Freshwater Setup help

Fresh250

Fresh250

Fishaholic
May 5, 2009
314
0
0
Massachusetts, USA
Well hey everybody, Im in the process of setting up my new tank. its a 240 gallon tank i built into the wall of the new room i built. I want to go freshwater with this one. I previously owned a 135g saltwater tank that i loved but it got far to pricey for a college students budget and eventually i ran out of cash and had to sell.
This freshwater thing is new to me and i have a parts list with some equipment that i would like to have check over by the friendly people that know what they are doing and what im doing wrong.
The only thing i dont have on there is lights, this is because i have no idea where to go with this. My sw tank had metal halides but those are gone now and i dont feel that that much light is necessary for fw.

the current list is as follows.

1- whisper ap 150 air pump
4- penguin bio-wheel 350 filters
2- visi-therm deluxe submersible 300w heaters
flourite substrate
lights...of some sort currently undecided
 
well it really depends on what kind of fresh water setup you want to go like a heavily planted tank or maybe a african cichlid tank or a river setup.

so the questtion is where do you want to ggo with it?
 
re:

I would get rid of the air pump. They're not needed unless you like the bubbles.

Use a canister filter instead of the 4 biowheels, or a combination of the 2 depending on gph.
 
I would want more filtration as well.I would keep the Penguins,and add some cannisters filters.Have you made a decision on what kind of fish you want to keep?That would help in knowing what kind of plants you can have,if any.And what kind of lighting you will need.
 
I really want to go planted aquarium with this tank since it takes up a seven foot section of my wall and leaving it too empty would look silly. The canister filter had gone through my mind but i wasn't sure of how necessary it was. As for the fish, i would probably have to get my plants of choice in there and then determine what was compatible. I do love the inverts, are these usually compatible with the fw plants?
 
You will definately need to get a good canister, or a couple of good canisters if your gonna go planted to keep the co2 in the aquarium. Scratch the air pump also, you don't want lots of surface agitation in a planted tank. I would suggest a fluval fx5, and maybe a rena xp 4 for your filtration. Most inverts are compatable with plants. Any plans for the substrate or the lights?
 
i was suggested by a freshwater lfs that i just discovered to go with flourite and something on top like small stones for the planted aquarium.

so what im seeing now is

a canister filter of some sort, is there any big enough to use just one?
lighting- not sure what type to get for a planted aquarium
flourite substrate
 
hmm lighting is where you have to make the decision it all depends on what plants you want.

like for high light plants you can go with t-12 vho or t-5 ho or for low light plants you could go with power compact light or for medium you could go with a pc mixture with one of the others.

as far as soil/substrate there are sevaral good ones out there like florite or eco-complete.
 
Fresh250 said:
i was suggested by a freshwater lfs that i just discovered to go with flourite and something on top like small stones for the planted aquarium.

so what im seeing now is

a canister filter of some sort, is there any big enough to use just one?
lighting- not sure what type to get for a planted aquarium
flourite substrate
Click to expand...
In a 7' tank,I would get 2 canisters to use with your Penguins.And in a tank that big,you have a huge choice of fish that will be compatiable with plants.Discus,and Angels,dwarf cichlids,schooling tetra,barbs,rasboras,corydora,there is a ton to choose from.
You really need to start researching plants.Once you know what kinds you want,then choosing your lighting and whether or not you need CO2 will become easier.
Ken's fish has great prices on canister filters.
And aquariumplants.com can help you with plants.
http://www.aquariumplants.com/
http://www.aquariumplants.com/
http://www.kensfish.com/canisterfilterlinks.html
 
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