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Smidge

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 9, 2007
Messages
62
Hi guys,

I've just gained myself a brand new 57g (Juwel Vision 260). I have some fish in my 10g which i'd like to transfer but i have some questions and also some things i'd like to get your opinions on, oh oracles of freshwater aquatics...

I'd like to go for a sand-like substrate (black hopefully) but what kind of vac would i need for this? I ask because i was wondering, would the gravel vac not just suck out all of the sand?

Second thing, when i've done a fishless cycle in the past i've always used fish food to start off the ammonia. I intent to add a mssive load of media from my 10g to help with this cycle but would adding the food as apposed to some kind of prawn be ok?

Also i'd like to get some impressive lighting for the tank, any ideas as to what i could get?

And here's the fun bit. As i said in the beginning, i already have some fish to go in the tank. They are as follows:

2 x Platy
4 x Columbian Blue Fin Tetra
1 x Fan Tailed Guppy
4x Zebra/Leopard Danio

What would you add?
 
Tahitian Moon Sand is black. You can use a regular gravel vac, but you won't be sticking it down into to the sand. You'll just lightly siphon it from the top by holding the siphon far away enough to avoid sucking up the sand but close enough to get all the junk up. You won't get a whole lot of debris that settles below the surface of the sand, so no worries.

For lighting, I like compact flourescents. I use Coralife Aqualights on 2 of my tanks. One has moonlight LEDs, which is wicked cool. There's lots of wattage options, but if you're not going planted then you can stay under 2 wpg. It's still more than regular stock lighting, but also reasonably affordable. An actinic bulb and a 10000K bulb would be some pretty lighting, similar to what's on marine tanks. It's a cool white and it brings out fish colors very well.

The raw shrimp will produce a lot more ammonia to get you started. Food is ok, but you'll waste a lot to cycle such a big tank. Personally, if it were me, I don't think I'd worry about cycling too much. You're not starting from scratch. You already have established media, and your fish would be a pretty low bioload to start the tank with. I'd just run the media, introduce the fish you have now but don't feed for a little bit, and watch my water parameters. But if you're not going to listen to me (and you probably shouldn't :)) just go out and buy a raw shrimp. It'll cost you 50 cents.

Fish:
More male guppies
Dwarf cichlid pair
Dwarf pleco
Oooh, farlowella
 
Let me see if I can address some of your questions...

Smidge said:
I've just gained myself a brand new 57g (Juwel Vision 260).

Well, first off, congrats on the new tank!


Smidge said:
I'd like to go for a sand-like substrate (black hopefully) but what kind of vac would i need for this? I ask because i was wondering, would the gravel vac not just suck out all of the sand?

Generally, a lot of us on here have pfs (pool filter sand), which is generally a white/tan color. I use a python to "gravel vac" my tank. For the most part, the poo/detritus just stays on top of the sand, so you just need to hover the vac over the sand a little and it will suck up the junk. If I get a little agressive, the vac may grab some sand, but generally the suction is not so great that the sand won't just fall back out. and a python has a much greater suction than simply a syphon on a normal gravel vac. To answer your question, pretty much any gravel vac will work, it is just a matter of how much you want to spend.

Smidge said:
Second thing, when i've done a fishless cycle in the past i've always used fish food to start off the ammonia. I intent to add a mssive load of media from my 10g to help with this cycle but would adding the food as apposed to some kind of prawn be ok?

If you are adding a massive load of media, and not adding any fish right away (other than your current fish), you probably shouldn't need to do a fishless cycle. Maybe a little clarification here - are you transitioning your filter, heater, decorations, etc to the new tank? If not, then when you fishless cycle, the most popular recommendation is to just add pure ammonia to the tank (instead of prawn or fish food), since that will provide the best results. The other thing you can do is buy bio-spira to "instant" cycle your tank. Unfortunately, it is pretty expensive, hard to find, and it would seem that 1 out of 4 (estimate) fail due to faulty shipping (the bio-spira cannot warm up at all before being placed in the tank, or the bacteria in the pouch will die off, rendering it useless). I have used it successfully, so I am an advocate.

Smidge said:
Also i'd like to get some impressive lighting for the tank, any ideas as to what i could get?

I don't know the size of your tank, but there is probably a nice coralife compact flourescent fixture available for it, or T8 bulbs - are you thinking to add lighting so that you can grow plants, or are you more concerned with the coloring "look" of the tank? Even if you just use normal T12 flourescents, they come in a variety of "colors" at Home Depot, each giving your tank a different "look". If you want to grow some plants, you will probably need to move beyond T12 flourescents, to at least T8's, if not into CF bulbs to get the higher wattage.

Smidge said:
And here's the fun bit. As i said in the beginning, i already have some fish to go in the tank. They are as follows:

2 x Platy
4 x Columbian Blue Fin Tetra
1 x Fan Tailed Guppy
4x Zebra/Leopard Danio

What would you add?

Holy smokes, you got some room to work with - myself, I love the rainbows, and you have a bunch of room for many of them. If not, you can increase the size of your schools and add some other community fish. You will probably want to add some bottom dwellers such as a BN pleco and/or cory cats and/or loaches (yo yo's are a fun choice as well as clown loaches, but they get big). There are so many possibilities in that tank, it's very hard to make a good recommendation. Unless you know specifically what you want, I would go to some LFS and see what they have in stock, write down the names of any fish that catch your eye, and then go home a research them. I wouldn't impulse buy fish unless you know that they will be ok with your other residents (aka, I wouldn't buy a fin nipper knowing that you have a fan-tail guppy in the tank - an example of this would be a tiger barb). Good luck and post some pics once the tank is up!
 
Thanks guys. I don't intend to have live plants just now, the fake ones will do me until i am brave enough to tackle that one!!

In terms of lighting, it's the look i'm going for in terms of aesthetics and being able to see the fish, ie clarity

I think i have the cycling thing sorted now so thanks for that

and the thing about what fish would you add was meant to be a bit of fun for you guys. It's great to have such a blank canvas to work with and i'm really looking forward to filling it up but i wanted to see what you guys would suggest given such free rein.
 
you can't go wrong by buying a baby clown loach or 2, by the time they ever grew into a bigger tank you could have a reason to get a bigger tank lol other wise a school of danios, mollies, neons, platys, some corys, a red tail shark ( my favorite ) the list is endless on what you could put in there, defintly try some live plants though, I was weary of it at first, but man what a difference they make to a well thought out tank
 
Another benefit I have found to live plants is that the tank seems much more happy for them being in there. The fish seem to enjoy the knowledge that there are many hiding spots, and my tank just seems to be healthier.

Also, plants grow, so your tank always looks a little different. I find that very exciting since I get bored of the same plastic pot, or the same plant in the same place all the time.

I was a little hesitant when I first got plants, but now I love them :D
 
Hold everything! You can seed your new tank with media from your old tank! That'll keep you from needing fish food, raw shrimp, etc.

As for plants, you cannot go wrong with that idea. Your tank size is unusual so you can try to provide the dimensions (goes a long way to determine the light levels needed).

Yep, don't mind adding my paint brush to your new "canvas".
 
Great. Well it's bow fronted for a start. The dimensions are:

121 x 46 x 64cm

Hope that helps, i'm interested in hearing your suggestions!
 
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