Some final questions before fish

[Broke EF]

So I am still trying to decide a couple of things.

1. Should I go with RO, or maybe partial RO water?

I live in a smaller apartment and I don't have any room for water storage. If I do 50% water changes, rounded up I would need 25 gallons of water. On a 75 GPD unit that would take 8 hours to produce. So filling directly into the tank is not really a feasible idea IMO. I was thinking of maybe mixing in 5 gallons of RO water with my tap water during my weekly water changes. I could make 5 gallons in a little more than an hour and a half which isn't bad at all. Is mixing only 5 gallons a week in really going to be beneficial to my tank?

2. What does everyone think about the Marineland Double bright LED fixture?

I am thinking of going partly planted, and I was interested in upgrading my light anyway. Just looking for some opinion on this one.

3. What substraight should I use in the planted area?

Also just to verify, I would be able to use about 1" of plant substraight, and then say 1/2" of my sand on top to keep it all looking the same?

4. What are some low light, low maintenance plants I should get?

What I mean by low maintenance is I do not want to be trimming them all of the time. I am not into gardening, and I don't want to start I know that the plants are very beneficial to my tank, and that the fish will really appreciate them (especially the Panda's), and that is why I am considering them.

5. Thoughts on inline heaters?

I am looking at the Hydor 200 (or 300) watt inline heater since I have a canister filter now. Reviews seem generally positive, but more input is better!

Thanks again everyone, I look forward to some answers so I can start getting everything together.


Sean

 

[Gboy66]

So I am still trying to decide a couple of things.

1. Should I go with RO, or maybe partial RO water?

I live in a smaller apartment and I don't have any room for water storage. If I do 50% water changes, rounded up I would need 25 gallons of water. On a 75 GPD unit that would take 8 hours to produce. So filling directly into the tank is not really a feasible idea IMO. I was thinking of maybe mixing in 5 gallons of RO water with my tap water during my weekly water changes. I could make 5 gallons in a little more than an hour and a half which isn't bad at all. Is mixing only 5 gallons a week in really going to be beneficial to my tank?

2. What does everyone think about the Marineland Double bright LED fixture?

I am thinking of going partly planted, and I was interested in upgrading my light anyway. Just looking for some opinion on this one.

3. What substraight should I use in the planted area?

Also just to verify, I would be able to use about 1" of plant substraight, and then say 1/2" of my sand on top to keep it all looking the same?

4. What are some low light, low maintenance plants I should get?

What I mean by low maintenance is I do not want to be trimming them all of the time. I am not into gardening, and I don't want to start I know that the plants are very beneficial to my tank, and that the fish will really appreciate them (especially the Panda's), and that is why I am considering them.

5. Thoughts on inline heaters?

I am looking at the Hydor 200 (or 300) watt inline heater since I have a canister filter now. Reviews seem generally positive, but more input is better!

Thanks again everyone, I look forward to some answers so I can start getting everything together.

Sean

RO isnt necessary at all. If you want to lower your PH, ok. But then you would have to add additives to the ro water. Just go tap, i highly doubt thats why your fish are dieing.

That light seems good enough, i dont have any other suggestions!

For a planted tank, go eco complete. It is great and plants love it.

Some low light plants are hornwort, wisteria, java fern, java moss, anubias, jungle val, swords, and many more.

Trimming is very easy. I suggest you dont just go with slow growers, but fast growers and floaters like hornwort that suck up excess nitrates in the water. The fish will REALLY appreciate that!!

 

[Hholly]

I have that light. I like it ok. But it's not great for plant growth. Mine are growing, but very slowly. I keep anachris, swords, moneywort, dwarf babies' tears, anubias, etc. I've heard wisteria is a good one for low light.

 

[Broke EF]

Thanks guys!

I was thinking that I wouldn't have to dose the RO water if I was mixing it with the tap water in that low of a concentration. I really don't know enough about it though, which is why I am asking. Really RO for me is going to be a pain in the ***, so maybe I will skip it for now.

Hholly, can you post up a picture of your tank with the light? If you could go back would you have gotten that light, or a 2 bulb T5 HO fixture? I have found both for right around $100, I just like the look of the LED fixture better.


Sean

 

[Hholly]

Here's my tank with the Doublebright.








The 3 largest upright plants in the back, in the pics are fake. But it definitely does grow some. The moon light feature is nice too. But I'm not sure if the fish colors would be more vibrant with a fluorescent or not. If I knew which would enhance the fish, I would go with that.

 

[Broke EF]

Thanks for the pics Hholly! Your tank looks great, but I think I am back to the T5's. Like you said I want my fish to really pop, and I have color options with T5 that can make that happen. I am thinking just a 2 bulb Coarlife T5 H.O. should do it.

Sean

 

[Broke EF]

Kind of strange, I just tested my tank and had some ammonia?! I have never shown ammonia before, it was probably less than .25ppm, but defiantly something. I did a 40-50% water change to be on the safe side. I also noticed that the tank is looking more clear today than it has. Looks real nice after the water change

Now its time to go work on the race car!

Sean

 

[Broke EF]

We had a decent snow storm out here today, so it was a while before I left for the weekend. I decided to pull out the Aqueon 55/75 HOB filter real quick. I tossed the filter pads (already have one old one in my fluval to help seed) took it all apart and ran it through the dishwasher to clean it up. The tank looks a lot nicer without the bog ol HOB on it. And for those of you wondering, I already have the black intake and discharge pieces for the fluval

Sean

 

[Broke EF]

I came home to a crystal clear tank today!!! WOO HOO Ill try and snap a pic before I leave today.

Sean

 

[Hholly]

Yay! Did any fish survive the mysterious illness?

 

[Gboy66]

I came home to a crystal clear tank today!!! WOO HOO Ill try and snap a pic before I leave today.

Sean

Yeah!!! How many fish are left??

 

[Broke EF]

I still have some survivors. I have the following left.

2 x Lemon Tetra
7 x Diamond Tetra
6 x Panda Cory
1 x Starlight Pleco

One of the Lemons was looking pretty bad for a while, but it was swimming around a lot today. It is still very pale, but at least its moving around the tank more. I have been nailing down the equipment for the rebuild, but my car has been sucking up all of my money. So I will keep on planning, and keeping an eye on everything.


Sean

 

[Broke EF]

Here is a quick pic of the tank from tonight

Sean

 

[Hholly]

Looks good! I'm glad some fish survived.

 

[Broke EF]

Well, time to update and start asking questions again! The one Lemon tetra that was so-so finally died. But no deaths in the tank for a long time now, so that is good! I hadn't seen my pleco for so long that I assumed it died. The other day I picked up my drift wood and out he came! I was glad he is still alive, just apparently very shy. My fish all seem really healthy, but they don't seem to have grown much if at all. I am not really sure how quick they should be growing, but I defiantly expected more from the pleco. Would that be related to feeding? I try to feed them a reasonable amount of food, and dont over feed for sure. I also stave them one day a week. I have been giving them a good mix of foods as well. So now on to some questions!!!

1. Should I get another pleco? And if I were to do so, would it help make my current one less shy?
2. I want to add in more Lemon tetras to balance them back out (the one seems OK with the Diamonds for friends so far) Should I add them in before any other fish?

That's all I can think of right now (I thought I had more) so I guess we will start there. I still need to do a big update on my tank, and I have a lot of the parts, but it has been on the back burner for sure.


Thanks,
Sean

 

[boadams87]

Well, time to update and start asking questions again! The one Lemon tetra that was so-so finally died. But no deaths in the tank for a long time now, so that is good! I hadn't seen my pleco for so long that I assumed it died. The other day I picked up my drift wood and out he came! I was glad he is still alive, just apparently very shy. My fish all seem really healthy, but they don't seem to have grown much if at all. I am not really sure how quick they should be growing, but I defiantly expected more from the pleco. Would that be related to feeding? I try to feed them a reasonable amount of food, and dont over feed for sure. I also stave them one day a week. I have been giving them a good mix of foods as well. So now on to some questions!!!

1. Should I get another pleco? And if I were to do so, would it help make my current one less shy?
2. I want to add in more Lemon tetras to balance them back out (the one seems OK with the Diamonds for friends so far) Should I add them in before any other fish?

That's all I can think of right now (I thought I had more) so I guess we will start there. I still need to do a big update on my tank, and I have a lot of the parts, but it has been on the back burner for sure.

Thanks,
Sean

Are you giving him other kinds of food like cucumbers, zucchini, green beans?

 

[Broke EF]

I have given him Zuchini a couple of times (planning on giving him some tonight) and I also feed sinking veggie pellets.

Sean