Its been a while

[bubba]

Hello been a good few years since ive kept fish properly at the moment i have a small aquaone 320 with


1 Siamese Fighter
5 Neon Tetra
5 Black Widow Tetras
5 Albino Corydora
2 Khuli loach


However its probably a little crowded so ive gone and bought a big old tank its a jewel rio 300, 4ft long and 350 litres with a fluval fx5 filter.


At the moment ive ordered new pipes for the filter and clips to attack them to the back


im a little gutted that the filter is too big to fit under the tank in the cabinet, only thing i can do about that is to have the tank out a bit from the wall and have it hanging out the back of the cupboard.


im going to put the jewel stone background in the tank before putting anything in it then looking for some white sand, im looking at getting a fairly heavily planted aquarium with some corals and a bit of wood in there aswell


ive not decided what fish im going with yet ill probs leave my fighter in the small tank so hes got the space he needs any help and advice is welcome as im just getting into fish keeping after a long time out

[TropicalFishForums]

[BalloonMolly]

back!

 ill probs leave my fighter in the small tank so hes got the space he needs

Good idea

im going to put the jewel stone background in the tank before putting anything in it then looking for some white sand, im looking at getting a fairly heavily planted aquarium with some corals and a bit of wood in there aswell

What "corals" were you planning on adding? Rocks may leech into the water, raising the hardness and pH. The fish you have prefer softer, more acidic water. This also goes for the sand - "coral sand" or similar will have the same effect and the substrate must be smooth and fine so that the Corydoras can't damage their barbels on it.

Upping the numbers of the fish in their groups would be good, particularly the Khulis as they're all gregarious fish (other than the fighter, of course).

[bubba]

Yea i like the way tetras go in schools looks really good , would you advise against sand then

Whats the best way to test water and what should i be looking at apart from ph

Should i use a water conditioner , or could anyone recomend what products they use

[Franksy68]

For a water conditioner a lot of members (including me) use prime.
It both conditions the water and 'locks' ammonia and nitrite for a limited amount of time. So makes the aquarium safe for 24 hours.

Most people use a freshwater master test kit which gives you a test for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.  Some people test for hardness and things but you can find them on your water suppliers website.

Sand is good. But not coral sand as this will harden your water. Sand is a must if you want corydoras and kuhli loaches. A lot of people use pool filter sand or silica sand.

[bubba]

thanks for the help first thing im going to buy is the juwel stone granite background


then it looks like ill be going for white silica sand want a good thick layer so ill be buying a 30kg bag.


next thing ill be buying after that will be some bogwood any tips/suggestions for what to look for and what to avoid.


once the sand and bogwood is in im going to look for quite a few plants to give plenty of hiding and exploring places for the fish that should be me nearly finished then.

[BalloonMolly]

Have you got a heater? If it's submersible, you'll want to get a heater guard because the Khulis will likely rest on it and burn themselves.

In terms of wood, bogwood or mopani would be good as they'll provide shelter for the Khulis who'll want to hide a lot - just made sure that any decorations are positioned so that they can't get stuck!

[bubba]

Ill need to buy a heater was looking at the fluval e300 looks like it comes with a guard,

Whats your thoughts on a clean up crew crabs and shrimps etc