Newb looking for help

[Chris.K]

Hi all, my knowledge of aquariums is essentially zero and i'm looking for help on what i need, tank setup etc.

so far have been to a couple of aquariums, (majestic and st george), to get some info and i have some preliminary ideas on what i want which is an aqua one 120 tank - the one with the little trickle filter thing at the back.

1200 is about the right size i want for now so the size is good. the guys at majestic aquariums have been great so far and its local to me so even better.

my main question, (for now !!), is are aqua one tanks any good ? the all-in-one thing makes me a little nervous that the quality isnt great. are there other brands, systems i should look into ? i have no problem spending a bit more up front if it means a smoother and easier running tank in the future.

if i can at least get this tank sorted and decided then i'll have a bunch more questions about everything else.

[cpfc]

I have 3 Aqua One aquariums. The trickle filters are fine unless you have an overstocked tank when an additional cannister will give you redundancy and extra capacity. The additional cannister is in my 980 as it will be overstocked with Cichlids.

I have an ar380 - 34l with 1 Betta, 5kg of gravel, plants, heater, thermometer, some wood and plants.

At home we have our sons aquariums built by committee.

AR620 - 85l 4 Adolfoi Corys, 7 Black Neon Tetras, Cardinal Tetras, 2 Bristlnose, 1 mad Betta, 10kgs of gravel, bits of wood and lots of plants.

AR980 - 215l Second hand. I have a thread on it here - New To Cichlids.

First tank was setup at Xmas.

The Aquaones are good if you do not have the time and knowledge to put together something more customized to your needs. I guess the other question is what sort of fish will it have or is that in planning? The main thing is you are planning which is great.

Hi all, my knowledge of aquariums is essentially zero and i'm looking for help on what i need, tank setup etc.

so far have been to a couple of aquariums, (majestic and st george), to get some info and i have some preliminary ideas on what i want which is an aqua one 120 tank - the one with the little trickle filter thing at the back.

1200 is about the right size i want for now so the size is good. the guys at majestic aquariums have been great so far and its local to me so even better.

my main question, (for now !!), is are aqua one tanks any good ? the all-in-one thing makes me a little nervous that the quality isnt great. are there other brands, systems i should look into ? i have no problem spending a bit more up front if it means a smoother and easier running tank in the future.

if i can at least get this tank sorted and decided then i'll have a bunch more questions about everything else.

[Priscacara]

I've had no problems with my all in one tanks, the only exception being overstocking crashing my ph and bio (all my fault and not the tanks!). As Cpfc has mentione adding in an additional canister filter might be a good idea, I'm looking at getting one for mine.

[Chris.K]

thanks for the feedback guys.

cpfc, looking to stock malawi african cichlids. doing a bit of research at the moment about which ones. sounds like a similar sort of thing to the thread you linked me to from your tank. i have paul talbots cichlid dvd to try and lern a few things aswell.

how many fish should i be looking at putting in the tank ? 15-20 i was told which includes 2 pleco's. does anywhere in sydney specialise in african cichlids ?

[cpfc]

I read a rule of thumb of 1 per 10 litres but I think it depends on the size, temprement, and other factors. I have connected the Eheim Compact 1000 to the overhead filter and used 16mm PVC tubing. I will surround the pump with Rocks to hide it.

Weird thing is the tank is cycling. Nitrites were 0.25, Nitratres 5 and 0 Ammonia. The only things to have gone in there are plants as my wife and I have swapped cuttings. Maybe the second hand biofilters had something on them. Either way I still have to get stones, silicone them, cure the silicone and place them in first. Then clean the sand and put that in. Then a massive water change, put purigen in filter and see what I have.

thanks for the feedback guys.

cpfc, looking to stock malawi african cichlids. doing a bit of research at the moment about which ones. sounds like a similar sort of thing to the thread you linked me to from your tank. i have paul talbots cichlid dvd to try and lern a few things aswell.

how many fish should i be looking at putting in the tank ? 15-20 i was told which includes 2 pleco's. does anywhere in sydney specialise in african cichlids ?

[Chris.K]

I read a rule of thumb of 1 per 10 litres but I think it depends on the size, temprement, and other factors. I have connected the Eheim Compact 1000 to the overhead filter and used 16mm PVC tubing. I will surround the pump with Rocks to hide it.

Weird thing is the tank is cycling. Nitrites were 0.25, Nitratres 5 and 0 Ammonia. The only things to have gone in there are plants as my wife and I have swapped cuttings. Maybe the second hand biofilters had something on them. Either way I still have to get stones, silicone them, cure the silicone and place them in first. Then clean the sand and put that in. Then a massive water change, put purigen in filter and see what I have.

majestic is going to come over and set the whole thing up, fill it, get the chemical stuff right etc. i wont have fish in it until all my testing is ok'd by them which they reckon will take a week before i put anything in there; then insert 4-6 fish per week until fully stocked. so to begin with i'm pretty confident that at least initially i'll be ok. the rest of your post...well...i have no idea what you just said. lol that i need to learn.

so far, very impressed with their service. a bit surprised aswell actually.

[cpfc]

If I am down that way I will have to check them out. Good fish shops seem to be owned by people who are passionate about the hobby and they want you to succeed. One thing you will need is a freshwater test kit - Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, pH. I also have a carbonate and total hardness test kit.

Google nitrogen cycle, fishless cycling and you will see what it means. Basically when it is cycled bacteria is eating all the ammonia and nitrite and the levels should be 0. The bacteria turn the ammonia and nitrites into nitrates and when they are high you need to do a water change. Before a cycle there is no bacteria and the ammonia and nitrite will build up and poison the fish. The bio media (noodles or matrix) are where the bacteria colonise. The reason you wait between additions is you need to wait for the extra ammonia load from new fish to create a larger bacteria colony capable of taking the current fish. If you add too many fish at once you will get a nitrite spike. Once you are testing it will become second nature. I will test frequently when stocking and slow to weekly when I do the water changes.

Purigen is a chemical filter. The most commonly used chemical filter is activated carbon. Activated carbon comes in the plastic trays with wool on top in the Aqua Ones. When the carbon has taken as much chemicals as it can it become useless and may leach the poisons back. Aquaone recommend changing the filter every 8 weeks and it is a cost. I bought bulk carbon from age of aquariums and some wool from there. I put the carbon in filter socks I bought from there as well. Google purigen as well. Main advantage is it can be recycled and changes colour when full. I will use both as a belts and braces approach.

Ask Majestic how they kick start the cycle.

I read a rule of thumb of 1 per 10 litres but I think it depends on the size, temprement, and other factors. I have connected the Eheim Compact 1000 to the overhead filter and used 16mm PVC tubing. I will surround the pump with Rocks to hide it.

Weird thing is the tank is cycling. Nitrites were 0.25, Nitratres 5 and 0 Ammonia. The only things to have gone in there are plants as my wife and I have swapped cuttings. Maybe the second hand biofilters had something on them. Either way I still have to get stones, silicone them, cure the silicone and place them in first. Then clean the sand and put that in. Then a massive water change, put purigen in filter and see what I have.

majestic is going to come over and set the whole thing up, fill it, get the chemical stuff right etc. i wont have fish in it until all my testing is ok'd by them which they reckon will take a week before i put anything in there; then insert 4-6 fish per week until fully stocked. so to begin with i'm pretty confident that at least initially i'll be ok. the rest of your post...well...i have no idea what you just said. lol that i need to learn.

so far, very impressed with their service. a bit surprised aswell actually.

[Chris.K]

thanks mate. thankfully they are going to be doing the initial cycling for me to get all the good bacteria kickstarted etc and to avoid "new tank syndrome". it takes a full day for them to set it all up and they will come out the following week to do further testing and hopefully drop a few fish in there at that time. i guess it helps to deal local wherever possible.

the package deal i will be getting will include all the testing and chemicals needed to get going. you are right though, i will need to do lots of reading about what i need to do for maintenance. baby steps.

[cpfc]

Sounds like you have good people on the job.

The first baby step is understanding the nitrogen cycle and learning how to test. How to test is on the test kit. Those who I know who have given up fishkeeping did so because they did not know about the cycle, the impact of fish on the cycle and how to test. I spoke to someone today who killed the first lot of fish by introducing catfish. The catfish overloaded the bio filter and killed the rest of the fish. She does not know that is what she did. Typical pet shop job rather than a good LFS.

thanks mate. thankfully they are going to be doing the initial cycling for me to get all the good bacteria kickstarted etc and to avoid "new tank syndrome". it takes a full day for them to set it all up and they will come out the following week to do further testing and hopefully drop a few fish in there at that time. i guess it helps to deal local wherever possible.

the package deal i will be getting will include all the testing and chemicals needed to get going. you are right though, i will need to do lots of reading about what i need to do for maintenance. baby steps.

[cpfc]

I have bought the first occupant and am fattening him up in my tank at work. It is a wee bristlnose called Goldfinger. Lots of brown algae for him to munch on in there. I will get him another friend but the tank at work is only 34l and I do not want to stress the bio filter too much too soon as plecos poop a lot and produce a lot of ammonia. I will have to watch the nitrites very carefully. Ammonia normally goes quick but new fish can cause a nitrite spike. Hopefully they will be big enough when the cichlid tank is ready. If not there will hopefully be lots of Algae in there as well for them. I have also bought a valisneria and put it in a cup full of sand. I suspect it will get munched but you never know. I have some Java ferns growing in the work tank as well. Any ferns they send off will be affixed to something in the cichlid tank.

One thing that I was wondering is how necessary air stones are in a cichlid tank. I have aeration from the spray bar on the cannister and the over head filter outlet.

[cpfc]

I have got my rocks in and sand. The rocks are on eggcrate from the LFS. 2x4 for $25.Had a lot of fun with the kids cleaning the bunnings Sydney sand. There maybe too much in there but it struck me as simpler to over do than under do and I can always remove some. I have one valisneria in there that looks great but am aware the cichlids may rip it to shreds. It will help with cycling anyway.

After the sand I did an 80% water change. It is cloudy in there but not too bad. 0.25% Ammonia (was zero the other day) Nitrites and Nitrates 0 (was 0.5 and 5 the other day). pH is 8 , kH 4 and gH 6. I will test tomorrow when the sand has settled more and the bacteria has reacted to the ammonia. Then to persuade the wife I can start stocking.

I also got myself a feisty baby albino. I was going to call it Pussy Galore in the hope it would mate with Goldfinger. Not sure how that would go down at work, especially as I work in the public service. Anyway Pussy might be a bloke and Goldfinger a lady.

I will test tomorrow and decide what to do. Nothing will go in unless Ammonia and nitrites are 0 and there are nitrates.

thanks mate. thankfully they are going to be doing the initial cycling for me to get all the good bacteria kickstarted etc and to avoid "new tank syndrome". it takes a full day for them to set it all up and they will come out the following week to do further testing and hopefully drop a few fish in there at that time. i guess it helps to deal local wherever possible.

the package deal i will be getting will include all the testing and chemicals needed to get going. you are right though, i will need to do lots of reading about what i need to do for maintenance. baby steps.