Newbie Questions

[Suleika]

Welcome!

I have only rediscovered fishkeeping earlier this year and have gone for the same tank as you - I bought mine from the Abyss in Stockport for £199 (Fluval 125 and cabinet, two lights, Heater, Nutrafin Aqua Plus water conditioner 100ml, Nutrafin Cycle 100ml, Nutrafin Tropical Flake food 26gm) but replaced the internal filter with an Eheim external one (maybe an external filter is something to consider if you can afford it, I have had Eheim for years and not once had any problems).

Have a read through the threads in the Beginners Resource Center if you haven't already, I found them very helpful!

With regards to cycling, maybe you can also get a member to donate some mature filter media, see here.

I would also decide on which fish you want to add before setting up the aquarium (for example, if you want to keep corydoras then most people recommend sand instead of gravel as this can damage their barbels). If you want to grow plants, you might want to add plant substrate below your sand or gravel (I have a 2.5l bag of JBL Aquabasis Plus long-term nutrient substrate mixture in mine).

Maybe you want to have a look at the thread which I posted to get advice with setting up my Fluval Roma 125, maybe there's some useful info: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/383021-questions-about-setting-up-my-fluval-roma-125/

Good luck

 

[Tomathee]

Thanks very much for the replies.
I've been looking around some of the other threads for inspiration and looked through the links you added. I read through the Resource Centre at the beginning but I still go back to it every so often to check things. I'm fairly certain I'll go for sand over gravel for looks as well as being bottom feeder friendly. Been around a couple more shops today noting down fish of interest, the Maidenhead aquatic section in the garden centre seemed to have most or all of what P@H had so I'll go there when I come to start buying them. It has thrown up plenty of questions around what to put in as there's so much choice and difference between certain types and even within a certain type in terms of size and compatibility etc. Will probably save them til I have shortened the list to a manageable one that is easier to discuss.
The setup comes with 'Easy Clean Gravel Cleaner Medium Size', will that be able to take out the water for changing as was mentioned in a post earlier? I did have a thought about using a watering can with the sprinkler type end for topping the tank back up, is that advisable or have I missed an easy and obvious method?
I'm also struggling to find black sand, I did find silica in one of the shops earlier (95p/kg) so I can settle for that, but black would be nicer I think. They had 'limpopo black' in the shop which had gravel on the label but was the smallest gravel I've ever seen, not sure if that would be acceptable, assuming I will get bottom feeder(s) at some stage. There was also things such as 'fiji fine sand' , 'senegal aqua sand', 'maui fine sand' and 'zambezi aqua sand' that I could consider depending what shade of the usual sand I wanted.
If I have sand, I have read about keeping it below a certain depth to avoid bacteria developing underneath. Will I run into problems if I had just under that level of sand and then a layer of plant substrate, which I've not yet investigated much, making the total substrate deeper than the maximum 'safe' level for avoiding this bacteria (anarobic? I think it was called).

Thanks again everyone

 

[Suleika]

Where in the UK are you Tom? Maybe some of the members on here can recommend some good aquatics shops

I have 40lb of CaribSea Tahitian Moon sand (£32.99 with free delivery from Aquatics Online) in my Fluval 125, with the plant substrate underneath - it was just the right amount of sand. The Unipac Limpopo sand is also very popular on here. Sand is also much easier to keep clean than gravel.

Easy Clean Gravel Cleaner Medium Size is also the one we use, the method is very simple:

1. Bucket on the floor next to the tank
2. Move the gravel cleaner up and down in the water to start the syphon
3. Suck up the dirt off the sand and remove water down to required level (we do a 50% water change weekly)
4. Use the bucket to refill the tank (try to hit a piece of wood or rock to avoid disturbing the sand)
5. Remember to dechlorinate your tap water (for example API Stress Coat)

Hope this helps

 

[Tomathee]

I'm in Northampton. That I know of is the Maidenhead section in the garden centre (there's another one a bit further away that I haven't been to, assume it will be the same), two P&H, a section in another local garden centre (Billing if anyone is from round these parts) and also one in a village that I happened upon due to my other halfs parents living there (called Seasons, I need to check back there they had a fish I loved the look of and I can't for the life of me remember the name or even a good enough description to search for it).

If that limpopo stuff is actually sand I'll most likely go for that, it just threw me that it had gravel on the label and the grains were a bit bigger than usual sand.

As mentioned I was going to do some water tests which I got round to last night and didn't have time to post. I'm not really an expert in telling colours apart when they're close (maybe being colourblind has something to do with it or poor eyesight in general) so some of them I really wasn't sure on;
pH 7.5 - This could be off
Ammonia 0.25 ppm - ish, maybe a bit higher
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate - This was really difficult for me to read, it looked fairly high possibly around 30 ppm but I could be wrong.

So does that have any consequences with fish selection? I gather putting wood in changes the pH slightly one way or another which I was planning on anyway, is there anything else I need to beware of with those numbers? I will do at least one more test before making any solid choices.

As a side note is it better to keep adding questions to this thread or go into the specific forums (fish selection etc)?

Cheers for all the help I'm enjoying this as a hobby even before I have any fish with all the support around.

 

[Tomathee]

Managed to find 'unipac aqua sand black' in the other garden centre when I popped in to note the fish down, a pain I can't compare it with the limpopo 'sand' from the other one. From what I remember the limpopo was slightly blacker but maybe a bit larger grain size. Guess it will be another journey to double check grr.

I'm struggling to find a nice bit of bogwood. They had some mopani which weighed a ton and the other shop had some normal looking wood, but neither was particularly big to give the look of a tree trunk or to be part of a cave(s). Rocks seem pretty standard in each shop but they seem a bit big to be able to use several and make a cave that way, what methods do you guys use? It's hard to tell in the photos sometimes what's a cave and what's not. They had plastic rock formations and tree trunks with openings cut in but they were the wrong side of £25 and the real stuff, especially wood is probably more beneficial anyway.

Also I've been thinking about the background as that is something that will be best sorted out before it is in position. One of the shops had a Juwel 3d background which looked like it could be an interesting option but I'm not so sure about how it would fare being stuck to the back with water all over. I had thought about using a sheet taped to the back, either a solid colour or one of the printed backgrounds available. I've also seen people talk about painting the back of it but I'm not sure I'd want something so permanent. I'm leaning towards just taping a sheet of black or maybe dark blue paper across the back at the moment, is that common practice or should it be avoided?

 

[Suleika]

I think which sand to get is just personal preference (and budget), apparently some are also blacker than others. The CaribSea Tahitian Moon I have is perfectly black imo.

Are the water parameters you posted above for your tap water or have you already set up your tank? The main ones you need to worry about for now are the pH and water hardness (the latter can usually be found on your water supplier's website) as these will determine which fish you can keep. Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels will fluctuate while you are cycling (see The Nitrogen Cycle), however once your tank is cycled and you add fish, Ammonia and Nitrite should be 0 while Nitrate will still be present but should be kept at a reasonable level by doing regular water changes (mine is usually around 5 ppm as this is the Nitrate level of my tap water).

A lot of people have dark backgrounds taped to the back of their tanks (I have too) - check out the aquariums in the Tank of the Month Winners Gallery (Salam posted a link above)

 

[Tomathee]

I guess I'll have another look and decide at the weekend. Some places I've read say the limpopo sand changes the pH of the water some say it doesn't so I'll need to investigate a bit more. The readings were from a glass of tap water left on the side for a few hours. I will do another test and leave it for 24hrs to see if it changes. The tank is coming tomorrow so I'll be able to give it a quick clean etc. Need to get a move on with a shortlist of fish I would like to see what's doable and what's not, have a rough idea but with many questions that I need to clear up with google.

 

[Tomathee]

Won't have time to look at sand this weekend so that will have to wait. Meanwhile the tank arrived Thursday, at the moment I've almost filled it to check for leaks and the filter and heater. Filter seems to be working fine, I tried it with the venturi thing but it got the light unit wet so I'm not sure if I should stick with it, is it much better than just using the normal output? Figure once the tank was full it would have to be even higher up so that would make it worse, any ideas? It's a Fluval U3. The heater has only been going a couple of hours, says it takes up to 12 hours to get to temperature (it's on 24, is that warm enough to notice if I put my hand in tomorrow morning?).