This is bloody hard work just set a tank up and can not believe the amount of crap it takes, just can't wait to get my rays and arowanna

Am thinking about setting one up again :D

It aint easy 506 litres, 2 404 fluvals and 1 u.v, no fun

Do yourself a favour and get a trickle filter a lot easier to maintain, along with a fluidised bed filter, will handle the bigger fish a lot easier ;)

My tropical tank has only just finished "cycling" properly - took over a month and a half - and I'm now looking to slowly increase the stocking level. It's far smaller than yours (a 60L hexagonal tank) but I must admit that it is a heck of a lot easier to maintain than the cold water tank I had before.

 

It really is imparative that the tank has cycled properly before you add the fish and do it very slowly as you need to give the bacteria time to adjust to the increasing waste levels - you don't want Nitrite spikes!

 

I've been doing this for a while now so if you have any questions let me know.

 

All the best,

 

Dan

Hi Russ,

Looks like we may have to come over again sometime to see your new pets !

The advantage with fluididsed beds is that, the cycling time is a lot quicker and it is even quicker of you get some old filter media from a mature tank!

 

With the size of tank that Russ has he could get some smaller fish in to mature it and take em back to the pet shop when he has finished with them!

With the size of tank that Russ has he could get some smaller fish in to mature it and take em back to the pet shop when he has finished with them!

 

That's what I've done (going against tradition and recommendation of fishless cycling) - I've got two mature Zebra Danios and a small shoal (5) Neon Tetras. They did the trick and are now very happy in the tank. Will be keeping them and introducing more fish next weekend. Need something to control the algae growth and a few shrimps for cleaning-up purposes!

 

Cheers!

 

Dan

Am thinking about getting a small tank for the flat, used to keep discus but my current lifestyle doesn't make that feasible :(

yep putting some barbs in to mature it, also have split some old filter medium in to the two 404's, and extra bactera. currently running a ph 7 , hardness 8gdh. so that seems close. At the weekend i think it's time to purchase an ro machine.

Andy your more than welcome to pop round but it will be at least a month till the polka dot rays are in, you may even get a cold beer this time.