Bought my new tank basic setup stuff....

[edwinloh]

Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 600x300x360 = 15 gallons
(I dout 2ft tank will be able to take all 15 gallons after adding soil)

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 24w x 2
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : FL
Age of light bulbs : 1 week from 2/12/2007
No. of hours your lights are on : 8 (4 hours in morning and 4 hours at night)

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 1 bps
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Cylinder
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : automatic release using the timer

Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) :
Magic Soil - Top layer gravel
Jbl Aquabasic Plus - nutrient substrate
No brand "fertiliser" - introduce by the owner..

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : Overhead (Jbl 502 Filter)

Fan: ANS 3000 Cooling Fan


Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : new setup since 2/12/2007

Water change frequency : Every week
Amount changed : 2 inches of water

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle

Tank Temperature : Didn't get to measure yet..

Total cost for this new setup : 350 bucks! a bit ex- if u ask me.. but i m willing to pay if I m getting serious into aquascaping..

I'll take a photo once I've setup the tank.. now i m looking for a "stand".. dun dare to buy cabinet as I am not sure if it can take the weight of the aquarium.

LFS Store:
Colourful Tropical Aquarium aka 'CA'
Blk 1, Thomson Road, #01-342, Balestier Hill Shopping Centre
(Opposite Thomson Medical Centre)

Need experts from the experts here...

1) Do I need to change the soil once I've put in the aquarium? Or is it permanently?
2) How long do I need to run the water before I can start planting?
3) I bought a fair bit of soil and do I put 2 inch of soil+substrate in front of the tank and 3 inches at the tank?
4) I'll need to get a stand .. the place I bought at "CA" didn't sell stand Kind of regret now coz i can't setup the tank till i get a stand.. maybe I'll go search around in woodlands since I m staying nearby..

[Shadow]

1) It is not permanent after a while the nutrient in the soil will be diminish, maybe around 2 years time. Still very long . When the time comes, some people add root monster or even inject liquid fert into substrate.
2) To be save 4 weeks but it is depending on how you cycle the tank
3) It depend on how you want to scape your tank.
4) I'm sure you can get stand at LFS around your place, it is quite common

Wondering about your filter, "Overhead", is that the one that put on top of your tank? is so, that one does not suitable for planted, still possible but need to increase CO2 to compensate CO2 loss

[edwinloh]

Hi Shadow, Thanks for the reply. I'll go search around for the stand at the local LFS.. As for the filter, according to the guy in CA, he says the filter will quite sufficient but of course in long term i most likely want to go for external canister filters.. when my budget is more approve lor. I'll post up pics.. once i've setup the tanks..

Here are two pictures of my "bare" setup of my plants tank..





sorry.. i dunno why i can't seems to be rotating the image. Pics taken from my handphone.. will try to take with my digital camera next..

Question:

1) I can put my fan because the holder is too small.. i m thinking of getting a stand and put the fan to blow the water..

2) water is quite murky since i've only start the filter half an hour ago..

3) Is my placement of the difuser okay? Do I need to put at another location?

i've finally setup my first planted tank.. looking forward to start putting the plants in.

Look forward to hear advise from you all...

[cairocks]

Looking at your picture, I think the filter is not suitable for the tank.

Firstly, I feel that the filter is too small for your tank, I have a slightly larger tank, 20 gallons, and it comes with a length long overhead filter. So it is already much larger than what you have. Initially, it seems to be working well but within 6 month, I find that it just clogs up very often and the water would overflow to the outside of the tank or back from the suction side. Have to do filter cleaning every week to keep that from happening. In the end, I got a external canister filter to solve the problem once and for all. Now I only clean the filter once every 6 to 9 month. Get it right and you will have more time enjoying the tank than doing maintainance to your tank.

Secondly, such a small filter would have very little 'real estate' for the beneficial bacterial to grow onto. So maybe you can only keep a minimal minimal number of clutters in your tank.

Thirdly, the return from the filter would pour back into the tank like a waterfall, this would cause a lot of surface movement and result in lost of CO2. So you may have to increase the amount of CO2 usage to reach the optimal level for the plants.

Lastly, if you later feel that you need to add in a chiller for your tank, this filter would not be able to be use to drive the water through the chiller.

Just my 2 cents worth, maybe someone else have better suggestions.

[illumnae]

what's the flowrate of the filter? i tend to disagree with cairocks about the filter being too small...i use a 600li/hour HOB filter in my 2x1x1 apisto semi-planted tank and it works great. it has plenty of space for biomedia, and i actually find the flowrate too strong and throttle it down to about half. my belief is that there can be too much biomedia, which results in you wasting money buying a bigger filter/more media. this is especially so in a planted tank where your plants act as the first stage of biomedia. oh, and in 4 months of use, no clogging or need to clean the filter yet.

however, the disadvantage would be that while flowrate may be enough for your tank, you need to ensure an even flow throughout the tank without any dead spots. personally i find that hard to do with my HOB filter without creating a tornado in the tank, so you may want to take that into consideration. however, throttling the flow in the filter and investing in a small powerhead to create flow in the other side of the tank would be a cheaper solution to dumping the filter for a canister.

finally, CO2 loss is indeed high in a HOB filter. the 2 ways around it would either be to fill the water in very high till it reaches the output of the filter, or to DIY a small curved plastic piece (use OHP transparency) and silicone it to the output so the water doesn't fall into the tank, but flows into the surface of the water. that way CO2 loss is minimized.

at the end of the day, a canister would be better, but not essential. depends on your budget really. keeping a tank need not be expensive if you don't want it to be =)

[tcy81]

your hang on filter size is too small for a 2 feet tank.
you can consister getting a external canister filter.

you may want to perform more water change to clear up the tank, try not to disturb the substrate while doing water change.

[edwinloh]

guys.. thanks for the advise..

I'll try to budget in for a external canister filter. Can I get a fairly good one around 50 bucks?

I've decided to move my aquarium to another place near my dining place.. at least I can get to see the beauty of the aquarium more

I've taken another photo on my digital camera after 3 hours of filtering:



How do I remove the white bubbles away at the front of tank? I haven't turn on the CO2 because I can't find the correct power adapter.. I'll get one tomorrow.

I've put in plant.. (kan cheong) .. but i'll take it out again later..

[Shadow]

Just wipe it using sponge. By the way, you should start planting and lots of plant otherwise algae might start taking over your tank

[Aquaculture]

I second Shadow's suggestion.... start planting at least 80% of the space. It'll help avoid algae issue to a certain degree.

[edwinloh]

guys, i thought i need to let the water run at least a week or so before putting in plants? I only started to setup the tank on the sunday.. i was thinking of doing actual plant scaping this weekend.. after the water runs abt a week ...

[Aquaculture]

Plants are more resistant as compared to fauna. Cycling the tank is to cultivate bb which is vital to the upkeeping of fauna, this would take time. You can accelerate the process via bottled bb or after a week or 2, put in 'commando fish' (feeder) to add the ammonia component.

[edwinloh]

hi aquaculture,, sorry for the basic questions.. i m really new to this.. do you mean i need to start putting plants now immediately instead of waiting for the water to run a week? i m still not very familiar with the plants and fishes name.. i'll do some search around for the plants n fishes.. Thanks a lot for the advise...

[Aquaculture]

No worries Edwin, I too am still learning from the experts here. Lots of literature I read recommend that plants can be planted immediately Do read the stickies highlighted by the Mods, they'll provide you with the essential basic know-how.

[Shadow]

Well... actually you should cycle it together with the plant. Plant will help absorb the amonia and nitrite for their grow. If I'm not mistaken amonia and nitrite is the algae causing agent. In addition small amount of amonia and nitrite dangeraous to fauna. This is why you need to cycle the tank first before introduce any fauna.

[heeroyu16]

Yes, more plants will help the cycling rate faster as Shadow states it will help absorb the Ammonia and Nitrite to covert it to Nitrate(Harmless to fishes) and the aid of beneficial bacteria will help the fish tank to cycle.

I let my tank cycle for a month before putting any faunas in. Remember to test the water's PH, KH, ammonia, nitrite levels. You may put in 3-5 hardy fishes like White Cloud Minnows, Mollys or any cheap feeder fish to kick off the cycle.

There is a stickie thread of Fish tank cycle read it.

Here's another link to tank cycling.. and no you do not need a degree to understand it...:P

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

[edwinloh]

thanks for the advise..

how do i test the water PH,KH and other levels? I need to buy some equipments?

I'll go get some small fishes this weekend if possible.. and some big plants to cycle the water before i get some fauna..

do i now turn on my light and co2 while waiting for the water to be cycled?

so many bro advise me to get a bigger filter.. now a bit worried i might have bought a wrong one

[Shadow]

To measure PH/KH you need a test kit.

Since you do not have plant inside, IMHO better turn off light and CO2. No light reduce the cache of algae.

I feelt that those hang on back filter flow rate is always slower than canister eventhough the same spec. It is probably just me, I do not have way of measuring it

[edwinloh]

hmm, ok .. i'll turn off the light/co2 first.. wait till i have more plants...

can't wait for this weekend to go buy plants.. any1 going to lfs this weekend?

[Aquaculture]

If you're staying in Pasir Ris or the East or have a form of transport, drop by the farms. They're much cheaper there ....

[ranmasatome]

If you want to run co2....i advise you to go with the E.I. method... that way you don't have to buy any test kits (which cost a lot!!). At the most.. all you have to invest in is a co2 test kit.

Your gravel looks really thick.... i guess that is okay but how it contributes to the esthetics of the tank...i dont know...

i presume that since you got a co2 canister for this tank that it is going to be a high tech tank....if so...i would stuff the damn thing with plants right now... fill it to the brim... otherwise, with such a small tank, co2 and low filtration rate... you're asking for algae trouble. Stable co2 is key to many high tech tanks.