New Aquarium

Hi FC,

Sounds like a bad hair day !

At least the plants have arrived ok, am sure they will be fine in the tank with just one light and the powerhead with the heater.

What make /model of external filter have you got ?

Never seen one with a primer, ( 20 years since I last used one) but expect its a one way vent to let the air out ?

Even when primed you can still get an air lock, best thing to do is turn the canister on its side ( with it running) so the air is moved away from the impeller giving it chance to start pumping and so clearing the remaining air.
You may have to keep moving it around like this for a couple of minutes to expel all the air.

It may sound a bit noisy until all the air has gone.

 

Hi FC sorry to see you're having some teething problems at the moment, you be rite when you get it up and running, I've read through the last 4 pages so may of forgot a few things. You have a nice tank bigger is normally better with fish tanks and are easier than a small tank.

I've had fish for the past 15years are so, I never cycled a tank before in my defence I was 13-14 so didn't have a clue, I just bought a small tank for 20quid put some water in it and bought some fish a couple of days later 6 tiger barbs and 6 green barbs, very lucky I didn't lose a fish and had them for a while until the red tail black shark murdered all of them. I then got given a larger tank off my sister about 100 litre had that for a few years. I now have a planted corner tank Juwel Trigon 190 litre which has a internal filter system. I am a bit of a lazy fish / planted tank keeper I keep mine LOW tec, it looks after itself but for fortnightly water changes and cleaning the filters/ glass, I am really into it though in December through to February mainly cause I can't play out in the garden, I buy aquatic plants like clock work same time every year.

The external filter is now the recommended filter system but I like my filter so never bothered to change mine, I am not sure how your filter system works. Your pump fine I am sure it supposed to pump 3times the amount of water in the tank per hour , I have a 600 L / H ( litres per hour ) pump but Its perfectly fine to have a larger pump. Are they lights LED ? it hard to tell , If they are only blue they are not suitable for a planted tank they need a more natural light spectrum for the plants to grow, I think marine tanks use blue light more, Blue looks good for a night time setting in tropical setups.

I think you may have some problems in future with the depth of your tank as well, they are harder to maintain and the light doesn't get to the bottom as well, my tank 24 inch deep and I find it a bit tricky getting to the back of the tank.

What plants have you bought ? I may be able to ID some of them. It looks like some of your rock is dragon stone ?

 

And your neighbour made a common mistake with the flying fox, as ricky has already said they get aggressive when they mature, they may eat a bit of algea when young. The fish you really want for black beard algae is a Siamese algae eater they look nearly the exact same as a flying fox but with a few difference, a lot of SAE sold are really Flying fox. I have black algae before and considered getting rid of the tank its horrible stuff, bought a true little SAE and it had it spotless in no time. MY SAE is older now so more interested in fish food but it still eats algae and it isn't aggressive what so ever, I also have Amano Shrimp you couldn't ask for a better clean up crew relentless workers.

 

Hi @Perki,

Sure you are not near the Yorkshire border ? you sound almost as tight as us Yorkshire folk

As you have read FC was lucky to get some free bags of planting substrate / "soil" but its about £30 a 9kg bag to buy.
Looking around there are even more expensive "soils" costing almost £100 ! and I thought marines were expensive !

So as someone after my own diy heart can I ask what you have used as the Soil in your tanks and what results they gave ?

thanks

 

Hi @ricky101 , I am very near the Yorkshire border its just over the hill how did you guess . My tank at the moment is ever evolving, I didn't think of plant substrate when I started this tank. I just have Silver Sand with a bit of gravel, it depends more on what live plants you want to grow, gross feeders from the root like Cryptocoryne get a Root tabs in my tank cause silver sand has nearly no nutrients other than fish waste, other plants feed just through the water column like Java ferns - anubais , they is other plants what feed through both root / water column but a liquid feed will help feed these plants for me. I have used liquid feed in the past and had algae blooms and high Nitrate levels, a lot of liquid feeds have to much copper in which is fatal to shrimps, I just stick with water changes this adds trace elements and nitrates for the plants to feed on. I am not committed enough to the hobby for a high tec tank with injected CO2 - high lighting etc the high tec tanks are beautiful though. I'll put some pictures of my tank on soon.

Same as in the garden red leaf plants need better lighting than green plants, they can't photosynthesis the same as a dark green / green leaf, you don't get the red colour without good lighting more of a muddy green colour . I don't know as many aquarium aquatic plants as garden plants but can spot the common ones.

 

Got a picture not easy to take with the light / bow front


I have Rummy nose tetra - Harlequin rasbora - SAE and Amano shrimp, I don't keep aggressive fish anymore, I would like some more fish in the future , and I can't forget the million Malaysian snails. I want some more plants but all funds for plants are for the garden at the moment

 

@Perki - that looks a superb tank be it on a budget or not and just using basic sands!

Expect your tap water is soft, if its from the Pennines or is it from the Lake district ?
Do you treat / filter your tap water with anything, be interested to know what make of trace elements you add or do you mean just what comes out of the tap ?

 

@FC - you sound exhausted, a case of Tankallitis !

Think you both need a day of rest this Sunday !

 

@Fat Controller
Silicone tubing like this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...=525FDM9IPRBJ&rh=i:aps,k:silicone+tubing+15mm

 

My tap water is soft which normally means it would be acidic but its treated by the water company so the Ph is 7.5, you can look up where and whats in your water on in internet, my reservoir is 3/half mile up the road, trace elements are just out of the tap. I have to keep doing water changes fortnightly for the shrimp can't quite remember what it is but it helps them moult properly, if I didn't have shrimp I would do less water changes lazy .

I don't treat my water either lucky again I suppose or ideal water conditions, you want to try and stick with the PH coming out of the Tap @Fat Controller unless its in extreme acidic/alkaline , you don't want big swings in PH which can be bad for fish /plant health , same as the garden work with what you've got. You PH will be slightly lower in a planted tank before the lights come on, the plants will release CO2 when its lights out CO2 lowers PH, a lot of other things lowers PH also.

I would highly recommend the API fresh water master kit if you don't have something already, it has PH - High PH - Ammonia - Nitrite - Nitrate testing.