Tony.Bates

Hi Everyone Well my new tank is coming along nicely, I've added some Neon Tetras and a couple of BN Cats to get things started. The fish seem to be doing well, but i'm having issues with my plants. The plants went in about 10 days ago, I have between 5 and 7cm of gravel in the tank (its probably of a medium to fine coarseness). I'd say probably half of the leaves have fallen off, and there is loads of junk stuck in the leaves of the plants that still have them. One plant fell to bits entirely and was just left with a stick! :roll: Help! What can I do to help my plants out? Temperature is steady 25.5, PH of 7.2 Trites and trates are still not registering on my test kits. :-?

Good to know about the Convicts! Scratch them from the list!!! The little Neon Tetras, (Paracheirodon innesi I think)

OK, so my first tank (AR980) is filled, has substrate, loads of plants, heaters, balanced PH, a bubbler and one very small snail who arrived with the plants, now its the fun part, shopping for residents! So far my list of potential inmates includes: Pearl Danios 7 Tertras 20 Bristlenose catfish 3 Veil Tail Guppies 10 Convict cichlids 7 Glass Catfish 5 Panda Cory 3 Southern Platy 5 Can anyone suggest what else might go nicely in with this lot? I'm aiming for a community tank, with lots of schooly fish. Maybe a snail or two. The number of fish by the type is indicative, I havent calculated how close I am to filling the tank yet.

Can anyone recommend a good place in/around Hamilton to get tropical fish? My tank is empty at this stage, I'm planning to start out with some Danios to cycle the tank - my reading tells me this is a good fish to start with?

You are correct there - the AR has the hood on top, so I wonder if the measurements include that in the height? The Aquaone website lists the figures I posted, I'll have to measure it and check

Haha, well I guess I already suffer from MTS, I have a small (17 litre) tank on my desk here at work with some very happy friendly goldfish who keep me company during the day. I suppose my upgrade for home has securely stamped me with the MTS label! Thanks for all the advice! I dont think I will have a problem with getting too many fish too soon, I'm still trying to decide what I want to put in it, so It will have some time to cycle while I make up my mind!

Hi All, I've spent a couple of hours browsing through this site, great information, and helpful people. I have sitting in the corner one brand new AR980. Its empty! I'm just starting out in the hobby, so am after a little advice. Heating: As I understand, in a tank this size (99x47x60cm, 215 litres) I will need 2 heaters in the 200-300 watt range. (one for redundancy) Filtration: I guess this depends on the fish in the tank, I'm still working towards picking my "stable" but I'm leaning towards a few schoolers, a few bottom-feeders and maybe 1 or 2 feature fish? (I'm open to suggestion here) I'm going with a freshwater setup by the way. The AR came with the standard wet/dry bio filter, do I need anything else in the way of filtration? Plants: I'm divided on this one. I've seen a beautiful setup in a similar tank with all artificial plants, but if I read correctly, live plants are essential to a healthy tropical setup. Can anyone comment, or have any thoughts? Rocks, Gravel etc: What to put in the bottom of the tank? The AR has a built in filter, (not undergravel) so am I restricted on what to put in the bottom of the tank? I think I would like some dark gravel, and some feature rock. Misc: Testing kits, fish net, buckets, magnetic tank cleaner. So, besides the Fish, what am I missing? Any help and advice appreciated! Meantime, I'll keep reading through this great forum! Cheers!