New Aquarium

[me love fishy]

Hi guys

I have just bought a new aquarium (I already have a small 60litre tank), my new aquarium is 4ft long about 5ft high and 2 ft wide.

I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on what filters, heaters, lights, air bubble makers etc are the best for this size tank, as I only have a small tank at the moment I am not familiar with all the choices for a bigger tank so would appreciate input from anyone.

I was also wondering if anyone had any cool theme ideas for my tank, I don't have any ornaments or even gravel for it yet, but it will definitely be a tropical tank (would love a marine one, but can't afford that!).

cheers and happy fishkeeping

[Brianemone]

5 ft high????

in centimeters might be better, im guessing its 2 feet high.

id say a fluval 304 or similar, if you want bubbles then just get a pump that will make the amount of bubbles that you want

[misnoma]

5 ft high!!!!

does that include the stand?

[me love fishy]

sorry derr, yeah 5 ft high might be a bit of a wayward guess but it is higher than a normal tank, so the glass would be maybe 3 ft high, with the stand it would be a bit more than 5 ft as the top is at my eye level.

[Wok]

Impressive.

I would go for the 404 instead of the 403 as a filter

2 x 300 watt heaters

4ft long double tube lights

if you want bubbles then a biggish air pump with either air stone or curtain.

The rest is preety much in your court in what you can afford and what you like.

have fun though

[suphew]

If you want to grow anything other than basic plants (low light) plants I would suggest 2 double 4 foot light (i.e. 4 tube in total) you might also want to look at T5 lights, or power compact, etc etc, read the postings there plently of info around. The more light you have the better depending on the $ you can offord, dont forget to look into the cost of replacement tubes/bulb as well cause they all need to be replaced every 6-12months.

I favour putting in two smaller filters over one larger, I use two fluval 204's in my 4ft and they work well. The 204's will cost the same or less than a 404's becuase they are more commonly sold, animates almost always have them on sale for $150 -$200. The benefit of two filters are, redunacy, you can clean one at a time, you can spread the in/outputs, capacity (2 x 204 being larger and pumping more water than 1 x 404). You can also buy one now if $ is problem then add another later once your tank is cycled and you start adding more fish. Oh and lastly if you need to set up another tank you can just move a filter over and the tank is cycled almost instantly.

Which raises another point, if you can buy one filter asap and start running it on your small tank, this will get the filter cycled and make starting up your new tank a lot easier

[dan_from_nz]

two small filters is definatly better than one large filter,

[Caryl]

I plan to put a Jebo 819 on mine and get rid of the Fluval 404.

[Lucid]

Good move caryl, although I have not used a fluval or eheim and therefore have no peronal experiance, I am running a jebo 819 and it does a brilliant job, and I paid a quarter of the price for it compared to the other two brands.

I also agree with the 2 filter theory and with that being the case you could get 2 of the Jebo 815's instead. I will be purchasing a second 819 and also a 815 when the $$ allow :lol:

B

[Caryl]

I keep small Shark internal filters running in my tanks as well. They add extra filtration and are easy to pull out when required suddenly elsewhere. I love the Jebo 810 we have on the other 280L tank. It is so quiet I have to check the current, or put my hand on it to feel the vibrations!

I am sick of continually having to clean out the 404. I am lucky to get a decent water flow out of it for 4 days :evil: It is also difficult to prime and get going again, despite all the added bits supposed to help with this.

[Lucid]

I can't understand why people don't use them more, as I seem to hear of a lot of people who have problems with the fluvals and I have had no problems with the jebo, and I was the same caryl, I had to keep checking it was running as I couldn't tell.

B

[Shelley]

Now this is interesting! I have just recently bought a fluval404, lol...it is a little noisier than the filter I had.....but is so much superior! I've had it about 3 weeks or so........ and I have to say I am very pleased with how clean the tank has looked since I have been using it.... It cost an arm and a leg, but I am interested in hearing about the other filters too...I have enough filters for the various tanks but it is always interesting to hear what people say about other products. Eventually I would like to improve on the filtration of the other tanks....what i have is adequate...but I would like better than adequate. Caryl? is there something faulty with your fluval? maybe 'they' would take it back? You say you are getting rid of it ...... as in not using it on another tank? Can't quite figure out why yours hasn't been working efficiently, as i have been so impressed with mine.

[Caryl]

It flows well for about three days then water drops to barely a trickle. It replaced my previous 404 which was fine but a bugger to clean as it took 2 of us to get the top off for cleaning and we had great difficulty getting the baskets apart (they twist and lock). When you don't have much strength and you husband has rheumatoid arthritis you need easy cleaning filters which is why we upgraded to the newer 404. Certainly easier to pull to bits for cleaning but that is all I can say for it. Grant is replacing it with the new Jebo 819 as I type. The Fluval will go onto the 3ft tank I set up for the rosy barbs as the small Shark internal isn't big enough to cope with the stocking level. Hope the noise of the Fluval doesn't annoy me too much as it is right beside my bed!

Returning it is not a possibility as I got it trade to start with from a person who no longer works for the company and it was 3 or 4 years ago :lol:

[beachy]

I think the fluval 404 is a great filter, quite well made. They can get noisy-ish as they get older, but the noise isnt anything really loud unless there is a problem.Turn over does slow down as they get dirty, but even with a lower turn over they still seem to do the job.I done away with the carbon and just filled all the compartments with ceramic noodles, that slowed the filter a bit, but it still kept my tank clean.I had 3 fluval 404's on my 6 foot tank and had no problems.So rather than one filter go for two smaller ones, then when you have to clean them, do them at different times,that way you will always have a filter that has sufficient bacteria.

You could always go for two bigger filters, budget permitting :lol:

[Bruce]

I am running a Fluval 404 on a 550L tank, absolutely no problems at all, good flow rates, even when the filter is dirty.

Yes you do get good flow rates on the Jebo as well, but at the end of the day you are paying for quality with the fluval. Eheim etc.

Another option is the Aqua One cannisters, not much more than the Jebos, and would stand a little more punishment

Bottom line, you get what you pay for

MTCW

/Bruce

[Caryl]

We just spent 3/4 of an hour trying to get the Fluval primed and running again. About standard. The Jebo you just turn it on and it goes. It will be interesting to see how the Jebo lasts as time goes on. The Fluval is only 3 or 4 years old.

[suphew]

I recon a lot of the trouble getting them started just comes down to luck, I was at a friends last night and watched him spend half an hour (then give up) trying to get a Jebo started. Where as I have my Fluvals on a shelf at the back of my stand and only have about 2 inches working space above them to pump the starter thing and never have much of a problem getting them going. Another friend with a ehiem always has problems getting it going. I'm not saying the Fluvals are better just that they all have the same problem.

What I do like about the fluvals is the way the water flows down one side then up the other which means you can remove all the machanical filters for cleaning without having to pull out all the biological media first, this alone puts them at the top of my list.