Aquarium newbie

[mnemenoi]

I have used bookshelves as aquarium stands, though using older and sturdier bookshelves is a must. You can reinforce them with a few added support joists. I mainly use them for dry tanks (tarantulas, ect.), but have used them for smaller (20 gallons and lower) tanks successfully. Some things to consider if this is your route,
1. Heavy duty real wood bookcase, try it out with the tank and just fill it with water. Move it slightly as if bumped, you should know whether it feels correct or the shelf is sagging. If so add joists and secure the shelf to the wall from the top for added security.
2. Power supply - Make certain there is an outlet nearby as you'll need a strip for all your equipment (filter, lights, heater, ect.)
3. Electrical access holes - Precut them as it will reduce problems plugging and unplugging devices. Think about running the strip into the bookcase for ease of access and cover them with a section of wood in the front to hide it.
4. Place it at mid level for ease of access and maintanance. Give yourself planty of room up above it in case of removal or more serious work.
5. Filtration and Lighting - Can be tricky in such a confined space, consider HOB's from the hidden side or small canister filter placed in the same area. Consider your lighting and water changes that would need to be done and give yourself ample room.
6. Before placing tank, consider some sort of towel or cushion under the tank to help in small water spills, ect.

It can be tricky, but if done with thought and pateince it can be a very rewarding experiance and certainly a unique tank and stand. As an aside, keep replaceable books underneath should a disaster actually happen. Trying to replace a leather bound 1880 copy of the Raven is far harder then a few back issues of TFH (Tropical Fish hobbyist).

I would also second Bedlamer in investigating aquariums on this forum and Craigslist for sale, they are far less expensive and can really give you a lot of ideas when it comes to stand options you have.

[Chris.d514]

I was going to look at purchasing a stand with shelves and go from there but if I can not find a good match I may build one as woodworking is a hobby of mine. I have build several sets of shelving and could go that route if I can't find a prebuilt

[Complexity]

6. Before placing tank, consider some sort of towel or cushion under the tank to help in small water spills, ect.

If you put a towel directly onto the wood, then the wood will be exposed to the moisture until the towel finally dries out. That could be a long time, depending on how wet the towel gets. So there needs to be a a waterproof layer of some sort to keep the wood dry before placing the towel down.

[Chris.d514]

I am debating buying a 25 gallon kit with stand or buying the 37 gallon kit and building a stand either out of yellow pine and putting lacquer on it or trying to find industrial driftwood near la porte.

Not sure if this was mentioned before or not but how often should I change/wash the filter?

[mnemenoi]

Filtration can get confusing as there are many things to consider when maintaining your equipment. Many filters (HOB, Canister, internal) all use 3 general means to filter the water. Mechanical filtration is usually accomplished by floss or that blue floss material. It removes particles from the water, but should be rinsed in tank water monthly or as soon as flow in impeded greatly. Second is chemical filtration, which is largely debated if its needed at all. Most systems use carbon and it theoretically will remove ammonia and nitrite from the water column. Truth be told carbon can act as a spong for absorbing and later leaching it back into the water. Once a tank is up and running carbon is generally useless and only assists in the third form of filtration if it helps at all. Thirdly is biological filtration, ceramic or some surface area that hosts bacteria that break down your ammonia and Nitrite in the water and reduce it to Nitrate. For this the larger the surface are the better. It can cover the carbon, but there is far better media then that. This is the are you do not want to disturb or 'kill off' when maintaining your filtration. This is why I recommend cleaning your mechanical filtration in older tank water, for if you ran it under a faucet the chlorine can kill all the work you did in cycling your tank and place you back at square one. There are a variety of other media for filtration from water polishing pads (very compact floss) to Ploymers (like Purigen) and each does certain operations that are difficult otherwise. Just read over different types and choose what type is useful to you and what your filtration allows you to utilize with your media chambers.

[Totenkampf]

+1 to not using goldfish, especially any feeders. although not the most used choice, i often use gouramis to cycle since they seem to be more tolerant of poor water conditions...likely since they can breathe air.

the column tank that you are looking at is very tall and narrow with limited lighting, you will be able to grow some low light plants and this can look cool so go for it. i tried out the marineland 10 gallon half moon and am happy with it for a shrimp tank since they climb around on stuff. the water conditioner and filters that are usually included in kits are often not that great so so may eventually upgrade these.

an ammonia test kit isnt expensive and when used with a nitrate test kit you will know exactly when it cycles. ammonia will disappear. when the nitrates spike then you are cycled. you can always test for nitrites to be zeroed out to just to make sure.

welcome to aquaria and HFB!

[Chris.d514]

I was looking at petsmart and the have a 25 gallon aqueon kit and a 29 gallon top fin kit. Anyone got experience with either or know which is a better setup/brand?

[rmalford]

I've bought a 29 Aqueon kit before and had a 29g top fin before. I'd go with Aqueon.

[mnemenoi]

Both look very comperable in their accesories. Both come with 30 gallon rated HOB filters, Aqueon has a bit better reputation so I would likely go that way if given a coin toss and all things were equal. Looking over the included equipment they will both be lacking substrate so its certainly something to consider. Another consideration would be an additional filter (I always try and recommend everyone double the Mfg. recommended capacity) as it will make your water clear and give you a bit of leeway as your tank settles in and makes things far more enjoyable on your end. Perhaps another consideration would be swapping the bulb in your hood, most come with low end bulbs and they sell inexpensive higher quality replacements at any walmart or hardware store.

Glad to see this all coming together and am looking forward to seeing some pictures

[TexSun]

+1 on aqueon.

[Bedlamer]

I was looking at petsmart and the have a 25 gallon aqueon kit and a 29 gallon top fin kit. Anyone got experience with either or know which is a better setup/brand?

All things being equal I'd go with Aqueon as well--and I did. I purchased two Aqueon 29 gallon starter kits last year at Aquarium World 13157 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77040 (713) 329-9989 http://aquariumworld.net/ for $89 a piece during a little promotion they were having. Those guys tend to run a little pricey—but have a printable coupon for usually about 20% off of one purchase per month (the coupon isn’t there at the moment—they might be waiting for March to roll in). Call them up and see how much they want for it. That is a fairly bread and butter item—I’m guessing most local fish stores that carry Aqueon products will also carry that 29 gallon starter kit. I know you are in Deer Park and the above store and two more of my favorites (City Pets & Fish Gallery) are over on the western half of Houston—but it makes for a nice Sunday afternoon drive just to see all of their stuff. There are several small LFS in your area—you’d have to call them to see if they stock the starter kits or not.

There is a thread on here http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...outhEast-Texas that lists most of the LFS (beware--the earliest posts in there are from 2006—call to see if they are still in business first. There was also a map of the LFS for Houston somewhere, but I can’t find it at the moment.

[Complexity]

The map is on the front page. Click the "Articles" link to see it.

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/content.php

[Totenkampf]

+1 to craiglist or the Buy / Sell Forum on HFB for a tank (you will save a bundle on a tank with stand), to not buying anything Top Fin branded, and to American Flagfish (I kept them in the past and they REALLY cooler up nicely. The males may fight and they have pretty big mouths so select tankmates accordingly. They are also highly underrated algae eaters.)

[Chris.d514]

Ok so the filter in my daughter's tank started "coughing" last night after clearing the water from it and restarting it a few times alot of clearish/white stuff came out of it. The filter started sounding right again and my ph went from 8.2 to a 7.4 and the ammonia dropped from .2 to .05. Is this normal, bad, good, or what? The clearish/white stuff settled at the bottom and I was planning on gravel vacing it up today.

[Complexity]

Whenever I've cleaned a filter, only to have it spit out white looking crud when I started it out, what I've seen is the filter pushing out the crud that had lined the outflow hose.

Cleaning the filter allows it to run at a higher flow rate (it's not as clogged as before) which applies more pressure to the outflow of water, and that higher pressure pushes out crud that had accumulated over time. It has never harmed anything (my fish even eat some of it), and the filtration just cleans it out (but I have very high flow).

I can't say you're getting the same white crud, but it's possible.