Redecorating 180 Litre Fish Tank, Tips?

[addy_010]

hi there, in need of some help beofre i go spend some money on redecorating my fish tank, sorry for long post and if it makes a difference im in UK.

bascially i have a juwel 180 litre vision in my bedroom which i have had just under one year, at first i was really happy just to have a tank so bought whatever lokoed best at time for decoration, which in all honesty, looks really terrible and i am in need of a change to the deocration. I have also thought about getting a new filter as the internal juwel one is loosing it's pump plus is ugly, and light bulds as i was told the standard juwel ones aren't as good as others for the plants/fish.

So hoping you guys can help me make the right decisions but keeping the costs down as much as possible.

finding this hard as there is so many to chose from and none ever put the most important piece of information to me in the description, the noise level. As the tank is in my room it has to be almost silent, the internal one is almost there and i can just cope with it as the noise is a deep noise almost soothing but im sure there must be some real noisey ones out there. I am currently looking at the Eheim 2213+ External Aquarium Filter. seems to get good reviews, is very good priced, and also as far as i know is quiet. Can anyone comfirm how quiet it is compared to the filter i have at the moment? also if it's a little bit noisey and i find i really can't sleep with it at night can it be switched off for a few hours when i am falling asleep and then timer puts it back on? I am assuming, though correct me if im wrong, that the filter will need to be used with the current filter for a week or so before the current internal can be removed. Because of this i plan on buying the filter any day soon just to get it happening as soon as possible and then decide on other items.

Can anyone reccomend light bulds to replace the current ones that will fit in the spots? i am planning on having only real plants and alot of them so don't want them dying quickly so whatever please.

As for the plants, i have plants atm and also have had real plants but get annoyed as they always start lovely, grow a little too much, start going brown, grow algae, look ugly, then get removed. I plan on buying a lot of plants to have a really busy tank from places like greenline. what can i do to help them keep nice but have them remaing the nice look they have at first?

I currently have sand which is really darkish orange, bought from bnq, which will be removed and replaced with something very light coloured and very fine, can anyone reccomend me anything? i have done a google and found the item in below link but image is hard to tell how small and light it is.

any other products i can get to help with cleaning the water etc that wont increase noise?

finally when doing this whole thing what should i do with the fish?

Fish i have: 6 guppies, 6 tiny things green and orangy coloured, 4 neon tertas, 1 angle fish, 2 catifsh which are rather large and finally 2 pandas.

thanks

[edit]
this is bascially the design i aim for: http/www.ratemyfishtank.com/enlarge.php/14124

 

[Shrimper]

A lot of questions there.. i'll try and help a bit

I don't think turning the filter off is a good idea, although the bacteria may survive at lot of it probably wont and would probably affect the water quality.

I've got the same tank and i am using the internal filter still so can't really advise which alternative filter would be best.

As for replacing the bulbs there are a couple of options... I don't think replacing the bulbs will make that much difference. If you want more light you can add another tube behind the second light at the back. Also Jewel have recently released a different light fitting that uses different bulbs that are 35W rather than 25W. The downside to this is the price, they are quite expensive.

I would suggest having a look in the planted tank section for suggestions of easy to grow plants.

For light colour sand i would suggest Argos Play sand. I don't use it myself but have read lots of good things about here on here.

As for the fish while you do the rescape you could buy a large bucket or plastic bin and keep them in there with the heater and filter.

 

[DarkEntity]

hi there, in need of some help beofre i go spend some money on redecorating my fish tank, sorry for long post and if it makes a difference im in UK.

bascially i have a juwel 180 litre vision in my bedroom which i have had just under one year, at first i was really happy just to have a tank so bought whatever lokoed best at time for decoration, which in all honesty, looks really terrible and i am in need of a change to the deocration. I have also thought about getting a new filter as the internal juwel one is loosing it's pump plus is ugly, and light bulds as i was told the standard juwel ones aren't as good as others for the plants/fish.

So hoping you guys can help me make the right decisions but keeping the costs down as much as possible.

finding this hard as there is so many to chose from and none ever put the most important piece of information to me in the description, the noise level. As the tank is in my room it has to be almost silent, the internal one is almost there and i can just cope with it as the noise is a deep noise almost soothing but im sure there must be some real noisey ones out there. I am currently looking at the Eheim 2213+ External Aquarium Filter. seems to get good reviews, is very good priced, and also as far as i know is quiet. Can anyone comfirm how quiet it is compared to the filter i have at the moment? also if it's a little bit noisey and i find i really can't sleep with it at night can it be switched off for a few hours when i am falling asleep and then timer puts it back on? I am assuming, though correct me if im wrong, that the filter will need to be used with the current filter for a week or so before the current internal can be removed. Because of this i plan on buying the filter any day soon just to get it happening as soon as possible and then decide on other items.

Can anyone reccomend light bulds to replace the current ones that will fit in the spots? i am planning on having only real plants and alot of them so don't want them dying quickly so whatever please.

As for the plants, i have plants atm and also have had real plants but get annoyed as they always start lovely, grow a little too much, start going brown, grow algae, look ugly, then get removed. I plan on buying a lot of plants to have a really busy tank from places like greenline. what can i do to help them keep nice but have them remaing the nice look they have at first?

I currently have sand which is really darkish orange, bought from bnq, which will be removed and replaced with something very light coloured and very fine, can anyone reccomend me anything? i have done a google and found the item in below link but image is hard to tell how small and light it is.

any other products i can get to help with cleaning the water etc that wont increase noise?

finally when doing this whole thing what should i do with the fish?

Fish i have: 6 guppies, 6 tiny things green and orangy coloured, 4 neon tertas, 1 angle fish, 2 catifsh which are rather large and finally 2 pandas.

thanks

[edit]
this is bascially the design i aim for: [URL="http/www.ratemyfishtank.com/enlarge.php/14124"]http/www.ratemyfishtank.com/enlarge.php/14124[/URL]

1) Filters, pretty much all Eheims are silent, ive used Ecco2232, 2236 and Pro2 2028 and they are all quiet, i would expect the one you are looking at to be the same.

2) Bulbs, Arcadia do some nice Tropical bulbs, have a look at what they sell for plant growth and colour enhancement.

3) The only way you will get a tank like that in the image is via Ferts, daily water changes, CO2 and a lot of time pruning and stuff.

4) Greenline are ok, but id rather spend a bit more cash and buy Tropica Plants, they are generally far better quality. (look at PFK this month for the first part of an onine plant buying guide if you are buying plant bundles)

5) swap to light coloured sand is fine, either catch the fish and put them in a bucket with an air stone and heater or put a divider in the tank. I like again to spend a little more and buy good sand like CaribSea Moonsand or their whitesand, but poolfilter sand will work as will playsand from Argos.

6) Your fish....you need to ID them all first, "green/orange fish" isnt helpful. Angel fish snack on Neons so that mix isnt great. Green/Orangy could be Tiger Barbs, could be Mollys, could be a few things. Catfish, are they catfish or is it Plecs? Plecs have underslung mouths, Catfish dont and have generally got forward pointing whiskers.

 

[gowing238]

hey.
On the sand question i recently changed my substrate and i replaced it with argos play sand. Its light and extra fine. perfect look for a fishtank and best of all its cheap as chips!!

When i replaced this recently i siphoned most of the water out of my tank into buckets, then using a tupperware i scooped up all the fish and shared them all out into the buckets( took a bit of time catching 55 fish!) I then replaced the sand Slowly poured the fishless buckets over a plate placed over the sand to prevent cloudiness and sand displcement and finally replaced the fish and filter. Took 3 hours all the fish are still alive today and it was well worth the effort!

Hope i helped!