Setting up a freshwater aquarium... what do I need to consider?

mrcheez

So regarding cleaning regimes, apart from the weekly water top-up, what sort of cleaning would be expected per week/month/year?

How often do you need to do a full tank empty and scrub?

This is assuming I get tropicals in freshwater, with shrimps.

kylith

I'm very fond of Nerite snails for cleanup, they eat algae and are quite attractive to look at. On the downside they do tend to pepper (or rather salt) every piece of décor with little white eggs. These will not hatch, so you don't have to worry about an infestation of them.

Other than your weekly 30% water change, once a month you'd need to take the sponge out of your filter and rinse the yuck off of it with water siphoned from your tank. The sponge is where your beneficial bacteria live so NEVER use tap water because the chlorine will kill them. You also never change the sponge unless it is literally falling apart, then you would add a new sponge to work with the old sponge for several weeks. You would need to vacuum the gravel or sand every week to get poo and uneaten food. It is sometimes necessary to use a scraper to remove algae from the glass. You would never need to empty your tank and scrub it as long as you keep on top of the maintenance.

Oh, and if anyone in the house is a gardener they'll love the water from the tank, it's full of nutrients from the fish waste.

mrcheez

kylith wrote: »

You would need to vacuum the gravel or sand every week to get poo and uneaten food.

Vacuum???

kylith

mrcheez wrote: »

Vacuum???

You buy a siphon like this


The blue bit is a pump you squeeze to start the suction. The other end has a guard so you don't accidentally suck up any fish and you would use that end to vacuum your substrate. You will need to have a bucket lower than the tank in order for it to work properly. They're not essential but it's really the only way of keeping the bottom clean. I tried using a pint glass to empty the water out before and nearly lost a fish because it swam into the glass.

This video gives an idea how it works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Re04cYJcY

CruelCoin

mrcheez wrote: »

So regarding cleaning regimes, apart from the weekly water top-up, what sort of cleaning would be expected per week/month/year?

How often do you need to do a full tank empty and scrub?

This is assuming I get tropicals in freshwater, with shrimps.

Every week you need to clean your filter. This is to prevent it becoming clogged and thus reducing water flow and its ability to convert ammonia through to nitrate and polish the water.
Never ever wash the filter media in tap water. You will cause the bacteria to die, and thus cause a cycle crash (ammonia spikes, mass death etc, generally not a nice thing). Squeeze out the filtermedia in a jug/basin of tank water to prevent this.

Most filters have many layers. The top layer is often wool, which traps floating particles (this is your mechanical filtration). The rest of the filter is porous material (biological filtration) which houses the bacteria that break down ammonia.

Stuff to do:
Every week, pull off and dump the mechanical layer, and replace with fresh.
Every 2 weeks squeeze out the biological layers (just get the worst out, don't macerate the thing).
Every week, scrub the glass, ruffles plants etc (to dislodge algae which then sinks to bottom or gets sucked up by filter.
Every week do a water change (or do as required, tests needed if you do as required)
Every month or so (or more often) do a substrate clean. Use a gravel cleaner for this. Have a look here to see what i mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Zi1g5vvYs

There are two main ways to clean the glass/perspex. A bladed cleaner - this is really effective, but runs the risk of scratching. Or a magnetic cleaner - no need to have hands in tank, but can cause huge amount of scratching if you get sand, etc trapped in it.

p.s: I know this is all a hell of a lot more than you thought when you first posted, but its rewarding when you get that zen moment of "everything looks fantastic and the fish are happy".

kylith

CruelCoin wrote: »

p.s: I know this is all a hell of a lot more than you thought when you first posted, but its rewarding when you get that zen moment of "everything looks fantastic and the fish are happy".

That's the thing, isn't it? When you're a kid and you want a dog you get told what a huge amount of work it is, but if you want a goldfish you just get given a 10l bowl and a goldfish and, as far as you know, that's all that's needed. Then when you decide you want a nice tank with pretty fish and lovely plants you suddenly realise that you're knee-deep in cycles, nitrate testing, filter clogs, water changes, bacteria, ammonia, pH, and 100 times more work than anyone ever told you fish were.

Still though, it's worth it for that little slice of river bank in your living room.

mrcheez

CruelCoin wrote: »

p.s: I know this is all a hell of a lot more than you thought when you first posted, but its rewarding when you get that zen moment of "everything looks fantastic and the fish are happy".

lol, indeed

Glad I'm doing my research now so I can plan ahead and see if I can fit this into my schedule.

As I said before I know I wouldn't get a dog as I know I wouldn't have the time to take care of it, but it's mad how many people get pets without planning ahead, then send them off to shelters/down rivers when it all gets too much.

CruelCoin

mrcheez wrote: »

lol, indeed

Glad I'm doing my research now so I can plan ahead and see if I can fit this into my schedule.

As I said before I know I wouldn't get a dog as I know I wouldn't have the time to take care of it, but it's mad how many people get pets without planning ahead, then send them off to shelters/down rivers when it all gets too much.

Yup.

Any old gob****e can keep a goldfish in a bowl of green water, but it takes time and dedication to create this: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/custom/images/large/4daea08b91ee9.jpg (not mine by the way)

As Kylith said above, its not so simple to recreate a piece of the amazon in your sitting room.

CruelCoin

For more consideration: There are 4 main tank types (biotopes) you can create in tropicals.

Community - Broad mix of plants and fish that get on with each other ok. Middle of the road water parameters. Gravel or sand.

South American - Typically acidic water, reddish stained water (blackwater).
Only South American fish and plants. Mostly sand.

Asian - Mostly acidic waters. Mostly sand/soil.
Only Asian fish and plants.

African great lakes - Cichlids (type of fish). Very territorial, but stunning colours. Quite intelligent fish, prolific breeders. Rock-hard, alkaline water. Decor is nothing but rocks and sand, fish provide the colour. Ideal if you like in the sticks like i do and have liquid rock coming out of the taps.

I have a 50lt Asian tank, a 240lt community, a 200lt empty tank being made into a great lakes tank, and a 15lt tank i use to breed live food (brineshrimp) for my fish. Live food or frozen bloodworm is like crack to fish. They go absolutely ****ing nuts for live or frozen food.

mrcheez

"Community" sounds like a good beginner one I reckon

Perhaps I should start with plastic plants initially, and then can introduce real ones later, or is there a benefit in using real plants when it comes to fish health?

kylith

mrcheez wrote: »

"Community" sounds like a good beginner one I reckon

Perhaps I should start with plastic plants initially, and then can introduce real ones later, or is there a benefit in using real plants when it comes to fish health?

Plants will use some of the fish waste as fertiliser and also help to oxygenate the water.

Red Nissan

I've had no success with real plants. Plants can be a little expensive but there are benefits as mentioned. However, drawbacks could be the introduction of snails and the fish in the tank eat the plants.

My first fish were Angles and Silver Dollars, real cute when small and I bought €20 worth of real plants and the Silver Dollars had them away over night.

I bought more thinking the fish would ignore them eventually, nope, turns out the Silver Dollars eat some plants as a preference. :P

Snails. Snails can come in with real plants and one's aquarium can be infected and they reproduce without sex and there is a name for that sort of thing and they can be a pest or an asset as they will also clean the tanks.

One can buy snail eaters and they will polish off any infection in double quick time.

Jen Pigs Fly

Real plants require fertilisation.
Surprised no one has said this, you can't just throw in some live plants and bang they grow you need a good peaty substrate packed with nutrients, co2 needs to be added to the water as well to promote growth as well as high output lighting. T8 lighting does not cut it for most live plants.

You wouldn't grow your flower garden on your concrete driveway so why would you try to grow your aquatic plants using no fertilisation?

I have been keeping and breeding fish for a long time, I currently run a SA tank that is fully planted and holds my breeding pair of angelfish, breeding group of silvertip and pristella tetra (both have currently spawned) and my breeding Cory groups.

I also breed marines, have bred ocellaris and percula clownfish, banggai cardinal fish, pyjama cardinal fish, cleaner shrimp and many types of snails and hermits.


I have been there done that got the tshirt with most fish and tank types. I have kept cold water river tank (where I bred beaufortia loaches and weather loaches and minnow) to goldfish, black water tank which is my current display tank where the angels are, brackish tanks, Malawi cichlids, SA cichlids and mixed community. Any questions just ask.

My current marine tank is a 400litre full coral reef. It takes a lot of time and I've discovered many tricks to make water changes quicker and easier ;-)

Most of the advice is sound here, but others are a bit off. Plants are hard work, do your research.

CruelCoin

xxxJennyxxx wrote: »

Most of the advice is sound here, but others are a bit off. Plants are hard work, do your research.

Nobody said it was easy.

In a earlier post i specifically named Vallisneria and Anubias which require no specific care.

OP: Lighting can be LED, metal hallide, T8 and T5. T5 is the most common, and better by far than T8.
LED and metal halide are typically used in saltwater tanks due to mega lighting needs of corals.

But Jenny is correct. More advanced plants will need fertiliser and co2 in order to thrive. Fertiliser can be macro/micro, co2 is done via a tank, regulator and diffuser.

Ah yes, i can add this: Plants with a red foliage, absolutely must be grown in co2 rich water and heavy lighting. Will melt otherwise.
Also, Cryptocornes are commonly sold as beginner friendly, and largely are. But if you can't provide stable water conditions, they suffer from what is known as "crypto melt". Can happen very suddenly. Sensitive to change those buggers.

mrcheez

What are the downsides of using plastic plants? (Ignoring aesthetics)

sebcity

mrcheez wrote: »

What are the downsides of using plastic plants? (Ignoring aesthetics)

None really! They gather a lot of crap so need to be cleaned every so often!

I suppose there's no reward in keeping plastic plants!

mrcheez

sebcity wrote: »

None really! They gather a lot of crap so need to be cleaned every so often!

I suppose there's no reward in keeping plastic plants!

Organic plants don't also gather residue?

sebcity

They do, yes. I was pointing out the only downside of plastic plants I could think of.

fred funk }{

Plastic plants look terrible. I'd put in the same category as sculls and the like.

CruelCoin

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Plastic plants look terrible. I'd put in the same category as sculls and the like.

Yup. Same as body kits on cars. They just look terribad...

Sleepy

Some plants can be grown with very little need for fertilisation etc.

I've some plants in most of our tanks and most are just rooted into the gravel and fed via liquid CO2 that I add to the water each day.

CruelCoin

Sleepy wrote: »

Some plants can be grown with very little need for fertilisation etc.

I've some plants in most of our tanks and most are just rooted into the gravel and fed via liquid CO2 that I add to the water each day.

I'm assuming you're using Easycarbo?

Its good stuff, and i notice good growth with it.

Only thing is, it is not liquid co2. It's just a carbon rich liquid. Not the same thing. Liquid co2 does not exist at ground level air pressure.

Easycarbo is a kind of a stop-gap.

Sleepy

You assume correctly, I knew it wasn't liquid CO2 but didn't want to give the brand name since there's a fair few suppliers of similar liquids.

I get good growth from most plants with it, but I've never really tried to maintain anything more than "simple" plants e.g. Java Fern

CruelCoin

Sleepy wrote: »

You assume correctly, I knew it wasn't liquid CO2 but didn't want to give the brand name since there's a fair few suppliers of similar liquids.

I get good growth from most plants with it, but I've never really tried to maintain anything more than "simple" plants e.g. Java Fern

I'm not willing to go the Co2 route, so am pretty much limited to simple plants.

I have brilliant success with vallisneria, anubias, java fern, moss balls, diamond grass and a few others i can't remember.

I have tried red leafed plants and suffered. Also tried Cryptocornes and suffered. The big water changes i like to do don't suit them and the tend to melt, seemingly overnight.

Tannywanny

Hi guys.. due to the recent warm weather I have unplugged my heater.. temp is staying above 25. Will this be ok or will I set heater on a timer?

goz83

Tannywanny wrote: »

Hi guys.. due to the recent warm weather I have unplugged my heater.. temp is staying above 25. Will this be ok or will I set heater on a timer?

The heater has a thermostat. Best leave it plugged in. If temperature drops below the designated setting, it turns on. If your heater is constantly on, then it is broken, very old, or not sufficient for the tank you have.

Tannywanny

goz83 wrote: »

The heater has a thermostat. Best leave it plugged in. If temperature drops below the designated setting, it turns on. If your heater is constantly on, then it is broken, very old, or not sufficient for the tank you have.

It is a new heater. Been in storage for a bit. Have it set to 22 but last week water reached 30 so got a tad bit worried. May invest in a new one.

fred funk }{

Tannywanny wrote: »

It is a new heater. Been in storage for a bit. Have it set to 22 but last week water reached 30 so got a tad bit worried. May invest in a new one.

Ehhhh...yes, your heater isn't working properly. Get a new one and leave it switched on. Its thermostat will control the tempreture.

RosieJoe

Tannywanny wrote: »

It is a new heater. Been in storage for a bit. Have it set to 22 but last week water reached 30 so got a tad bit worried. May invest in a new one.

Is your tank in direct sunlight? This may explain the jump in temperature