Ideal Newbie Setup?

[happychem]

80-81 is fine. In the summer here it doesn't get terribly hot, but with no AC and afternoon sun in the windows my livingroom tank spent about a month and a half around or above 86oF (that's the top of the scale on the lcd thermometer). The fish did fine except for one rummynose, but I did lose all my java fern (it grew back after the temperature cooled) and the bacopa suffered. None of the plants did very well, but most hung in fine.

Else, I've heard that you can freeze 2L pop bottles half-3/4 full of water and float them in the tank to cool it down.

Oh, now I remember. The two test kits you were looking at, are they the same? Big al's is routinely cheaper, but that's really startling! At that price you could buy two and sell one to a buddy to cover the cost of the one! Anyway, here's what you need, the rest is extras that may or may not be necessary:
NH3 (ammonia)
NO2 (nitrite)
NO3 (nitrate)
pH
KH
maybe GH
PO4 is a bonus
few people put much trust in the Fe (Iron) tests.

 

[Harlock]

Yes, I am absolutely certain they are the same testing kit. We are supposedly getting a Petco here soon, so maybe a little competition will force this other outfit to taper down the markup. And trust me, I was startled too. I think my exact words were unprintable.

 

[russjet]

are you a farscape fan by any chance

 

[Harlock]

Heh, yes, yes I am. Hence the frelling comment above.

 

[ArkyLady]

I didn't really read through all the replies, so most of what I'll say is probably repeating others Welcome to AC! Glad you found this place. I know it's been a lifesaver for me (and my fishies!).

1. Is the bio-wheel and power head setup the "only" way to go these days? For a fry/quarantine type 10g tank would undergravel and pump filtration be sufficient?

Bio-wheels aren't the only way to go, but I do like mine. I've not had any issues with the bio-wheels stopping or anything ... they do slow down after they get seasoned, but as long as I swish them out in old tank water now and then (every 2-3 months or so) and get any algae and gunk that's building up on them off they're fine. They also will not "kill ammonia on contact", well they kinda do, but not until the bacteria that lives in them is able to consume all the ammonia being produced in the tank. Anyway, they won't hinder your fishless cycle in any way.

What I do for my quarantine tank is keep a sponge filter going in one of my established tanks so it stays seeded with bacteria, then whenever I need to setup my quarantine tank I just take it out and set it up then throw the sponge filter in there and it's instantly cycled and ready to go. You can do the same thing by just keeping extra filter media in your filters on your main tank to transfer when needed.

2. How difficult are live plants and what sort of maintenance do they require? Are there good beginner plants?

I'm fairly new to live plants also, but they aren't difficult. I went low tech (no CO2 injection or heavy lighting). Plants are very beneficial to your tank and definitely worth the effort if it's something you're interested in. I'd suggest starting out low tech and go from there. If you decide to go planted, the lights that come with a tank at the LFS won't be strong enough even for low light plants (need at least around 1 watt per gallon or WPG), so if you can purchase just a bare tank with no hood you can just get glass canopies to cover it and put lights above that (shop lights or whatever you can find at the hardware store). If you're handy, you can even build your own canopy to mount the lights in and save a lot of money that way. Setting up a planted tank can be on the expensive side if you go all out, but you can do it cheaply also. Read up in the planted tank forum, lots of great info there.

3. I know for a fact that I want a number of neon tetras, what sort of other (maybe bigger?) fish are complimentary to them and would work well in a 29g FW? It appears from my reading that mollies and guppies would really rather like a bit of brackish water, so I don't think the neons would appreciate that.

I love keeping bettas in my community tanks, but I'm pretty partial to them Many people think they can't be kept with anything else, but they do rather well with most community fish, with a few exceptions of course. Another fish I've started keeping recently are Endler's livebearers. They are related to the guppy, but are a bit smaller and quite colorful.

4. If I went with a 55g...

5. Can anyone suggest a good online source for aquariums and supplies? We do have a couple of stores locally that have fish and supplies, but I do want to shop around.

I like www.bigalsonline.com and www.drsfostersmith.com for buying supplies. I've also bought fish from people at www.aquabid.com (like eBay for fish!) and I hear great things about www.liveaquaria.com

I am doing the fishless cycle now, I have a friend that said he would do it but not trust it and suggested adding 2 fish at a time, I am not sure which way I want to go

There is no reason not to trust a fishless cycle. The process is identical to doing a cycle with fish, only you don't have to deal with doing excessive water changes (sometimes twice daily!) to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down so they don't harm/kill your fish. Both ways you're simply adding ammonia to the tank, it's just easier and less work to do it without fish and if you screw something up all your fish don't die

I am tempted to get all the fish I want after the fishless cycle is finished.

That is exactly what you're supposed to do! That's the main thing I love about fishless cycling is that once the cycle is done I can fully stock my tank in a single day. If after a fishless cycle you only added 2-3 fish, then within a few days (week? not sure how long) all the excess bacteria would die off and your tank would only be cycled to handle 2-3 fish worth of waste. Then when you added a few more fish, you'd see small ammonia/nitrIte spikes or mini-cycles until the bacteria multiplied enough to catch up again.

Hope that all makes sense. Glad to see both of you getting back into the hobby.

 

[Harlock]

Thanks ArkyLady et al. Well, The wife nixed the 55 gallon. I am heartbroken, but only slightly. For the room in which I wanted to place the tank, the tank is too big... I was informed. Feh! Fine, I talked her into a 37 gallon as it is only 4 inches taller than the 29g and just as wide and just as long. Also, I do happen to have one 20 Gallon Long left over from a liazrd we used to house. It's an All Glass Aquarium rated for fish, not a critter cage, so I'll end up with two tanks instead of one and will still have at least one 10 gallon for a fry/quarantine tank.

So, my questions are, what size heaters do I need for a 37g and a 20g? Keep in mind I'll be doing the double heater thing, two smaller heaters submerged on either end of the tank. I'll have to lower my fish load of course, but I can handle that. The 20 long may end up a community tank and that 37g just might be a showcase tank... have to see what hapens there.

Also, people keep mentioning sponge filters -- I can see them on Big Al's... how exactly do they work? Are they powered? Do they run off of a powerhead or... what?

And yes, I do feel silly, but I have to learn somehow... Thanks

 

[aquanewb]

Hi Harlock

I too am in the same boat as you so to speak. I kept an aquarium in my youth but now the kids are into fish and the wife said yes to the living room. First I hit the net for basic info on what is even out there at this point. I located a good deal IMHO on a 72 gal bowfront with heater and a Fluval 404 and whatever else he had. ($650)

Well back to the internet and found this place. (As an aside this site is a good example of how great the internet is for sharing information. I have learned about the great fishless cycle and all manner of proper fish keeping.) Anyway back to what I have gotten thus far.... I picked up 50 lbs of gravel. ($65) I found that I was given a 100 Watt Tronic heater and need more power to heat this bathtub so I found the Hydor ETH 300 In-Line heater! I dislike having to see the stuff in the tank so I picked it up at drfostersmith today with a net and some airstones. ($68) I found that he had a bulb installed that is used for SW fish called an actinic(?) bulb and so I got a daylight bulb ($15) I got the AP Master test kit ($30) I also cant forget a bottle of non-sudsing NH3 ($0.99). So after all that I have a tank with water and gravel in it and I am testing and adding NH3 to it in hopes that St. Nitrites soon will be there. (Darn Xmas Carols). Let us know how ya do and good luck.

 

[ArkyLady]

You hookup an air pump to a sponge filter. They are nice for fry tanks since they don't produce a lot of current, but the air pumps can be noisy.

 

[Harlock]

You hookup an air pump to a sponge filter. They are nice for fry tanks since they don't produce a lot of current, but the air pumps can be noisy.

Ah, that works well enough for me. Thanks for filling me in! Also, another question came to me as I lay in bed this morning. I think I know the answer but, I want to make certain.

Is fish waste water (after a tank cleaning and WC) okay to pour out into plants? As I mentioned in a previous post, I live in a hot climate with little rain and we are always rationing water, so being able to recycle the old water no longer suited for fish would be a boon for my flowerbeds. I am guessing since plants can grow in such water that using it in flowerbeds would be okay, but I want to make sure.

 

[Dog]

It is great for plants. Homemade fertilizer.