Deciding On Equipment

Thank you Ace.

I will forget about undergravel filters. I have just found some more LFS in my area (Sydney, Australia). Hopefully they are more helpfull. I heard some bad reviews about the fluval filters and nothing about Rena. I will do much more research on each.

As for water changes I am aware that the fish need new water every now and then. I had no idea you need to hoover the substrate though although it makes sence to me now. Do you just attach a hoover fitting to the canister filter line or does it need a seperate pump etc.

Off to my LFS.

Colt :D

EDIT: http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/prod788.htm looking at that it is only $100 and is rated for a 600ltr tank. Would this be a bad purchase? They seem popular amoungst my LFS. I don't want to make a bad purchase and regret it later on.
 
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I don't know anything about the Aqua Plus line. They look a lot like the Eheims. 1500 litres per hour is around 397 gallons per hour. It could work well, but the price seems too good to believe, if that $109 is in Australian dollars. Also, I really like the idea of going for more filtration that a product claims it is rated for. It doesn;t hur the fish to overfilter and in fact, usually helps them. Also, see acefre'd comments above about clogging etc.

As for fish, it's really a matter of personal taste. I hate suggesting fish to anyone as everyone has different ideas of what a fish tank should look like, and how active it should be. One person's idea of an active tank may include aggression and fish who establish pecking orders quite rigidly, while other folks idea of active may be a school of neons swimming back and forth for a while. Check out the species profile linked above. Or, if you are interested in a community of FW fish, Elmer's Aquarium guide has some nice suggestions and can really help a beginner out. Here's the link. Good luck.
 
for changing water and vacuuming the bottom get yourself a python.it's the best $50 you'll ever spend.the cannisters are also on ebay.there's one just like the one you showed a link to on ebay for about 70.do a search on filters.
gl
mark
 
Well, I'm back from my LFS. As it is Sunday here one was shut. I also couldnt find another it has probably shut down. So, the one I did find was very big which helps although it had a poor selection of freshwater fish (nice SW).

Anyway, he recommended an "Aqua Vital 1200". It was $220 but it was simply a rip off of the Eheim models. I would rather pay the extra $50 and get a real Eheim! So, the way I see it I will get a cheapo CF for the time being around $100. Then once I add a few fish and have more money I will get a real mans filter.

He also quoted me two Aqua Vital 300W heaters at $100 which again seems overpriced. What annoyed me most is that even though they say fully submersible the diagrams show they need to be mounted on the side (top out of water), not on the bottom of the tank. Can you get heaters that lie on the bottom substrate or even IN the substrate?

He also showed me what a vacum is. I now understand how usefull this item will be.

Thanks guys, looks like I can work this out properly now.

Colt :D
 
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How well would you guys rate Hydor Heaters and Filters?

EDIT: I have ordered the following.

Aqua Pro CF-1500 1500lph $109.00

Pro Aqua 300w * Special * $12.00

Hydor THEO 300w THEO 300w $69.00

Resun Digital Thermometer DT-01 $14.90

Sub-Total: $204.90 AUS

What do you guys think? As you can see the heating is not balanced. I have chosen one what I believe to be very good thermostat and one absolutely crap one. If the Pro Aqua fails and tries to cook my fish the Hydor can compensate. Nifty huh? Or cheap ***? :rolleyes:

The Aqua Pro has actually recieved good reviews here in Oz (I did some research) although their filter media has been criticised so I may swap it out.

The thermometer will beep to alarm me if the temp goes out of range. Another handy kinda thing...

Well I think I managed to keep withing budget. Now I need the hoover and substrate and test kits. If a miracle happens I will get that all into $100. If not, then not.

Now all that remains is to hide this top secret operation from my other half. :p (If anyone asks all this stuff was $100!)

Colt :D
 
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Congrats. Let us know how well that filter is doing after a while in the DIY and Products section. I'm interested in a review of it, personally. You can get gravel vacs for very cheap. You can also pick up a Python for a bit more and in my opinion, the Python is totally worth it. With a python, you don't have to cart around buckets; that's a big issue with a 120 gallon tank like yours. Substrate can be really cheap. Check out some home improvement type stores around Sydney. Any place that sells swimming pool equipment should have something called "Pool Filter Sand". It is usually cheap, around $5.00 US per 50 pounds, and it makes a pretty substrate. You can see how it looks by checking the link in my signature. You could get away with 4 fifty pound bags of the stuff in a 120. Just be sure to rinse the sand thoroughly before adding it to the tank.

To rinse the sand, I poured half a bag at a time into a 5 gallon bucket outside. I then let the hosepipe run in that bucket a while, until it was overflowing. This carried away a lot of the lighter dust. Then, using the hosepipe itself I would stir the sand up now and again. After doing that about 5 - 7 times, the sand was very clean. After that I brought it inside and with the tank on the stand, I scooped out the wet sand and started to put it in the tank. It's a little moer labor-intensive than gravel, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than gravel as well. Plus, I love the look of it.

Also, for a testing kit, it usually ends up cheaper to buy a "master" test kit that has a bunch of test kits in one. If you want to compare, the necessary test kits are: Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte, pH. I also like the Phosphate, kH and gH since I have a planted tank.

Best of luck to you, Colt!
 
The equipment just arrived. As mentioned previously about the filter the cotton wool is very thin. I will probably add some more. Right now it is like this...Cotton wool, thos white cylinder things with the hole in the middle of them, some carbon and then an empty compartment. What should I put in the empty compartment? Sponge? Where exactly will my bacteria grow?

Heaters look cool. Should all be ok.

Only thing was they bent my fish net in half so it would fit in the box.

Colt :D
 
Sponges make excellent bio filters. The bacteria grows... everywhere, pretty much. Substrate, filter, decorations, etc.
 
Thanks.

Just confirmed the fish tank and the person i spoke to was full of ****. They don't even stock 4x2x2 and their 4x12x16 are made of 5mm glass!

AAAARGH!

Colt :D
 
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