The comeback fishbowl :P

[Othalis]

Hi guys,

Like I said in the welcome thread, I'm an oldtimer with the hobby but very much rusted on the topic. I want to get back into the hobby as it is one of the most relaxing hobbies and provides hours of enjoyment.

Anyway, here is what I've got in mind:

1) 1.2m (l) x 0.4m (w) x 0.6m (h) Tank, Canopy, & Stand - I'll try and post pictures towards the weekend
2) Eheim Classic External Filter (http://www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/index.jsp?key=liniendetail_27510_ehen) although I'm still shopping around on other filters, with the Penn Plax Cascade External filter being in my sight
3) Eheim Jager Heater
(http://www.eheim.de/eheim/inhalte/index.jsp?key=liniendetail_24552_ehen)4) Silica sand
5) Nice collection of plants something in the line of this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Home_aqua_240_litres.png)
6) Aqua-Glo & Flora-Glo tubes for lightning

Ok, that is what I've got in mind with hardware. For fish I wanted to go with the larger & more aggressive Cichlids but due to the width of the tank, I've decided to go for a smaller and more graceful collection:

1) 8 x Angelfish (assortment) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterophyllum)
2) 4 x Ram Cichlids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_cichlid)
3) 2 x Kribensis Cichlids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvicachromis_pulcher)
4) 2 x Banded Cichlids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severum)
5) 4 x Keyhole Cichlids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole_cichlid)
6) 5 x Ancistrus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancistrus)
7) 5 x Corydoras Catfish (assortment) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corydoras)

Nothing is set in stone yet...

Comments / Suggestions are very much welcome!

Regards,
Johan.

[Henk Hugo]

Hey hey!

I would stick with the Eheim filter... NOTHING beats Eheim :D

Your lighting tubes is old out dated tech.... use T5 lighting. MUCH higher output = better plant growth.

Fish wise - 8 angels in that size tank = war.... its serious over stocking. I would also choose between the Angels and the Severums and severums get minimum 20cm long... I would also only keep one species of dwarf cichlid from one biotope - ie - stick to South American fish... so its either rams or keyholes... I would of course go with the rams.

As for the catfish i would avoid the ancistrus as they will eventually start eating your swords and crypts. If you want algea control rather go for Oto's :p

[Othalis]

I would stick with the Eheim filter... NOTHING beats Eheim

What about the Fluval External Filters? They are also quite good from what I can remember back in the day...


Your lighting tubes is old out dated tech.... use T5 lighting. MUCH higher output = better plant growth.

On the lightning front, I still need to do some proper homework... The tank I'm buying comes with a built-in 30W x 2 ballast, would this suffice the requirements of T5 tubes? And which tubes do you suggest? I'm looking to put in one tube purely for plant growth and one purely for the proper display of the fish.


Fish wise - 8 angels in that size tank = war.... its serious over stocking. I would also choose between the Angels and the Severums and severums get minimum 20cm long... I would also only keep one species of dwarf cichlid from one biotope - ie - stick to South American fish... so its either rams or keyholes... I would of course go with the rams.
Yeah upon further investigation last night, I realised that I've already overstocked the proposed tank. Hence, I've considered changing the figures to the following:

1) 6 x Angelfish (assortment)
2) 2 x Ram Cichlids
3) 2 x Kribensis Cichlids
4) 5 x Corydoras Catfish (assortment)
5) Alternative to the Ancistrus / reducing the numbers



As for the catfish i would avoid the ancistrus as they will eventually start eating your swords and crypts. If you want algea control rather go for Oto's :p

Sorry, I'm a bit rusted... What are Oto's?

Thanks for the input Henk Hugo!

[Othalis]

Any comments?

@ Henk Hugo : Nevermind about the last question... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otocinclus_affinis) hehe :P The Oto looks a lot like the normal type of algae eater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrinocheilus), just better on the eye.

[Henk Hugo]

sorry for the late reply - i was out flying the whole of yesterday....

the kribs will beat up the other fish when they start breeding - ditto when you have a pair of angels form up and breed in the tank. As i said in my 1st post - try and go for fish from one biotope - South Amercian, West Africa, South East Asia....

As for the lighting you would need to upgrade to electronic ballasts - i would only use osram balasts - tube wise you would need to get atleast two 54watt 6000 - 7000K. For colour you can look at 20 000K tubes - they are BLUE as in BLUE BLUE BLUE....

The chinese algea eater doesnt really eat algea in the 1st place. I would go for Otos...

[Othalis]

I'm not really interested in breeding. This will purely be a showtank, so compatibility is quite important!

I'll go for the South American biotope collection. So the Kribensis will have to go... :( And for algae control, I'll have a look out for the Oto's although I've only seen them in limited number in Pretoria before.

WRT the ballasts, I'm looking at buying a (set) tank & stand & canopy with integrated ballast etc. so I'm starting to think that it might be better to rather opt for a traditional all glass aquarium with generic black canopy which I can customize as I would like to? Else the ballast and setup that comes with the tank's canopy will only go to waste. What are your views?

On the subject of tubes, do you have some linkage to what brands I should look at? And where do I find these tubes?

[Henk Hugo]

i would go for the complete setup and at a later stage you can always retro fit it. Look at Osram, Phillips, Salvania etc :D

[Othalis]

Do you mean that I should take the complete setup and change the ballasts later on? Another thing, the canopy has built-in holster for only 2 tubes so I'll probably have to make a plan to customize that as well if I need to increase the number of tubes?

Can I run lower wattage T5 tubes with those built-in ballasts though? The tank comes with 2 x 30W tubes complimentary...

And lastly, would I find these T5 tubes at places like Builder's Warehouse or is LFS best bet?

Thanks for all the pointers & assistance Henk Hugo!

[Henk Hugo]

Yea you can upgrade to T5s later on. NO you can not run T5s on magnetic ballasts - you HAVE to run them on Electronic ballasts rated for them. the 3ft T5s = 39watt

[Othalis]

Oh ok, cool. I think first priority is to check out the canopy layout this weekend to see whether I'll be able to customize the canopy with electronic ballasts and / or more tubes. Otherwise I'll have to be on the lookout for a setup with a canopy without built-in lightning.

Thanks for all the assistance and sorry for all the n00b questions but yeah like I said earlier, I'm quite rusted on everything aquaria related... :P

[Henk Hugo]

its a plesure man :D

[solex69]

With Henk on this one....definitely go T5. 3 X 39w and nothing less than 13000K per tube I would recommend. You want your plants to go absolutely bos in the tank. You can buy normal 40w or 36w electronic ballasts and just get T5 connectors and manually fit them. I've done this and it works like a charm :) Personally, I've given up on T8 lighting...T5 or T4 is the way to go. But hey, that's just me :)

Cheers
Dale

[city bowl]

If your set on angels then I would let the angels grow together and once a pair has formed sell or move the other angels they will form a pair and will try to breed once they mature you cannot really avoid that but if you have more than a pair of adult angels you will have fights between pair particularly in a relatively small tank.
The corydoras would be better as one or two spieces and not less than three of one type they are naturally shoaling and prefer to be in a group.
You may want to add some tetras like rummynose tetras as neons will maybe eaten by the adult angels.

[Othalis]

Ok, I've been thinking of buying my equipment over a few months but I'm getting very anxious to get back into the game. Hence, I've come up with the following idea and I need your opinions please!

I can afford to get a plain old 3 footer up and running within a month or two. So I've been thinking of getting one of them just to get back into the hobby, and as a bonus it'll give me enough time to save up for an even bigger show tank. What do you guys think? Obviously, I'll have to revise my selection of fish etc...

Thank you,
Johan.

[Othalis]

Any comments on my previous post...?

[solex69]

3footer fine to get up and running in the meantime. Just be sure to get the proper equipment for volume of water that goes into that tank. Ensure you get proper aquatic plants in there as well pls

Happy hunting

Cheers
Dale

[Henk Hugo]

i would buy equipment for the 1.2.... it will work find on the 3ft :D

[Slummies]

Hey man,

im no pro in lighting. but iv done lots of research and kinda come up with my own idea. maybe people will disagree.. i dont know?!

Im putting 5 x Cool white energy saver bulbs (18w ea) and two normal fittings for t8s. probably a blue t8 and not sure what yet. this gives me wwwaay over the gal/wat rule. not sure hw it will look. but will post pics in the next day or two. iv just done a setup similar to yours. check out delilahs tank thread!

[Henk Hugo]

ummmmmm..... you then end up with 10/12 000K and 20 000K.... REALLY not good for ANY plants to grow in....

the warm white CFs are somewhere from 4000 to 7000K....

[Slummies]

Henk, its rated 6500k

[Henk Hugo]

just make 100% sure - as the "cool white" tubes that i have had a look at says either 10 000 or 12 000.....

[Slummies]

My Philips tube is 6500 and the bulbs are exactly same colour...

[Henk Hugo]

any update?

[Othalis]

Hey Henk,

Dec / Jan has been a long stretch for the budget but I'll most probably start buying the large tank and equipment in a short while.

I'm very excited to get started! :P

[Henk Hugo]

ooooooooh i know that feeling all to well.... i have already spent Febs paycheck....