Vickie Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 I'm new to this site, I have had a browse and a few posts and thought I had better introduce myself. I got my first tropical fish aquarium when I was 12 and have been mad on fish ever since. I have had no tropical fish for the past 5 years as family commitments and work have kept me from commiting the time I like to put into my fish keeping hobbie. I have recently aquired a 2'x2'x2' aquarium and am now setting up for the fish of the amazon (previously I kept malawis with a lake malawi type set up), I am right into biotype setups as much as I and NZ/financial limitations allow me to. My Aquarium has gravel base and 2 large driftwood pieces, with fluval 404 filtration using sponges, prefilter, carbon, filterwool, and ceramic biomax on the top. I have live plants consisting of amazon sword varities and vallisneria to add height to the look of the tank. I have 1 x2' light towards rear of tank. I think I will need a better light amongst other things I need to get. Thanks for taking the time to read a little about me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LYNDYLOO Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 Hi Vickie, Welcome to the FNZAS Forums, Lots of wonderful people here, who are only to willing to share their knowledge of the wonderful hobby of Fishy Keeping Sounds like are looking forward to getting back into the swing of keeping Fish. Got to admit , who wouldn't be. Remember, never be afraid to ask any questions that you may have, however big or small, there will be someone here, that will be only too willing to give you advice. :roll: :roll: Good Luck with the new tank. :bounce: :bounce: Lynda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 Welcome Vickie. Good luck with the biotope. Is this to be a fast flowing Amazon or a settled bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted April 30, 2006 Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 hello *waves* best to ditch the carbon in your filter now, it really isnt all that helpful unless your removing medications and once its full (pretty quickly) it wil start leaching all that nasty stuff back into your beautiful tank :-? not to mention can mask any smells that youd want to fix, not cover up. just a heads up some people swear by it but i dont like pulling my filters apart every 2 weeks to change it over, you can always chuck some more bio media in or if you have very very soft water a bag of shellgrit to keep your ph stable its up to you if you want to keep it or not just have a read around some of the articles on the web and your right about having more light, im there myself right now :lol: luke posted a really good link a while back that i cant find now about how much light your tank needs, it was really interesting. it depends on how many L your tank is and what plants you want to grow. im weighing up multiple (4) fluros or one 150W metal halide and one fluro. im trying to get around 200W all up i think as i have a 220L tank but you have to add the lights on slowly, if you dump 150W worth of lights on ya tank i think you might get a algae bloom :lol: i was never into planted tanks before but now that i am theres SO much to learn hehe, a whole new world to fishkeeping, hope you enjoy planting your tank :bounce: hope to see ya more often 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Welcome along! I hope we can see photos of your set-up soon. That is quite a deep tank to light but I do like those cube tanks. MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted May 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Thanks all for your reply's, as soon as I get hold of a camera I will get some pics. i'm thinking of a relatively slow moving pool, with the filter I have there will be some movement but because of the depth of the tank in relation to the lengeth (being a cube) I think this would look and serve the fish the best, but I'm always open to suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi Welcome to this great site...you'll meat lots of great people who are always eager to help. Look forward to pics of your tank 8) Take care, Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidus Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 hi vickie welcome,this is a great site,very friendly and helpful hope to see some pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hey Vickie good choice, amazonian tanks look just awesome when fully kitted out with plants and beautiful colourful fish. That tank is quite a deep one, if you're willing to spend the extra, i would recommend metal halide lighting (if you really want to get your plants going), but the key is to find the balance of lighting, CO2 and ferts... Good luck and welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted May 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 where do you get that type of lighting from and is it a type of bulb that you are talking about or is it a whole lighting unit? how much money are we thinking of here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 trademe is a good place to look, other than that there are expensive units sold in pet shops. I personally was lucky enough to get a shop unit through my work. Metal halide bulbs are a very intense lighting and are much better than fluoros for deeper aquariums. It is a whole lighting unit, yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted May 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2006 Thanks for that, i will also try the plant shops we have a around, the hydroponic places, see what they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikel Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Welcome Vickie. I've just set up a new tank for Discus and as others have commented the lighting is crucial - I had all kind of funny algae problems until I got it sorted. I look forward to seeing some pickies of your tank. I have also gone for a bio filter using a fluval cannister and it works fine once the cycle is established. I used carbon for the first two weeks then replaced it with more bio media. I have previously found that apart from occasionally replacing the filter wool leaving the filter alone to do its thing is the best bet. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted June 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 my plants are still alive, I have lost some of the small amazon swards but they are re growing and the vallisneria is growing very well. There is now some really strange looking bright green blobby like algae growing on the top of the drift wood close to the surface of the water. The water chemistry is great. I even have baby lemon tetras, three of them so far that I have spotted, they came from out of nowhere however one of the babies is actually a lot bigger (perhaps older) than the other two babies. i did see eggs around but they went white and had fungus on them so i did nt think that there would be babies around, that was about a month ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted June 4, 2006 Report Share Posted June 4, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickie Posted September 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 I have had a bit of misfortune with my aquarium set up in the past month or so, firstly I had the heater (3 months old) burn out however due to me checking the finer details of my setup i noticed a drop in the temp of 1 degree at a time when the temp should have been constant, noticing that the thermastat light was not working. fortunatly i had a spare on hand and noticed this as quick as i did....... the next drama happened about a week after that when my house flooded from the washing machine malfuncitoning, i woke in the morning to find myself ankle deep in water. consequently my MDF stand that held me fish tank was swallen with water, thankfully the tank did not collapse the stand under the weight (approx 200kg). I had to move all of my fish (which was some challenge) into a smaller tank i use for quarentine. The fish are all alive and still in this small quarentine tank being filtered by my fluval canister filter (the big one). Fortunatley my insurence covered the tank stand and the loss adjuster suggested i replace it with a wooden one , so this week some time i am expecting a delivery of a really nice wooden stand with cupboards and shelves and a hood, I am so wrapped, what started as a month from hell turned out in my favour. :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Oh lord! and Woohoo! Congrats on new tank stand 8) Switched on Gardner sell digital heaters for ~$50 in varying wattages. If you dont mind spending the extra 20 its a good investment. Dont get ya hands wet adjusting, they're solid state (see: reliable) and the heater bit is metal so it wont crack on ya either. I know you fixed your heater problem a while ago, just thought I'd mention the SOG digitals, you're lucky it burned out tho, most of the time my old ones get stuck ON which is much worse Best of luck and good spotting on the one degree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Good save! :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 i highly reccomend stainless heaters, they are so much easier to adjust and seem to be a bit more accurate than my glass ones. i think SOG stocks the Aqua One brand (i thought i saw them on their ad on tv) which is for aquariums anyway, those are the ones i have and they seem to do the job properly. they are much cheaper than pet stores too i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 Yep, in pet stores they're $70+ish. SOG sells aquarium lights too, once again cheaper than any pet store I've seen. Also that reflective stuff for behind the lights, much much much cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustcooktea Posted September 19, 2006 Report Share Posted September 19, 2006 i think SOG stocks the Aqua One brand (i thought i saw them on their ad on tv) I don't see much TV. SOG? MCT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 Switched On Gardner, they're the hydroponics store, when growing 'tomatoes' for your 'uni-project' you want good lighting and heated water etc, so they have lots of stuff that is for or can be used for aquariums. http://www.sog.co.nz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bOi Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Welcome Vickie and all the best in your biotope Let us know how you're getting along. There are many nice people around here if you need help :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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