Questions Regarding My New Tank Setup - Feedback Please

[mark1979]

hey all

i am in the process of setting up my juwel rio 400 and would like some advice.

right to start im going to say what i have so far:

Dorset pea gravel as the substrate,small to medium sized,i bought 50kg,hope thats enough,lol
Fluval fx5 and maybe the internal juwel filter
Rena 300W heater
rena 600 air pump running 1 or 2 airstone's
a few coconut hideouts
some terracotta pots when i can find some
a few sydeco artificul plants around (i do plan to have some live plants aswell)
a load of mopani wood soaked and ready to go,andi mean 6 very big bits!!

my main worry is that i have only 1 piece of mopani in the holding my current tank. if i setup the new tank with all this mopani,will it drasticly reduce my ph?

if so,is this going to harm my fish?

is there anyway of getting around this?

finaly my 405 fluval is mature,if i remove all of the media and put it in my new fx5,would it be exactly the same?

 

[Ren&Stumpy]

hey all

i am in the process of setting up my juwel rio 400 and would like some advice.

right to start im going to say what i have so far:

Dorset pea gravel as the substrate,small to medium sized,i bought 50kg,hope thats enough,lol
Fluval fx5 and maybe the internal juwel filter
Rena 300W heater
rena 600 air pump running 1 or 2 airstone's
a few coconut hideouts
some terracotta pots when i can find some
a few sydeco artificul plants around (i do plan to have some live plants aswell)
a load of mopani wood soaked and ready to go,andi mean 6 very big bits!!

my main worry is that i have only 1 piece of mopani in the holding my current tank. if i setup the new tank with all this mopani,will it drasticly reduce my ph?

if so,is this going to harm my fish?

is there anyway of getting around this?

finaly my 405 fluval is mature,if i remove all of the media and put it in my new fx5,would it be exactly the same?

What fish are you putting in there?

Fluval FX5 holds alot of media, think its mainly sponges though not sure.

I would recommend taking the internal out and adding either the 405 or certainly another canister of decent size for better filtration.

Mopani shouldnt lower ph too much if at all

 

[mark1979]

hey all

i am in the process of setting up my juwel rio 400 and would like some advice.

right to start im going to say what i have so far:

Dorset pea gravel as the substrate,small to medium sized,i bought 50kg,hope thats enough,lol
Fluval fx5 and maybe the internal juwel filter
Rena 300W heater
rena 600 air pump running 1 or 2 airstone's
a few coconut hideouts
some terracotta pots when i can find some
a few sydeco artificul plants around (i do plan to have some live plants aswell)
a load of mopani wood soaked and ready to go,andi mean 6 very big bits!!

my main worry is that i have only 1 piece of mopani in the holding my current tank. if i setup the new tank with all this mopani,will it drasticly reduce my ph?

if so,is this going to harm my fish?

is there anyway of getting around this?

finaly my 405 fluval is mature,if i remove all of the media and put it in my new fx5,would it be exactly the same?

What fish are you putting in there?

Fluval FX5 holds alot of media, think its mainly sponges though not sure.

I would recommend taking the internal out and adding either the 405 or certainly another canister of decent size for better filtration.

Mopani shouldnt lower ph too much if at all

im putting the fish i have in my exixting tank,and that is:

10 x pristella xray tetra's
2 x german blue rams
2 x gold rams
3 x panda corys
3 x other corys (not sure which) lol

so you think the fx5 and the internal isnt enough filtration?

thats good,i was hoping the mopani would lower the ph alot

 

[Ren&Stumpy]

internal in the rio 400 is 1000LPH powerhead

 

[england]

In my 5/2/2ft tank which is heavily stocked i have the fluval fx5 with the sponge's it come's with and the blue cirle sponge which i brought extra and bio media for pond filter's, with this and my tetratec 1000 internal i have the reading's perfect, not sure about all this x8 stuff, but mine works ok

 

[england]

luckily i have a spotless tank, people alway's comment on how clean it is, my key is gravel vac with every waterchange....work's for me, not saying it's how it should be

 

[bagu]

luckily i have a spotless tank, people alway's comment on how clean it is, my key is gravel vac with every waterchange....work's for me, not saying it's how it should be

Obviously gravel cleaning is still an important part, a filter can never replace the need for that.

Mike

very true!

i love gravel vaccing!

 

[mark1979]

i decided today that im going to use the internal and the fx5

reason behind this is i will leave the fx5 to do the graft,and and i will use the internal for a backup,and the internal will be much easier to drop some carbon in if i need to remove a med!!!

im also going to leave some sponge's in the internal for my fluval u2 filter,so if i need a quick hospital tank,the filter willbe ready!!

my tank will never be overstocked,i like a less hectic enviroment to be honest.

 

[mark1979]

i havent got round to putting nothing in the tank yet.

all i have done is install the FX5,put the background on,and decided where to put my airstone.

i also hard to decide where to put the fx5 outlet,so i put it near the internals outlet,so i will have 3 streams of filtered water in different directions

i would have it running by now but ive changed my mind on the substrate.im going for a black now!!

i have bought loads of caves over my week off,and random bits. half i wont use,but i want the selection there in front of me,lol

well here is piccys of what i have so far. and mags,the FX5 does fit

 

[minxfishy]

Yippeeeeeeee, its fits Thanks for the piccies, did you get it from where we talked about? How are you going to get the hood to fit now?

 

[england]

Glad to see the fx5 fit's, are you going to run the internal filter aswell? looks brilliant mate, what you planning for stocking

 

[mark1979]

Yippeeeeeeee, its fits Thanks for the piccies, did you get it from where we talked about? How are you going to get the hood to fit now?

yep,it got it from that place

it arrived next day too,i wasnt prepared for it,lol

im going to cut out 2 rectangular shapes,so it fits over the inlet and outlet hoses,then it will fit flush,i hope!!

im not convinced that pants heater is going to heat the whole tank? it hasnt even got any temp guides on it!!

should i use my rena 300 too?

also and off topic question,is it safe to fill the tank up again straight from a hose,after a water change?

if i get the temp right from my mixer tap,could it just go straight in?

also when would you add the dechlor?

 

[minxfishy]

Get some pics after you've cut the lid, so far I havent had to, as the eheim filter hoses fit in the pre cut parts, but the FX5's wont by the look of it. The heater just about on full keep my tank at 25/26, although in this weather its not even turned on, but in the winter I would think you would need anothe heater to be on the safe side

Yep fill direct via hose, much easier, its what I do, I double dose of dechlor just as Im filling, never had a problem so far and I do it that way on all my tanks and have done for an eternity

 

[mark1979]

Get some pics after you've cut the lid, so far I havent had to, as the eheim filter hoses fit in the pre cut parts, but the FX5's wont by the look of it. The heater just about on full keep my tank at 25/26, although in this weather its not even turned on, but in the winter I would think you would need anothe heater to be on the safe side

Yep fill direct via hose, much easier, its what I do, I double dose of dechlor just as Im filling, never had a problem so far and I do it that way on all my tanks and have done for an eternity

nope the fx5 pipe defo wont fit into the groves,its 1" pipe,which is bigger than the other fluval's piping!!

i will get pics of the lid when i do it,i love a good bit of DIY,shame i have n patience though,lol

what dechlor do you use?

 

[minxfishy]

I use kockney koi pond dechlor, 10ml does 750 Litres, so I dose 10ml for a 50% w/c, which I twice weekly. Pond dechlor is cheaper and goes further as its concentrated, I believe seachem prime is also a good one to use and goes a long way