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Going to get my first ever aquarium!

S

Shivers

Seedling
Joined
9 Jul 2010
Messages
18
Location
Edinburgh
Hello all, I've been spending the past month or two reading up on fishkeeping and planted aquariums, I'm going to be taking the delve into your world for the first time so I'll be needing help and opinions, I'm wanting to do a low-tech planted aquarium, I'm going to be ordering my tank today from Aquariums LTD (before the 20% off discount runs out), now I won't be getting anything to actually put in the tank for a wee while as the tank will leave me broke, but this gives me time to do further research! The tank will be 90x45x45 rimless/braceless optiwhite tank, as for filtration I was looking at going for a pair of Eheim 2217's, and then lilly pipe them.

As for lighting I have absolutely no idea what I'd need for a low-tech, I'd like some T5's but I want to do it for as cheap as possible whilst sacrificing as little quality as possible, I'm not sure what unit to buy for them either, heard great things of Arcadia but not sure whether it will be possible financially, if it's really worth it though I'll wait and save up. If I have a 90CM tank do I try and go for lights that are as close to 90CM as possible? If that's the case it looks like an Arcadia unit will set me over £200.. :shock:

I like the idea of having in-line heaters that are outside of the aquarium since I'm trying to keep the inside clear from equipment, I also like the idea of having a fallback incase anything breaks, hence I was thinking of doubling up on heaters like I am with the filtration, from what I understand it's also safer for the fish and gives a more consistant temperature. Is it possible to run an external/inline heater on each canister? I was looking at Hydor or Visitherm, either 100w or 150W each? Not sure if external's go as low as that but that was the idea anyway!

As for fish and plants and substrate, well, I'm not sure what to go with at all really! Any help and thoughts is much appreciated, sorry for the newbie post! 😀
 
Well done for doing the research first! Here are some answers to your questions. I have given you links as examples, you might find the same products elsewhere and Google is definitely your friend. For substrates I picked one from each sponsor to be fair (that and some only sell some certain ones).

Your tank will be 90 x 45 x 45 that's 182 litres max. Eheim 2217 has 790 l/h flow. That means you would have (790 x 2) / 180 = about 8 X turnover. Generally people recommend 10 minimum, even up to 20. Over filtering isn't as much as a problem as under filtering.

Substrate - will be quite costly! As you are going low-tech I would recommend going for a good quality nutritious substrate. Something like:
columbo flora base http://www.plantedbox.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=72&products_id=221
ada aqua soil http://www.thegreenmachineonline.co...bstrate-system/ada-aqua-soil-amazonia-9-litre
or Oliver Knott NatureSoil http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/oliver-knott-naturesoil-brown-10l-normal-p-3655.html
As you will have a quite large tank I would go for the normal size rather than fine/powder, it costs more for fine. You can get some of these in varying colours so best thing to do is go to a shop and see what you like! I don't know where you are based but going to visit The Green Machine would be a good start!

External heater - yes you can run two, good idea. There is one which several people have had problems with, as the dial was easily knocked and cooked some peoples fish. I hope someone else will remember and be able to advise you more on that front.

CO2 - Plants need CO2 like we need Oxygen. If you are quite set on running a low-tech tank I imagine you don't want to run pressurised CO2? You will need some liquid carbon in that case, so something like
Easycarbo
Seachem flourish excel - http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishExcel.html
WARNING: the chemical used in these products is nasty. Although it is diluted, so safer, treat it with respect and perhaps read up on it (gluteraldehyde).

Fertilisers - Plants need food like we do. An option is buying dry powders. You will need:
Trace mix: also called CSM +B it contains things like iron and loads of other essential building blocks for plants.
KNO3 - Potassium nitrate (K = Potassium, NO3 = nitrate)
KH2PO4 - Potassium phosphate (PO4 = phosphate).
Perhaps MgSO4 - magnesium if your tap water is low in this.
Dry powders are the cheap option, more hassle/have to use the head a bit to work out numbers.

Tropica plant nutrition +: is an all in one solution that is less hassle, higher cost. There are other ones on the market too many do not have Nitrates, potassium or phosphates in though which are like feeding someone vitamin tablets all day and nothing else, you need your carbohydrate, fat and protein.

Light - I'm not going to touch on that as I wouldn't know what's best to recommend on a low tech. Supercoley1 has a lovely low tech tank so maybe search for his.

Fish and plants - personal preference really, again going to as many shops as possible. See what you like, research it then when you are ready go and perhaps purchase some.

If you are further south then on the 4th September there is a meet at Living Waters, Surrey. I'm busy, but there should be some people going, would be a good chance to chat to people and pick their brains and see some stuff too! Any more questions, just shout! I'm sure some other people will chip in too. Don't worry about newbie questions, we've all been there!
 
Sorry for the late reply, been very busy with work, huge thanks for your time and input, great post and very helpful! I'm really wanting to go with Eheim's but I'll look into the filters for sure. I'm not going to be running any pressurised Co2. The fertilisers information was great, do all low-tech tanks need ferts? Also, I'm a bit confused about water changes, I've read of some low-tech tanks doing regular changes every couple of weeks for example, yet I've also read of some only needing a few water changes in a year, what's the fundamental difference that makes so few water changes possible? Sadly I won't be able to make the meet, I have no car and I'm normally only in England every few years... 🙁

Looking forward to more input, lighting/heating as well as extra opinions, thanks again Lisa you're a star! 😀
 
Just a little update, the aquarium+cabinet is ordered, I need to call Aquariums LTD back about where/what sort of holes are to get drilled into the cabinet, say for example I was to get something like a pair of Eheim 2217's, would I be better getting the holes in the back or sides? Will one help me gain better flow (by putting the piping at certain parts of the tank)? Thanks in advance, also any input on my other questions would be much appreciated 🙂
 
Yes, it's just as Lisa says. There are a couple of ways to skin a cat so you have to decide what type of filter outflow you will be using. If you'll use the typical lily pipe or spraybar method then it's probably best to enter from the sides. If you decide to use more of a point source outflow then it would be better to come in from the back. The Fluval FX5 is that type of point source outflow with multiple ports. If your using a traditional canister like the Eheim then holes on the side will be more appropriate.

Cheers
 
You state you have ordered a 90x45x45 rimless/braceless optiwhite tank.
I assume this will be open topped, therefore assuming you are going to use standard liy pipes or spray bars there shouldn't be any need to get the tank drilled. As both these hang over the rim of the tank.
The only reason to get the tank drilled would be if you wanted to bring the inlet / outlets up through the base of the tank.
 
Thanks for all the replies! And yes I meant the cabinet, I'm planning to use lilly pipes with the tank, sounds like the side is the way to go 🙂
 
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