Hi and info on a new tank setup required

[laika]

Hi all,

I’m about to setup a new larger home for my fish and have been doing a bit of research and want to make sure I’m on the right track. I’m looking to buy a 4ft ~215lt/57G tank to re-house my fish.. I have 2 clowns (3” & 4”), 4 kuhli’s, 5 danio’s, 1 cory & 1 pleco (3”). I’m planning to add a river tank manifold with two powerheads as shown on this site, filtering with two external canister type filters (better than one bigger unit right?). Use pool filter sand rather than gravel. Rock, logs and artificial plants (silk?) with plenty of places to hide. Once the new tank gets up and running for awhile I’ll add parts of the old filter pads to the new ones and add the danio’s to the tank and see how things go. At this point I’m after some feedback, am I on the right track? What flow rate should I aim for with the river tank manifold bearing in mind I hope to add some different types of smaller loaches and a few more cory’s.

Oh and I've found this site and some of the users tanks to be awesome, very impressed!

Cheers

[Emma Turner]

Hi laika, welcome to Loaches Online.

Your proposed tank size will be ok only short-term for clown loaches, as you will need to bear in mind that an upgrade to a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft will be needed within a few years (sooner rather than later to avoid stunting your clowns). It may also be a good idea to find a calmer tank for your kuhli loaches as they don't really appreciate the fast flow that the clowns enjoy.

Which species of Danio do you have? I only ask as many are temperate species and won't do so well at the high temperatures clown loaches thrive in.

If you know you are going to be able to provide your clown loaches with a 6ft+ tank in the future, you should add at least 3 more clowns to your exisiting 2, as they are very social creatures (quarantine first of course).

Emma

[laika]

Hi laika, welcome to Loaches Online.

Hi ya

Your proposed tank size will be ok only short-term for clown loaches, as you will need to bear in mind that an upgrade to a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft will be needed within a few years (sooner rather than later to avoid stunting your clowns).

Yeah I understand that from what I've read. A 4ft is about as big as I can go now but bigger in a year or two bigger should be an option. I am trying to do the right thing for my clowns

It may also be a good idea to find a calmer tank for your kuhli loaches as they don't really appreciate the fast flow that the clowns enjoy.

Thats why I was asking about flow rate with the river manifold. I'm (or should I say "they are") going to have to live with one tank so I'm looking for the best compromise.. Would you say a slower than ideal river flow setup would be better than a regular "still" tank?

Which species of Danio do you have? I only ask as many are temperate species and won't do so well at the high temperatures clown loaches thrive in.

I've got Leopard Danio's

If you know you are going to be able to provide your clown loaches with a 6ft+ tank in the future, you should add at least 3 more clowns to your exisiting 2, as they are very social creatures (quarantine first of course).

Yeah I was thinking once the new tank is sorted about getting a couple more clowns. I was also considering a group of dwarf chain loaches I've seen locally, from what I've read here they would be a good addition to the tank.

Quarantine? .. Whats the standard practice? Keep new fish in a separate tank for a couple of weeks and lookout for signs of sickness?

Thanks for your reply.

[mickthefish]

laika, Q tanks don't have to be big, around a 10 gallon tank would be fine, i reckon it would be best to keep the fish in there for a month as some diseases can take that amount of time to show,
all your doing is safegaurding your existing stock from disease and acclimatising the new fish to your water at the same time.

mick

[laika]

Filters ... What's the Eheim 2217 like? .. Top of my tank short list is a 5' x 18" x 18" which should be about 318lt/84G right? (while I cant fit a 6' at the mo I'm can shoehorn in a 5')... Will the 2217 do the job for loaches? The shop that has the tank said they would do me a good price on one as they have them on sale at the moment. I see it rated up to 600lt in the spec's but i've seen some posts here recommending running a pair of big filters. Also will running a river tank manifold help with the filtering?

[mickthefish]

hi laika, i get the gallonage to just over 70 galls, once the decors in you should have around 65 galls, the 2217 is good it will give you 265 galls per hour but i would still add a additional powerhead to get the turbulence i think you want.
it's a good sized tank to make a great setup out of.

mick

[laika]

hi laika, i get the gallonage to just over 70 galls, once the decors in you should have around 65 galls,

I converted to US gallons thinking most people on here are in the states.

the 2217 is good it will give you 265 galls per hour but i would still add a additional powerhead to get the turbulence i think you want. it's a good sized tank to make a great setup out of... mick

Yeah I think I'll go for two powerheads and the river manifold, but maybe not as much flow as the articles mention, I still want to have a few other fish that may not like the high flow rate mentioned. All going well I should get the tank next week and start working on getting it setup