"Passionately Curious"

[chesterchuen]

Without a chiller the best bet will be fans. Although you have to deal with water evaporation and daily water top ups. Unless your tank is in an air conditioned room.

My tank is usually at 27.5-28 deg with a fan blowing at the surface. Guess that is Singapore and nothing much we can do. The plants I have are still growing fine with adequate co2 and ferts. I believe most plants sold by our LFS should be alright in our indoor room temperature.

Perhaps those shifus who have grown plants in both chiller and non-chiller tanks can give better input on plant growth in cooler tanks.

Yeah been using fans to cool it down. The water evaporation rate is pretty staggering. I lost about 500ml - 750ml in 24hours. Can't on aircon 24hrs just for the tank also. Hahaha. Am glad to hear that there are people with success in temperatures im experiencing.

Hi chesterchuen,

Thanks for spending time reading on my thread. That would be quite long!

The first thing to avoid is setting up the fish tank where direct sunlight is. It would have more chance for algae to grow and also tank temperature would be fluctuated which is not good for fauna and also flora. It is good decision that you choose to move it to the living hall.

Don't worry much about the low temperature (i.e. 24-26 degrees C). That would be the ideal condition for plants, however plants can thrive in room temperature, too. My tank temperature is normally about 30+degC in the day and 29degC in the night time, which is quite warm. You can buy fan instead of chiller to cool down the tank. I don't use any chiller or fan for cooling down but so far, flora and fauna are still doing well though.

Enjoy setting up the tank!


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Very long! Took me about 3-4 days to read up and i haven't click on the links that was posted. Although had been reading up for awhile elsewhere. Haha. Yeah the temperature fluctuations and algae bloom is a serious problem. Hopefully the shift is a success. Ah i see, that puts me at ease. Previously before i purchase any fan, my 45L tank's temperature is hovering at 30 degrees. After placing the fan it dropped to 27-28. Right now temp is at 26.5. In the morning when the sun is strongest, it hovers at 28.5.

Thanks btw! It's really fun setting up an aquarium. My next challenge is setting up CO2 system, which i have no experience in. Currently my simple planted aquarium is depending on CO2 tablet which i'm not sure whether if it works although my plant is slowing growing instead of withering. Dosage is 1 tablet every 2 days since i dont have much plant as im experimenting with plants.

[jackychun]

Yeah been using fans to cool it down. The water evaporation rate is pretty staggering. I lost about 500ml - 750ml in 24hours. Can't on aircon 24hrs just for the tank also. Hahaha. Am glad to hear that there are people with success in temperatures im experiencing.



Very long! Took me about 3-4 days to read up and i haven't click on the links that was posted. Although had been reading up for awhile elsewhere. Haha. Yeah the temperature fluctuations and algae bloom is a serious problem. Hopefully the shift is a success. Ah i see, that puts me at ease. Previously before i purchase any fan, my 45L tank's temperature is hovering at 30 degrees. After placing the fan it dropped to 27-28. Right now temp is at 26.5. In the morning when the sun is strongest, it hovers at 28.5.

Thanks btw! It's really fun setting up an aquarium. My next challenge is setting up CO2 system, which i have no experience in. Currently my simple planted aquarium is depending on CO2 tablet which i'm not sure whether if it works although my plant is slowing growing instead of withering. Dosage is 1 tablet every 2 days since i dont have much plant as im experimenting with plants.

I started this tank with CO2 and in my opinion, once all the system setup, operating it is quite simple. For lighting and CO2, we can just program the timer accordingly and make sure it works. Fertilizer I dose according to manufacturer recommendations. You can refer to my post on fishless cycling with ADA aquasoil here:

http://jackychun218.blogspot.sg/2016...ocess.html?m=1

Hope that would helps for the initial period.


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[aquaticlover]

Yeah been using fans to cool it down. The water evaporation rate is pretty staggering. I lost about 500ml - 750ml in 24hours. Can't on aircon 24hrs just for the tank also. Hahaha. Am glad to hear that there are people with success in temperatures im experiencing.



Very long! Took me about 3-4 days to read up and i haven't click on the links that was posted. Although had been reading up for awhile elsewhere. Haha. Yeah the temperature fluctuations and algae bloom is a serious problem. Hopefully the shift is a success. Ah i see, that puts me at ease. Previously before i purchase any fan, my 45L tank's temperature is hovering at 30 degrees. After placing the fan it dropped to 27-28. Right now temp is at 26.5. In the morning when the sun is strongest, it hovers at 28.5.

Thanks btw! It's really fun setting up an aquarium. My next challenge is setting up CO2 system, which i have no experience in. Currently my simple planted aquarium is depending on CO2 tablet which i'm not sure whether if it works although my plant is slowing growing instead of withering. Dosage is 1 tablet every 2 days since i dont have much plant as im experimenting with plants.

I believe that temperature is the last parameter to be tuned. You will need to get it right(balance) on the Co2, light, fert and water flow. As for your info, my tank in my living room, the temperature can go up to 31-32C during light on. But I still can keep the hairgrass green and lush. So don't worry too much on the temperature, first. But I am not saying you can keep any type of plants with that high temperature

[chesterchuen]

I believe that temperature is the last parameter to be tuned. You will need to get it right(balance) on the Co2, light, fert and water flow. As for your info, my tank in my living room, the temperature can go up to 31-32C during light on. But I still can keep the hairgrass green and lush. So don't worry too much on the temperature, first. But I am not saying you can keep any type of plants with that high temperature

Noted. Agree on that. Just like humans, cold or hot wont die unless at the extremes. But if not proper air, food and water, will die within days. Best way to keep track for me is to keep a small note pad at the tank area to indicate whether i've made my required dosage or have i overdone it.

I started this tank with CO2 and in my opinion, once all the system setup, operating it is quite simple. For lighting and CO2, we can just program the timer accordingly and make sure it works. Fertilizer I dose according to manufacturer recommendations. You can refer to my post on fishless cycling with ADA aquasoil here:

http://jackychun218.blogspot.sg/2016...ocess.html?m=1

Hope that would helps for the initial period.


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Alright thanks! Im new to setting up Co2 and need to read up more on bubble counts etc. Photo period more or less i can understand.

Btw i checked with GC Master Ronnie that Lava Rocks is best suitable when i dont want to affect my pH, GH and KH too much. I understand that to a certain degree rocks will affect those parameters due to presence of minerals. Instead of buying rocks only to find out during submerging that my water parameters has changed alot, is only Lava Rock my best bet? Jacky what rock you use ah? Looks pretty good 😁

[fireblade]

chesterchuen, depends on what you want to keep... some rocks might buffer your water to that of what you need for the fishes that you are keeping.
just like drift wood will also alter the water PH, but if you control it well, it won't cause any problem.

[Urban Aquaria]

For rocks, to find out if they affect your water conditions, its best to test the rocks in a container of water first. Measure the basic parameters like TDS, GH and pH of the water beforehand, let the rocks soak in the water for a week, then test the parameters again. See if there are any changes to those parameters. That will give you an idea of the type of effects the rocks will have in your tank. In that way you can gauge whether the changes are still okay for the livestock you plan to keep, or at least manageable with water changes done on a weekly basis.

Even for lava rocks, you can't assume they are inert as are there are different types and they may have been used in other applications (ie. ponds, filter media, landscaping substrate etc) whereby the rocks have adsorbed other chemicals and minerals in the process. So its still best to test them before usage.

That being said, you could also soak the rocks in a bucket of water and do 100% water change every few days, that can sometimes flush out enough minerals to render them less likely to affect your water parameters (i do that with all the rocks i get). I use a TDS meter to track the progress by testing it before every full water change, once the TDS reading doesn't change, then i know there is no more (or very little) stuff being leached out by the rocks.

[chesterchuen]

For rocks, to find out if they affect your water conditions, its best to test the rocks in a container of water first. Measure the basic parameters like TDS, GH and pH of the water beforehand, let the rocks soak in the water for a week, then test the parameters again. See if there are any changes to those parameters. That will give you an idea of the type of effects the rocks will have in your tank. In that way you can gauge whether the changes are still okay for the livestock you plan to keep, or at least manageable with water changes done on a weekly basis.

Even for lava rocks, you can't assume they are inert as are there are different types and they may have been used in other applications (ie. ponds, filter media, landscaping substrate etc) whereby the rocks have adsorbed other chemicals and minerals in the process. So its still best to test them before usage.

That being said, you could also soak the rocks in a bucket of water and do 100% water change every few days, that can sometimes flush out enough minerals to render them less likely to affect your water parameters (i do that with all the rocks i get). I use a TDS meter to track the progress by testing it before every full water change, once the TDS reading doesn't change, then i know there is no more (or very little) stuff being leached out by the rocks.

Thanks for the input! Ok let's say the rocks i bought affects the parameters by quite a bit, i just do a 100% water change every few days till the reading change gets lesser and lesser?

I also boil my rocks to sterilize them. Will the hot water affect the parameter?

Sorry ah Jacky for asking in your tread, but thinking maybe more info can be shared and learnt 😅

[jackychun]

Haha! No worries. Please ask and share more. We are all learning from each other.

I used kind of river stones for my fish tank. I tried to clean the stones thoroughly and boiled it to sterilize before use in the fish tank.



Details of the treatment you can refer to my blog post here:

http://jackychun218.blogspot.sg/2016...nd-stones.html


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[jackychun]

BTW, I did not have TDS meter to check that parameter. The other parameters like pH is not affected by this stones, I guess it is inert.


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[chesterchuen]

Haha! No worries. Please ask and share more. We are all learning from each other.

I used kind of river stones for my fish tank. I tried to clean the stones thoroughly and boiled it to sterilize before use in the fish tank.



Details of the treatment you can refer to my blog post here:

http://jackychun218.blogspot.sg/2016...nd-stones.html


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Yeap read it all liao hahaha. I brushed my rocks and boiled them previously but i didnt measure any of the parameters. Luckily now that i checked the parameters are fine and my Glowlight Tetras and Amano Shrimps are growing pretty well. 😁

The rocks appear to be river rocks, but smaller than yours. My new setup will involve bigger and different rocks so gotta measure them to be on the safe side

[jackychun]

Yeap read it all liao hahaha. I brushed my rocks and boiled them previously but i didnt measure any of the parameters. Luckily now that i checked the parameters are fine and my Glowlight Tetras and Amano Shrimps are growing pretty well.

The rocks appear to be river rocks, but smaller than yours. My new setup will involve bigger and different rocks so gotta measure them to be on the safe side

Yup. You can refer to Urban Aquaria post regarding this matter for better preparation on rocks.


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[Urban Aquaria]

Thanks for the input! Ok let's say the rocks i bought affects the parameters by quite a bit, i just do a 100% water change every few days till the reading change gets lesser and lesser?

I also boil my rocks to sterilize them. Will the hot water affect the parameter?

Yeah, soaking the rocks and changing the water is basically just to flush out any residual minerals or chemicals it may contain and minimise the effects, rather than letting those unknown stuff release into the tank. The TDS meter helps to measure the rate of "stuff" is being released.

Not sure about hot water effects on rocks releasing stuff, but the sterilizing effect of boiling water does help to kill off hitchhiking pests.

The ratio of volume of rocks vs volume of water make a big difference. Even if the rocks release stuff, if only a small amount of those rocks are used in a large volume of water, the effects will be minimal too, so it'll be much less of a concern. On the otherhand, if using alot of rocks then have to be more careful.

[chesterchuen]

Yeah, soaking the rocks and changing the water is basically just to flush out any residual minerals or chemicals it may contain and minimise the effects, rather than letting those unknown stuff release into the tank. The TDS meter helps to measure the rate of "stuff" is being released.

Not sure about hot water effects on rocks releasing stuff, but the sterilizing effect of boiling water does help to kill off hitchhiking pests.

The ratio of volume of rocks vs volume of water make a big difference. Even if the rocks release stuff, if only a small amount of those rocks are used in a large volume of water, the effects will be minimal too, so it'll be much less of a concern. On the otherhand, if using alot of rocks then have to be more careful.

Ah i see. Thanks! Oh yes, must i dechlorinate the water, then boil the rocks? Or can i simply just use boiled tap water to soak the rocks?

[jackychun]

Ah i see. Thanks! Oh yes, must i dechlorinate the water, then boil the rocks? Or can i simply just use boiled tap water to soak the rocks?

In my case, I boiled the tap water first then poured into the pot which already contain the rock, then boiled it slowly. The reason was that may take very long time for the water to be boiled if you put the cold water and rock to the pot and boil at the same time. Also, the boiled water that pour on the rock partially sterilize it.


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[chesterchuen]

In my case, I boiled the tap water first then poured into the pot which already contain the rock, then boiled it slowly. The reason was that may take very long time for the water to be boiled if you put the cold water and rock to the pot and boil at the same time. Also, the boiled water that pour on the rock partially sterilize it.


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Ohh. What i did is simply boil a kettle of water, then pour into the pail of rocks and that's it. I didnt place the rocks on the stove and continue boiling it. Reason being i dont have a pot of that size. 😂 And soaking the rocks in hot boiling water for 10mins is more than enough time to kill off any harmful bacteria and pests. I ever poured boiling water onto 2 live baby rats as they were stucked on rat glue and couldnt be removed alive.

Is it really a must to place the pot on the stove and continue boiling it? 😂

[Zep]

I did what you did. Pour boiling water on the rocks. Then left it there for 2-3days. Did the same thing again and left it soaking for another 2-3 days. After a week I used the rocks in the tank. So far so good.

Used the same method for driftwood too. Although you may need to soak longer if the wood doesn't sink.

[jackychun]

Haha. I am very kiasu. I pour boiling water on that and also "cook" it for half and hour. Just to make sure it is totally sterilized.

This is my new batch of "stone soup".




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[chesterchuen]

I did what you did. Pour boiling water on the rocks. Then left it there for 2-3days. Did the same thing again and left it soaking for another 2-3 days. After a week I used the rocks in the tank. So far so good.

Used the same method for driftwood too. Although you may need to soak longer if the wood doesn't sink.

Yeah did the same for driftwood also. Boiling also hasten the tannin leaching process.

Haha. I am very kiasu. I pour boiling water on that and also "cook" it for half and hour. Just to make sure it is totally sterilized.

This is my new batch of "stone soup".


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I wonder how the "soup" smells like as it boils over hahaha.

Anyway i've did a sample setup of my hardscape as shown below. The tank is an Ocean Free "Economy" AT201 60cm x 45cm x 45cm tank with 5mm thick resin glass. The boxes below the driftwood is used to simulate the sloping height of the substrate. It's only a rough estimate, not the final height. I planned the hardscape around the centre of the tank because the tank will be viewed at all 3 sides. What do you guys think?

IMG_4354.jpg

IMG_4355.jpg

[chesterchuen]

Btw shall create my own thread soon, if not too much hijacking of Jacky's thread haha. But thanks a many for the inputs from everyone!

[Ryan Peh]

Btw shall create my own thread soon, if not too much hijacking of Jacky's thread haha. But thanks a many for the inputs from everyone!

Yes do create your own thread so we can all go spam on yours too

Anyway word of advice, if you're gonna get carpeting plants, your tank height needs stronger lighting than normal 2ft tanks! Also, do consider increasing the height of the back of your tank more because of the height of your tank!