General Aquarium Talk

[Optimus.]

Please excuse my paint skillz!



By way of explanation, the 4-legged octopus represents driftwood; the green lightning bolts are long plants, the olive stars are small carpet plants. The green-smeared block is a piece of rectangular slate (sat at an upwards-pointing angle). Red arrows represent in & out filter flow.

(Freshwater tropical) tank is roughly 4 x 2 x 2 so there would be less gravel & sand.

So re: dirt & sand in the same tank, I imagine that the gravel-capped dirt would need to not cover the whole tank floor (i.e. it's not a case of capping 1/2 the dirt with gravel and 1/2 with sand). However I read that people do use sand to cap dirt anyway so I assume that means the dirt won't bubble up through the sand... ?

I was wondering whether I'd need to put some thin dividers in to maintain the line between dirt & sand, which would also help stop with runners growing through. Any suggestions for divider materials?

[KrAzEe]

Anyone here have or used to have freshwater string rays?

[japes]

Never had them myself but have helped care for them.

[Optimus.]

Due to a slight mix-up @ the shop with the tank & cabinet sizings, we're getting a 5ft tank instead of a 4ft. Score.

A question though - the external canister filter that we're getting was rated up to 300ltrs (the 4ft tank) while the new tank is 400 ltrs. Would there be a problem using the same filter?

I know it wouldn't be filtering the water as many times per hour but does the water actually need to be filtered that often i.e. 6 times an hour instead of 8?

Also, 500ltrs/100 gallons - would that entail a 300w heater?


Thanks!

[brocky2006]

Originally Posted by Optimus.

Due to a slight mix-up @ the shop with the tank & cabinet sizings, we're getting a 5ft tank instead of a 4ft. Score.

Also, 500ltrs/100 gallons - would that entail a 300w heater?


Thanks!

not sure about the filter, but with heaters, its 1W per 1L.
so if its 500L, would need a 500w heater, it might work with 300, but then again, it might cost more because it would be on for longer

[DarkYendor]

Originally Posted by Optimus.

A question though - the external canister filter that we're getting was rated up to 300ltrs (the 4ft tank) while the new tank is 400 ltrs. Would there be a problem using the same filter?

Also, 500ltrs/100 gallons - would that entail a 300w heater?

Nice work on the upgrade! If you only stock the tank up to the 300L level, the filter should be fine. Even with higher stocking, I'd be surprised if you had a problem. But keep a close eye on it if you go down that path.

For heaters, the Eheim website recommends a 250W for 400L. As the manufacturer, they're probably trying to up-sell their range and Germany is a lot colder than most parts of Aus, so I'd trust it. Going bigger won't hurt, but it's probably pointless unless you live in Tasmania. The other option is to get two smaller heaters for better heat distribution (and a level of redundancy), but 2x150W are going to cost a lot more than 1x300W.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Optimus.

A question though - the external canister filter that we're getting was rated up to 300ltrs (the 4ft tank) while the new tank is 400 ltrs. Would there be a problem using the same filter?

What filter is it; capacity? 6 turnovers per hour is more than enough depending on what sort of fish you're keeping. More than adequate for South American/Asian species (for the most part), suitable for Africans Rift Lake species etc.

[Optimus.]

Cheers for the replies!

Cannister filter is this model - Aqua One Nautilus 1100: http://www.aquaticlifeaquariums.com....-uk/p3423.html

Looking at the stats it's got the capacity for 2.75 volume cycles an hour (1100lph). In the 300l tank it would have been 3.6 volume cycles per hour.

There's a 1400lph model that would give 3.5 volume cycles per hour. Is there really much of a difference? Does the water really need to be cycled more than once per hour?


It'll be a planted dirt tank with one bristlenose, a 4" comet, a couple of smaller goldies (oranda and panda moore). Planning on another bristlenose, 2 cory cats and a 5 to 8 silver tip tetras. And hopefully 5 or so cherry shrimp.

The comet is docile and I don't think is big enough to eat a tetra or shrimp. Maybe a neon tetra though...

Would this be considered overstocked?


Last in a stream of questions - when you measure a fish, to you refer from mouth to tail or mouth to end of body?

[broccoli]

Goldfish are big pooers so I wouldn't want to skimp on the filtration. What do you intend doing to mix the tropical and coldwater fish?

[tangcla]

Originally Posted by Optimus.

It'll be a planted dirt tank with one bristlenose, a 4" comet, a couple of smaller goldies (oranda and panda moore). Planning on another bristlenose, 2 cory cats and a 5 to 8 silver tip tetras. And hopefully 5 or so cherry shrimp.

What water temp do you intend on running? I don't think there's much in common...

[Optimus.]

Was thinking of 23c in the big tank, work the small tank up to that over a couple of weeks before putting the goldfish in.

[afcca]

Has anyone had history with worms in clown loaches? I have one rather ill looking guy who has been skinny for a long long time (been hiding for a while during eating so I didn't notice it was still skinny) and judging by pictures I've seen before it looks like he has a worm...
I'll try to get a pic up.

Ok as soon as I grabbed my camera, he went back into hiding, but attached picture is what it looks like though a bit worse than mine. I'll continue to try and get an accurate picture.


Click to view full size!

[japes]

If you look up "Skinny Disease" for Clown Loaches you'll get a lot of similar happenings. General consensus from memory is to use a de-wormer like Levamisole (Common recommendation is the pig/cattle/poultry version of Big L) at aquarium doses (you'll need to look them up).

Unfortunately it's still hard to cure.

[afcca]

Originally Posted by japes

If you look up "Skinny Disease" for Clown Loaches you'll get a lot of similar happenings. General consensus from memory is to use a de-wormer like Levamisole (Common recommendation is the pig/cattle/poultry version of Big L) at aquarium doses (you'll need to look them up).

Unfortunately it's still hard to cure.

Levamisole is one of the treatments I have come across and was going to see if I could get some tomorrow from the LFS, just thought I'd ask the experts to see if anyone had a better idea My LFS has a tendancy to treat everything wrong so they wouldn't be much help *roll eyes*

[japes]

Not really the kind of product an LFS would stock, especially if they aren't that helpful with treating things. If they've got it, it will more than likely be out the back. Would have more luck with a produce store.