Dire Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hi peoples new to the form well I have been away from keeping since the floods lost my mico tank due to loss of power and couldn't keep it cool enough lost corals a beautiful breading pair cardinals couple of clowns sea enemies coral the live rock was sort of ok anyway after three years of working on my little show piece I sold off the rock and decided that I would never do it again and walk away it was only a small tank. Anyway yesterday the wife/son and I meandered into pet city after visiting some friends and well I ended up over looking at fish the wife said I thought you said you would never do it again I said well yep but that was marine did I say anything about tropical . I am totally new to freshwater and tropical never read anything about them fell in love with marine and thats just the way it happened my father was into I think freshwater fishes we called them kissing fish as kids and a big black I think it was a cat fish. Anyway so whats going to be a good set up? I am thinking a min of a 5ft tank due to fluctuations in temp and alos ph levels I also live in redbank plains so yep it gets bloody hot out this way probably be second hand seen a fair few on gumtree that dont look too bad I would also like to have something quite high. Also does anyone do much Aquascaping would love to give that a try as well what kind of fish etc. Any help would be appreciated and I guess the journey begins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pk333 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome to QLDAF Dire, I guess the first choice is to decide between a planted tank or fish tank. In a (proper*) planted tank, fish are an accessory. You do your aquascape and plants, then stock with suitable fish. In a fish tank, well the you pick your fish and aquascape the tank to suit the fish. E.g. lots of rocky structures with caves, and nooks and crannies with high PH for many African cichlids; fine white sand and branchy driftwood with neutral to soft PH for South American eartheaters; driftwood, plants and leaves with soft acidic PH for SA dwarves; rocky creek aquascape with high flowing current and neutral to soft PH for asian hillstream loach setup; and the list is endless. Actually a five footer would be a good tank to do half planted, half fast flowing stream with some hillstream loaches, another smaller species of loach and some asian barbs and danios setup. That is, if bards and danios are compatible. This is what one species of hillstream loach looks like. *I'll probably catch hell for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farnq_01 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome mate....and you have certainly come to the right place for any advice..enjoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishunter99 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 welcome, have a think about what you really want then go for it, fish can be so rewarding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome Dire, hope you enjoy yourself here, there's plenty of people on the forum who are willing to answer any question & help in any way the can. Sounds like you're well on your way, tropical is nothing compared to a full reef, you should be able to handle it standing on your head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xr6turbz11 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Welcome mate, what I've always done is pick a fish u really really want in your tank then choose other fish to suit. You could also choose a biotope Eg: African rift lake.. Amazon river etc.. And scape your tank to suit and add only fish from that part of the world/water as pk333 suggested. Gives that el natural look, look up a few biotopes on YouTube to see if any take your liking/inspire you. Good luck with ya tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xr6turbz11 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WePH5XHp4NM&feature=youtube_gdata_player One of my favs:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 (edited) Welcome to QLDAF Dire,I guess the first choice is to decide between a planted tank or fish tank. In a (proper*) planted tank, fish are an accessory. You do your aquascape and plants, then stock with suitable fish. In a fish tank, well the you pick your fish and aquascape the tank to suit the fish. E.g. lots of rocky structures with caves, and nooks and crannies with high PH for many African cichlids; fine white sand and branchy driftwood with neutral to soft PH for South American eartheaters; driftwood, plants and leaves with soft acidic PH for SA dwarves; rocky creek aquascape with high flowing current and neutral to soft PH for asian hillstream loach setup; and the list is endless. Actually a five footer would be a good tank to do half planted, half fast flowing stream with some hillstream loaches, another smaller species of loach and some asian barbs and danios setup. That is, if bards and danios are compatible. This is what one species of hillstream loach looks like. *I'll probably catch hell for this. Love the look of the loaches and I just spent the last hour reading up on them interesting fish and yes your right many things to think about in a Scape Welcome mate, what I've always done is pick a fish u really really want in your tank then choose other fish to suit. You could also choose a biotope Eg: African rift lake.. Amazon river etc.. And scape your tank to suit and add only fish from that part of the world/water as pk333 suggested. Gives that el natural look, look up a few biotopes on YouTube to see if any take your liking/inspire you. Good luck with ya tank. Thats what I am looking for is the all natural tank. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WePH5XHp4NM&feature=youtube_gdata_player One of my favs:D Just became one of mine, the wife was in awe of it, she then followed it with I guess I better think about where you can put it lol. Edited January 20, 2013 by Dire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeadFishFloating Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Yea thats a srsly well done discus tank! All its missing is some of Les's blackwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
girlbunny Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 IMO you're doing this the sane way after having jumped in with both feet It sounds like you did a brilliant job with your marine tank set up. You couldn't help the issues with the floods. That isn't something that could have been easily foreseen or planned for. Even generators would have run out long before power returned to the area. I was lucky in that, while my place was hit (I'm in Toowoomba), most of the house was fine, and we never had a major issue with power outages. The most "outage" we had was a complete lack of ability to get anything from the supermarkets. 36 hours after the flood hit, the supermarket shelves were empty, the supermarkets themselves shut their doors, and everyone did without for 7 days, waiting for the roads to reopen! I have a thing for marines, but don't dare try them. One of the local fish stores here is having a few cashflow issues, so their display marine tank is up for sale with all the fish, live rock, anemones etc included for $3K - if I knew about marine care and had the initial funds, I'd be grabbing at that in a heart beat LOL Having said which, I'm one of those horrible people who look at fish they like, see if they're compatible with other fish I already have, and just grab them. I've put a ton of plants in the tanks to give the fish places to rest/hide and play, but my idea of aquascaping so far has been rather... free for all I have three children on the autism spectrum, so the fish are paramount rather than the look of the tanks I'm rambling. I guess I'm just agreeing with the above. Take a look at the sorts of things you like, and base what you decide to do on that. It sounds like you're more than capable of doing a fantastic job as soon as you make that decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 I'm rambling. I guess I'm just agreeing with the above. Take a look at the sorts of things you like, and base what you decide to do on that. It sounds like you're more than capable of doing a fantastic job as soon as you make that decision Dont worry about the rambling lol I like a good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 (edited) So I have another question whats the advantage of a sump over a canister filter my little tank had an inbuilt sump system and it worked quite well. Edited January 26, 2013 by Dire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 The advantages of a sump is that you are not limited, you can put whatever you want to put in the sump & whatever configuration you want. There is also a lot more space, surface area & oxygen available in a sump for the nitrifying bacteria to filter the water. It's also a lot easier to access the different substrates in the sump at anytime rather than having to pull the canister apart to get to a bag of x product at the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Thanks Betta, hmm so maybe with a 5ft tank it may be best to use a Sump my only concern is noise the marine ones I have seen have a gurgling water down the drain noise lol not sure if that was normal or just the setup though. Do we have any good tank builders around Brisbane at all, is it hard to drill glass on a second hand tank probably the only thing I have ever tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gringox Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 Welcome to the forum mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 What not to do when you going stir crazy and decide to go check out the aquarium shops. Take Your Wife. Ok so I showed her what type of tank I was thinking about and she didn't like it he main complaint was the braces down the side and why cant we find one like our other little tank :-(. Then she walked over to the front of the shop whist I was chatting with the sales person and said come here dear I like this one I said its too much and the she said she will pay for it if we get that one, yep I am a tight arse and she has a very good way of always getting her own way. So we have 4ft curved glass unit next weekend and thus the journey will begin. I did tell her on the way home that because its her tank she can clean it lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Lol, nice work dude wish I could get my missus to clean my tanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dire Posted January 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 lol yes Betta wax on wax off ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
