New person with some questions.

[Brian Anderson]

hi my name is brian. i have a few questions, and statments and if you can correct me that would be great. its a used tank but i just got it. ebay FTW $400.

1) its a 125 gallon tank
2) i have 2 emporer 400 HOB filers
3) im going to buy a undergravel filter with probably 2 (4 better?) powerheads
4) has 2 36" hood lights (should i get a certain type of bulb? its comes with 2)
5) im going to get an aerator and some stones, and 2 wands for back wall
6) i have titanium heater
7) what does it take to hook a thermostat up to a heater / 2 heaters?
8) can i use any kind of sand for it? might just go with rocks....
9) where do you get those walls on the back that are like rocks?
10) when setting up my tank before starting the cycle, can i touch the water?
11) im going to make sure there is plenty of swimming room and hiding space since i have so much room to work with
12) im going with community tank i.e.

TOP - hatchets
MID/TOP - (?guppy, tetra,?maybe) rainbow
MID - angel fish
LOW/MID - barbs (anyone know of anyother -tiger that will go for fins?)
LOW - loaches and plecos

13) it sucks because i dont have many good fish stores around. i have 2 pet supplies plus, pet connection, and pet land. i love clown loaches, but no one has had them, one did but said they were out. i also wanted maybe weather loaches...and i also cant find any rainbows...and few variaties of angel fish. and id love some different types of plecos. which leads to the next...
14) where is a good place to order fish online?
15) i have been reading up on fish and cycling for a while more but would love any tips.
16) instead of buying a heater could i just plug in something like a curler, or maybe hair dryer and just set in in the water, i have a few old ones...



thanks everyone for the help. anything you can help me with would be sweet. if you answer something it would be cool if you could label which it is to since i asked so much. :P thanks :)

[Rbishop]

16. Do not do this! Unless you would like to blow the electrical circuits in your house. If you already have a heater, see #6, why would you even think about this?

3, four power heads, but set it up as RUGF, not as UGF. If going planted, do not use the UGF/RUGF.

5. You should not need these if you adjust your folter outleats for proper surface agitation. But some people like the looks.

7. All the heaters I know of, see #6, have built in thermostats.

9. You can buy them or make them.

10. Yes. You can touch the water later also. Just ensure your hands/arms are free of soap and any residue.

12. A lot of your choices will not work together, mainly due to size and agression issues.

15. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

[jm1212]

1) you can put quite alot in a 125 if you choose the right fish
2)you are going to need more filtration, so id get two penguin 150s to go with the filters you will be getting
3) if you want an undergravel filter, get the reverse flow kit that works with the penguin powerheads. it will save you the tanks of cleaning under the plates of the UGF. (only penguin powerheads will work with the reverse flow kit)
4) unless you are going to put live plants in your tank (there are some that would be fine with your light anyway) the lights you ahve should be fine.
5) if you have powerheads, you shouldnt need an arator with air stones, but if you really want them, you can.
6) what wattage is your heater?
7)im not sure about the thermostats.
8) you cant have sand with Undergravel filters of any kind.
9) you can buy backgrounds at almost every LFS
10) yes you can touch the water, and you can whenever, if you have to move decor for example, unless you ahve something like food or grease etc. on your hands, then you should wash off your hands first.
12) (yes i skipped 11)
the top is good. you will need at least 6 of them, which you have PLENTY of space for.
the top middle is ok, but guppies breed faster thyan wildfires spread, but you shouldnt have a problem with that because of the angels and other fish
the middle is good, and you should get 6 angels for your tank to occupy the middle of the tank
dont get barbs with angels. if you want some other middle dwellers that go by the bottom, get some black skirt (white skirts are part of their group, NO dyed tetras [ bluesberry and strawberry tetras] as dyeing fish is a horrible practice), diamond, or other tetras. NO neons, cardinals, or rummynoses, as the angels will get big enough to eat them. you could easily have four shools of six bigger tetras, but it would look really good to have 24 bleeding heart tetras and then 12 diamond tetras.
i would go with some corydoras for the bottom- you can find at least one species anywhere you, look. for your tank, you should get a group of 8 corydoras of your choice.
13) there are some good sites online that you can buy fish from, of you should be able to order fish through your pet store... www.liveaquaria.com is one of the sites.
14) www.liveaquaria.com
15)the best and easiest way is to fishless cycle, and the best way IMO is to take a good ammount of fish flakes and grind them up a bit and then sprinkle them over the water to create the ammoina that the bactera need.
16) dont put an older curling iron in the water it WILL electracute the fish and anything else in the tank.

[jm1212]

my post was getting to long, so i decided to come up with a stocking seperate

6 silver hatchetfish
6 guppies
12 tetras of your choice besides neons etc.
12 tetras of another school
12 tetras of another school (you can combine them to a big school etc. if you want bleeding hearts, it would be best for them to have a big school of 24, or all 36 if you like them)
8 peppered, bronze, three line, OR schwartz's corydoras

[Shermanator]

Do yourself a favour Brian,
Buy the book "The complete idiots guide to setting up a Fresh Water Aquarium. It is a fantastic book and it is out of print. However Amazon had a few used copies for sale. With the help of this book and the helpfulness of the members here in this forum you can't go wrong.

[CoreyMac]

I have one of those books available. $10.00 shipped right to your door.

[Brian Anderson]

thanks everyone, im going to read all the answers right now. but to clear things up 16 was just a joke :P

[Brian Anderson]

2)you are going to need more filtration, so id get two penguin 150s to go with the filters you will be getting
3) if you want an undergravel filter, get the reverse flow kit that works with the penguin powerheads. it will save you the tanks of cleaning under the plates of the UGF. (only penguin powerheads will work with the reverse flow kit)

so you are saying i should get 2 more HOB filters? if so ill just get 2 more emperor 400's to be safe.

and about the rugf...can you give me a specific model i should look for and specific powerheads i should be looking for? maybe a link because i couldnt find them. and i need 4 power heads?

[sarcare]

I would get a canister filter--for a tank that size it will just look better. Get two ehiem 2217's and put them at each end, then you won't need any other filter or powerhead.

You can go with some nice loaches in a tank that size, and some angels, and hatchets. I'd ditch the idea of guppies as they will be dwarfed by the size of the tank. Also, I'd avoid barbs and go with some kind of tetra. But watch for tetras that are nippy--some of the big ones can terrorize loaches and angels.

Also, you want to check your water before deciding what kind of fish will work. Some tetras will do better in softer water.

[Brian Anderson]

that might be a good idea but since i already have the HOB and stuff im going to stick with them. thanks though. i now have a few more questions.

17) would i even need a rugf and power heads if i run 4 eperor 400's plus some areators?
18) i would like to do sand so im leaning away from the ugf so what sand can i use? any?
19) i just wanted to thank everyone for all the help...
20) does anyone have any cool decorating ides? im going to go large plants in the back and small in the front. maybe a rock buildup somewhere. if anyone else has cool decoration ideas post some pictures :)
21) anyone heard of those underwater led lights? change the tanks color, any bad things for the fish from those?

thanks and any other advice is appricheated. im sure ill be back with some more questions.

[Brian Anderson]

anyone know the answers to those questions? im getting the tank monday :) then im going to get some decorations and things to start the fishless cycle.

[NinjaPirate]

20) I prefer the natural look in my decorating.

1: Use live plants. There are several low-maintenance low-light plants if you don't have the time/setup for the more expansive stuff. Java moss, java ferns, I'm sure others can suggest 3-4 more types.

2: Driftwood and Slate decorations. You can buy driftwood from some pet stores, and I know some online stores like thatfishplace.com have sinking driftwood that the ysell in foot long sections for $10 + shipping. Don't know aything about the quality of it though. It makes for a great way to attach plants you can't bury, like that java ferns. Then make natural cave ledges with pieces of slate. Or go buy the natural looking aquarium decorations for caves/ledges. There are several nice looking ones.

21) I don't care for them, as they tend to highlight the wrong things in the tank (certain colors will only bring out certain objects in the tanks) Otherwise I don't think they're detrimental to the fish, other than if your tank is too bright at night they won't get any sleep.

[jm1212]

17) nope, you wouldnt
18) im not an expert with sand, but i do know that it can compact and form pokets of anerobic bacteria easier than gravel (you cant gravel vac sand), so i would pick some natural colored gravel that is pretty small, but not a fine grained as sand, and you can gravel vac it to arate and clean the gravel better.
21) natural looking tanks look really cool, but if you want to have the roman colleseum in your tank then thats fine too
22) the LED lights arent very cool looking and draw the attention away from the fish

[sarcare]

You can use pool filter sand, it has a bigger grain that wont compact as much--it is also less expensive then buying gravel from a petstore. I also like the natural look, but I think you can do what you like in your tank.

Where abouts in ohio are you? I know some good lfs around Columbus.

[Brian Anderson]

thanks again everyone for the help. im in NE ohio. 44672. by allaince and salem. im sure ill have some more questions so ill be back :P

[jm1212]

good luck with your tank :)

[Brian Anderson]

thanks man im going to get it today :)