Ideal new setup

I am marine boy, but would like to know, what would be a cool setup, keeping in mind I have wicked colours and diversity in my marine setup.

Also maintenance is not a prob, as my marine setup needs daily care.

I would say a 300L setup would be the sort of volume I would consider.

Livestock need to be interesting enough to keep me happy

Tank dimensions i would think would be quite different to marines because there is no coral and hectic lighting requirements.

Comments :blink1:

 

i would go for a 1.2m tank with a fluval 305 filter. 4x54watt T5s, jager heater. some sort of plant substrate and a nice planted tank with some south american tetras and angels

 

warr are u actually going to be putting up a FW system ?

 

looks like it

 

I would probably go for a malawi setup if I did a "proper" freshwater system. Other than that maybe discus because I've never tried them. Deliliah did a nice thread called noobs guide to discus somewhere around here if you're interested.

 

the problem is to find GOOD discus without being ripped off

 

thats the plan henk !! :blink1:

 

Any pics of these tetras and angels ?

 

Looking into it

 

would you want anything other than this ?

 

some tetra`s

Cardinal Tetra




Rummy nose tetra



Black Neon

 

What is this ?

 

that is a discus

 

Warr go do a search on discus to see what colours you get. like i said in another post - theres so many crap discus out there... you must know what to look for

 

Ok, so here is my ideas so far.

Planted 1.2m tank with 4 or 5 Discus (adult sizes) and 1 or 2 schools of tetras - Cardinal and/or Rummy nose, probably 20 of each.

Run T5 lighting system. Canister filtration.

What substrate is going work for a planted tank ?

Keeping in mind I am not going have a sump, will a normal 300w heater suffice for heating ?

What sort of heat do these Amazon creatures enjoy - 28-29°C ?

 

Substrate - cleaned riversand - available from plant nurserys
300W is good but I would go for 2 x 200W (redundancy)
your temp range is fine , anywhere from 26-30

 

Don't forget that your Discus will require the higher end of the temp range though.

 

It is a kind of trade-off, because discus likes higher temperatures and most plants likes it a bit colder than the 29-30 that most people keep discus tanks to.

When I had my discus planted tank, I had my temp at 27 degrees without any visible side effects.

I am also into marines, but like you said, the amount of maintenance is much less.(No coralline algae on the glass)
A well balanced planted tank only needs glass cleaning every 2-3 weeks.

Something I would recommend looking into for a planted tank is pressurized CO2.

And when you start, plant densely with fast growing plants and you wouldn't have a problem with algae.

This is what I have as planted tank.

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=511

 

malawis will enjoy a big tank like that

 

Seachem flourite is a very good substrate for a planted tank and I must aggree that 2 heaters are always better than one.