I have a 75 gallon aquarium that I would like to set up for Angelfish and guppies. So far all I have is the tank. I'm ready to purchase the other components (filter, air pump, heater, etc.) and would like suggestions as to what I need to have in order to maintain this tank. I'm thinking of a Rena Filstar Xp3 cannister filter and a Rena Air Pump 400 150G as the filter and air pump. What should I consider as gravel? What should I consider as plants? What should I consider....other items I may not have thought about???? Can you help me? Thanks so much.
Answers:
In my opinion, the first thing you should consider carefully is if you are going to use live or fake plants. This might seem like a minor detail, but nothing could be further from the truth.
In order to have a successful planted tank you need to consider what the plants need to live. They need light to photosynthesize. No way around that. Not just any light will work. We are talking about 2-4 watts of 6500k-8000k spectrum light per gallon. This gets costly, quickly. Also, they need CO2. Fish exhalation is nowhere near enough. CO2 injection can be quite expensive, or quite cheap depending on if you use compressed CO2, or DIY CO2 injection. Both types require equipment used to dissolve the gas into the water. Keep in mind that by agitating the water surface, like with bubble stones, you are allowing most of the dissolved CO2 to escape back into the air. Additionally, plants thrive best with special substrates. A product called 'Eco-Complete' works well here. Some people even swear by under-gravel heaters. This causes convection, pulling nutrients down to the roots. Also, consider the cost of the plant packages (retail bundles of aquatic plants) available. Planting a tank is not simply putting live plants into an aquarium.
I am not trying to scare you away from planting your tank. Hopefully, my post will prevent some frustration and/or wasted money! While it can get costly, I feel that by planting your aquarium, you are creating a healthy, beautiful home for your fish. The following are some links to references which I found helpful when planting my tank.
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/store.as...
http://www.aquariacentral.com/articles/p...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/...
http://www.aquariumpros.com/faqpro/plant...
http://www.thekrib.com/plants/co2/co2-na...
Your going to need:
- Filter
- Air pump
- Heater
- Thermometer (to check temp)
- Test kits (ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph)
- Gravel (of you choice and colour)
- Air tubing and stone
- Deco (of your choice)
- Some tall plants ( fake or real)
- Gravel syphon/cleaner (for doing weekly water changes
- 2 x Buckets (for doing weekly water changes)
- De-chloronated (for taking chloride out the water when settin up and doing water chnages)
I have a feeling i have missed somthing, Not to sure,
When adding the fish dont add them all at once and i suggest you add the guppies first to cycle the tank and then the angel fish last,
~ GG
We have a 185 aquarium for our angels, they are very easy keepers. I can't remmeber how many pounds of gravel we used for this tank, but we went with a natural brown small gravel from the local pet store. Just make sure you rinse the gravel thouroughly before putting in the tank. We put about 3 inches of gravel, then placed the plants. We chose to go with sik plants from the pet shop that are approved for aquarium use, the silk ones seem look a little more natural and the fish won't eat them like regular live plants. Consider a nice piece of drift wood as a centerpiece, but again I would purchase it from a reputable pet store and rinse it thouroughly before you put it in the tank. Once you get the decorations how you want them, then fill the tank with water. It is much easier to rearrange stuff without the water ! We prefer a product called Stress Coat to condition and dechlorinate the water for new set ups and for water changes, the bottle will tell you how much to use. For filtration we have an eheim thermo cannister filter, it is basically a filter with a built in heater that heats and filters the water in one unit. It is kind of on the pricey side but it is so easy to maintain and works great, so you definatley get your moneys worth ! I don't have a preference of brand for ait pumps, but make sure you install a back flow block, so if you ever lose power the air pump won't get flooded and fried. Python brand syphon hoses work great for water changes, we usually stick with a 25% water change weekly, but up to 50% if we notice extra waste building up in the gravel. A good water test kit is a necessary investment, get one with test strips that you just dip in the water then match up the strip on the bottle for results. A new aquarium can be a little costly to start, but if you invest in good quality components to begin with, it will save you money and heartache in the long run ! Keep it simple and low maintenance, you picked great types of fish that don't need much more than basic care, so don't go crazy if your water temp varies a little or the test strips don't look perfectly balanced at all times ! Good luck, I hope you enjoy your new tank !
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