30 Gallon Newbie, Advice/suggestions more than appreciated.

[Stamper]

Hello all,

Some facts: 30 Gallon Tank, AquaClear 110 Filter (with powerhead canister on filter intake), gravel/black sand/fluval stratum substrate. DIY CO2 (powerhead diffusion). Cycling couple plants and some moss balls at the moment.

I just recently got into the hobby and may have gotten in a bit over my head. Long story short, I'm running a 30 gallon tank with an Aqua clear 110. Fearing the weight of the filter against the glass, I manufactured a wooden 2x4 platform secured to the base of my stand to support the filter. This posed the problem of the filter outtake. Doing some research on how to reduce output flow I came up with a PVC spraybar in attempts to fix this problem. Needless to say I still need to adjust the height of the filter but the spraybar works for the most part but there's still some current pushing the plants around.

I'm working on getting some dirftwood / rocks in there soon enough, maybe that'll help a bit.

My questions are:

Is there too much surface agitation / current in my tank at the moment?
Any suggestions to further cut output / input flow?
Should I look into fishes that thrive in turbulent currents?

Also, in terms of lighting Im running 2, 25W aqua glo's. Should I switch to 2 30W Marine Glo's I have kicking around? I'm trying to go for some decent plant growth. Cheers!

Halp!

 

[ScotJudd]

Hi.
I think that if you want less turbulence then you need to somehow lower the bar. However, by having a long bar like this causes an even turbulence, like a rolling effect in the water. What ever fish you get will be subject to this turbulence in all areas of the tank. It is my personal preference to have a more direct outlet jet, at the water level, creating areas of higher and lower turbulence. The fish will decide where they like best. This is not to say that you should have dead areas, just a little less work for the fish to swim in. I think that plants swaying in a gentle current looks good.
As for fish, larger flat sided fish don't appreciate too much turbulence. I keep Tetras and they love it. I put feed into the fast flowing water and they go for it like mad. This also stops the bullies claiming all the food if it's just floating on the surface.
Sometimes you just have to experiment to see what works for you best.
Fish keeping is like decorating or gardening, an on going project. Don't bust a gut for perfection in one go, let the tank develop.


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[ImACoolguy]

I agree you could lower it more towards the water. Honestly I have more flow than that on my 75g planted. I have a cascade 1000 canister(rated 100 gallons w/ spray bar) and a MarineLand penguin 350B HOB (rated 70 gallons). My fish don't mind the current and there is no dead spots. I run air stones on top of that.

It all depends on the fish. In that tank I have large black skirt tetras, cherry barbs and my dojo loach. Black skirts love it to death.


Caleb

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[Stamper]

Thanks for the replies guys, gonna lower the spray bar a bit and drop some driftwood in there, hopefully this'll press things out a bit,

cheers!

 

[keegster803]

You could get some darters, they are colorful bottom dwellers and love turbulence


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[Pseudomugil]

Black neon tetras, glow light danios, hill stream loaches, and bamboo/rock/flower shrimp all like a strong current.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Black neon tetras, glow light danios, hill stream loaches, and bamboo/rock/flower shrimp all like a strong current.

I had black neons once and they always hid near the heater. I had 5 of them and they were pretty but boring honestly. Go with loaches they are always fun and cool to watch.


Caleb

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[Pseudomugil]

Hill stream loaches are really cool. I used to have one before I knew they like a strong current.

 

[Stamper]

Thanks for the replies fellas, I decided to opt out of the spray bar and just lowered the filter to water level and plugged the output with a sponge, problem solved. Here's an updated picture with driftwood rocks, duckweed, etc!

Just dropped in 3 armano shrimps and 3 Siamese algae eaters, they're having a blast in here

Can armano's be mixed with other similar sized shrimps ?

Also, any tips to maybe rearrange some of the greens I got going in there?

Thanks

 

[Pseudomugil]

My amano shrimp never farred well with my ghost shrimp.

I would recommend some anubius nana for the front.

 

[Stamper]

Just a quick update, everything is looking good, so far this is what I got goin' on:

The fish count is as follows: 18 neons, 3 sword tails, 4 black mollies, 5 Siamese algae eaters, 4 dragon head guppies, 3 armano shrimps, 1 dwarf gourami,

Got some java moss and other foliage goon' on as well. Hope everything will work out