Tropical fish tank - advice tips etc.

[chris-red]

I'm ridiculously impulsive and recently bought a 64l tank and a load of bits and bobs. I think I'm a little bit out of my depth (fnar fnar) I have a few questions.

I've checked my water levels and it all seemed acceptable apart from the hardness which is off the chart. Is this a problem to I need to do anything?

I have these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aquarium-Water-Treatment-Conditioner-Stress/dp/B00L2D5R3E/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1467728941&sr=8-7&keywords=api+coat

and something to feed my plants.

Do I need to add anything else?

My water looks a bit murky is that OK? I'd like it clearer any ideas how.

What do I need to do to keep it in good shape? I was told to replace 20% of the water once a month. Is this simply a case of putting tap water in and adding the treatments or should I treat it first?

Here it is,

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/chris-red/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-20160703-WA0002_zpshf0ukbub.jpg

You can see the murk.

What other hardware to I need I have a net, I'm guessing a gravel cleaner is a good idea too, anything else?

What about the tenants? I want bright colourful things, I'd also like weird and wonderful things. I saw Shrimp in the pet shop that I found quite cool to watch so was going to get some of them as for the rest I was going to pick lairy fish.

Any suggestions? Nothing that grows too big or would attack anything or is difficult to keep alive. The lady in the shop told me every litre of water supports 1cm of fish. I would rather quantity over size as.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
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[CaNsA]

Fish poo feeds the plants.

Keep it running for about a week before putting any fish in.

Grab some guppies/mollies.

[chris-red]

[CaNsA]

I have my white lights on a timer.

They come on at about 4 or 5pm and stay on for 7 or 8 hours.

I have two diff temps of lights.
1 to promote plant growth and the other to enhance the visual colour of the fish.

Depending on how anal you want to be, and i know that you are an analyst, have a gander at this guide.

https://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

[chris-red]

How often and what should I feed them too? I guess it all depends on the fish.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[CaNsA]

[chickenstrip]

Jeez, you'd have thought a chap would read up on it a bit before plunging in! CaNsA, just recommend a good starter book for him will ya!

I used to keep a tank myself, nice little hobby.
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[MCN]

Hardness is not a problem for the fish.
It could be a problem if diatoms become an issue. Micro beasts who pull the chalk out of solution to build their wee houses (sort of coral like).
Harmless things on their own but they coat everything then any algae you have can lock into the wee shell hooses.
You can normally scrape off algae but if theu are stuck to diatoms then it is more difficult to scrape off. Think scraping emulsion paint.

I dealt with this in when using Yorkshire Water (at 9 out of 10 on the water Richter scale) by installing my own RO plant in the hoose. But that takes everything out so you you need to add a little bit back so the fish don't dissolve in the pure water.

I fitted an external filter too which helped with the nitrates too. More filter area for beneficial micro beasts to live on/in.

Water changes about 20-30% every couple of weeks but use a chemical test to determine when. You may need to do it more often

Get clued up on Nitrogen cycle in aquria.
And get an RO plant.

Aquariums are as expensive as feckin' golf is
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[CaNsA]

[chris-red]

[CaNsA]

Old thread, and LOL its a 200L not a 300L.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=250959

Gone tropical now with sand and many many plants.
Few guppies, some shrimp and snails and stuff.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=299171

[colink98]

Lets no go out and buy a stink load of expensive fish.
this is my current tank....only setup a couple of weeks ago.

the broken plant pot was totally my own idea as well.

[andyscooter]

my 100 ltr tank gets done every two weeks two or three buckets out and same back in
what I tend to do is fill bucket with water and treat each bucket with aqua safe stuff (wilko weekly cleaner also does the same )

use a new clean bucket that has never had soap in as soap particles stick to plastic and can kill fish
clean filter every two weeks with new filters in every two months (not what they recommend on filters but they can be swilled off )
guppies tend to eat through plant stems as they can, so do

I have guppys and tetras in mine and just put some more in and some danios

need a new plec for cleaning and recommend having one if you can as they do the job well
also look at kuli loach as they are ace
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if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[Chinaboy]

I had a small system, it ran several tanks and a sump. I had a 6x3x2 RO storage tank for water changes, 60% every 3 days. Keeping Discus at £150 a throw makes you realise just how much you need to know about water and the nitrogen cycle. I fed my filter for about 6-8 with ammonia until I couldn't read ammonia when testing, then you know the filter is mature for your fish.
I can see the OP killing all his fish if he does not do regular and large water changes. His filter will be dead, because he will want to clean it as he knows no different. Also, remember that if you put in lots of fish from different places you will probably get diseases and kill the fish. I used to use a quarantine tank, off system in a different room to house new fish and use a sacrificial fish introduced to the QT to see if I had transmission of disease, this was done for 2 months before I was sure and adding to the system.
A few photos below of my tanks and fish.

https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/DSC01904.jpg

https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/1-1.jpg

Filter
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/sump5_small.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/sump4_small.jpg

https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/7small.jpg

https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/4.jpg

Wild caught Scalares
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/DSC01915.jpg
https://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg188/Discusboy123/DSC01913.jpg

[CaNsA]

[Chinaboy]

Fairynuff

[andyscooter]

[Chinaboy]

Not made to look nice, but to be adaptable and functional. It worked well and breeding and raising good quality fish was the goal. I had nice tanks too.

[CaNsA]

[defblade]

My top tips (running a 155l tank for the last 8 years):

#1 Understock the tank, by the best part of 50%. This way you don't strain the system at all and maintenance required goes waaaay down.

#2 Shrimp and plants (plenty of plants) are good - they are your clean-up crew, both will sort out a lot of the waste products that the fish generate.

#3 Put the lights on a timer and give it an hour or two break in the middle of the day - algae copes with this much less well than proper plants.

#4 Be very aware of the size fish you buy will grow to - especially if you like odd stuff. You probably shouldn't put anything that grows to more than 4cm in that tank, you might get away with 6cm. Lots of small fish makes a better show than a couple of large unhappy ones anyway. Also avoids dominance problems that can occur when you have a small number of male (the pretty ones!) fish - the alpha fish will hound just one or two rivals literally to death. Having lots means the stress is split up. (Plants = hiding places. This is good here too.) Have a look at the various types of rasbora if you don't fancy tetra. A shoal of copper or harlequin rasbora is lovely





That'll do to get you started

I do 50% water changes about every 6 months, BTW, and my water quality stays fine (that should get 'em screaming )
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[andyscooter]

one more bit of advise I just thought of

never buy fish from pets at home

I once had a girl that was about 16 trying to tell me I couldn't put a oranda in with my normal goldfish as they would kill it

even though I had a few in there already that were absolutely fine

same girl also told me I couldn't mix guppy colours a few weeks later

(I had two tanks at the time)
____________________
gilera runner vxr200 (chavped)
if its spelt wrong its my fat fingers and daft auto correct on my tablet

[CaNsA]

[bugeye_bob]

Buy a water test kit from the likes of API,
This will tell you when your tank has cycled and is ready for fish,
None of this buy cheap fish to start it off crap after a few days, good money maker for a pet shop,
Once you have the filter working/cycled you can add fish,


I do 25% chanel every 2 or 3 weeks,
I run a few tanks and have had no major problems in 10 years,

I use a beer making bucket for water changes,
Add my tap water to this bucket, then the tapsafe, and leave with a spare water heater until it's about the right temp, so as not to shock the fish,


Start off with simple pretty fish that are easy to manage,


Many fish forums have tank calculators that will give you a guide to what and how many fish your tank can hold,

Hope this helps.

[andyscooter]

[t121anf]

Anyone recommend any plants for a goldfish tank (no heater).

Ones I've tried just have just died off, which I'm told is because they require some heat.