Setting up new tank for my new home.

[Reckless]

Hi Bros and sis,

Just joined and this is my 1st post here. Been reading like crazy the past week. I need some pointers and help from all the pros here in setting up my new tank and hobby . Please correct me if I am wrong.

Maybe a short introduction. I chanced upon planted tank on the net and found it's beauty. Which isn't a hobby in the past and it has created beautiful natural environment for the fish.

Past Experience: I have a terrapin for many years. Used to have gold fish and bettas too. But it was during my primary school and early secondary school days. Am nearly 30 now.

My intended setup: Planted tank with fishes.
Fish tank: 4ft x 1.5ft x 55cm Braceless ( I have placed an order)
Filter: Fluval Fx-5 or fx-6
Co2: Automatic solenoid 2litre tank?
Co2 reactor: Ista max mix or turbo.
Lights: 4ft T5 54W x 4 (Not sure what brand to buy yet)
Heater: (For discus in case the temp drop. Not sure what brand to use)
Substrate: Amazonia soil 9kg x 5 and Amazonia soil power x 1.
Powder fertilizer: ( Not sure yet )
Fishes: Adult Discus x 9 ( They say only adults can place in planted tank ), Neon tetra x 30, rummy nose x 20, cory x 6, red color shrimp x 6.
Hardscape: Some rocks with sharp contours ( not sure what kind ) , Driftwood or bogwood? (Depends on how the wood is branched i guess)
Plants: Baby Dwarf Tears ( Carpet ), Java moss (intend to tie to branch to provide some shades for shy discus. ), Rotala Macarnda ( Add some red to the background. ), Need green stem plant ( Not sure yet )

Step 1: I will spread fertilizer powder evenly and add Amazonia soil over it. Then I will do my own scaping and planting.

Step 2: Cycling: I will drop food flakes as if i am feeding fishes. Check for ammonia and nitrite spike using test kits. Test the water everyday. Once its I nitrate spike with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite the tank is considered cycle. I do a 90% water change. De chlorinate the new water and add to tank.

Step 3: Add fishes: Need to acclimatise the fish by drip drop method. Need to add fish slowly in stages into the tank in case the bio load increase too fast for the bacteria to handle.

Please feel free to comment. Tank coming next week. Cant wait to start.

[sthh]

Congrats on your new tank. It must be a very exciting time for you to have a new tank and a new home too.

I see that you are going to keep a planted tank, and also some rather demanding fishes, like discus.
That combo alone will need some planning to achieve good results.

Since this is a new place, I strongly recommend having a piping system running all the way from your tap to your fish tank location. Water change will be so much easier, and that along will help sustain the hobby in the long run.

Good luck on your planted tank. Seems like you have quite a few things planned for your planted tank.

The only concern really is the Discus. If you intend to buy adult discus of 6 inches or larger, then there will not be so much concern.
However, juvenile discus does stunt quite easily, and they require very large and very frequent water change, coupled with protein rich diet such as beefheart to grow well. This is not easy to achieve in a planted tank. However, juveniles are much cheaper.

Hence many discus keeper usually stick with bare bottom tank, and plan a layout around that. I have seen some very nice wild biotopes with just driftwoods and mounted plants. It is much easier to vacuum a bare bottom tank compared to a tank with plants and carpet, esp if you are going to feed protein rich diet to your fishes.

9 Adult discus in a 4 ft tank could be a bit of overstock, unless you intend to do lots and lots of water change. Just imagine 9 dessert plates in a tank.

The weather in Singapore is suitable for discus keeping without a need for heater. I think heater should really be optional.

The investment in those test kits is a really good start. Esp if you are keeping discus. They do not really tolerate bad water. You may encounter a large spike in ammonia and nitrite when you add so many fishes. I think couple of adult discus can create as much waste as all 30 of your tetras. Go read up on discus, how to select them and what not to buy, and what to feed them. A good site for that will be SimplyDiscus

[Reckless]

Thanks sthh for feedback. I will cut down my discuss to 6 then. Can I do just a pair of discus? As i heard they are better in schools of 6 at least. Hope that will reduce the bio load for my tank substantially to a more manageable level. My intended 50% water change is 2 times weekly on Wed and Sun. Would that be suffice? As for filtration system, I am thinking Course sponge, Biofilter, Bio filter, polishing pads. Should I add prefilter sponge? Some say it allow lesser cleaning of canister as it traps debris and all you need to do is to clean the prefilter every week together with your water change.

Can't do anything about the tap. It's less then 4m away tho.

Thanks. I will read up simplydiscus.

[sthh]

Discus bicker constantly. If you keep only 2 fishes, the weaker fish will have no respite from the bullying, and may end up hiding, not eating and unhealthy. It is better to keep in a min. group of 6 fishes to spread out the bickering, so that weaker fishes get a chance to feed, unless the 2 discus you get are mated pairs.

I would suggest a 50% water change midweek and a 80-90% water change end week. It is the only way to get rid of as much nitrate. A 50% twice weekly water change will accumulate nitrate in the long run.

I uses pre-filter sponge to trap debris, but it does add to more work, as you have to rinse those pre-filter sponge regularly. I wash mine weekly, and is surprised by the amount of gunk it traps. I also uses an OHF instead of canister, so i change change the mechanical white sponge filter regularly. No cleaning of filter needed, so less work.

Have fun.

[Reckless]

Thanks bro. I will do 6 then.

Alright 90% WC on end week. I will add a prefilter sponge even tho it will reduce my flow abit. Anyway fx-5/6 is little overkill for my 80 gallon tank.

Do I need a spare tank for quarantine of sick or new fish? 10-20 gallon tank enough?

[sthh]

Overfiltration is never an issue. I uses rather course prefilter sponge, so my flow rate doesn't really get affected. But i get more gunk trapped in my mechanical white foam in my ohf.

The twice weekly water change is good for adult discus, but may not be enough if you get juvenile.
It is good to have a quarantine tank, and 10-20 gallon is good.

[bryan]

Hi Reckless,
Discus is not easy to deal with. Especially in a planted tank. Pecking order aggression, stunting etc. even with adult fish.
I'd suggest trying out with angelfish instead, they are easier to handle although the behaviors are similar. You could move on to discus when you think you are ready.
If you like colorful active fish, I suggest Bosemani Rainbow or Roseline shark.
Neons and rummynose occupy the same swimming level so if the 2 schools mix. It looks messy and rather unpleasant. You could choose 1 type of tetra and go with a top swimmer like danios or rasbora for a second school.

Do consider LED lights as power consumption should be lower and the rippling effect is rather pretty. There are several brands now making LED lights for plants.

[Reckless]

Ah... Sad. Really like discus tho... But I will take your advice seriously and think it through.

As for the other fishes you recommended, I quite like roseline shark but I just read online that he is a jumper fish. My tank is lidless..kinda dangerous for the fishes.

I will be adding Otocinclus x 3 into the community. BTW will clown loach grow too big at a fast pace? How about electric blue ram? Looks cool

Most importantly, I read online that many disapprove using LED light for photosynthesis. They said its not effective and many plants will experience yellowing. Do you have any success for planted tank using LED? If yes, what brand are you using?

Thanks

[Ken_ng]

Hi reckless - although you don't seem like you're quite reckless since you're asking for advice here - I believe that keeping discus fishes in a planted tank is definitely possible but the choices you have would be very limited.
The fancier the discus, the more demanding in terms of husbandry. Like what a fellow hobbyist suggested earlier, do read up and take the time while your tank cycles to learn about all you need to know about the fishes you're planning to keep.

There is no need to add additional fertilizers if you're using ada soil. You may however want to add the additives which ada offers.
Bacter 100, penac p, penac w and toumaline.
after which you may continue with brighty k step 1, step 2 and so forth.
Ada products are very expensive or at least to me. Seachem offers a cheaper alternative. But in the long run, fertilising with self mixed commercially available chemicals would be much cheaper. Please do read up on the types of fertilising regime should you go down this path.
I'm sure you would have known by now, planted tanks success is like building a three legged stool. CO2, ferts and lighting. Either one out of proportion and the tank would be unstable.

I have ran leds and T5s before. Personally, I like the led better but are definitely more expensive. For me they give equal amount of growth.
If you are planning for a carpet then you need high light. 0.03W leds are not going to be sufficient. The ability or effectiveness of the plants photosynthesizing I believe is related to the PAR value and temperature spectrum of the light. There's a whole discussion about this and I'm no expert.

bottom feeders like loaches and cories will uproot your carpet plants causing more headache than pleasure in the end.

You may want to consider a school of Amber tetra actually. They look very nice and are easier to keep alive than the cardinals or neons.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[Reckless]

Thank you all for the replies and comment. Haha I cant be reckless as my Tank is only coming this thursday.

Yes ADA products are very expensive. My intention was just the ADA Amazonia soil only. Some say without additives your plant still able to grow healthy. But of course the shops always try to "encourage" me to buy additives. Not sure what extent do additives help with plant growth.

If LED, I will be buying a 4ft LED and at that length its definitely not cheap... If buy wrong brand or ineffective LED then I would be mad to spend that kind of money for nothing. I feel safer with T5, it consumes more electricity but what to do... I have went to local fish shop and notice that they are still experimenting which LED light is able to deliver light as efficient. Any good LED Lighting product to recommend?

Many choices for fishes. As you say I need to take my time to decide on what to keep.

[Ken_ng]

Broadly speaking plants need both macro ferts and trace elements to do well.
Macro would be NPK. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Short of any and the plant would be not be growing very well. Trace elements would be like magnesium, copper, iron and so forth. Trace elements are usually replaced with water changes while macros require dosing if you run a high tech tank as the macros are consumed by the plants very quickly.
I don't know what additives the LFS tried to sell you but generally some additives are essential and only used during tank setup. usually it's not for plant growth but more for longevity and stability of the tank.
I tried the up aqua range of led before. It could grow almost anything even sent my HM sideways to form a carpet. Green element and odyssea makes decent led as well.
If you have more cash flow, maxspect razors (8000K temperature) are a good choice as well.
I use both T5HO and leds in combination for my marine tank but just led alone for my planted. don't neglect the type of bulb you use cause that is very important as well.

[Reckless]

Hi seniors,

My reno was seriously delayed and with the ghost festival it was delayed even further so I cant start my tank. Finally started it yesterday night!

I used HC as carpet. I think I should have used more. Please give me comments on my new tank. Hopefully its pleasing to the eyes.
photo(9).jpg
Btw my drop checker have been showing blue even after 4 hours of CO2. Is it normal or probably the solution is expired or something. I even place it directly above the diffuser. The solution does not need to be in direct contact with tank water right?



This are my Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test on the 2nd day. Hopefully the tank is cycle within 10 days so I can add my fishes
photo(7).jpg

[solidbrik]

I do not think 10 days will do..unless u do huge water changes. .

And definitely do plant more flora..since now there is no fauna..blast co2 and get them to grow asap. .

[Urban Aquaria]

Btw my drop checker have been showing blue even after 4 hours of CO2. Is it normal or probably the solution is expired or something. I even place it directly above the diffuser. The solution does not need to be in direct contact with tank water right?

Your tank volume is 297 liters... with large water volume, you'll need much more Co2 to dissolve in the water to increase the levels. Adjust the bps count higher and monitor the drop checker to fine tune the ideal injection rate. It'll naturally take a longer time for the Co2 to build up in your large tank volume.

Try not to place the drop checker directly above the diffuser, as that will give a false reading when the indicator color starts to change... it will end up showing higher Co2 levels around the drop checker, while the Co2 levels in the other parts of the tank may still be low.

For optimal Co2 distribution, place the Co2 diffuser opposite the outflow (not below the outflow), so that the Co2 bubbles are pushed down by your circular clockwise flow path and circulated across the substrate (not across the water surface where they would tend to get off-gassed instead).

Btw, i noticed you mentioned in your first post that you plan to use a 2L Co2 tank? With the higher amount of Co2 injection required for a large tank like yours, a 2L Co2 tank will get used up very quickly, so you'll have to get it topped up frequently... consider a larger Co2 tank (ie. 5L or even 8L) so that it'll saves you the hassle of so many repeated top ups.

[mUAr_cHEe]

You need alot more HC if you want a lush carpet.

Your rock scape looks rather random too maybe it is an angle thing. Can we have a look at a Front Tank Shot?

[wuguidan]

Nice big tank there you have bro.

But bro, you need alot more HC if you want a carpet.

My little experience here, my plant density is low initially for a 2feet tank, but i on my lights for 7 hours a day with co2 running and fertilizer but eventually my soil was full of hair algae over the weeks.
It is really a pain to try to contain the hair algae. Currently my tank still have hair algae on my ada soil.

I am not sure why, so i ask 1 of the lfs, he said that because my initial plant density is low and my lights is on too long plus fertilizer, so it cause algae to bloom. His advice is to increase the plant density (more plants) as plants will fight with algae to take up the nutrients.

So my advice is to really plant more plants such as HC if you want a carpet at the beginning. Just my little experience.

Any bros here have good advice to fight against hair algae on soil? Thank you.

[Reckless]

photo(1).jpg
photo(2).jpg
Thank you all for all the comment. This is my front and back view. I wanted a 2 sided view so I also get to see my tank from both my dining area and entrance. I know it's difficult but still need to view from 2 sides. Please advise.

I only had hole open on the left side of the cabinet. Cant string my co2 from right side unless I want the cable stretch all the way to the right. It might look ugly. Can I shift it to the center instead?

Since everyone advise me to plant more. I will go and get somemore plants from LFS today. But how do I get plant after the tank is flooded. I just plant it as per normal?

[Reckless]

iphone camera not clear from far. These are closer in view.

FRONT LEFT
photo(3).jpg

FRONT RIGHT
photo(4).jpg

DINING VIEW LEFT
photo(5).jpg

DINING VIEW RIGHT
photo(6).jpg

[mUAr_cHEe]

I like the finishing of your cabinet. Very 'woody' feel to it.

Interesting substrate design and I can envision it to look like the Windows Desktop Picture once it is fully 'lushed'. Anyway If you want a lush carpet sooner, I'd suggest to get more HC, like alot more. Maybe about half of your tank's surface area worth and blast the CO2 high to hasten the carpeting.

Advice from another gan-jiong brother.

[Urban Aquaria]

photo(1).jpg
photo(2).jpg
Thank you all for all the comment. This is my front and back view. I wanted a 2 sided view so I also get to see my tank from both my dining area and entrance. I know it's difficult but still need to view from 2 sides. Please advise.

I only had hole open on the left side of the cabinet. Cant string my co2 from right side unless I want the cable stretch all the way to the right. It might look ugly. Can I shift it to the center instead?

Center is okay, but still best to be opposite the outflow... if you have limitations in Co2 diffuser placement, maybe consider using an inline Co2 reactor instead, it will fully dissolve the Co2 into the water before it comes out of the outflow (more efficient Co2 usage, less injection amount required to achieve optimal Co2 levels) and you can hide the inline Co2 reactor inside your cabinet too, therefore no need to have anymore tubing and diffuser trailing in the tank.

Since everyone advise me to plant more. I will go and get somemore plants from LFS today. But how do I get plant after the tank is flooded. I just plant it as per normal?

Just add the plants underwater as per normal... since your tank is tall, you can reduce the water level to make it abit easier to plant.