Newbie from the UK

602 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by steveo, Mar 19, 2017

JakeGTI

Discussion Starter · Mar 18, 2017

Evening everyone.

Thought I would sign up properly instead of just lingering around, had a few tanks previous but never anything planted.

Picked up a bargain tank set up,

Jewel 180 rio tank
Eheim 2226 external filter
350w heater
2x bogwood
And a few odds and sods

All for £30 of a local selling page

I cleaned it all out removed the background and bought 3 bags of eco complete substrate. ( hoping that this would be enough )

Now after getting it home I realised why it was so cheap. The lighting unit was completely buggered, after buying 2 x t8 tubes and having them both blow up when I turned on the switch. Opened up the sealed jewel unit and both ballasts were completely rotten with rust. I decided to buy iaquatics replacement unit with 2x t5 tubes with it which gives a big power hike too so happy days.

I left the tank to cycle for around three months before getting any plants or fish and over the last month I have added a few plants and stocked it with

8x rummy nose tetras
6x cardinal tetras ( will be getting another 6 soon )
2 Nerite snails

Here's the current photos

Just treated a outburst of whitespot that was caught early so no deaths.
And also dosing 5ml of seachem flourish daily for added carbon (unsure if needed at the moment though)

A few questions if anyone can answer.

How many fish can I safely stock this tank with, basing on the size of the rummys.

How do I combat this dreaded brown algae that is popping up all over my plants

Can anyone ID the stem plants that I have?

Thanks, and sorry for the lengthy post !

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ambe

· #2 · Mar 19, 2017

Hi, I used AqAdvisor when setting up my tank. It gives you a decent idea. My tank is half the size of yours with similar sized fish and I have 30 in there with no problems.

As for brown algae, I hear a lot of times that it appears in new tanks because of the silicates, however in my own experience I still have a small amount after a year in my main tank, but non at all in my new tank. The difference is the lighting. I was talking to someone else about this and they said that after they moved their tank to a different place in the room (lighter) the algae disappeared.

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JakeGTI

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 19, 2017

ambe said:
Hi, I used AqAdvisor when setting up my tank. It gives you a decent idea. My tank is half the size of yours with similar sized fish and I have 30 in there with no problems.

As for brown algae, I hear a lot of times that it appears in new tanks because of the silicates, however in my own experience I still have a small amount after a year in my main tank, but non at all in my new tank. The difference is the lighting. I was talking to someone else about this and they said that after they moved their tank to a different place in the room (lighter) the algae disappeared.

That's a handy site ! And good news that I can have all the fish I plan to while only being stocked at 80%

The algae is nowhere near as bad as it was a few weeks ago but my water is quite hard, I do mix it with ro water to bring it down but I guess there is still a lot of silicates in it still.

I picked up 4 otos today which may help too.

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BettaBettas

· #4 · Mar 19, 2017

Welcome!

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shamrock62081

· #5 · Mar 19, 2017

Nice tank! I like the picture where the rummynose tetras are moving to fast for the camera. Might have to consider putting some in my tank when it's ready to stock.

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JakeGTI

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 19, 2017

shamrock62081 said:
Nice tank! I like the picture where the rummynose tetras are moving to fast for the camera. Might have to consider putting some in my tank when it's ready to stock.

I don't know if they are normally like this but mine don't stop, all day darting about in a big group. Great to watch.

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steveo

· #7 · Mar 19, 2017

That's a sweet looking set-up! Welcome-

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