Setting up a new Freshwater Aquarium: Getting it Right

garylkoh

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This seems to be one of the least populated topics on the What's Best Forum - 6 threads and only 138 posts..... so I thought that I'd contribute here instead of the more contentious audio threads :)

I've been keeping fish for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories was flailing around madly after I fell head first into one of my father's fish tanks in Ipoh, Malaysia when I was just a toddler. My best memories as a child was in the little creek behind the house, trying to catch guppies in the wild. They aren't native to Malaysia, but I'm sure bred from run-away fish as they are pretty prolific! By the time I was 10, I had a pretty little business breeding and selling tropical fish. I had accidentally discovered how to breed "The Krib" and I was selling them to the fish-shops in the neighborhood. I recruited my sister Carol as my "runner" and we sold every fish I could produce. Since at that time the African Cichlids were just discovered, they were still extremely expensive.

kribensis.jpg

Fast forward to today - since coming to the US, I've had a couple of fish tanks. But now that I'm permanently here, I decided to set up a tank properly. We had a previous tank in the factory at Genesis, but that was infected by black hair algae. So, if there is any interest, I'll go step by step through the planning process, acquisition, and setting up and maintaining an aquarium. I know that there are a number of fish-keepers here in WBF, so please chime in!

Here's what it currently looks like on Day 4.

Day 4.jpg
 

JackD201

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I see you're conditioning the water with the little livebearers. :) You must be planning on putting some special fish in there if you're going through that part. Anything sensitive? Discus perhaps?
 

Dimfer

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Are you using any water additive to help in establishing your tank? I use Seachem Stability and still do after every waterchange as part of my maintenance routine.
 

JackD201

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Dimfer is da man! :D How the Aros Ding?
 

garylkoh

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Dimfer and Jack - you guys are leaping ahead. Yes, I'm using Seachem Stability, but I also started with bio-active substrate.

Jack - I am conditioning the water with live bearers, but not for discus. The requirements are very different - discus require a very warm tank, which is bad for plants.
 

JackD201

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Hmmm. I'm getting excited! A return to Malawi or Tanganyika Cs then? If one is after color I can think of no other medium sized fresh water fishes that are better. I was an amazon C guy when I was a teenager. I never went the african route but always admired 'em.

I've always dreamed of a big planted tank (not by Ding's standards!) with lots and lots of Cardinal Tetras. I was gonna do it but I got vetoed by the missus. She said one hobby and one sport for my OCD were enough! LOL!
 

garylkoh

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Before you start an aquarium, you must know how committed you will be to it, and your own expertise. As my daughter said, “Daddy, you will control the world and the lives of these fish – you play their God.” The wise words of a 12-year old. Seeing how you are going to be creating a world, compatibility and synergy is going to be important.

These days, with the Internet, information is much easier to come by, and there are forums where you can post questions and seek wisdom. Also, don’t forget the importance of patience.

For example, no matter how much I love discus, a planted discus tank is going to be extremely difficult to maintain. The temperature requirements for a discus tank – 82 deg F to 85 deg F, and the requirements for a planted tank – 72 deg to 79 deg are at odds. There are very few plants that will thrive in the water conditions required by discus – very warm, very soft, black water. I tried to do it once – most plants would rot away within months. I also didn't want to have to set up reverse osmosis systems for water purity, etc.

There are a number of “eco-topes” you could design your world around – brackish water, hard water African, planted (and there will be a couple of these), bare cool, warm soft, etc. A goldfish tank would be bare cool because the goldfish would probably eat any plants you put in. Because of the amount of waste generated by goldfish, you will need to have superb filtration systems. A brackish water tank would have been unusual and interesting because I could then have puffer fishes, sea angels, platys, mollies, crabs, etc. I briefly toyed with the idea of a Lake Nyasa-type hard water tank because of the bright colors of some of the African cichlids available.

After a couple of days of thought, I decided that I wanted a low-maintenance tropical fish planted tank because of my travel schedule, and the fact that it was going to be in the office. In order to do this, it had to be as ecologically stable as possible, and hence the idea was to build an eco-system that could maintain itself. This needed to be a large than, and I had the space to put a 150 gallon tank in an alcove in the office. I didn’t think that I would want to create a true eco-tope – like having all plants and fish being native of one region – just build an ecologically stable environment which is low-maintenance.

First, the tank itself. I picked acrylic as one of my suppliers is an acrylic fabricator, and hence I could get a tank built to the exact specifications I wanted. Because the factory is not heated over weekends in Winter, acrylic being a better insulator than glass would also reduce the need for heating. The space available was exactly 60 3/8” wide. Since I wanted as large a tank as possible, this entire space was used up. The tank was specified as 60” wide, with black skirt top and bottom to hide the waterline, and to hide the substrate and roots of the plants. The skirt added 1/8” on each side – so the tank made it into the available space by 1/8”.

Something to hold the tank up was needed – build or buy? I already used an Ikea storage unit for my LPs. These were strong enough to hold LPs, they ought to be strong enough to hold a fish tank, right? Unfortunately, when I looked at the specifications of the Kallax storage units- 30 3/8” wide and tall, they would end up too large, and I considered how I would modify it for use. However, going to Ikea with a tape measure, I found that they were smaller than specified – by a full 1/4”. Two would be 60 1/4". Perfect!!! No need to custom-design a cabinet to hold the tank up.

Since I was going to maintain and plant the tank, the depth had to be no more than my arm would reach the bottom – 31” and that left the width which was dictated by the width of the Kallax storage units – 16”. The result was a deep, skinny 140 gal tank. Perfect for what I wanted to do.

Avoid the gravel you can get at Home Depot, garden stores, etc. If you are going to do it right, it is worth paying the little bit extra to get proper aquarium substrate. Since I wanted a richly planted tank, I planned for 3” of substrate with iron-rich laterite as the growing material. This would be the main material in which the plants would root and extract nutrient from. I picked Seachem Flourite – 60lbs of it for the base layer.

I was going to have Corydoras catfish, so I needed a top layer of something that would be spherical and smooth so as not to hurt them. I found Activ-Flora Bio-Active river gravel. Corys will dig into the substrate for their food, and if builders gravel (machine broken rock) was used, the sharp edges of the gravel would hurt them as they dug. Besides, machine broken rock is not natural at all. 80 lbs of Activ-Flora premium aquarium substrate filled the tank to top the 3" mark, and also provided the bacterial to help quickly cycle the tank.

After getting the substrate into the tank, I did some landscaping with larger pieces of gravel and proceeded to fill the tank.

So as not to disturb the substrate which would result in cloudy water that may take days to clear, I put a big dinner plate at the bottom of the tank and directed the hose in the middle of the plate. I added Seachem Prime to neutralize the cholorine in the Seattle tap water, and Seachem Stability to help with cycling.

The biggest mistake new fishkeepers make is to introduce fish/plants too early. It is important for the eco-system of the tank to stabilize. Like the flora in our intestines, beneficial bacteria provide the biological filtration to breakdown ammonia and nitrite secreted by fish.
 

amirm

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Man.... No wonder I have killed every fish we ever put in a fish tank. There is this much to know? It is not just tap water, conditioner and dump the fish in there??? :)
 

Dimfer

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It's been 7 years since the last time I set up a tank and without googling I think it takes about 21 days for the cycle to complete.
 

FrantzM

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Man.... No wonder I have killed every fish we ever put in a fish tank. There is this much to know? It is not just tap water, conditioner and dump the fish in there??? :)

Same here :D
Requires a dedication I am not yet ready for ... And to say that i was thinking about a saltwater tank ! :eek:
 

carolkoh

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Gary did want a discus tank, but discus are such sensitive fish and I remembered that huge trucks sometimes rumble through the area, shaking the entire building, not to mention our own bass tower testing every now and then that shake the rafters.

Our experience with discus - disturbance = sicken and die.
 

garylkoh

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Man.... No wonder I have killed every fish we ever put in a fish tank. There is this much to know? It is not just tap water, conditioner and dump the fish in there??? :)

Yes - there is this much to learn..... but the only difficult part to learn is to be patient. With modern "miracles" like bio-active substrate and bacteria-loaded solutions, we no longer need to wait 21 days for the tank to "cycle" before adding fish, but you still do need some patience.

Let's rewind a bit and explain "cycling".

An aquarium is essentially an entire World to a school of fish - at least sunlight needs to be externally supplied. You could build a complete ecological system where everything is self contained within the tank, but if food is supplied externally, waste will definitely need to be removed. Like all Earthly animals, fish excrement include ammonia, carbon dioxide and faeces. All this need to be managed and removed.

Our most valuable weapon against killing every fish we put into a fish tank is biological filtration - this is what we mean by "cycling", creating an ecological cycle where beneficial bacteria is grown to consume poisonous ammonia and nitrite, converting this to less poisonous nitrate via the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates can then be consumed by plant life (or removed via water changes).



The first important element of this is a filtration system. For my tank, I picked an Eheim 2075 Pro3 Canister Filter. There are two major brands available - Fluval and Eheim. Either will work, and the only reason I picked Eheim over Fluval (or any other brand) is that I've owned Eheim filters as long as I can remember (over 30 years). A canister filter is an external canister incorporating a water pump and provides both mechanical filtration and biological filtration.

Mechanically, it removes debris and fine particulates keeping the water clear by pumping water through filter media such as foams and sponges where particles can be trapped. The canister filter also holds biological filter media - this consists of ceramic rings, plastic balls, etc. which have massive surface area on which beneficial bacteria can grow and colonize. This takes time, and it is very important to be patient. It can be accelerated by adding supplements such as Seachem Stability - but this is no miracle cure.

In my case, I also supplemented this with "bio-active" substrate. These substrates are delivered wet and already contain some of these beneficial bacteria. The idea is that the substrate supplements the action of the canister filter, and hopefully accelerates the process.

In order for the bacteria to grow, they need to be fed - and that is why a couple of fish are added to the tank at this stage. The excrement from these few "sacrificial" fish provide enough ammonia and nitrite to start the bacterial colonization. I call them sacrificial fish because sometimes in the cycling process, you could get wild swings in the nitrogen cycle and sometimes this can kill all the fish in the tank. The few plants that are already in the tank would be more than enough to consume any nitrate created by the nitrogen cycle.

However, in such a large tank, with so few fish, I fully expect them to survive the cycling process.

The main enemy at this stage is the chlorine in tap water (chlorine kills bacteria). This is where water conditioners like Seachem Prime come in. We are luck in Seattle because the water contains 1/4 the legally allowed chlorine, no chloramine (as far as I can find out), and is minimally processed and filtered.
http://www.seattlemag.com/article/why-seattle-s-tap-water-so-good
http://www.seattle.gov/util/MyServi...ityAnnualReport/WaterQualityResults/index.htm

So, I generally use half the prescribed dose of water conditioners when I fill my tank, and use water straight from the tap - without RO or other filtration.
 

garylkoh

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Same here :D
Requires a dedication I am not yet ready for ... And to say that i was thinking about a saltwater tank ! :eek:

You can set up a minimal maintenance tank - and that's what I'm going to describe. The secret is setting it up right from step one.
 

amirm

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You can set up a minimal maintenance tank - and that's what I'm going to describe. The secret is setting it up right from step one.
That was a great intro above Gary. Would love to know about this too.

Is there such a thing as a tank that can go 2-3 weeks with no human intervention? I am asking in regards to having one in our vacation house.
 

rbbert

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My only contribution here is a little bit of trivia; an author of multiple books on tropical fish and aquaria, Herbert Axelrod, was also the long-time chairman of the Musical Heritage Society. Unfortunately he was also a big time criminal...
 

Dimfer

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Is there such a thing as a tank that can go 2-3 weeks with no human intervention? I am asking in regards to having one in our vacation house.

I know an all arowana setup would. I know some people who own arowana setups that have gone on four week vacations with nobody feeding/watching their tanks. I've gone on a five week trip with a relative visiting our house on the 3rd week just to make sure everything is ok. I just clean the tank and filter one week prior to the trip and keep them well fed during the week, then do a small waterchange the night before the trip. some people believe this is better than having an inexperienced person look after the tank while you are away (less risk of leaving the tank uncovered or bumping into something).. also, less feeding, less polluting
 

beaur

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Amir,

There is such a thing as a minimum maintenance tank but it can take some time to get there and those types of tanks aren't the typical ones you see with lots of fish swimming around. Best advice for anyone planning on setting up a tank other than a fishbowl is to find a friend who shares your hobby/passion as there can be a quid pro quo during vacations.

A few questions to ask if you are going to leave a tank for more than a few days;

a) when was the last time you lost power in your house?

If the answer is easily remembered you might want to think twice about leaving a tank unattended especially in the summer if A/C is involved.

b) Do you like fish or plants?

if you answered plants you may be on the road to a minimal maintenance tank.

c) Are you a digital or an analog guy?

While mostly joking IMHO an analog tank (few if any meters/sensors) has a better chance of surviving without intervention. The keeper is more invested in the care of the tank and especially for beginners actually learns how the tank works and can be attuned to it's rhythms and idiosyncrasies.


Gary,

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been away from the hobby for too long. Used the excuse of moving and kids when I eliminated all of the tanks I used to keep. Hopefully this will motivate me to take the step I have been contemplating for the last year and get a tank going again.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
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Amir, a low maintenance tank that will allow you to leave for 2 to 3 weeks on vacation is possible. But this may take many months to set-up and stabilize to the point where it can be left alone for a while. It would need to be light on fish, heavy on plants.

But what is dangerous is in case anything happens. For example, if your vacation house loses power for a day or two, the bacteria in the canister filter will die in the anaerobic conditions. If the power starts up again, and all that rotting bacteria gets flushed into the tank, it will kill everything pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, I will keep this in consideration and comment along the way on this thread.

beaur, hope this inspires you to start up again. Getting your kids involved might also make it a great learning experience for them. When my daughter wanted her own tank, and my wife objected, her respons was, "But Mom, it will teach me discipline and commitment. Their lives will be in my hands."
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Amir, a low maintenance tank that will allow you to leave for 2 to 3 weeks on vacation is possible. But this may take many months to set-up and stabilize to the point where it can be left alone for a while. It would need to be light on fish, heavy on plants.

But what is dangerous is in case anything happens. For example, if your vacation house loses power for a day or two, the bacteria in the canister filter will die in the anaerobic conditions. If the power starts up again, and all that rotting bacteria gets flushed into the tank, it will kill everything pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, I will keep this in consideration and comment along the way on this thread.

beaur, hope this inspires you to start up again. Getting your kids involved might also make it a great learning experience for them. When my daughter wanted her own tank, and my wife objected, her respons was, "But Mom, it will teach me discipline and commitment. Their lives will be in my hands."

Gary

I love this thread because starting an a tank once again to me is tantamount to getting back into vinyl. I lust after it :) and it has been you who has given me the inspiration for both

As Don Corleone said in Godfather lll " just when I think I'm out they pull me back in"
 

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