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Any fish tank/aquarium owners/enthusiasts/hobbyists on the board?


Springfield

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I'm just starting to get into the wonderful world of fish.

Got a 15 gallon fresh water tank that I am working on now. I'm definitely an amateur at this so it would be cool if there were other members on the board who are more advanced than myself. I have plenty of questions and while google works just fine I appreciate the care that (most) members of the board exhibit,

So a general discussion can be had I suppose.

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Can you elaborate on injected co2?

Sure

Basically if you want to grow certain plants that require a lot of light, you need to inject co2 gas into your tank for the plants to feed off of. Otherwise your high power light will just make your tank a green algae mess

I was originally going to go sal****er when I wanted to step up from our basic 16 gallon aquarium. I started researching planted tanks and quickly realized they were exactly what I wanted... Simply beautiful

The problem with aquariums is that they just require too much work if you have a job and kids, etc. it probably is a hobby I will pick back up in the far future

Here are a few planted tank pictures with injected co2

Planted-tank-Layers.jpg

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Go to a specialty fish store.  The people there should be knowledgeable enough to help you.  Starting with a fresh water tank is a very good idea.

 

I had a small tank (5 gallon) with about 6 cardinal neons.  I think it's about 1 fish per gallon.  You'll need a couple of bottom feeders to help keep the tank clean.  You might consider a couple of different species that school together (with their species) so you get concentrated color or whatever you are going for.  When my daughter was small, we also used to get the small aquatic frogs, cute little thing.  Don't forget plants and something that floats, some rocks/arches.

 

Have fun!

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Thanks for that zoony.

I have a job, and wife and will have a kid soon, so simplicity is going to be best for me. I have all artificial plants in my tank right now. Is there an advantage of plants other than aesthetic appeal?

And hot damn is that a beautiful tank.

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What we have in the fresh water tank now are 4 danios, 2 German blue cichlids and 2 German baloon cichlids. We had a snail until 2 days ago... it died.

A snail dying soon after being added (all the fish have only been in the tank for about 2 weeks), is that a sign that something is wrong?

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No advantage really other than they look awesome

If you have a well balanced tank with artificial plants and decorations it really doesn't require much maintenance. Just don't put too many fish (for a 16 gallon tank I would keep less than 12" overall of fish)

You can get away with water changes every few weeks. Get a good quality filter

You probably only want about 4-6 hours of light per day. Use a lower wattage light. Won't look as nice but you won't have algae problems either

What we have in the fresh water tank now are 4 danios, 2 German blue cichlids and 2 German baloon cichlids. We had a snail until 2 days ago... it died.

A snail dying soon after being added (all the fish have only been in the tank for about 2 weeks), is that a sign that something is wrong?

Not necessarily. Snails can be a pain in the ass. You have too many fish for your size tank though

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Sometimes it's counterintuitive, but in most cases he larger the tank the easier the water maintenance. Assuming you don't overload it.

I read that as well. Subtle changes that will be problems in a small tank won't effect a large tank due to sheer volume.

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Water changes? I do not like the sound of this.

Yes you will want to get a gravel vacuum and siphon about 25% of the water out of the tank and replace it with fresh water. You can just pour the water directly in the tank and add conditioner but probably better if you mix it in a five gallon bucket first

YouTube has some good videos. I bought a siphon that attaches to your faucet with 25' of hose... Mad water changes much easier

Water changes are probably the most important part of keeping an aquarium

Also, a tip for beginners, ignore pH. Trust me they will try to sell you pH test kits and additives etc. But trust me pH DOES NOT MATTER at your tanks level. If the salesperson you are dealing with tells you it does, they are either stupid r being dishonest with you

Just make sure your tank is cycling (check ammonia levels) and it should be fine. Hopefully you got it cycling with a few danios before you added the cichlids

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Yeah, we cycled it for 3 days prior to adding fish. The people at the fish store gave us some balls that had their bacteria in them in addition to the bacteria in a bottle. We did however add the danios at the same time as the cichlids.

Siphoning out 25% seems rather easy. I'll check ammonia levels to make sure that looks good.

I wanted a bottom feeder or snail or some other cleaner fish. Suppose I'll have to wait until we lose some fish.

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Cleaner fish are tough. Their impact on your tank is negligible in terms of how clean it will be, so if you add them keep in mind it will essentially be because you like them. Most cleaner fish get big and aggressive. The ones that don't are incredibly hard to keep alive

I had freshwater shrimp they were awesome to watch. But you don't want to put them in a tank with cichlids

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I grew an Oscar from an inch long to somewhere about two pounds.  At the end he would have been fun to catch on my ultralight.  He would jump out of the tank and eat goldfish from my hand, had to pick him up off the floor twice, I can only imagine that he saw something he thought was a dinner on tv.  Cool fish.  I also had a plecostomus(sp) in the tank for the algae and it worked great.   I'd like to do it again one of these days too but it is a commitment.

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I used to have a Discus tank with a Black Ghost Knife and a couple Angels. Tried to have a school of Cardinal tetras, but the ghost knife ate them. Like Zoony said though a lot of work. I fed them live black worms and brine shrimp. This tank you did have to keep he ph down though. Discus require it.

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Read posts 5 and 6 here for info on algae eaters

http://i.imgur.com/pzSiXjq.jpg

Great forum for planted tank or aquarium discussion. A bit crowded though

I used to have a Discus tank with a Black Ghost Knife and a couple Angels. Tried to have a school of Cardinal tetras, but the ghost knife ate them. Like Zoony said bough a lot of work. I fed them live black worms and brine shrimp. This tank you did have to keep he ph down though. Discus require it.

Yah Discus are the heavyweight champions of pain in the ass fish. Never attempted to keep them but I always wanted them, beautiful fish

Did you use RO water?

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I had an aquarium.  Loved it.  Siphon out 25% of the water every few weeks, buy a couple of algae eaters, and you're good to go.  

 

Get little mini sharks, small crabs, those skeleton fish, and whatever other non violent fish you might want.

 

I'm moving again in a couple months, and I can't wait to set mine up again.  Good luck.

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Read posts 5 and 6 here for info on algae eaters

http://i.imgur.com/pzSiXjq.jpg

Great forum for planted tank or aquarium discussion. A bit crowded though

Yah Discus are the heavyweight champions of pain in the ass fish. Never attempted to keep them but I always wanted them, beautiful fish

Did you use RO water?

Nope but I did use these bags of peat like stuff you put in the filter that kept the ph down, gave the water a little tea color. Was essentially decaying vegetation like you would find in the amazon region.
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Any type of filter on the tank - or is it just a 15 gallon tank?  What type of lighting are using?  Just a normal output fluorescent strip?

 

I've been in the hobby about 20 years, started fresh and worked my way 15 years ago to sal****er.  IMHO, the toughest thing is getting started.  Once you have a properly balanced ecosystem - the maintenance is negligible.  

 

Back in freshwater - some of my favorites were:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plecostomus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Catfish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuhli_loach

 

A plecostomus can get pretty big.  I used to have a pretty good relationship w/ the local fish store.  When the fish outgrew my tank, I could take it in and get store credit.  I'd buy a small one for $2 - it would grow and then I could sell back to the store for $4 in store credit and they'd sell it for $6-8 or something like that.  It was a win - win....plus watching a plecostomus sucking on the glass is pretty wild.

 

I always liked the communal tanks....I think that is what took me to satlwater - the reef tank w/ clown fish, anemones, snails, crabs and coral all living together is just so cool.  Once you get the balance right - it is 15 minutes a month maintenance.

 

Majority of advice above is pretty good.  1" per gallon is a pretty rule of thumb.  Slow and steady win the race of aquariums. 

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I bought the whole set up (stand, filter, light, etc) from a friend. It has a filter but I don't know what kind other than it's external (hangs off the back of the tank), has a blue filter element inside of it and is fairly quiet. As far as lighting, I think it's just regular fluorescent.

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