OCAU Aquarium Owners Club

[Deltoid]

Originally Posted by Ronza

Just a thought...are Filters/Heaters/General Aquarium Stuff cheaper from online stores or is it just me?

In general the majority of things are cheaper online. They don't have to pay the same upkeep that a physical store would for staff, shop, rates and stuff so without those overheads they can offer cheaper prices, at least that was the original idea behind it.

[jacknorris]

Hello all,
just inherited a rather large tank (1.2 m wide) and am considering starting a marine aquarium....ive got a pretty good pump (one of those really big external ones) and a heater.....thats all....i dont know much about marine tanks but i dont want choral or n e thing like that...what else do i need for just a simple set up i.e. a few clowns etc......what are my options?

[Ronza]

Canister Filter, Protein Skimmer, Testing Kits....

Id go for coral, they are half the fun of Marine Tanks.

EDIT: http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/sh...=&cat=Internal

So damm cheap, LFS (one of the best in SA as well) were selling 1200l/h Aqua Ones for $39. 2000l/h there for less. I might look into getting into that 1000l/h Atman as the primary filter (currently have 2x 350l/h in a 160L). Just that touch of overkill

Their fishfood is pretty cheap, I remember paying twice as much for some of the Wardley Stuff. Spirulna Discs anyone; Ive heard they are popular treats for fish?

[Deltoid]

Originally Posted by jacknorris

Hello all,
just inherited a rather large tank (1.2 m wide) and am considering starting a marine aquarium....ive got a pretty good pump (one of those really big external ones) and a heater.....thats all....i dont know much about marine tanks but i dont want choral or n e thing like that...what else do i need for just a simple set up i.e. a few clowns etc......what are my options?

Stocking a 1.2m tank with coral would cost a bit.

Go to www.masa.asn.au and ask your questions there. If you want information from Australian's on marine fish tanks you can't really go past that forum.

That said you'd want to buy probally 40+kg of live rock for the tank about 60kg of sand, a light, some powerheads (you want about 10x turnover of the tank and hour), and possibly either a filter or protein skimmer.

Without corals you don't really have to have a protein skimmer and instead you could do weekly small water changes and the live rock should keep the tank filtered pretty good. Otherwise you could also add a filter to this (maybe a hang on filter like the Aquaclear 500 so that it takes all the filtering out of the tank so you dont have a big filter inside it. This would help to remove big chunks of dirt. But yeah a protein skimmer is a good idea.

That said go to the masa site and ask on there and they will point you in the best direction.

[Headkicker]

nice setups!

im very noobish here, but im thinking about building an aquarium myself

any good sites you guys would recommend to get me started? i need information re basic setups, common (easy upkeep) fish, and other start-up tips.

thanks!

[l00b3r]

www.drumpak.com if you can take insults and enjoy a good laugh .

its not a very.... friendly site as most of us there are drunks.. (im one of the good boys, i dont drink lol).... or....

www.ausfishforum.com if you want a friendly lil site...

i suggest drumpak though, its always good for a laugh

-Matt

[XRC15T]

does anyone know an easier way to remove nitrates other than damm water changes...??

[XRC15T]

Also what is the consensus of using dehumidifier water to top up tanks?

[ben_qld]

Very bad, dont use it

it has all the nasties in the air + all the crap on the condenser coils

in respose to the other question, are you trying to reduce nitrate in a FW or SW aquarium ?

Ben

[XRC15T]

FW Tropical tank 4ft

[Deltoid]

Originally Posted by XRC15T

FW Tropical tank 4ft

Don't over feed, get some little critters (shrimp,etc) to clean up excess food and stuff in the tank.

Don't overstock you tank.

[Ducky]

Originally Posted by XRC15T

does anyone know an easier way to remove nitrates other than damm water changes...??

denitrator is what you want ...this can cost you ALOT for pre-made one or try to search for DIY on the web

[Anakist]

Originally Posted by Ducky

denitrator is what you want ...this can cost you ALOT for pre-made one or try to search for DIY on the web

I was quoted about $140 generally. But they take up to 6 weeks to cycle properly.

James

[JaC]

Wow, looks like a few people here are into fishies.

I got a tank a couple weeks ago (500x250x250mm) and dove straight into it. Managed to kill 4 cheapo guppies before I really started to read up on things. oops.

Anyhoo, i'm going for a tropical freshwater setup. ATM I've got 3 mollies (2 silver, 1 black), 2 albino corydoras and 6 neon tetras. (pics to come if my camera will cooperate)

I'm pretty certain I ended up with a dude silver molly and a dudette (based on anal fin/gonna-whateverthehellitis-ea). The dude has been chasing around the dudette and now she's up the duff.

Now apart from the generic half-shipwreck ornament, my tank is looking a little bare. I had a few random plants I was trying on for size, but I left my mum in charge of feeding them when I went away last weekend and came home to find that the fish musn't have been fed and had shredded the plants.

So, what should I do plant-wise to prepare my tank for bubba mollies? I was thinking of adding in some real bushy plants to give them some cover and avoid becoming dinner, but I don't know what would be a good choice. I was thinking something along the lines of elodeas but I've really got no idea

I don't really have the luxury of another tank right now to isolate the fry :\
once they're out, what do i feed them? from what i've read live baby brine shrimp seems to be the generally reccomended baby food.

Also, seeing as I dived right in, I didn't cycle the tank before adding fish. Right now I've got some (what I think anyway) high NH3/NH4+ levels (NH3/NH4+ 5ppm, NO2- 2ppm, NO3- 4ppm).

Now, as I understand it (and its going back a couple years to senior bio/chem here...) NH3/NH4+ is a waste product of fish. No way of getting around it. nitrosomonas to the rescue. ammonia->nitrite. then nitrobacter jump in. nitrite->nitrate. water changes then look after the NO3-.

Now, because my tank doesn't really have an established nitrogen cycle, i'm wondering what i can do to minimise the stress on my little guys and speed up the process as much as possible. i'm assuming my ammonia levels might be a little harmful as they're approaching the max on the scale i got in my test kit. i'm also a little worried about the preggo molly and her unborn kiddliwinks. how serious an issue is this for them and what should i do? should i get some of this gear (http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=399)?

Finally, as far as lighting is concerned, i hear 0.5watts/L is about average. ATM i have a desk lamp next to the tank. I guess it works but i don't think tis the best solution. I figure I've got around 30L of water in there, so ~15watts, maybe 20? I've noticed there are a bunch of different types of tubes around. are there any real differences? if so, what should i go with? I'm looking here and they have 18 and 20" reflectors. how do they physically sit on the top of the tank? just on top of the glass? given that my tank is 510mm long (outside dimension), should I go with the 465mm or 518mm long reflector?

Anyway, I think I'm hooked. I find it very relaxing to just sit and watch them. Once I get on top of this tank and am confident enough, i'd like to get my girlfriend a nice decent-sized tank. she loves angelfish so i was thinking a 3-4 of those and half a dozen celebes rainbowfish. as far as i can gather, they seem to get on alright....yeah...?

...phew...i think thats all the questions i have at the moment....

[Deltoid]

Mollys breed like rabbits. More then likely the parents will eat the young as well.

As to how to make the cycle a little easier on them do lots of water changes. Do like 20% every second day till the cycle is over or something. That will help take the lower the amout of bad elements in the water.