Jazz Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 hi guys, please bear with me as I ask the usual bunch of newbie questions I've inherited my brothers tank setup, after about a year he got sick of it and passed it onto me. I kept tanks for years while I was at uni and just out, but not for a while now. The tank is approx. 36x15x18 inch, its in a rimu cabinet with a hood, a twin-tube light setup, a eheim 2213 external filter and a heater , unknown wattage as its all still boxed up in my garage. Now questions The light has 1 "fish" tube and 1 "plant" tube, I assume he's talking colour or wavelength, at a year old I will replace both of them. What worries me is that the tubes are only 2 foot long, there is a sizeable unlit gap at each end when it sits on the tank. Is this usual? I would have thought that it would have led to dark parts of the tank where growing plants would be difficult. Is the Eheim filter suitable for the tank on its own or is other filtration needed? I'm leaning towards a well planted tank with a reasonable number of basic schooling fish, danios, corys and anything else that will survive my best-intentions. Can I get dark graval or sand in Auckland? It came with a few kilos of light stuff that comes from the pet store and I don't particularly like it. Can anyone suggest a good aquatic store in West auckland or Auckland in general? Years ago I used to mix a red substance ?laterite? into the graval, is this still usual? Or has it been replaced by a more techno trendy substance? i've been doing a lot of reading over the last week, and my brain is overloaded, please mention anything you think I need to know, that I might have not inquired about. I intend to setup and plant the tank, and then add some of that "cycle" stuff and forget about it for a few weeks, will that suffice to break in the tank? many thanks, Jazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Welcome back what you have got will do you for now and will work Laterite is still used today and those that are into their plants still use it. A good source for gravel is Stone and Water World on Marua Rd, Ellerslie Good fish shops are: Hollywood Fish Farm, Frost Rd, Mt Roskill Jansens, Mt Eden Rd, Three Kings Bird Barn, Lincoln Rd, Henderson Massey Pets, Don Buck Rd, Massey Pupuke Aquarium, Lake Rd, northcote. Jansens, Ti Rakau Dr, Botany With regards to cycling... yes you are on the right track Jansens, Porana Rd, Glenfield Goldfish Pagoda, Cascades Rd, Pakuranga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monaro1 Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 try a few platies or simular to help cycle the tank. as for dark stones, you can get black stones with a mix of broken shells for about $12 a stevensons 20kg bag. it sounds like you have all the gear,just add water and mts is on the way wok i bet you know all the phone numbers by heart as well,but you missed one or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Thanks for your replies guys, the heater is a Tronic 200w, made in italy thing, this should suffice, but i gather I should get another as a backup? Also will the light work in a 3 foot tank, I went and unpacked it, its definately got 2 foot tubes in there while the tank is 3 foot, the tubes are a life-glo and an aqua-glo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 the 2ft lights will be sufficient for your 3ft tank. Monaro... I red his first post and wanted places in central or out west. so I stopped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluetom Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Brightwater from stone and water world in ellislie is what i just got. It is dark brown colour. $12 for 25L bag, ( one would do your tank) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Brightwater from stone and water world in ellislie is what i just got. It is dark brown colour. $12 for 25L bag, ( one would do your tank) Thank you Bluetom, I've read the name in other posts, I'll go have a look and see what it is...also read about people mixing it with fruitsalad? Talk about each hobby or clique having its own language Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Also found a 5w UV light thing in one of the boxes, it has a busted bulb, is it worth replacing and setting up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 No not worth fixing now, but hold onto it. UV is used to kill bugs and algae etc, but most ppl dont run them. Just keep it incase you have a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 Cool, sounds better than nuking the tank with chemicals, just found out the bulb is worth $50 or so, holding off means more plants Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted December 8, 2005 Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 HAve you done plently of research on setting up a planted tank. I strongly suggest you do, if you do things right now at setup it will save you heaps later on in chemical fertisers etc. The most important thing is to get your substrate and lights right, the lights I guess you can upgrade later but if you dont get the substrate right it is impossible to fix. I used Dultons Aquadic Clay mixed in with my gravel and also a few handfuls of peat but this was because I was keeping discus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 8, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2005 I used to mix laterite into the substrate, with a good thick layer of gravel overall, I've played with CO2 before, but at the moment can't be bothered worrying about all the other things it influences. I'll try for a balanced planted tank and then add some community fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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