# Fluval Spec 60 litre



## Zeppo (9 Dec 2018)

Hi all, 

Mrs Zeppo is kindly buying me the above tank for Xmas. It will be my first scaped tank and I’d like to try and avoid too many noob mistakes.  Am currently deciding on substrate and hardscape and have provisionally settled on:

Seriyu stone. I quite fancy trying to build a scape with a small cave and a “beach” area in front of the cave;
Possibly a small piece of manzanita wood as well. Is that overkill in a smallish tank?
Substrate would be tropic aqua soil powder, with ADA la plata sand for the “beach”
Dimensions of the tank are 56 x 29 x 45cm. Intention was to stick with stock equipment, but can be persuaded otherwise.  Going low tech, with a few shrimp and perhaps a shoal of cardinal tetras. 

Any obvious pitfalls with the above that I need to consider?  I think I also need a heater for the tank as it doesn’t come with one I believe. Any recommendations?  

Any advice is very welcome. Thanks for reading!


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## Aqua360 (10 Dec 2018)

The stock equipment will be more than adequate for low-medium plants at least  smart tank, seen it in Maidenhead Aquatics recently!


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## alto (10 Dec 2018)

I’ve not seen this in person - just looked at some unboxing vids and specifications on Fluval site - it’s rather lower light than the Spec 19 (other changes as well, I wish they’d stayed clear of the Flex add-ons and just done it strictly as a Spec Series tank) 

Note the tank dimensions include the filter area, so wait until you’ve set it up to decide on fish (I suspect that cardinals will be a bit cramped)

Definitely include wood and rock in your scape but choose suitable sizes for the tank ... if you travel to somewhere like Aquarium Gardens to choose hardscape, bring the tank along so you get the right pieces 

For design ideas, look at ADA 45P aquascapes - I suspect glass footprint is similar 

Note that when buying these All In One kits, they’re usually only a good deal when you’re satisfied with stock fittings, if you swap out lights, pump etc, might as well begin with just the glass box and choose desired lighting etc 

Heater - I’ve used (Eheim) Jager, Marineland “Precision”, Fluval, Aqueon (not adjustable)
Unfortunately despite over twice as much for some, they’re not all Athena different (except in appearance) - within each brand, some deliver a precise and accurate tank temperature, others are erratic, a couple have decided to quit shortly after the warranty 
(I have a lot of tanks and a lot of heaters  )

I have a twenty year old Eheim Jager that still runs perfectly 
No idea why the new ones are such crap

I prefer the glass heaters over the plastic - been there a couple times when they’ve begun smoking and melt into goo, there are reports of complete livestock losses after these heaters melt down (releasing some toxin) 

Choose one with good warranty and customer service from a local shop


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## Zeppo (10 Dec 2018)

Thank you for the advice, it’s appreciated. More questions to follow I’m sure!


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## dw1305 (10 Dec 2018)

Hi all,





alto said:


> (I suspect that cardinals will be a bit cramped)


I'd go for a smaller fish as well.

cheers Darrel


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## Kalum (19 Dec 2018)

Have a look at green neons or the 'standard' neons which look similar but smaller than cardinals. Green neons look in proportion in my 60x40x40cm

I think everyone has similar ideas when starting out and beach, caves and moss tree's are always common (i've been there and done all of the above recently). Listen to the advice on here as looking back i have ended up where most have pointed out to me at the start, but also do what you want to as well. If you don't enjoy it and have a bit of fun and learn along the way then it's pointless


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## Barliman (24 Dec 2018)

I think the hardscape sounds fine: you should be able to fine manzanita pieces small enough to function as a "tree" in that tank. For livestock, the smaller rasboras would be a good choice, and you could stock more: chili rasboras (boraras brigittae) and kubotai rasboras (Microdevario kubotai) might be nice.


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## Ken Loach (2 Jan 2019)

I’ve got 5 Cardinals in a Fluval Flex 34L and they’re doing fine, along with 3 Harlequins and half a dozen Napoensis Corys. Having lots of plants and good biological filtration (10 bags of ceramic) means you can keep more than just a couple of guppies.


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## Zeppo (21 Apr 2019)

Tank has been up and running for a couple of months now, fully planted but no inmates yet. 

Started to get some hair algae after a few weeks: tank lights were on 6 hours a day.  Removed as much as I could and performed 30 % water change but algae would always come back after a few days, so rinse and repeat.  Fertilising daily with EA Complete.

A couple of weeks ago I went on holiday - did a number of 30% water changes and removed as much as I could over a 5-day period before-hand, but still a fair bit of algae attached to Sagittarius Subulata and Marsilea Hirsuta in particular.  Was then away for 10 days and was a little bit worried about what I’d find on my return, so turned the lights down to 5 hours a day and crossed my fingers.

Returned yesterday and all algae miraculously disappeared and plants looking healthy.  Obviously very relieved, but I’d like to know your thoughts on the process so I can improve matters going forward.  Current thinking / questions are:

1. Reducing photoperiod to 5 hours a day has probably helped, but do you think this will be enough going forward, or should I increase back to 6 hours a day?.  Plants are as follows (all chosen as easy from Aquarium Gardens website): Marsilea Hirsuta, Crypt Petchii & Nevelii, Anubias Nana Mini, Bacopa Compact, Microsorum Narrow Leaf, Lindernia Rotundifolia, Vallis Nana, Sagittarius Subulata.  All appear to be doing well apart from Vallis.

2. Tank has finished cycling in the period and this has led to more stable conditions, less conducive to algae?  Am I OK to add some fish now?

3.  My tank's lights are activated by touch sensor.  This means that you can never turn them off fully if you wish to use a timer.  Instead you have to dim them to 1% output, which means that the tank is never truly fully dark.  Before going on holiday I would turn them off fully when the lights went out at 10pm and then activate them to 1% the following day before  lights came on fully at 4pm, so this meant the tank was in full darkness overnight.  Obviously I could not do this when away, so they were on 100% 5-10pm and then 1% for the rest of the time.

Do you think this has helped the algae situation?  My only concern is that having lights dimmed to 1% will stress any fish that I add in future as there will be no period of true darkness.  I don't know how truly dark it gets in nature when there's not much moonlight.

Any advice / thoughts welcomed.


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