Confuse myself with fish keeping and aquascaping

**Krypton9** · 16th Sep 2015, 11:13

Hi ppl, I'm new to this hobby. Initial plan was to have an aquarium with fish only. After watching so much youtube videos, ended up falling in love with aquascape. Months and months of research and I still have yet to start my aquarium. I'm so lost, I do not know where to start. On one hand I cannot wait to buy my fish and on the the other hand, so eager to create an amazon river kinda scape. My idea of aquascape is to build a low tech tank with minimal maintenance. Mostly do water change and cleaning of dirt. More or less i kind of decides what substrates lighting to use but not the filter. Which choice is better for a 3ft tank?HOB or canister filter? Budget wise, not bursting my pocket of more than 100bucs for filter. My choices for plant are jungle val, anubias, s repen, amazon sword, hornwort and java fern. Are this plants readily available or do I need to order? For fish I am thinking of putting in 7 six banded barb, 10 neons/cardinal tetras, 1 betta, 5 zebra oto and maybe 6 danios. Hope u guys can share some experience when starting out this hobby. Cheers!

**Urban Aquaria** · 16th Sep 2015, 16:39

A low-tech amazon river style aquascape is a good setup to start with... the plants you plan to add are the hardy low-demand types so their care should be easy. Those plants are commonly found at most LFS so you can shop around to buy them (you could also order them online of through a LFS if you prefer not to travel around to get them).

Your livestock selection is also relatively moderate for a 3ft tank, with that volume there is still room for more small fishes if you do add them in the future. One additional fauna i would recommend would be rummy nose tetras (or even better the platinum rummy nose tetras), they will utilize the length of the 3ft tank to school very nicely.

As for filtration, its always best to get the largest canister filter you can budget for (more bio-media = more space for beneficial bacteria to live in). The filtration system is the heart of the tank system and how well it handles the bio-load and maintains the cycle will depends on how effectively it works. For a budget of less than SGD$100, you could go for canister filters from other brands like Atman, JeBao, Dophin or Up Aqua etc, look for models that have a flow rate of around 1,000-1,200 l/ph (you can always easily adjust the flow rate lower if necessary using their inbuilt outflow tap).

Here are just some examples i could find online from East Ocean website that match your budget (you can shop around further to find other brands and models):

http://www.eastoceansg.com/up-aqua-g...lh-p-1420.html

http://www.eastoceansg.com/jebao-404...ter-p-698.html

If you prefer to go for Eheim brand canister filters, but the new models are over your budget, then do keep a lookout at the forum marketplace for 2nd hand units selling at good prices. Sometimes you can find really good deals, just have to be fast hand fast leg.

**Krypton9** · 17th Sep 2015, 08:58

Thanks bro for the information. With regard to filtration, apart from eheim and fluval, the brands you mentioned I read it somewhere carry a high wattage. Will it be an issue in the long run? Or should I just invest on popular brand? Eheim can last like more than 10years. Ridiculously good.
Fish>plant>fish. That was where I got myself confused. Well, I guess I will be buying more tetras.
Do you know of any slow release fertilisers like osmocote or the equivalent?

**Urban Aquaria** · 17th Sep 2015, 15:52

Yeah, the cheaper filter brands do tend to have higher power consumption, i assume the motors they use are probably also cheaper and hence less efficient. I guess its a trade off for their lower initial prices.

Long term durability is something to factor in, on one hand cheaper filters might not last as long but you can buy 2-3 units for the price of one branded high quality filter (just have to buy a new unit to replace when an old one spoils), on the otherhand a higher quality filter can last much longer so no need to keep replacing it, but costs more. So it all really depends on your budget.

As for slow release substrate fertilizers, you could use osmocote bought from local plant nurseries (i got my Plantacote Plus from Far East Flora)... but do note that such fertilizers are not specifically designed for aquarium usage, so while they are okay for most plants and hardy livestock, their specific nutrient contents may affect more sensitive fishes and shrimps.

For alternatives that are designed for aquarium usage, you could look at ADA Multi Bottom, Seachem Flourish Tabs or Tropica Nutrition Capsules... i have used those brands before and they work well too.

Btw, if you are using high quality active soil substrate like ADA Amazonia aquasoil, then its not actually necessary to add substrate fertilizers for a while, because the soil will already be supplying a high level of nutrients for many months. In low tech tanks without Co2 injection, the plant growth will be limited by low carbon levels anyways, so their light and nutrient intake will also be much less too.

**Clamence** · 17th Sep 2015, 18:20

Suggest getting more of the cardinal or any fish to really see the schooling effect

Sent from my Mi 4i using Tapatalk

**tetrakid** · 17th Sep 2015, 18:49

Originally Posted by Krypton9

Hi ppl, I'm new to this hobby. Initial plan was to have an aquarium with fish only. After watching so much youtube videos, ended up falling in love with aquascape. Months and months of research and I still have yet to start my aquarium. I'm so lost, I do not know where to start. On one hand I cannot wait to buy my fish and on the the other hand, so eager to create an amazon river kinda scape. My idea of aquascape is to build a low tech tank with minimal maintenance. Mostly do water change and cleaning of dirt. More or less i kind of decides what substrates lighting to use but not the filter. Which choice is better for a 3ft tank? HOB or canister filter? Budget wise, not bursting my pocket of more than 100bucs for filter. My choices for plant are jungle val, anubias, s repen, amazon sword, hornwort and java fern. Are this plants readily available or do I need to order? For fish I am thinking of putting in 7 six banded barb, 10 neons/cardinal tetras, 1 betta, 5 zebra oto and maybe 6 danios. Hope u guys can share some experience when starting out this hobby. Cheers!

Being new to this hobby, it is more important to learn to season your tank first than being eager to set up. In the past. I see some people buy a trolleyful of beautiful fish and tank plus accessories. It is important to go slow, because it is the most important step.

**Krypton9** · 17th Sep 2015, 20:39

Thanks again bro Urban Aquria for the great insight. Well I guess I shall get myself a good quality filtration. Save myself from the hassle of replacement if one fails. For a start Amazonia soil might chalk or cloud the water. I hope whichever filter I'm getting can handle the "mess". Then again, low tech equals less maintenance. I plan to use sand that's the reason behind the use of slow release ferts. Right side Amazonia and left side sand. I do know also that some plants does not need to be rooted to grow. I hope it works!

Yes Clamence, I'm looking at more on the schooling fish for the community tank. Just no fin nippers to scare my betta.
Adding more barbs might be an option. Heh.. No trouble in the community.

Tetrakid, right now my main objective is start scaping my aquarium. You know kind of build the house first before the tenants come in. I'll choose my fish carefully. Don't want to buy on impulse. Good advice from you by the way to all newbies!

**Urban Aquaria** · 18th Sep 2015, 12:34

For the tank section with ADA aquasoil, you just have to mist the soil with some water to hydrate it, then slowly tickle the water into the tank until a certain level then can continue slowly pouring in more water, in this way the water will be clear from the start, no cloudiness.

Here is an example of how i fill my new tanks that use ADA aquasoil: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...Edge-quot-Tank!

Hope that helps.