hi guys, my sis bday coming soon. wan to upgrade into a bigger tank from a mrDiy platic container.

1. >like to ask for advice on those tablet co2 pills. it is a legit method to gas ur plants or full bs?


doing research for sis. internet advises to use co2 for best planted tank results. going for something simple, since i wont be there to baby it for the long run.

going to buy some low light plants and low co2 plants recommended from tropica.com and various ecom Vendors. tank is about 60x30x30cm. light is a 60cm long generic chinese white blue led. sponge filter. and for substrate, intending to buy 9L of fluval stratum. maybe mix with that cheap cay aquasoil. for top soil and bottom fluval. also getthing some driftwood and seiryu stone.

and will be stocking it with about maybe 15 tetras? and some shrimps. so like maybe 20 living things of my sis choosing.


2. >and also, we have a spare dirty sponge from the old container. do i squeeze all that juices into the new tank? or just use that old sponge in the new tank. cuz wanna buy a bigger sponge filter.

those bubble blower thing.

3.> also wanna ask about seachem stability. im intending dose for the first 2 weeks. read online that it help to startup new tank. whats ur opinion?

edit

4. >[B]is is true that some substrate dont produce ammonia on the first few run? like fluval vs ada amazonia?

as mentioned before, wanna setup new tank for sis, but cant baby it.



tldr: im cheap, and want to save money. didn't use lowyat search.

This post has been edited by Blinklime: Aug 29 2019, 12:12 AM

1 litre = 1 kg

good luck

n wheels bad

This post has been edited by Blinklime: Nov 3 2020, 10:41 AM

sounds like an accident waiting to happen lol, plus moving a full/even half tank of water on rollers probably stressful for fish. imagine an earthquake. U might as well setup a tank on the counter top/island near the sink for easier accessibility. just avoid the stove / water soap splash.

n people do rescapes quite often in the hobby, can always move then haha.

Some Images

maintenance should be non hassle if your not overstocking, n not over feeding. proper water flow will lift up most of the detritus aka poop to masuk filter. i have a planted tank. top up water only.

What kind of fish u planing to stock?

this, plus major spills

a bucket will suffice lol. use a gravel vac or submerged pump(use pantyhose or netting to prevent fish entering) to suck out water for water changes.

first of all welcome to the hobby
ill be typing base on my experience.
before starting, best learn about the nitrogen cycle.
cleaning is a no brainier, for newly setup tank, better to do water changes weekly, 30%-50% range. ur new tank may not be able to fully convert all the ammonia n nitrates in the water. concentration to high, fatal.

read up on how to cycle a new tank.
the proven method is to use old filter media.
but since ur starting from zero, i can recommend seachem stability to establish a bacteria colony quickly tho it will take months to be fully develop. so slowly stock the tank. It worked for me but some others are not as fortunate. can always do the fish food/seafood method.
now why i only top up? no water change? cuz not much shit. bigger tank, less concentrated. but ofc, what works for me, may not work for you. everyone tank is diff, never 1=1. n i still recommended to do water changes to dilute all bad stuff in there. yes planted tnak. non planted tank, better get a sump or do big water changes.

yea long hose would work with a pump, doesn't have to be an overkill 1, just enough to push water for the distance/height. or use a bucket

i remember sometime ago, i think utuber mentioned 1 gallon to 2 inches of fish. u can add more like how most fish store do, just do more maintenance. i usually feed and starve my fish every other day. to control. or feed minimal amount daily.

water quality, if u add more fish, ofc will have more ammonia. snails and shrimp dont have much bioload, i dare say none lol in a planted tank situation.
cleaning frequency, depends on tank to tank. how are you feeding? are you dosing fertilizers or any other chemical? algae growth? dirty tank doesn't mean bad water. i regular maintenance is pruning the fast growers, glass algae scraping. substrate was originally black, cant see the poop anyway haha. i have a school of otocinclus and shrimp to help with the funky algae. crazy algae growth usually a sign of imbalance. feeding to much? too much light? co2? etc

ah u have shrimps, so u probably know about all this anyway. lol
it was relaxing for me to type this anyway. kelos

if u will be using same tap water for the gold fish, should be fine. dont have to acclimate it. i would prefer ro water over tap (dechlorinated) water.
using old substrate, hardscape, sponges from ur other tanks would help with the cycle, but if u feed lightly, remove goldfish poop, do regular water changes, should be fine.
if really want to be on the safe size, check the water parameters.
the problems is most people get a small tank, stock a ton of fish, no maintenance and expect no death. lol.
seachem not necessary if ur going slow n steady but helps from my exp.

can always ask those fish store/farm boss. they probably have a more lazy method to jaga fish. haha
i know one that does 90% water changes every other day, 2 feet tank 100s of fish.
but what works for him may not work 4 u.

edit: bold

This post has been edited by Blinklime: Nov 4 2020, 10:07 PM

just wanna ask, next month im gonna travel back to my fams house.
my younger siblings wans some of my plants from kl. gonna fly to another state. how to transport safety without wilting? maybe 5-6 hour journey. plane + taxi. probably transporting with bagpack or carry on.

For most value, imo hang on backs.

I had a 2ft tank with about 80L, using a cf800 dolphin filter with UV light off. Good enough but i wish it had more flow. Nowadays sobo makes a 1000L/h version under rm200. Should be good. Can always redirect the flow, so don’t blow away your plants or fishes around. Water circulation is important. I usually only clean the filter and pipes once a year, loaded with lava rocks, ceramic rings, and sponges.

Another budget brand is sunsun. Good shit. Maybe able to get one under rm200 for 1000L/h. Sometimes they come in set with media from the seller.

and u may wan to upgrade the intake and out to 3rd party or Lily pipe later on. I find the parts a bit cheap and jank. Maybe okay for you. Not for my nano fish and babies. Plus black plastic pipe doesn’t look good in pics. Personal preference.

Im saving up for a Sunsun hw3000 it has a flow controller. Setup for a future sewellia stream tank.

Edit
Btw I always assume the filter flow rate cuts in half after filling it up with media. It is what it is. Can always sell and upgrade if you ever need more flow. The filter is to cycle the water not to collect fish poop. But it helps a little.

This post has been edited by Blinklime: Feb 2 2023, 08:30 AM

Hello shinchan

1- hard to say, everyone’s home and environment abit different. Have to slowly experiment. Depends whether your home has proper ventilation/insulation and other factors. Best in a fishless tank with your normal led light schedule and filter running, then record down somewhere. Ur equipment does expel heat. so less work if need to move around abit. Usually ground floor is best, more stable from temps fluctuation, good feng shui water energy. Most tropical aquarium fish can handle a slightly hot day. My tank is on the upper floor of my 2sto-house, with a big attic above it. Temps usually around 24 to 26c. No heater no chiller no fan no aircon. It just my aquariums in an empty upper hall. So I have a lot of open space and not cramped up in a room. The air gets a little humid and stiff but my tanks are cold to the touch. Just a get thermometer or those tds meter 2in1 10in1 with temp sensor. You should be fine. Just take note the type of fishes you intend to keep. Some prefer colder water, some like most tropical fish abit warmer. And also usually bigger tank, more water, less temp jumping around.

2. If u have good ro filter, you don’t really need to treat your water for chlorine or any other trace elements. Good for easy water change maintenance.

Some would recommended you check anyway just to be sure especially for a first time setup, can also take this opportunity to check ur tap water to understand ur water more. Plus you may have to check water parameters after setting up aquarium, with the soil stones sand etc. water will change over time, doing regular water changes is recommended.

You may wan to get some gh kh powders to remineralize your tank. Ro water usually have close to 0tds ppms. Plants and fishes do benefit from them. And decent Kh can help buffer ur water ph from jumping around. Talk to your fish store owner to understand more. There are a lot of educational material on this online.

3. These equipment while not necessary. Helps when you need to troubleshoot what when went wrong with your tank. Like going to the doctors to do bloodwork before consultation. Checking tyre pressure before long journey.

You don’t have to invest much, cuz who knows you may quit after 2 months lol. Can always run to you pet store when you need em. Start with simple tank, grow from there. I think many try to jump deep end, then stress over maintenance and routine. You have ro water, so on that front your good.

Aux pump helps to oxygenate the water, I don’t usually use it in co2 planted tank or low tech tank. So buy them for big fish tank, koi ponds. Etc.

Talk to your fish dealer. Some fish are hardy, some you have to baby them. The latter more affected when water parameters change. Some prefer acidic water <7 some alkaline >7. So buffer them accordingly if you want to get the best environment for a particular fish or biotope. But can’t go wrong with 7ph ro water.

Most important part of fish keeping or aquascaping, is routine water changes and maintenance. So invest in buckets and some mini water pump to help with water changes lol. Will make this hobby much enjoyable. My first few months, I use to gravity pipe out to my window to flush out the old water from the tank. Imagine carrying buckets to up down the house to the drains. didn’t wan my toilets to clog. plan out how far from ur ro water filter to your tank, then tank to drain/sink whatever. If u somehow can pump straight from filter to tank. Your winning already.

Edit
Just saw ur pic, small tank no problem. No need all that fancy equipment, water change is easy and fast for small tank. Do like 20-50% enough. Just setup near the filter your good. Make sure you don’t over stock with fish. Feed less food and enjoy. Fishes in the wild, don’t really eat much. Enjoy my dude.

This post has been edited by Blinklime: Feb 2 2023, 09:35 AM

I talked to my tank setup dealer before, I wanted a maintenance free setup or so called ecosystem setup.. So he has helped me to do up the aquascaping and matched the types of fishes for me..

these take time before things can balance them self out. usally for self sustaining system, people would keep loads of fast growing plants, and let the decaying matter to fertilize the plants, its ugly but like in real nature its like that. mr amano's style is for the refined nature keeper haha. usually people keep fauna with minimal bio load like shrimps and maybe 1 or more (depend on tank) fishes that can enjoy algae. i tried this once with neo cara shrimp and 3 ottos. top off with water time to time. i still did water changes just less often without disturbing the bottom. the bottom was like this video in the dead flow areas. i let rocks and side glass overgrown with green algae. 9 hour cheap led schedule. they survive for 2 years so so. probably aged out. the shrimp didn't breed much, water condition/environment was probably not ideal. water parameters was not perfect but plants and livestock were behaving fine. that was essential to me. good flow, algae growth was my trick for this setup. but you still have baby them when starting out. you may watch some videos on YouTube with few months of timelapse, have to understand, they might have used establish materials from one tank just moved into a new tank which really jump start the whole process.



Currently after 1 month, what I notice in my tank which I haven't even change water before:

water changes. this thing no matter what, gotta do. unlike in the wild, they get constant fresh water from streams, mountain, rainfall etc. new tank confirm cannot self sustain yet. even if the tank has gone thru its full nitrogen cycle, you still have to remove the nitrates in the water. this is where those test kits come in handy, u figure out what its wrong. too much ammonia? too much nitrates? maybe ph increase? you have quite a number fishes, doubt your plants are fully matured in that tank, bacterial bacteria still cultivating to take advantage of the fish waste.

btw are those sheryu stone at the front? those are a type of limestone, that release calcium carbonate overtime, increase water hardness, increase ph value. nothing to be overly concern, they are common in the hobby. just need to do water changes to keep things balance. topping up the water actually does little to nothing.

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1. water is still considered clean and not murky

all byproduct in the nitrogen cycle are invisible to us. can only tell what is wrong by testing the water. yellow plants? fish looking sick? algae? all maybe symptoms of water problems or imbalance elements in your tank.
water changes with ro water can fix this.

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2. however certain plants show signs of dead leaves and leaves with holes.. anything I can do to check why the leaves are dying?

okay some plants in the hobby, may have grown differently before being sold to you, during transition period, plants can develop stress to adapt to their new home parameters. maybe immersed, submersed, maybe they had abundant co2, fertilizers supplement, fresh water changes. some plants will melt before growing back. i actually find this part of the hobby daunting, have to remember each plants like every fish, it has their needs and requirements to flourish. in a low tech tank i assume like yours, plants maybe starve for nutrients, maybe poor flow/water circulation, maybe lacking co2 for the amount of light its getting. substrate is very important, the quality of substrate can ruin your fun from day1. overtime u can add in root tabs or fertilizer if u feel need to.

for example, that anubias on the wood, its a really nice plant that actually prefer to be low light conditions/slightly shady area to prevent algae growing on its slow growing leaf.
some counter this with algae eaters, like amano shrimps. ottos. just put them in low shady area of the tank. still need light, just not the direct intense variety that promote algae.

hydrocotyle in the front need more light than de anubias, grows fast, you shouldn't be having problems. water movement is essential tho.

on the left, i assume those are dwarf sag. those guys need light. can do very well in nutrition rich substrate.

on the right crypto-grime some shit i think. those guys have a tendency to melt all away after being planted. i remember some guy teaching to cut away the leaves before planting keeping the rhizome and roots, to jump start the process. should be fine in low light, decent flow.


the pet store owner, may also recommended you get some fertilizer like potassium or some macro solution. not a bad idea. but best do the due diligence of making sure the water para is good first and then go down the list.
i usually only dose when plants look funny like most normie commercial stores. the daily dose thing is abit high maintenance.

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3. notice also recently my betta fish tail when tail spreading wide, got signs of slight rotten, not sure was it because of my other fish bite his tail off or due to water issue.. my tank most nastiest fish is the black molly always chase other fishes.. should I remove the molly?

im not a betta guy, haha i feel these fish are really mistreated in asia. but my understanding on fish nipping

fin rot could be indication of poor water quality, bad water, stressed fish, fin rot. like human balding and stress.

now what could have cause bad water? lacking water changes, feeding too much, overstock tank producing more waste.

tetra are known to be fin nippers. usually out of stress, not to bully tho.

guppy/molly/platys these guy also unfortunately nip as well. tho not as often in my exp.

if i have to guess, you might have added all these fishes at the same time. before one species got comfortable with their home, you added other species that are equally stressed and confused. lacking hiding space, its own area, shit happens.

one way to counter this,
1. more plants more foliage, more hiding places. these guys are swimming in the same space of water. its get crowded, bully/fight.
2. some fish do nip themself, maybe out of stress, by accidental bites, or damage from hardscape like sharp wood edges or rocks.
3. move em out, really. if you see the fishes actively chasing other species, best relocate them. some fish just cannot exist under the same sky.
4. incompatible, some species dont play well in community tank. yours should be fine.
4. long tail vs short tail. ur fish jealous of the betta. like all short people secretly hate all tall people. some will nip on long tails just for lols.
5. most fish are peaceful. maybe need time to adjust to understand whose whose territory. neon mid level. molly usually also mid. betta all over the place.
neon are more happy in bigger schools, more safe, prefer more space to school around.
6. maybe some floating plants, notice ur fish like to chill upper level. though ur hang on back may push them into the water when drifting into their outlet. some fry like to hide in their root system. very cool. plus some shade for your anubias.



ur doing good, i first planted tank was in worst condition. just take time to adjust to taking care and maintaining the tank. once you know what ur tanks needs, you know what to do. everyone's setup, water, habits are different.

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