buying a 150 gallon tank

I personally like gravel the best because it’s just easier. I’m using "Eco-Complete" which is more plants. It’s like a mix of sand and gravel. Hard to clean, but it looks great.

If it’s already keep fish before and hasn’t been sitting empty for a while then just a quick rinse with hot water should do.
 
the more i think about it i'm probably best to stick with some sort of white gravel vs. sand. The thing i didn't like about white gravel = algae would grow on it and it was a pain to clean off the stones.
 
Any idea what could have caused this - high nutrient levels is what I was told? The algae also appears on my large rocks. Not as bad now but during initial set up I had a real hard time with "green water". It's a-ok now but man it was frustrating for awhile. I don't over feed and do my regular water changes etc...any specific water tests I should try? Type of food cause this?

Cheers
 
In Toronto I find that I get the same thing too. It’s all the crap that’s in the water. What you can test for is phosphates (PO4). But that’s not really needed as algae should go away if you take the source away. To get rid of the nutrients in my tank I added more lighting and plants. But if you don’t want to go full blown planted you can just toss some "hornwort" into the tank.
 
wow just did a little reading about hornwort - may give this a try if I get another algae bloom in the 150 gal. Does the stuff float at the top or can it be rooted to the bottom?

Do you know if Big Als sells the stuff (Kennedy)?
 
good info today thanks again for the help. I'll keep in touch and let you know how it works out this weekend with the new tank.

Cheers
 
buy play pit sand from a builders merchants and no need for washing as it has been cleaned, if you stil wanna clean it drop into half filled bucket as to filter it then add more water and stir, let it settle then pour off water without letting the sand out..... yay clean sand
 
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