For the schooling experts

[Jc1119]

so keep the Roseline sharks and a couple more, grab some cories for the bottom and ditch the rest. sounds like a great plan to me.

Roselines look stunning in groups of 8 or more. Kind of an expensive school but they are really impressive in large numbers. If I had it to do all over again I might get one school of roselines and call it. Like you said, add something for the bottom and let the sharks have the rest of the space all to themselves.

 

[star_fire]

Who needs a filter anyway right? Just dump your water though a box full of river rocks with a plant and some worms in it... MUMBLE MUMBLE NOM NOM I LIKE PAN CAKES..

lol!!! thats really funny man!

fluval does 340 gph with just the pump but the filter circulates 225 gph. i'm guessing thats with media. clean or dirty though is another question...http://hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval_series5_manual.pdf _page en-6)

i think the tank sounds fine. filter too. if you want, stick yourself a big old sponge filter in there with an air line. costs 30 bucks. sponge filters are awesome.

plants lower nitrates by the way. so do water changes. carbon may or may not. dunno and dont care. water has nitrates in it too from water treatment plants using commercial filters to purify h2O. to me, just do plants to combat whatever is in the aquarium water.

i like pan cakes too!

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Roselines look stunning in groups of 8 or more. Kind of an expensive school but they are really impressive in large numbers. If I had it to do all over again I might get one school of roselines and call it. Like you said, add something for the bottom and let the sharks have the rest of the space all to themselves.

I actually do have 8 roselines(although with mixed sizes; from 3"-1" though), along with 8 danios and only 5 rosy barbs.

So if i just keep roselines and ditch the rest, I was thinking of having some zebra botia loaches? I do have a 4 inch bushynose pleco. So just the roselines and the one pleco?

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

lol!!! thats really funny man!

fluval does 340 gph with just the pump but the filter circulates 225 gph. i'm guessing thats with media. clean or dirty though is another question...http://hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval_series5_manual.pdf _page en-6)

i think the tank sounds fine. filter too. if you want, stick yourself a big old sponge filter in there with an air line. costs 30 bucks. sponge filters are awesome.

plants lower nitrates by the way. so do water changes. carbon may or may not. dunno and dont care. water has nitrates in it too from water treatment plants using commercial filters to purify h2O. to me, just do plants to combat whatever is in the aquarium water.

i like pan cakes too!

I am working on a CO2 yeast reactor which will incorporate a powerhead to add some filtration and a bit of flow on it. http://www.qsl.net/w2wdx/aquaria/diyco2.html <-pic towards the bottom(exploded view).

And here are some pics of my current first tank 2-3 months old taken with crappy iphone camera

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Up that to 50% and you will be better off. The best way to know if you are changing enough water is to monitor your nitrates.

If you can keep them under 20ppm with 20% you are fine. Most of us can't.

Alright, I'll start increasing my WC%, probably 35% next week then gradually increase if needed.

As for the water parameters, I just tested my water 30 minutes ago:
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 10ppm

 

[Jc1119]

lol!!! thats really funny man!

fluval does 340 gph with just the pump but the filter circulates 225 gph. i'm guessing thats with media. clean or dirty though is another question...http://hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval_series5_manual.pdf _page en-6)

i think the tank sounds fine. filter too. if you want, stick yourself a big old sponge filter in there with an air line. costs 30 bucks. sponge filters are awesome.

plants lower nitrates by the way. so do water changes. carbon may or may not. dunno and dont care. water has nitrates in it too from water treatment plants using commercial filters to purify h2O. to me, just do plants to combat whatever is in the aquarium water.

i like pan cakes too!

Sorry, but Hagen is notorious for overinflating their flowrates, but even if it was 225gph that's just a little over 3x per hour and thats just not enough for roselines to thrive. These fish are really need highly oxygenated water and that Fluval 405 will not provide those particular fish with the proper environment. Do a google search on Roseline shark ( Puntius Denisonii) or Red-lined torpedo barb and see for yourself. They come from cool water mountain streams which are oxygen rich. In addition, they typically run from $20-40 each, so a school of 8 costs between $160-320 bucks. Spend the $60-70 bucks on an ac110 and give them a chance to thrive. They dont need or want plants. They need current. Water changes will handle the nitrates.

8 fish should be around 40-50 inches of fish fully grown, so you've still got some room to play with. Loaches could be an interesting mix but they too are schoolers, so only add them if you're going to add another filter.

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Sorry, but Hagen is notorious for overinflating their flowrates, but even if it was 225gph that's just a little over 3x per hour and thats just not enough for roselines to thrive. These fish are really need highly oxygenated water and that Fluval 405 will not provide those particular fish with the proper environment. Do a google search on Roseline shark ( Puntius Denisonii) or Red-lined torpedo barb and see for yourself. They come from cool water mountain streams which are oxygen rich. In addition, they typically run from $20-40 each, so a school of 8 costs between $160-320 bucks. Spend the $60-70 bucks on an ac110 and give them a chance to thrive. They dont need or want plants. They need current. Water changes will handle the nitrates.

8 fish should be around 40-50 inches of fish fully grown, so you've still got some room to play with. Loaches could be an interesting mix but they too are schoolers, so only add them if you're going to add another filter.

I will definitely give them more current to make them happier as soon as my plants are thriving first. Both of these sites mention that their natural environment is highly oxygenated, has fast current, AND has lots of vegetation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denison's_Barb http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/93/1/Roseline-Shark-Puntius-denisonii/Page1.html

So what I am trying to accomplish in this tank of mine is exactly that; I have provided them with decent current for now so as not to kill my plants, which is hardly thriving at the moment, thus the diy co2 yeast reactor in progress. So when my plants are thriving they will definitely be able to handle more current(additional filtration or powerhead) and will be able to provide more oxygen for the fish(I'm planning on adding the giant hygrophila once my current ones are thriving, for a wide background plant).

When I reach that point, oxygen will be doubled, current will be doubled, happiness will be doubled, and the tank's attractiveness will be doubled

What do you think?

 

[kdrun76]

I am not especially familiar with CO2 reactors and I apologize if what I am going to say is off base, but this is said with the best of intentions.

To the best of my knowledge, using a CO2 reactor to get more CO2 in the water is done with reduced water movement at the surface so that all the CO2 added doesn't just leave the water at the surface. This is typically done in tanks with low currents. Youf fish would die in that type of environment as they need high currents and the high oxygen levels associated with high surface movements of the water.

I do not think (its just my opinion) that you could put these fish and a CO2 reactor on the same tank. Either the CO2 reactor would be useless due to surface movement, or the fish would die from lack of surface movement.


Ok, this is not opinion, a CO2 reactor is not a filter, you need more filtration that is not associated with the CO2 reactor. If you are having trouble with your plants, what substrate are you using and what kind of light do you have on them?

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

I am not especially familiar with CO2 reactors and I apologize if what I am going to say is off base, but this is said with the best of intentions.

To the best of my knowledge, using a CO2 reactor to get more CO2 in the water is done with reduced water movement at the surface so that all the CO2 added doesn't just leave the water at the surface. This is typically done in tanks with low currents. Youf fish would die in that type of environment as they need high currents and the high oxygen levels associated with high surface movements of the water.

I do not think (its just my opinion) that you could put these fish and a CO2 reactor on the same tank. Either the CO2 reactor would be useless due to surface movement, or the fish would die from lack of surface movement.


Ok, this is not opinion, a CO2 reactor is not a filter, you need more filtration that is not associated with the CO2 reactor. If you are having trouble with your plants, what substrate are you using and what kind of light do you have on them?

I happily accept any advice or opinion, that's what I'm here for right? So no need to apologize.

I'm using gravel substrate with flourite underneath it. My lights are 48" powerglo and a 48"aquaglo. As for the CO2 reactor, I will see how helpful it will be for my plants first before I don't even try it. Since the return from the fluval doesn't disrupt the surface, the protein film of some sort I believe keeps the CO2 there somewhat. My plants also provide oxygen for the lack of current at the moment. And I know I don't have enough current right now, if I do have it my plants might die at their current state.

I agree that the CO2 reactor doesn't fix the need for an additional filter but is a means of adding additional flow and filtration(for now) with a prefilter pad on the intake on the powerhead and another pad in the gravel vac(in addition to providing co2 for the plants[hopefully]).

If my plants do well with the CO2 on there then I will definitely add more current and filtration then.

 

[Mr. Rain Cloud]

Does anyone think I'm on the right track based on my last post?