Patrick's FRESHWATER Red Sea C-250

Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
DaveK said:
Think twice before you get involved with planted discus tanks. Discus have fairly high temp requirements and this can be incompatible with some species of plants.

Also be prepared to spend quite a but of time on the tank. Discus are a lot of work. One good thing though, you already have an RO unit for making water discus love, but you will need to add GH and KH builders.

I'm not saying don't do this, it's quite doable, just make sure discus are for you.
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This is excellent advice. I was not at all aware of those limitations. I'm sure I'm capable of keeping Discus happy...after all I did saltwater. But, I'm not sure that's what I'm looking to buy into at the moment. I'll defintely research it more before I go that route. Maybe some large schools of tetras with some large fish balancing it out...
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
So, as I've been researching fish, I'm currently thinking 2-3 Angelfish, a school of about 18 neons, some cories, plus ??? (Or minus ???)
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
The angles will thank you for the hors d'oeures. Look up how large an adult angel gets, then compare that to the size of neons.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
DaveK said:
The angles will thank you for the hors d'oeures. Look up how large an adult angel gets, then compare that to the size of neons.
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OK. So, no Angels. :)

I took my skimmer out and was thinking of putting biomedia where the skimmer was. Anyone with thoughts on that? Think there is enough flow to make that viable?
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
You can add biomedia in place of the skimmer. Skimming usually has no benefit in FW systems, although there are a few exceptions. If you do add biomedia make sure you have a way so you can remove it for maintenance. You'll want to clean the dirt out of the chamber and rinse the worst of the dirt out of the biomedia.
 
mr_tap_water

mr_tap_water

Well-Known Member
If it's possible and you're using bio media rings try stacking them on top of each other this will reduce any waste getting trapped and will allow it to flow through easier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
mr_tap_water said:
If it's possible and you're using bio media rings try stacking them on top of each other this will reduce any waste getting trapped and will allow it to flow through easier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks! What biomedia do your reccomend, if any?
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

So, it turns out cycling a tank with no established bacteria colony whatsoever takes a while. Who knew?

On the plus side, my lights are cool! (http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/steves-leds-review.97825/)

I think I've decided to go with an underpowered (aqueon 50g) HOB filter plus my normal media rack for filtration and see how it goes. It's a lot easier and fits nicely where my skimmer was. I don't yet know if that's overkill or underkill. If underkill, I'll add a canister.

Somehow, I'm managing to turn freshwater into an expensive hobby. Go figure.
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
Pat24601 said:
...
Somehow, I'm managing to turn freshwater into an expensive hobby. Go figure.
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As planted tanks go your not doing too bad. I'd say the big differences in equipment are that you don't need a skimmer in FW, and you can use much less lighting. Much of the other items are similar.

If your in to FW planted tanks for a bit, you'll find products talked about that are made by ADA. ADA gear is good, but it's out of sight expensive. Here is a link to the USA distributor for ADA products (offsite) - http://aquaforestaquarium.com/ Check out a few areas and you'll see how the prices are as bad or worse than many high end SW reef products.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
DaveK said:
As planted tanks go your not doing too bad. I'd say the big differences in equipment are that you don't need a skimmer in FW, and you can use much less lighting. Much of the other items are similar.

If your in to FW planted tanks for a bit, you'll find products talked about that are made by ADA. ADA gear is good, but it's out of sight expensive. Here is a link to the USA distributor for ADA products (offsite) - http://aquaforestaquarium.com/ Check out a few areas and you'll see how the prices are as bad or worse than many high end SW reef products.
Click to expand...

Wow. I'm definitely feeling better about my costs now. So, there is that. :)
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
OK. I was just trying to set up my filtration as I described above yesterday and noticed I had purigen in my media rack! I guess I did that out of habit without thinking when I set up the new tank.

Needless to say, I don't think I'm helping my cycle time...
 
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Danreef

Well-Known Member
Pat24601 said:
I'm planning on discus, but I'm still thinking it through. I'd love any thoughts!
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Hi Pat

If you would like to have Discus, then I will suggest to go also to "Simple Discus" forums. But be carefull with all what your read there. I have started a Discus tank last August (2016). This is my thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?125539-Daniel-s-75-G-20-G-sump-DISCUS-TANK

and this is a video of last month

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="
" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Enjoy your new adventure !!!

BTW..... I have all LEDs

Daniel
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Danreef said:
Hi Pat

If you would like to have Discus, then I will suggest to go also to "Simple Discus" forums. But be carefull with all what your read there. I have started a Discus tank last August (2016). This is my thread:

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?125539-Daniel-s-75-G-20-G-sump-DISCUS-TANK

and this is a video of last month

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="
" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Enjoy your new adventure !!!

BTW..... I have all LEDs

Daniel
Click to expand...

That looks awesome, Daniel! I'll follow your thread and learn what I can!
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I was playing with my lights creating a "storm" and it was kind of fun even if it is a novelty that may wear off quickly.

My wife saw me do that and said, "You are such a dork."

In my defense, she really should have known this long before now. If she didn't, that's pretty much on her as far as I'm concerned. If the fact that I can't leave a Rubik's cube unsolved isn't a clue, I don't know what is.

My kids thought the LED "storm" was really cool though. I often seem to be in sync with 3 year olds...
 
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Desmond

Well-Known Member
Really starting to look good Pat i had fresh water tanks for year and a few planted setups. I agree what dave k said about the co2 system will be well worth it in the long run. Are you going to have an air stone or air wall in the back of the tank to keep the oxygen level up ? A few nice fish to consider would be dwarf cichilds , there are some really nice looking ones and they will work with neon tetra and the like. Also guppies can be fun as they breed like rabbits and you will have the fun of raising a few fry in a breeder net :) For clean i would go with Ancistrus they do a great job.Also bear in mind the plants you have now grow big and may be better suited at the back of the tank if you are planning on adding more.
Java fern are also quite cool on the drift wood :) I used to also add a few moss balls to help control algae :) Looking forward to seeing more. There are also things you can use to speed up the cycle. DR TIMS one and only works a treat or colony
 
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