Re-Joining the Aquatic Fun

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AHDOnline

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 13, 2006
17
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Pennsylvania
It has been several years since I have had a functioning aquarium. So I figured it was time to dig out the old rig and go to town. This is my current setup.

I started the aquarium on Nov 6th, 2006
I added the danios on Nov 10th
I added the rest slowly since Dec 1
------------Tank Setup------------
SeaClear Bowfront Aquarium
36"W X 16.25"D X 20"H - Clear - 46 Gallon Bowfront
Rena Air 400
Whisper 60 (BioBag Charcol Filter Setup)
Under Gravel Filter (Three Vertical Tube with 1" Stone)
Currently Kept @76 Degrees F.
Flora-GLO (On 7 Hrs Only)
------------Live Plants------------
Anacharis
Amazon Sword Plant
Cryptocoryne (green)
Anubias barteri v. nana
Echinodorus x barthii
------------Fish------------
2 - Cory Cats Albino (The Bobs)
2 - Cory Cats Leopard (Ninja/Camo)
2 - Silver Tip Sharks (Dyson/Hoover)
2 - Brick Swordtail (m/f) (Helmut/Helga)
5 - Zebra Danios (The Franks)
1 - Neon Dwarf Gourami (Fat Tony)
------------Other------------
1 Malaysian Driftwood
Purple Gravel
------------RIP------------
1 - Zebra Danio (Nemo)
1 - Flame Dwarf Gourami (Lazy Eddie) (dead)

First off yes they all have names. Its not my fault. Second Does that equipment look right? I have aprox 3 " of gravel with the live plant and the under gravel filter. The water always test just about right so I dont think there are going to be any issues. I see a lot of talk on charcol vs other but so far this seems to be working for me. I plan to add more fish in a month if there are no issues. I need to get the gourami a new mate atleast.

Its been a lot of work with the plant pruning. In total there are 11 plants in there.
 
dont slack on changing the carbon every 2 weeks. it sounds underfiltered but if its reading out fine then dont do a thing. whats your waterchange scedule like?
 
First thing is you should have the lights on a minimum of 10 hours a day for those plants. I would not add any new fish with the filtration you have. The bio-load is pretty maxed out, I would add more bio-filtration before thinking of adding more fish personally. An increase in lighting will cause the plants to absorb more nutrients during the day, which will help with the nitrates.
 
So should i add another whisper 60 to the other side? Or other type of filtration?

Also I had been leaving the lights on quite a bit but was told to lay off due to alge growth. As far as water changes I do on average 10% week
 
Different type of filtration. AC110 or Emperor 400 would be good. What kind of lighting do you have? I rather doubt that your going to have much problem unless you have 130W over the tank.
 
Add an emperor 400 to that tank for biofiltration and keep the lights on 12 hours a day. Just so you know, your Silver Tipped Sharks are going to get huge and have problems. They get over a foot long and do not do well in fresh water. They need brackish to marine water to live a healthy life. They grow at a rate of about 1 inch per month.
 
Yeah i understand about the sharks growing but was told that they wouldnt grow that fast, nor need the brack. So i will have to look into that. As far as the whisper vs the emperor they are the same pump from what i can see. I can get 330 out of the whisper and from what I have read that is far enough water turnover in a 40+/- Tank. Maybe I am looking at it wrong.

But you guys are saying i should have both?
As for the lighting just the top tank light which i mistated as the flor its actually the Aqua Glo 30W
 
That doesn't seem like enough wattage for that tank. Whisper's are crap filters and you get practically no biofiltration from them. That is why we said get the Emperor. Yes, they do need, brackish, mine is 6 inches and could eat the size of fish that he was when I bought him in July. I have seen them over a foot in salt tanks at a LFS as well.
 
Good to know thanks. I just took the advice of the lfs people here after reading up a bit and doing some confurring that setup is what I ended up with.

So I should go ahead and replace the whisper then with the emperor? or along side?

I do appreciate all the help. Its a lot of fun to get into and I have the time to spend with it so I want to get it right. I plan on upgrading to a bigger tank once I settle down in my other house in year plus..

Dave
 
I really like the aquaclear filters. The 110 or even the 70 model should work good for your tank as an extra filter, you will just want to turn the power down so you don't have too much current in the tank.

Where are you from in Indiana?
 
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