What can I have/What do I need? Low maintenance

[GuOD]

Hi everyone,

I just started into Aquariums Nov1 2006 and don't know much about it at all. Anyway, I've started a reef tank and know lots about SW... but I don't know anything about FW.

I'm looking for something that's fairly low maintenace (my main concern will be my 150g reef tank) so I'm thinking it will probably be a peaceful community tank.

The tank is 4x2x2 and the lighting is 260W PC dual daylight and dual actinic. I think actinic is only for SW so I may need to switch that?

I was wondering what sort of filter I should get? I had a Fluval Fx5 but it was horrible with microbubbles. I'd like something really reliable that can handle 120g with little/no maintenance.

I also wondered what type of fish/plants (if plants make things easier) I could keep. I was thinking small neon tetras.. and i don't really know any others!



My roommate did have a clownfish and ropefish/eel at one point which we enjoyed. The clwonfish was annoying to feed though.

Would ropefish be easy to keep? I also like those litle catfish type things that are white/back spotted.

 

[GuOD]

bump

 

[locorosa]

Well hey there,

I am running a Fluvall 404 on a 92 gallon all by itself (until I replenish the cash stash) and so far so good.
Since you want to avoid them I'd think the Enheim canister would be the way to go. I've heard good things about them and they seem to be reliable. Keep in mind, this is from what I have read, not experience. I had mine turned up all the way and had the same issues, plus a hard current in the tank. Since turning it down the water looks much better and my fat goldies are much happier.
I believe the spotted catfish-ish animal you are talking about is a Pleco. They are pretty neat and come in quite a variety of sizes and colors. If you have time, check out the Mango species...beautiful fish and in a 120 gallon, they'd have plenty of room. I am sure there are more experts here that can give you some advice on them. I know they like wood to chew on so some driftwood in the tank is a must.
If you go planted, that will help a little with water maintenance but as far as I know, it depends on what you filter with and what you stock. If I were you ask specific questions as you find something that interests you ie: filters, fish, plants, chemicals...etc

Welcome to freshwater from newb to another

 

[7Enigma]

If you're looking for low maintainence, don't plant. Or at least use very slow growers. Also stick with less lighting (the 50/50 bulbs you have or take some out). High lighting with fast growing plants and fertilizer dosing and pressurized CO2 are very time consuming tanks that can rival SW setups, but require a lot of work to start and keep looking good.

With your size tank the sky is the limit. You can essentially house everything that is sold in a fish store (minus possibly a super-large common pleco, and the frequently sold bala shark that has no business being in an aquarium IMO in the first place). Take a look around and browse people's profiles and photographs. Once you find your favorite fish, then you get to find out what they are compatible with. If your looking for a community tank I would stay away from aggressive and semi-aggressive fish IMO. Things like cichlids and tiger barbs are probably not going to create a peaceful environment, even with your large tank.

Probably like SW, you can have a large tank with several large fish, or have a huge school of smaller fish, its all personal preference.

 

[Purrbox]

If you're interested in planting the tank, I recommend that you take a look at the Plant Forum. There's a sticky with links to lots of information on planted tanks. Specific questions reguarding plants will get a lot better response there as well.

Actinic light is all but useless to plants. This doesn't mean that you should necessarily replace your dual actinic bulbs with daylight bulbs though. With your current lighting you've probably got a low to medium low light tank. You've got some plant options that will be easy to care for. If you replace the bulb your tank will be bumped into the medium to medium high light range, at which point you need to be looking into CO2, ferts, and more maintenance in general. You'd have more plant options, but more work as well.

Now if you decide that you don't want to plant the tank, I'd recommend getting a standard light fixture for the tank. Otherwise you've got enough light that you could be running into algae problems since you wouldn't have the plants to make use of the lighting.

 

[Jchillin]

Sorry, having a bit of trouble with equating a 120g tank and "little or no maintenance". I'd give my right arm to have your problem.

Since no one mentioned it yet, here is another option which may suit you. An ARLC (African Rift Lake Cichlid) tank. You have the perfect size to accomodate such a tank. I'm not an ARLC person but there are quite a few here. The other good thing about it is it requires a high ph (which you are obviously already familiar with) and rocks (also a known quantity).

 

[GuOD]

Sorry, having a bit of trouble with equating a 120g tank and "little or no maintenance". I'd give my right arm to have your problem.

Since no one mentioned it yet, here is another option which may suit you. An ARLC (African Rift Lake Cichlid) tank. You have the perfect size to accomodate such a tank. I'm not an ARLC person but there are quite a few here. The other good thing about it is it requires a high ph (which you are obviously already familiar with) and rocks (also a known quantity).

funny you should mention that... the reason I got this tank was to do a cichlid setup! Before I had a chance to get started my friend convinced me to do salt water! i was going to do lake malawi cichlids but i hadn't fully decided yet anyway.

the only thing i know about PH is that I point my powerheads to the top to make it work I don't think FW tanks can have PW so i'd just point the filter output up.

I figured if I had a bunch of little neon tetras, some corys, small gouramis, rainbows, I could feed every other day or less and have really low water maintenance.

Here is a picture of the tank as it is now btw:

http://www.pbase.com/guod/aquarium

 

[RoK]

Check out the Rena Filstar XP4 canister filter. I have an XP3, it is quiet and has a flow control knob if you want to limit bubbles (not sure if the Fluvals do).

The fish you want should be fine, except the neon tetras (depending what species of rainbow(s) you want). Many of the larger types of rainbows would probably eat the neons.
Honey gouramis (Colisa chuna) are peaceful and small.
Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalia) are best kept 1 male gourami per tank or a ratio of about 3 females per male. However, it is usually quite difficult to find female dwarf gouramis for sale.
Nearly any type of rainbow, cory, and small types of gourami should be fine together.

 

[Jchillin]

the only thing i know about PH is that I point my powerheads to the top to make it work Smile I don't think FW tanks can have PW so i'd just point the filter output up.

Whoops...my reference to ph was measurement of hydrogen ions (acidity/alkalinity) of your water, not having a powerhead.

Well, since you were already prepared for the cichlid tank, you may as well go for it.

 

[Idealconcepts]

GuOD - for filtration I recommend 2 Rena XP3. Depending on your bio-load you can get way with cleaning the filters every 1mont to 3months. I have 2 on my 135 with about 30 Malawi Cichlids and 60 Fry. Also if you go sand these filters have the pump at the end of filtering so that would be a problem, just keep the intakes 6-8 inches from the bottom to prevent sand getting into the intakes.

Also for eash maintenance go with PFS and don't plant.

You have a good wide tank, get a couple large peacefull cichlids, maybe 2 oscars, a couple Chocalate Cichlids, 4-5 Severums. It you want a wet pet get a high grade Flowerhorn or Midas.