Somersethoops
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I'm new here, but have been encouraged to start a thread and as I have my first tank currently cycling with some plants and no fish yet There is a limit to what I can offer.
I now have what here in the UK is called A Marina aqua view 87 litre. In America Its a Fluval 23 gallon with the curved glass front edges. So while I was at my place in France I've been thinking about setting up my tank (this is before I even Had it) and went to Bricomarche where they had what they called aquarium sand although it was mostly very fine gravel silica etc. and was just the look I wanted, so I bought a 12 kilogram bag of Zolux Aquasand. They also had some Zolux mangrove roots that I couldn't resist so bought 2 of those and brought them back home. When home I knew I couldn't set up a tank as the place it is intended for was in process of being changed by our local builders. Anyway once home straight onto the internet to find the tank I wanted which as its going to be in our hall had to have my wife's approval. So I ordered it from Complete Aquatics in Blackburn Lancashire complete with a very nice looking "oak" stand (£210 delivered which was cheaper than the Amazon price without the stand). it arrived undamaged and in good time, but before I could set it up because the building work continued. When the building work was finished it became clear that the stand wouldn't work in the space where it was going, which was better suited to an oak sideboard we had already. I just used the top from the stand underneath the tank on top of the sideboard.
So on to substrate; I wanted a planted tank and thought some plant friendly base substrate would be required and went to Maidenhead Aquatics (between Taunton And Wellington). There I bought my 4 shubunkins and 4 goldfish and some more plants for the pond and bought 5 kilos of Tetra Complete Substrate, which is not really complete as it needs a substantial layer of gravel or similar on top. That was ideal for my Aquasand to cover it. Tetra said it was for a 120 litre tank, but I put it all in straight out of the tub. I evened it out as I had no planting plan and looked at the Aquasand. On the plastic bag it said it had to be rinsed which was quite a job. I put in a bucket to a depth of about 2 inches and in 5 batches rinsed each one 4 times with clean tap water. Even after that the water wasn't absolutely clear but I guessed it was probably clean enough. Anyway I carefully added it to the tank sloping it slightly to the back.
I had a false rock/fish cave bought at a fish research visit to Maidenhead Aquatics and put that and the mango root in (after rinsing them all in clean water). The false rock thing was quite handy as it had a flat top surface ideal for diffusing water into the tank. I used my wife's one litre measuring jug and added water one litre at a time after about 5 litres I added 5ml of Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe Plus which should be ok for about half the tank.
Anyway I've rambled enough and need to get back to doing some work. There are so many things I want to discuss and could perhaps later talk about planting and cycling and the slightly worrying levels of lead and copper in our tap water, but that might be for another time.
I now have what here in the UK is called A Marina aqua view 87 litre. In America Its a Fluval 23 gallon with the curved glass front edges. So while I was at my place in France I've been thinking about setting up my tank (this is before I even Had it) and went to Bricomarche where they had what they called aquarium sand although it was mostly very fine gravel silica etc. and was just the look I wanted, so I bought a 12 kilogram bag of Zolux Aquasand. They also had some Zolux mangrove roots that I couldn't resist so bought 2 of those and brought them back home. When home I knew I couldn't set up a tank as the place it is intended for was in process of being changed by our local builders. Anyway once home straight onto the internet to find the tank I wanted which as its going to be in our hall had to have my wife's approval. So I ordered it from Complete Aquatics in Blackburn Lancashire complete with a very nice looking "oak" stand (£210 delivered which was cheaper than the Amazon price without the stand). it arrived undamaged and in good time, but before I could set it up because the building work continued. When the building work was finished it became clear that the stand wouldn't work in the space where it was going, which was better suited to an oak sideboard we had already. I just used the top from the stand underneath the tank on top of the sideboard.
So on to substrate; I wanted a planted tank and thought some plant friendly base substrate would be required and went to Maidenhead Aquatics (between Taunton And Wellington). There I bought my 4 shubunkins and 4 goldfish and some more plants for the pond and bought 5 kilos of Tetra Complete Substrate, which is not really complete as it needs a substantial layer of gravel or similar on top. That was ideal for my Aquasand to cover it. Tetra said it was for a 120 litre tank, but I put it all in straight out of the tub. I evened it out as I had no planting plan and looked at the Aquasand. On the plastic bag it said it had to be rinsed which was quite a job. I put in a bucket to a depth of about 2 inches and in 5 batches rinsed each one 4 times with clean tap water. Even after that the water wasn't absolutely clear but I guessed it was probably clean enough. Anyway I carefully added it to the tank sloping it slightly to the back.
I had a false rock/fish cave bought at a fish research visit to Maidenhead Aquatics and put that and the mango root in (after rinsing them all in clean water). The false rock thing was quite handy as it had a flat top surface ideal for diffusing water into the tank. I used my wife's one litre measuring jug and added water one litre at a time after about 5 litres I added 5ml of Interpet Bioactive Tapsafe Plus which should be ok for about half the tank.
Anyway I've rambled enough and need to get back to doing some work. There are so many things I want to discuss and could perhaps later talk about planting and cycling and the slightly worrying levels of lead and copper in our tap water, but that might be for another time.
