Thank you so much for your replies, and for being such a welcoming forum (which isn't always the case haha!!)
@alto - I originally wanted the 180, but the Vivaline 150 was a compromise as my Mrs wasn't keen on something with a bigger footprint. However, after revisiting the conversation with her, I have now ordered the Vivaline 180
(she is in a good mood with me)
In terms of stocking, Not finalised, but I'm looking at a combo of:
- small tetras (mainly for the kids)
- would love some tiger barbs, but from memory they may be a bit too nippy
- Briefly thought about pygmy puffers, but pretty soon realised they are probably not a good idea here (already thinking of another smaller species tank for those haha)
- perhaps some rainbow fish
- half dozen or so corydoras
- a pair of cichlids of some sort
- a few oddballs/algae control species (back when I had a tank decades ago I was more into unusual catfish etc!)
- some shrimp (as these are new to the hobby since I was last into it)
CO2 - thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to just dive in and go for it up front. The only decision I've made on that front is to go for a pressurised system, as I don't have the time to mess around with yeast (unless liquid CO2 is worth looking into?) CO2 is the area I am least knowledgable about, and also looks quite expensive, so I need to do a bit of reading on that. I had a look on ebay form 2nd hand parts, but I really don't know what I'm doing in terms of what I should/shouldn't be looking at.
Substrate - thinking about Tropica plant growth soil, capped off with fluval stratum or similar (hopefully ok with the corydoras?)
Lighting - boy plant LED's are pricey! I don't think the Eheim standard LED's will be up to it, so guess I'm looking at something like the Fluval plant 3.0 (which I hope will fit under the hood of the vivaline) Any suggestions of good cost effective LED's here?
Filter - the 10x volume in circulation per hr rule is confusing me. I've seen some good deals for used Eheim pro 4+ at around 1000 lph, and was wondering if something like that would be ok in combo with the internal biopower 200 tat comes with the vivaline (max 650lph)?
Is the 10x rule really about getting great movement in terms of gas exchange, debris etc, or does it mean 10x volume actually going through a filter?
For small community fish, do you think that may be a bit excessive in terms of the outflow being too powerful for them?
Sorry for the long ramble!
yours, Bluecoat