Lt.'s 45 gallon freshwater build

[Lt.]

Well, I'm 25% done, I've got my filter, heater, gravel, and tank&stand. I'm gonna get plants, artificial, next. Then I'll move over the fish from my 20 gal. I think I'll look for some drift wood by a nearby by river as well. I plan to stock with: 12 neon tetra, 10 cories, 10 marbled hatchet fish, 6 Australian Rainbow fish, 12 Rummy nose tetra, and 6 glass catfish.

 

[Lt.]

My progress so far.

 

[Lt.]

Woo hoo! Ordered decor tonight!!

 

[librarygirl]

Looks good! You might want to re-think some of your stock; you'll be about 50% overstocked with all of those fish. You might want to lessen some of the schooling numbers and maybe remove one school entirely. Also be careful with the Spotted Blue Eye Rainbows; make sure you get at least 2-3 females per male, or the males will stress the females to death (this happened to me; I started with 8 and I now have 2 males left).

Also what filter do you have? Unless it's a massive HOB filter I'd suggest a canister for a tank of that size. An Eheim 2215 would do nicely.

 

[Lt.]

Yeah, I've decided not to get Rummy noses, or plecos, and to to just up my neons a little, and I might not maybe the glass catfish, I'm not sure thought cause their cool looking.

 

[Lt.]

Ok, so I have a used 200 watt heater that doesn't seem to be working. 2 questions:
1-if the heater is working, shouldn't if feel hot to the touch??
2-I have a 100 watt heater that I could use. My tank is in a VERY warm room,I in fact the warmest room of my house. And its also above a heat vent. So would a 100 heater be ok under these conditions? The tank is a 45, same as a standard 55 but three inches inches shorter, and I want the temp at a steady 78 degrees.

 

[nereksnad]

greetings.

yes, i am quite sure a working heater sould feel warm. but since it appears you have no fish, i'd say just crank up the heater and see if the water gets warmer.

i have a semi-old heater and the termostat on it (where you chose temp) is off by some degrees. another thing is that some heaters have to be positioned correctly, if not they won't turn on as a safety precaution.

 

[Lt.]

There were no instructions, just a heater, and it feels warm, but I mean HOT, as PAINFUL to the touch.

 

[nereksnad]

when you grab your hand around the heater you block out the flow of water and all the heat emitted into the glass is transmitted directly to your fingers.

atleast it would appear to work now, it is probably wise to place it downstream of a filter or powerhead.