My new tank

Hi,

At last I'm just finishing setting up my tank, after have been abandoned for
about two years. It have been messier than expected, but was worth the
effort :)

So as my presentation to the group I wanted to describe the set up waiting
for your comments / corrections / advices, I'm almost sure I have commited
some errors.

I'ts a 240 l tank, with a substrate of 7 - 10 cm of black quartz, 2 big
roots with great hidden places for shy fishes, 5 rocks between 10 - 20 cm
width each one, an EHEIM filter of 400 l / h (6 years old) and a 100 W
heater.

The tank is running for 3 weeks now. I had to hurry up becouse my nieces
gived me 4 kois (I'm not sure the exact species, but they're cold water
fishes for sure) that had to stay for 2 days in a tapperware of about 2 l of
cappacity.

As soon as I had the filter running and chlorine removed, moved the 4 fishes
on and had survived very well (they are very tough), I think they must
helped to accelerate in some ammount the cycling of the tank.

A week later I brought in the first pack of plants:

Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
Echinodorus Rubra Lucanas
Acorus gramineus
Samolus valerandi
Aponogeton ulvaceus
Samolus valerandi
Anubias barteri
Hemigraphis colorata
Ambulia Sessiliflora

During the first two weeks, the tank wasn't well lighted, because the old
set-up consisted on two 30 watt tubes very aged (more than 18 months). Now I
have a home made new lighting system with 4 x 36 Watt tubes (2 1000 ºk and 2
Gro Lux).

Some of the plants haven't done very well with old light, and some others
have been bitten by the cois, but all of them are recovering really fast
since the new tubes went on.

The actual fish population is the following:

4 kois? (I have become fond of them ;)
10 neon tetras
2 Angelfish
2 Black Ghosts
2 female Betta Splendes

I think it would ver very logical to remove the 4 kois, but I need first to
know the cons of maintaining them on the tank (they seem to do very well,
are very acctive, have very intense colors and are allways hungry).

My plans are to add one ancistrus, a Male Betta Splendes and a pair of Blue
Gouramis. I know I'm mixing hard water fishes with soft water ones, but I
believe the tap water in my city is neutral to soft and all species will do
well.

In case I had to forget the bettas / gouramis, what species would you
recommend to complete the tank?

Ok, I think it's enough for the first mail, in following messages I will
continue to describe the details of the tank. Will appreciate any comment /
advice / etc that could help to achieve success and improve the tank.

Sincerly,

Joseph John

Ps: sorry for my bad English, hadn't practiced it for years ;)

"José Fdez" <j.fdez.TakeThisOut@telefonica.net> wrote in message
news:bg0ugd$rtr$1@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net...
> Hi,
>
> At last I'm just finishing setting up my tank, after have been
abandoned for
> about two years. It have been messier than expected, but was worth the
> effort :)
>
> So as my presentation to the group I wanted to describe the set up
waiting
> for your comments / corrections / advices, I'm almost sure I have
commited
> some errors.
>
> I'ts a 240 l tank, with a substrate of 7 - 10 cm of black quartz, 2 big
> roots with great hidden places for shy fishes, 5 rocks between 10 - 20
cm
> width each one, an EHEIM filter of 400 l / h (6 years old) and a 100 W
> heater.

So 63g tank with 3 to 4" of gravel. That's a lot of gravel. The more
you have, the more deeply debris collects, so it's a bit more work to
gravel vaccuum. Your roots will probably release tannic acid into the
water, making it an amber colour. That's ok, if it's the effect you want
and you want to lower your pH and soften your water. How pronounced the
effect will be, depends on the frequency of your water changes.

> The tank is running for 3 weeks now. I had to hurry up becouse my
nieces
> gived me 4 kois (I'm not sure the exact species, but they're cold water
> fishes for sure) that had to stay for 2 days in a tapperware of about 2
l of
> cappacity.
>
> As soon as I had the filter running and chlorine removed, moved the 4
fishes
> on and had survived very well (they are very tough), I think they must
> helped to accelerate in some ammount the cycling of the tank.
>
> A week later I brought in the first pack of plants:
>
> Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
> Echinodorus Rubra Lucanas
> Acorus gramineus
> Samolus valerandi
> Aponogeton ulvaceus
> Samolus valerandi
> Anubias barteri
> Hemigraphis colorata
> Ambulia Sessiliflora
>
> During the first two weeks, the tank wasn't well lighted, because the
old
> set-up consisted on two 30 watt tubes very aged (more than 18 months).
Now I
> have a home made new lighting system with 4 x 36 Watt tubes (2 1000 ºk
and 2
> Gro Lux).
>
> Some of the plants haven't done very well with old light, and some
others
> have been bitten by the cois, but all of them are recovering really
fast
> since the new tubes went on.
>
> The actual fish population is the following:
>
> 4 kois? (I have become fond of them ;)
> 10 neon tetras
> 2 Angelfish
> 2 Black Ghosts
> 2 female Betta Splendes
>
> I think it would ver very logical to remove the 4 kois, but I need
first to
> know the cons of maintaining them on the tank (they seem to do very
well,
> are very acctive, have very intense colors and are allways hungry).

The Koi are from the carp family (as are Goldfish) and are generally not
mixed with tropical fish. They prefer colder harder water, with a bit of
salt. They are swimming food processors and they generate a lot of
waste. They also grow several feet long and live a long time (I was told
the record is 100 years). Not as bad as Goldfish, but Koi also like to
put everything into their mouth, and this includes most if not all
aquatic plants.

NetMax

> My plans are to add one ancistrus, a Male Betta Splendes and a pair of
Blue
> Gouramis. I know I'm mixing hard water fishes with soft water ones, but
I
> believe the tap water in my city is neutral to soft and all species
will do
> well.
>
> In case I had to forget the bettas / gouramis, what species would you
> recommend to complete the tank?
>
> Ok, I think it's enough for the first mail, in following messages I
will
> continue to describe the details of the tank. Will appreciate any
comment /
> advice / etc that could help to achieve success and improve the tank.
>
> Sincerly,
>
> Joseph John
>
> Ps: sorry for my bad English, hadn't practiced it for years ;)
>
>