New tropical fish tank aquarium- Aqua One Oakstyle 230L

[Daisyfish]

Good morning,

I am brand new to keeping tropical fish and am just setting up my tank. I have bought the Aqua One Oakstyle 230L which comes with a Aqua One Ocellaris 850 filter and Aqua One 300W heater and LED light.
I am hoping to have a planted aquarium but with plants where I don’t need extra CO2.

I am hoping to have some advice on positioning the filter and heater for best efficiency and to hide as much as possible unsightly cables and tubes.

thank you

 

[aqua.land]

Hi.

Congrats on your new tank!
Do you know how you will be stocking it?

I think you have set up the heater right, you position it diagonally, but if I were you I would set it up just a little bit more vertical (just a little bit).
If I understand correctly, your filter is not an inside filter (one that's put inside the tank and works from there ) as it is quite large.
I see that you have a nice stand for the fish tank and if I were you I would set up the filter in one of the larger bottom drawers. I'm not exactly sure you it works but I have seen other people do this with this filter, and it looks really neat.

About the plants - it is good to give plants extra CO2 but not 100% necessary, they will still grow and live but won't thrive as much as they would with the extra CO2.

In my tank I have various plants, some of which are anubias, anarchis, java fern and Vallisneria. I do not add extra CO2, and they do just fine. Of course, adding CO2 is still a really good idea if you want the plants at their best.

Hope this helps.

 

[Daisyfish]

Thank you!
This is my tank now... although my plants aren’t doing so well. I have a Tropica plant care substrate and aquarium sand on top.
Not sure how to help my plants. I have bought Seachem flourish but not sure if it’s too early to put that in?
the tank is 3days old.

I am hoping for some colourful fish! I am not too fussy but my area has moderately hard water. With the large fish tank I would ideally like to have a mix of size fish.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi!

The tank looks nice.
Yep, the plants look sparse, its probably because they are young.
Is that Vallisneria? I was really excited to have it in my tank but unfortunately mine didn't grow much.
Are you getting more plants? It would be good to get some for background, midground and foreground plants.
Are you looking to achieve a particular tank style/look? (eg rainforesty, deserty, mountainy). Link to decoration ideas.

I don't have that may fish suggestions...Chichlids are large and colourful but they are very aggressive and should only be kept with other large and aggressive fish...not sure if you would like that.

Have you begun to cycle your tank?

 

[Daisyfish]

I don’t quite understand what it means to cycle the tank.... I understand about the ammonia nitrite and nitrate but don’t understand how to do this process.

I am going to get some floating plants... I was going for a beachy/sea type vibe. Thanks for the link on the ideas of decorations!

 

[Essjay]

There are two ways to cycle a tank (3 if you count fish-in cycling)

It sounds as though you want to do a plant/silent cycle which is where the tank is planted, then when the plants are growing well, fish are added a few at a time.

The other way to cycle a tank is fishless cycling. This is where ammonia is added to the tank to grow the filter bacteria before fish are added to the tank. It is usually done when no live plants are intended for the tank, or only a few slow growing plants which would not be enough to remove all the ammonia made by the fish in a fully stocked tank. In these cases, colonies of filter bacteria are needed to remove the ammonia amde by the fish and the nitrite made from the ammonia.

 

[aqua.land]

Hi.
I'll link some info about cycling - don't worry though, at first I was confused too!
Beginner friendly cycling tanks
Cycling a tank

So basically, you ensure that you have all the right bacteria and the right nitrite and nitrate levels (along with all other levels).
To help with your cycle, you could add some special beneficial bacteria, you can buy it at your LFS or online.
I used TetraSafeStart.

 

[Essjay]

If the plants do start to grow well, you don't need to do a fishless cycle or add bottled bacteria. In your other thread Byron has made some suggestions for plant growth. Getting some floating plants such as Amazon frogbit or water sprite will also help.

For reference, this is the method we recommend for fishless cycling with ammonia as other methods tell you to add too much ammonia.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

Using fish to provide the ammonia is now frowned on.