My New 450 Liter tank

[kleinr]

Hi, I have recently purchased a custom made tank 1800mmx500mmx500mm that holds between 400 and 450 liters.

I have purchased 2 300watt heaters, 2 large bags of brightwater stones and 2 large pieces of briftwood. I have completed building the stand this weekend so was keen to get the aquarium setup. I have not yet purchased the filter for this aquarium mainly because I was not sure what I needed for this size but I did have a Fluval4 and a Hailea BL1000. I decided to use these and get started. There are no fish in the aquarium yet but the plan is to move the fish from my three smaller display tanks into this one so I can use the smaller ones for breading. I washed the sand untill the water draining from it was clear and then I washed the driftwood. Once in the aquarium I slowly filled it and then added the heaters and filters. For the first 4 hours the water was clear and then over night it went a brown cloudy colour. Now to the questions.

Could this be from the driftwood?

What filter do I need for this size aquarium?

[Adrienne]

driftwood may slowly leach but doesn't generally make the water cloudy makes it more a tea colour.

new tanks often go cloudy, my 450 litre tank did for a couple of days before the filters sorted it out but it wasn't brown cloudy.

What sort of sand?

[kleinr]

Tea colour seems a better description of what it looks like. I purchased the sand from Hollywood Fish Farm. The bag has SDL Stones on it and labled as Brightwater. They are a dark grey and brown colour.

If it is the driftwood leaching (also purchased from Hollywood Fish Farm) what can I do about clearing it. Besides removing it that is. I do have apicture but not sure how to add it to the post.

[Adrienne]

not a lot you can do about the driftwood leaching, it will stop eventually. regular water changes will help a bit. to load photos you will need to use a host ste, i use photobucket which is free and fairly self explanatory.

[georgeous]

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/posting-pics-in-the-forum-vt2406.html

HTH

[Leviathan]

I bought a huge peice of driftwood from HFF, just put it in a chillybin of warm water and left it, changing the brownish water every couple of days with new boiling hot water.

About a week and a half later put it in my tank and have had no leeching or discolouration at all

[Jo1]

Try putting a biochem Zorb pad in your filter - I guarantee your water will be crystal clear over night.

[je_suis_ketan]

Guys from my LFS suggested putting a carbon pads in my filter to clear up the Tannis. It cleared it up, until I took the Carbon out again

[Simian]

Tannins are good for the fish! I have had a massive bit of bogwood in my tank for 3 weeks at first it was really dark, but now its lightened up heaps and every water change helps. Just let it be and time will sort out the colour

[kleinr]

Thanks every one for your comments and suggestions.

I have a wonderfully clear tank now.

I removed the driftwood from the tank and replaced the water. I placed the wood into a 60liter plastic bin, filled it with warm water and left it to soak for 48 hours. I replaced the warm water 2 more times leaving it to soak for 24 hours each time and on the last water change it was clear so I placed the driftwood into the tank. The drift wood has been in the tank for 3 days and there is no leaching

[Ant N]

Nice size tank! Good dimensions for surface area/volume. My tank holds a bit more but I have a Fluval 404 and I have just set up a new JBL CristalProfi 500 ($180 retail off TM) and man it pushes some water!, your filter needs depend on what fish ,and how many, you plan to keep.Running two similar sized filters side by side is a good way to compare different brands.