Setting up a new aquarium after 25 years out of the hobby

[Chu'Wuti]

I plan to finish washing the last 50 pounds today, then measure. If I don't have 2 inches in front with 3-4 inches in back, I'll go get another bag.

I saw a tip to put black construction paper on the back, so I roped my husband into helping me with that this morning. He turned out to be quite good at it! I have the wood soaking; still need to wash and soak the lava rocks. We'll be picking up 25 gallons of deionized water tomorrow from our LFS, along with some plants. We'll have to go back for more water, but I had to buy 5 collapsible 5-gallon jugs just to get 25 gallons, and making two or three trips to the store is way less expensive than buying 15 of those jugs!

How do y'all think half deionized water mixed with half dechlorinated tap water will do?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Sounds good!

I personally use black contractor trash bags, but construction paper works just as well.

How do y'all think half deionized water mixed with half dechlorinated tap water will do?

Do you mean have un-chlorinated and Hal chlorinated? I actually suggest filling the tank up all the way with water and then add the de chlorinator.

 

[Essjay]

She's asking will it be OK if the tank is filled with 50% deionised water and 50% dechlorinated tap water.

If you do this, you can never do a water change with all tap water. Provided you always have enough deionised water on hand for water changes, it should be OK.

 

[utahfish]

I use black epoxy spray paint on the back glass and sides of glass. Outside of glass of course. It dries quickly. Having said that since your tank is already got water in it i wouldnt recommend it

 

[Chu'Wuti]

So the reason I was thinking half deionized water and half tap water is because years ago, it seemed to be most effective in keeping fish alive. If I did all tap water, even outgassing chlorine and, later when the city began using chloramines, adding dechlorinators, the fish did not do well.

Do I not need to do half and half nowadays? The deionized water is 60 cents a gallon at our LFS. So not horribly expensive but with a 75-gallon tank, it definitely adds up. About $20 worth of deionized water. I did buy collapsible 5-gallon jugs, so it'll be easy to get more in the future. I want to do what will work best for the fish and plants.

 

[Chu'Wuti]

Okay, next question: If the bottom end of the heater is in the sand, is that a problem? These heaters are really looooong! We are trying to juggle the heater (Eheim) and the spray bar of the Eheim filter and really struggling with placement.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Okay, next question: If the bottom end of the heater is in the sand, is that a problem? These heaters are really looooong! We are trying to juggle the heater (Eheim) and the spray bar of the Eheim filter and really struggling with placement.

I suggest angling the filter. This is the best way to distribute heat as well. Put it at a 45 degree angle.

Are you having trouble positioning the filter/spray bar as well?

 

[Chu'Wuti]

Yes. We wanted to put one heater at each end of the tank and also put the spray bar at one end with the intake at the other end. Does it matter if the top of the heater ends up in water, at least partially?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Yes. We wanted to put one heater at each end of the tank and also put the spray bar at one end with the intake at the other end. Does it matter if the top of the heater ends up in water, at least partially?

What kind of heater do you have? There are some heaters that are 100% submersible and there are others that are not.

I keep at least 2 inches of my heater (top end) out of the water in my 29g tank. My heater is not fully submersible.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree, make sure it's a submersible one

 

[Chu'Wuti]

We retrieved the box from the recycle bin, and these are fully submersible heaters. Whew! Bit by bit by bit, we are building an aquarium!

 

[utahfish]

So the reason I was thinking half deionized water and half tap water is because years ago, it seemed to be most effective in keeping fish alive. If I did all tap water, even outgassing chlorine and, later when the city began using chloramines, adding dechlorinators, the fish did not do well.

Do I not need to do half and half nowadays? The deionized water is 60 cents a gallon at our LFS. So not horribly expensive but with a 75-gallon tank, it definitely adds up. About $20 worth of deionized water. I did buy collapsible 5-gallon jugs, so it'll be easy to get more in the future. I want to do what will work best for the fish and plants.

I use just RO water in my tank, mostly because my local water is very hard and i keep soft water fish but also because i know exactly whats in it which is whatever i put in it. I dont have to worry about nitrates phosohates fluoride copper or other heavy metals fertilizers or toxins. I re mineralize the water with calcium chloride and magnesium sulfate and add liquid fert for the plants. The water is much easier to manage when i know whats in it and what goes in it everytime i change it. My tank is only a 20 gal and i get RO water for 20cents a gallon so with a larger tank itll be cheaper to mix with tap whether its worth it is up to you?

 

[Byron]

We'll be picking up 25 gallons of deionized water tomorrow from our LFS, along with some plants. We'll have to go back for more water, but I had to buy 5 collapsible 5-gallon jugs just to get 25 gallons, and making two or three trips to the store is way less expensive than buying 15 of those jugs!

How do y'all think half deionized water mixed with half dechlorinated tap water will do?

So the reason I was thinking half deionized water and half tap water is because years ago, it seemed to be most effective in keeping fish alive. If I did all tap water, even outgassing chlorine and, later when the city began using chloramines, adding dechlorinators, the fish did not do well.

Do I not need to do half and half nowadays? The deionized water is 60 cents a gallon at our LFS. So not horribly expensive but with a 75-gallon tank, it definitely adds up. About $20 worth of deionized water. I did buy collapsible 5-gallon jugs, so it'll be easy to get more in the future. I want to do what will work best for the fish and plants.

Unless there is some reason the tap water is not suitable for the intended fish, or fish in general, I wold think twice about mixing tap water with RO or whatever. Consider water changes...you want to be chaning at least half the tank volume, and preferably more, once every week. That means you would need a container in which to do the mix so you can add the fresh water having the same parameters as the tank water. You cannot do the mixing in the tank with fish present. This is a lot of work, and effort.

The GH was previously given as 150 ppm (= 8 dGH) which is moderately soft water. This is suited to almost all soft water fish species, which includes about 80% of the fish in the hobby. Livebearers and other fish requiring harder water will not work, but almost every species from South America and SE Asia will, as far as parameters are concerned.

Chlorine and/or chloramine are easily dealt with by using a good conditioner. Assuming you have no other issues, the best conditioner for your purpose is the API Tap Water Conditioner. It instantly detoxifies chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. That is all you need, unless you have ammonia, nitrite or nitrate in the source (tap) water. Assuming you don't, use the API. It is more expensive, but long-term you save a lot of money because it is highly concentrated and one drop instantly treats 1 gallon (2 drops for chloramine).

 

[PheonixKingZ]

We retrieved the box from the recycle bin, and these are fully submersible heaters. Whew! Bit by bit by bit, we are building an aquarium!

Sounds good! You can now add it at a 45 degree angle.

 

[Chu'Wuti]

Well you can always find ways to spend more money, and vendors happy to take it off you. I actually try to keep it simple. But as for the heaters....
I happen to use an Inkbird contoller. One controller is sufficient for 2 heaters (but not neccessary). for the heaters get the reputable brands. The cheaper ones may be as good but the consequences of failure can be catastrophic.
My logic for using the inkbird with 2 heaters is as follows:

1. If one heater stops coming on my tank will still be heated by the other one and stop my fish from freezing
2. If one heater fails to turn off (thermostat failure) the inkbird will turn it off and prevent me from making fish soup
3. If the inkbird fails to turn the heaters off they will turn themselves off because I set the thermostats independently
4. If the inkbird stops working I will know quicker than if a heater fails because there is a large LED display that I can see anywhere in the room, I may not notice a failed heater so quickly.

So for me its just about reducing the impact of things going wrong. At the other end of the scale I don't worry about redundant filters or pumps because the plants will take over their job. In truth many people would regard my tanks as severely under filtered. I don't buy the "there's no such thing as too much filtration". I prefer to think of it as an eco-system that is as self sustaining as possible. Since it is a closed system my job is to ensure a regular supply of fresh water and to keep the temperature at an acceptable level.

So how do you set the heating level and the cooling level on the Inkbird so that it will run each heater separately?