RolyMo
Member
Hi All
Have been been thoroughly enjoying ukaps.org and have found it a goldmine of information.
A bit about me. My parents generously offer to buy me a fish tank for my 40th birthday after watching the delight of my 5 year old daughter watching the fish in a tank whilst she was in hospital 3 years ago.
I agreed to the challenge and as always am very keen to read up and research the subject and never in my wildest dreams realised the depth that the hobby of fishkeeping has.
So presented with the parents saying they had seen some nice biOrbs, I visited one of the local aquatic centres to see what it was about and managed to talk myself into getting a Juwel 180l Rio tank.
I literally picked this up on Friday lunchtime and spent the evening setting it up - Adding Tropica Plant growth substrate, then some washed sand, filled up the tank in the evening with tap water (Hampshire is hard water, no idea the measurement), and added the relevant dose of Tetre Aquasafe.
Next day back to the aquatic centre to choose some plants and ended up with 3 pieces of rock, and some Microsorum teropus on bogwood, 2 Anubias barteri var. nana, 2 Limnophila, and a Hemianthus to try and make a carpet in the front of the tank. Plus a couple of reflectors to boost the light from the standard kit T5 lights.
So here I am on a Sunday morning worrying that I am missing something, not doing something, need to get something.
So many conflicting messages. I have been seduced by the Tropica website and have been reading it religiously (what a great way to market and sell you plants) but it seems to be slightly conflicting with advice from the aquatic centre and others about introduction of fish/shrimp/snails/CO2.
The 2 things I am paranoid about is the CO2 and the algae. As having forked out (in my world a nice amount) on a starter tank I dont want to mess up, harm the plants or fish (when I eventually add them) and have a grotty green algae overrun tank.
My belief is I need to get CO2 but whilst I figure out if I can put together a FE kit is my tank suffering, can I add liquid CO2? Should I be adding shrimp and snails straight away? Can I truly add hardy fish in 1 weeks time?
On the other end of the scale my girls have a Sea Monkeys starter kit which has them interested too.
Anyway thank you to the members for me for being so generous with posting relevant information I shall continue to digest.
R
Have been been thoroughly enjoying ukaps.org and have found it a goldmine of information.
A bit about me. My parents generously offer to buy me a fish tank for my 40th birthday after watching the delight of my 5 year old daughter watching the fish in a tank whilst she was in hospital 3 years ago.
I agreed to the challenge and as always am very keen to read up and research the subject and never in my wildest dreams realised the depth that the hobby of fishkeeping has.
So presented with the parents saying they had seen some nice biOrbs, I visited one of the local aquatic centres to see what it was about and managed to talk myself into getting a Juwel 180l Rio tank.
I literally picked this up on Friday lunchtime and spent the evening setting it up - Adding Tropica Plant growth substrate, then some washed sand, filled up the tank in the evening with tap water (Hampshire is hard water, no idea the measurement), and added the relevant dose of Tetre Aquasafe.
Next day back to the aquatic centre to choose some plants and ended up with 3 pieces of rock, and some Microsorum teropus on bogwood, 2 Anubias barteri var. nana, 2 Limnophila, and a Hemianthus to try and make a carpet in the front of the tank. Plus a couple of reflectors to boost the light from the standard kit T5 lights.
So here I am on a Sunday morning worrying that I am missing something, not doing something, need to get something.
So many conflicting messages. I have been seduced by the Tropica website and have been reading it religiously (what a great way to market and sell you plants) but it seems to be slightly conflicting with advice from the aquatic centre and others about introduction of fish/shrimp/snails/CO2.
The 2 things I am paranoid about is the CO2 and the algae. As having forked out (in my world a nice amount) on a starter tank I dont want to mess up, harm the plants or fish (when I eventually add them) and have a grotty green algae overrun tank.
My belief is I need to get CO2 but whilst I figure out if I can put together a FE kit is my tank suffering, can I add liquid CO2? Should I be adding shrimp and snails straight away? Can I truly add hardy fish in 1 weeks time?
On the other end of the scale my girls have a Sea Monkeys starter kit which has them interested too.
Anyway thank you to the members for me for being so generous with posting relevant information I shall continue to digest.
R