By David Midgley - There are many high quality tank setup articles, for those interested in setting up an aquarium from scratch the Sydney Cichlid Page recommends one of the many articles available on the internet. Instead of duplicating information available in many other places on the net, here are a list of hints, tips and tricks to setting up an aquarium.
Choosing An Aquarium Heater
The best places to save money on an aquarium are to be found in building your own stands and hoods. In general when building your own tank stand it is recommended that the stand bears more legs which bear weight than some of the commercially available models. Three foot stands can be easily manufactured with four legs, while larger tanks such as four and six foot models should have six to eight legs. Having more legs on your stand spreads the weight of the tank, meaning each leg bears less weight, having more legs also has the effect of distributing the weight more evenly over the floor.
Filtration
For your money the best quality filters available at present are those manufactured by Eheim. Eheim filters have the disadvantage of being quite expensive, if they are affordable I would recommend the "professional series". These particular filters (2224, 2226, 2227, 2228, 2229) have several advantages over the traditional Eheim filters. Firstly the "o" ring is attached the base of the powerhead, no more fiddling required. Secondly the media (sintered glass and hollow ceramic pipes) is present in the filter in trays which are easily removable and more easily cleaned. Thirdly, shut off taps are built into the top of the filter. If Eheim filters are a bit expensive or out of your range, Sacem make some very good filters, and these come recommended with a few warnings. Firstly make sure you pack the material loosely inside the canister, otherwise you put too much pressure on the powerhead. Using coarse material such as hollow ceramic pipes, gravel or sintered glass works well. Secondly, and this is my main gripe with Seacem canister filters, the actual plastic canister is quite brittle and copious amounts of care should be taken when attaching the powerhead to the canister. Individual plastic canisters are quite expensive.
Lights! Are BioLux, PowerGlow and GrowLux the only way to go?
In short, nope. In general any high output broad spectrum (ie daylight) tube will work well for growing plants in your aquarium. NEC HG 5000 K tubes work well.
Avoiding Plastic Plants
Growing plants can be a tricky business, generally it can be done with a variety of hardy plants without all the really high tech dupla gear. If you are setting up a highly planted tank setup the tank using Dupla L or Dupla K substrate, these laterite substrates are quite inexpensive and well worth your dollar. Laterite is an iron rich clay that provides iron to the roots of your plants. Additionally, daily fertilization with Dupla 24 or a homemade equivalent seems useful.
Now plant selection plays an important role.
Be aware that many aquariums sell non-aquatic plants as aquatic ones� avoid plants with names like Spath Lily, Purple Waffle, Aluminium, Violet, Borneo swords etc. One of the Baensch Atlas's has a fairly comprehensive list of non- aquatic plants.
Here is my list of plants that rate in the special category of "hard to kill."
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All Anubias sp.
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Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)
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Vesicularia dubyana (Java moss) - Can be a bit messy some times� very good for spawning egg scatterers.
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Most Echinodorus sp. (Amazon swords)
Some good display tanks can be made up, exclusively with these species. This generally this makes for a hardy, long lasting display.
