish would be the best to stock the tank with? A good hardy fish that would be a good tropical starter? I'm planning to add some Neon Tetra later, so what would e good?

Thanks a lot for all the help

 

[Curiosity101]

Well first off, welcome to the forums.

Second, before you even think about buying fish you need to be completely happy and comfortable with the idea of cycling.

See the links in my signature for all the information you need on picking a cycling method.
Cycling (in brief) is the process of growing a large enough bacterial colony in your tank to convert all the toxic waste your fish produce into a safe substance before it has a chance to do any damage.

Just chucking fish in without knowing about cycling and having a test kit to hand will more than likely end up in fish deaths due to poisoning. Also in such a small tank you have to be even more aware of the water conditions.

 

[Curiosity101]

Oo and just out of interest what area are you in. That way people can hopefully suggest some good fish shops in the area.

 

[Tathar]

Oh, cycling? I've done a fair bit of reading and will reading the link yo provided as well, thanks. I know, I wont be buying any fish til it's done and tested, I'm still in the stage of buying essentials at the moment, thermometer, net etc. I was just wondering which fish would be best to start with, when I get that far.

I'm n Crawley, England.

Thanks.

 

[Curiosity101]

I was just wondering which fish would be best to start with, when I get that far.

This is why I mentioned cycling. If you're going to be doing a fishless cycle, ie. using household ammonia and daily testing, then there are very few fish I would recommend as 'more suitable' than any others.

The only ones that tend to not do well in new tanks (even if they've been properly cycled) are neon tetras and shrimp. The mass production of neons over the years has resulted in weaker fish that for some unknown reason often don't do well in newly cycled tanks, with shrimp it's just a case of them being highly sensitive to ammonia. Even when a tank is fully cycled it can still be a tiny bit unstable... trace ammonia every now n then etc.

And depending on the quality of your local shops (or how much you're willing to spend ordering fish lol) will depend on what fish you can stock your tank with. But here is a bit of a list of fish n such that are a suitable size.

Betta splenden (siamese fighting fish)
Honey Gourami
Sparkling gouramis
Ruby red/coral pencilfish
Most thin bodied tetras 4cm or below (ember tetras being particularly apt)
Celestrial pearl danios / galaxy rasbora
Emerald dwarf rasbora
Chili rasbora
Endlers
Male guppies
Pygmy corydoras
Scarlet badis
Nerite snails
An apple snail
Shrimp (cherry, amano, bee etc)

Ermm and that's about all I can think of off the top of my head. Obviously that is just a list, I'm not implying everything there is compatible with everything else. And if you wanted the larger fish (honey gourami or betta) as a centerpiece you'd probably want to avoid other fish that swim in their level of the tank to avoid them feeling crowded.

 

[Curiosity101]

Oh and I just had a nosey around crawley (google maps), seems you have a world of water and a maidenhead aquatics nearby which is a good sign. Should be plenty of different types of fish available for stocking.

 

[Tathar]

Thanks for all the information.

Would the Fluval U2 filter I was looking at earlier be suitable for my 28L tank?

Also, yes, the maidenhead is just a 5 minute trip up the dual carriageway, and the world of water is only 10-15 minutes away. I've been to them often as I've been planning for a while, and my girlfriend keeps fish anyway, and since I'm the on;ly one who can drive I end up going anyway

 

[Curiosity101]

Lol, you sound just like my long suffering (non fishy) other half.
Tomorrow we're going to collect two sets of fish and a fish tank stand!

I'd imagine the U2 would be a tad bit too strong and big for a 28l tank. Cheap filters are easy enough to come by on ebay though. Or check the classifieds here?

 

[Tathar]

Which fish are you picking up tomorrow then?
Is there any particular filter you would recommend for a good starter? Would maybe the U1 be good enough then..?

Thanks for the help

 

[Curiosity101]

In no particular order:
Interpet PF2
Superfish aqua flow 100
Fluval 1+
Fluval U1

But basically anything from 200lph - 300lph should be ok for your tank.

Tomorrow we're picking up:
5 x Apisto macmasteri
2 x Apisto hongsloi
2 x apisto rotpunkt
1 x apisto viejita
1 x dwarf flag cichlid

They're mostly youngsters so it's not going to be quite as big a shock to the filter as you may think by looking at that list. lol. Should be good though. They'll all be in my 150l when I go to pick it up on Nov 1st.

 

[mrs biffster]

I bought a couple of 4ft tanks with everything with them. 1 of them has undergravel plates and i intend on using them for my goldfish setup.
My goldfish are in a 3ft tank and i'm going to move them to a bigger tank. The tank there in has 1 of them new fluvals i think it's a fluval 3 and i personally hate it. It blocks up in a week and i'm having to take it apart and wash the filter sponges. I take a bucket of tank water out to wash the sponges like. I don't like doing water changes that frequent so in the end i take the filter apart and turn the sponges round till the flow weakens again then i do a water change. I actually prefer undergravel filters myself. So if i was you i would stick with the undergravel filter.

 

[Essjay]

my girlfriend keeps fish anyway

How long has she had fish? And would she be willing to give you some of her filter media? It wouldn't have to be the same make of filter, just any sort of media you could put in your filter. That would speed up your cycle nicely.