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Newbie questions

ArnoldW

Seedling
Joined
16 Mar 2016
Messages
9
Location
Surhuisterveen, The Netherlands
Hello All,

As I said in my intro I recently bought a tank with contents from someone who was quitting the hobby.
The tank in question is a 160 litre open topped (ADA style) tank.

I thought I read up well before buying but oh boy was I wrong. I would really appreciate some answers to my most likely daft questions.

First of the tank is loosing about 5-10 litres of water a day through evaporation is this normal?

How do I know if my tank is overstocked? I have found multiple guidelines about a cm of fish per 5 litres or water or an inch per gallon and similar. What are your takes on this?

My tank currently houses 4 otocinclus affinis. (1 female 3 male I think), 10 black phantom tetras (4 female 6 male), 9 lemon tetras ( gender unknown) between 12 and 15 Paracheirodon simulans They all came with the tank.

Is there a good resource (book or website) about what fish and plants go good together? Fish and plant seller usually don't tell you this.

How do you determine how much flow a thank needs?

Thank you for the help.
 
5-10 litres, what planet do you live on, Mercury? My tank is 100L (open top) and I probably lose about 1 Litre a day. What's your water temperature at?

Can't offer much advise with regards to overstocking, I'm not sure if there is a general rule that applies. Post a video of your tank here, people will be able to better judge.

For fish and plant compatibility, generally speaking, larger fish will do more damage to plants than small ones. I haven't come across any fish that like to eat plants if they're properly fed. But do your research, see what fish other people keep in their planted tanks to get an idea.

Your filter needs to turn over 10x your tank volume per hour (1200 liters per hour in your case), but the more flow the better. Cylindrical flow pattern is the most optimal, with spray bar pointing towards the front of the tank, about half an inch under the surface. But it depends on your tank layout. If you only have plants in one corner of your tank, you can just direct the flow at that corner.
 
tank is loosing about 5-10 litres of water a day

And you are from the Netherlands?? What does your central heatings thermostat say for room temperatur vs tank temperatur. Usualy the warmer the tank and the colder the room the more evaporation you'll have during this time of year. But 5 to 10 liters?? No that's not normal i guess.. My open tops lose average about a liter a day with 25°c tank temp. and 16°c room temp. on a 90x35 cm surface area and 110 liter tank. 10 liter evap sounds more like Australian bone dry dessert climate scenario in summer time. :)
Are you sure it's evaporation only?

How do I know if my tank is overstocked?

With the amount of fish you have now the tank is not realy overstocked.. For me personaly the useal given cm per liter stocking always is a bit vague. It all depends a bit on the kind of fish also, the same amount of dirty pooping mollies produce more waste than the same amount of less dirty fish. And how much maintenance are you willing to do. And how are you filtering your tank, bigger and better filters can handle more stocking than smaller less better filters. Low plantmass or high plantmass. This all added determines stocking limits. Maybe some one else can give reasonable numbers. I always find this a tricky question to answer with numbers.

Is there a good resource (book or website) about what fish and plants go good together?
Good question?? Seriouslyfish.com is a very good website for fish and their habbits, maintenance and compatebility. Fish and plants compatibility is a bit more difficult to answer. There aren't so many fish wich need typical plant choises can't think this minute only of some chiclids and pleco's and some loaches...

How do you determine how much flow a thank needs?
Also good question, debatable i would say... Depending on several factors.. Rule of thumb is 10 x, just start with that and learn yourself if it's that what your tank needs. I never did and never had any negative experience with less. :thumbup:
 
Thank you for the answers guys. My tank is 120*40cm the water is at 24°c the room does not have a set temperature at night so it depends on the outside temp. I would guess the night temp is around 12°c. The last few days I have noticed less condensation on the windows of the room.

My filter is an Eheim Pro 3 2071 that does 950l per hour so I am on the low side as far as flow is concerned.
 
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