New To Hobby And Need Some Advice...

[waterdrop]

The sand will tend to just work its way downward, leaving the gravel above.

The weekly maintenance of sand is a different skill than that of gravel.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lee.barros]

Hmm...can you get smooth gravel that will be suitable for the sterbai corys? The sound of cleaning sand sounds harder than gravel and being a beginner, I don't want to over complicate my first tank.

I would like a black/white/silver substrate to emphasize the colours of the fish and plants (which I will be asking about shortly)

Cheers

 

[waterdrop]

The really smooth stuff for corys comes from hiking back in the woods by a stream and finding some nice water worn sand/gravel/pebbles. But of course that's the natural colored stuff. Its harder to find commercial substrate that's truly smooth, but if there are some out there like that then our members will probably know about it!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

You can get smooth gravel suitable for corys from most good fish stores but you will pay a premium price for it.

As waterdrop said, mixing sand with gravel will tend to see the sand sinking down between the gravel pieces so its not ideal.

Cleaning sand isnt really any harder, just takes a little getting used to. With gravel you use a gravel vac which you dig deep into the gravel and it sucks out the loose rubbish that sinks below the gravel. With sand, all the waste sits of top as it cant fall down between the sand so its easier to see when it needs cleaning. You can use a gravel vac for sand, you just remove the large plastic end which is used for gravel and just use the tube, hover it above sand about a 1" away to suck up debris from the surface, it just takes a little getting used to making sure you dont suck up any sand as well but I wouldnt say its any harder

Andy

 

[lee.barros]

I watched a video on youtube of someone using a gravel vac to clean the sand in their tank with the plastic attachment on the end. They done as you described and hovered it above the sand and sand did get sucked up but they said once that happens, just shake the tube and the sand will fall down.

As a beginner, would it make much difference to choose gravel or sand? I like the look of sand but I also like the look of gravel. Since the corys are bottom dwellers, I am concerened about their well being as I have heard that gravel can sometimes damage them when swimming over jagged pieces.

Would about 14kg of gravel/sand do the job for a 63l tank (at a depth of about 2"?)

 

[arobinson1984]

Even easier is taking the plastic attachment off and just using the flexible pipe to hover above the sand.

I'm not sure about gravel but a 15kg of play sand from argos for £2.99 will be more than enough

Andy

 

[lee.barros]

Just been on the argos website and found the sand you mentioned. For the amount you get, it is cheap. I think I will just give using sand a bash in my first tank. As you said, you can tell when it needs cleaned and by using the gravel vac without the attachment it should be a pretty easy job, just needs practice. With the extra sand leftover, you can always top it up when the sand in the tank gets low which is a plus

Im gona start writing down all the equipment that im getting so far and will find out from there what else I need to know. Andy, do you have any pictures of your tank(s) with the Sterbai in them with sand substrate?

 

[Deleted member 55926]

Im going up to ikea today with the missus so I will take a look and see if there are any suitable stands or cabinets up there.

Hi Lee,

I'm just getting started too, and I went to Ikea last weekend and decided to buy a low cabinet for my new tank (they seem to have these new 'build your own custom design' cabinets, where you can choose to mount different sections on top of each other, with different cupboard doors or shutters, or whatever you fancy). I am getting the Rekord 800, which is 110L, but I was slightly concerned about the weight load of a tank that size. I think it works out at roughly 300lbs with water, gravel, rocks, etc.

Just wondering what sort of furniture you bought for your tank, and how it's holding up. I have bought some timber to reinforce the inside of the cabinet.

 

[lee.barros]

Im going up to ikea today with the missus so I will take a look and see if there are any suitable stands or cabinets up there.

Hi Lee,

I'm just getting started too, and I went to Ikea last weekend and decided to buy a low cabinet for my new tank (they seem to have these new 'build your own custom design' cabinets, where you can choose to mount different sections on top of each other, with different cupboard doors or shutters, or whatever you fancy). I am getting the Rekord 800, which is 110L, but I was slightly concerned about the weight load of a tank that size. I think it works out at roughly 300lbs with water, gravel, rocks, etc.

Just wondering what sort of furniture you bought for your tank, and how it's holding up. I have bought some timber to reinforce the inside of the cabinet.

We went up to ikea but I didnt really see anything that would look decent enough in the living room. There was furniture there that could withstand the weight of the tank + water/gravel etc easily but the price tag on it wasnt easy on the eye (or wallet).

Ive decided to go for the Rekord 600 with Black stand which only costs £109.95 with free P&P from here. Buying the tank with a separate piece of furniture for holding the tank may end up costing more, and you never know if the furniture will be up to the job. Buying a tank that comes with a stand made for that tank is a sure way of knowing its up for the job.

Have a look here at this Rekord 800 with Stand

Hope this helps!

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Mig and Lee,

I'm a "Re-Beginner," returning to the hobby I did a lot years ago. I had very mixed feelings when approaching the cabinet/tankstand problem. Years ago almost all my stands were heavy wrought iron and there was no question they could hold a couple of tanks and keep doing it safely for years. Returning to the hobby as it presently is, I was confronted with lots of cabinets, rather than stands. The idea of a cabinet is very positive - I really like hiding the filter and other equipment. But I was worried about the inexpensive wood construction.

Turned out my fears were at least somewhat founded, but not in a way I expected. Our first tank had some water splash over the side that wasn't noticed. Unbeknownst to us, this water soaked in to the particle board (because one of the four corners was supported by a steel tube and the particle board was countersunk where a screw held the top of the steel tube leg in place) under one corner of the tank. Where the particle board was wet, it swelled up into a raised bump. That raised bump, about 1/8 inch or something, was enough to crack the bottom glass of the tank and one night we ended up with tens of gallons of water pouring into my son's room!

All of the equipment was chosen to match the tank so it turned out that the easiest thing to do was to get replacements of the same type stand and tank, which the LFS readily did, but now I keep a black plastic layer between my tank and the particle board and I'm much more concious of always drying around the outside edge of the tank when I work on it!

Your discussion made me think of this so just thought I'd share it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[arobinson1984]

I have managed to get a picture of one of my sterbai's, it wasnt easy as they kept swimming away as I got close to the tank lol

This is one of my sterbai's they look stunning in a group. You can see from the pic that you can tell when the sand needs cleaning, that waste you can see is after about 4 days and I clean it weekly, the waste doesnt actually bother me because I think it adds to the natural look, plus I do have a plec in the tank which creates most of the mess.

Andy

 

[lee.barros]

Thanks for the info about the wooden stands waterdrop, I will be sure to make sure the stand itself is protected by means of plastic before the tank is placed ontop with water added etc. Last thing I want is water all over the living room floor, flooding downstairs

Andy, I agree they do look like good fish, and in a group they would make the tank interesting. I like the look of the sand, makes it look more natural as opposed to gravel.

I have compiled a list of equipment to buy so far:

Juwel Rekord 600 (63L) with Black Stand
15W T8 Lighting
Juwel 50W Heater
Juwel BioFlow Super Filter --------> Comes together as a package

15KG Argos Sand (Substrate)
Various Ornaments
Plants - Still to discuss/agree
Tetra Aquasafe - Dechlorinator
API Master Test Kit
Big Bucket
Gravel Vacuum
Algae Magnets (Already got )

 

[vhypio]

Hey My hobby raising fish, I have a site with lots of advice and can answer most beginners questions. Please visit the site at http/fishtankadvice.com

 

[waterdrop]

Lee, don't forget that one option is to -delay- the plants and ornaments, and even the substrate sometimes, until -after- the fishless cycle and do a blacked out fishless cycle. You just basically figure out a way to cover the tank to block all or most of the light in a way that won't wick water out or catch on fire or anything and this keeps algae from developing on your substrate, decorations and plants ('cause they're not in there )

So why would you worry about algae during a fishless cycle? Well, [Ammonia + Light = Algae] (!) and its just pretty difficult to give the plants the light they need and yet not have algae with all that excess ammonia in there. It certainly doesn't happen in all cases, but it happens often enought that we see a lot of cases of beginners complaining.

Blacked out fishless cycling is not for everyone. Its quite common for a family to have the tank in a common room or in a child's room and the feeling is that its going to be hard enough to talk about bacteria for two months while an empty tank sits there just begging for fish.. its even harder not to even see some nice plants and a lighted tank! But I just thought I'd throw the idea out to you because everyone's situation is different.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[lee.barros]

I didn't know of that and it sounds like a good idea. All you need is the tank with dechlorinated water topped right up, the filter and heater. Then cover the tank to block the light?

Whilst that is happening you carry out tests as normal? When the tank is cycled, would u do a big water change to add in the ornaments/plants leave it for a while then add the fish a few hours/days later?