My outlook on aquarium equipment and starting of
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TylerMatheny
My outlook on aquarium equipment and starting of
Hello, I know I am new here but I would like to place my thoughts on the equipment outlook I have for a freshwater aquarium. I see as besides the tank itself, the filter is the next most important thing. I have learned that what the filters register are not true what so ever, I recommend dividing the registration of the filter in half and that is what it can handle well. For an example, a penguin 350 biowheel registers at 75 gallon. I would say it can handle a 35-40 gallon tank well. I have one of these and a penplax 250 on my 55 gallon and I would like to place another 350 but I don't have the money to invest in it. Next would be a heater. I prefer the stealth heater, I always get a size larger that what is recommended but I don't think that is as important as the filter registration. I have a 250 watt in my 55g. In smaller tanks such as a 10g and smaller, I recommend keeping a fan near and blowing on it because of the fact it can over heat easily. Air pumps are not what they seem as well. I have one in both of my freshwater tanks but they do something different. The bubbles don't put O2 in the water, it uplifts the impurities of the water. O2 is put in the water by disturbance of the water. Power heads put as much O2 in the water as an air pump but the air pump also adds to the decor which brings me to the next thing I have an outlook on, decor. Decor is actually up to the owner of the tank. I like a naturalist looking tank. I like to have live plants in my aquarium because it some-what helps with filtration. Cycling is very important in fish keeping. It is the process of gaining the beneficial bacteria into your aquarium. There is a number of ways to do this from cheaper to longer to shorter to w/e. One way is the fishless cycling. It is letting the tank run with placing a little food or something to decay in the tank. You can also put straight ammonia in the tank, the kind with no smell to it to start it. There is one bacteria that eats ammonia, it's bi-product is nitrite, nitrite is also posiness to fish. Another bacteria eats this and it's bi-product is nitrate. Nitrate is bad only in a large quantity, regular water changes takes care of that. Remember to invest in a test kit and a gravel vacuum. You can also cycle with fish but I don't recommend it because it causes the fish a lot of stress so I will not explain how. There is other ways as well that is faster but a little more expensive or difficult to find. One is buying biospiurla which is a refrigerated product you will have to ask for at your LFS. You add the amount it shows and the next day you can add a few fish to feed the bacteria and then in a few days, add the desired fish. Another less expensive way is to take filter media or substrate from an already established aquarium and placing in a pair of pantyhose. Remember to keep it wet or the bacteria will perish. Place it at the bottom of your aquarium and do it the same way as you would biospirula. Take the substance out in about 5 days. Good luck and if there is anything I missed, please state.
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etheonut
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dennysfishroom
- Posts: 3142
- Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 8:47 am
- Location: Garfield, Arkansas
- Contact:
Guidelines
A couple guidelines I've used with good results:
1) Filtration should result in 5-10 water changes per hour. If you have a 20 gallon aquarium, your filter should have a water flow rate of 100-200 gallons/hr. Obviously, if you have really dirty fish (goldfish, Oscars, etc.) you might want to err on the high side.
2) Heaters should generally be sized at 3-5 watts per gallon. You can vary from this guideline, but this is the optimum. If you use a heater that is smaller than this, it has to run longer to heat the water to your set point, or if it's too small, it will run all the time and not be able to maintain your set temperature. A heater that's too large will result in more fluctuation in temperature, since it has the tendency to overshoot your set point because of it's high output. Having said that, larger heaters are usually only a few dollars more than smaller ones. The submersible heaters are generally a little more accurate, and a little better quality than clip ons.
Hope this helps.
Denny
1) Filtration should result in 5-10 water changes per hour. If you have a 20 gallon aquarium, your filter should have a water flow rate of 100-200 gallons/hr. Obviously, if you have really dirty fish (goldfish, Oscars, etc.) you might want to err on the high side.
2) Heaters should generally be sized at 3-5 watts per gallon. You can vary from this guideline, but this is the optimum. If you use a heater that is smaller than this, it has to run longer to heat the water to your set point, or if it's too small, it will run all the time and not be able to maintain your set temperature. A heater that's too large will result in more fluctuation in temperature, since it has the tendency to overshoot your set point because of it's high output. Having said that, larger heaters are usually only a few dollars more than smaller ones. The submersible heaters are generally a little more accurate, and a little better quality than clip ons.
Hope this helps.
Denny