Last night when we went to pets shop to buy our new fish , taxi driver offered to give me his tank for free , cos they didnt want it anymore !

I never planned to have another tank,cos we dont have space , but because its FREE,i couldnt say no ! He even delivered it to my door this evening .

The tank is 55 x 50 x 41 cm , about 100 litres , came with gravel,decorations,lights,filter,heater and even stand !

It does need a good clean , looks like it hasnt been cleaned for ages !

*** How do i get rid of water marks ? looks like limescale , can i use limescale remover that i use for taps and sink ?

Nononononononono. That will harm your fishies :3

Use a half water half vinegar solution n scrub it a bit, and if it doesn't come off use a razor blade to scrape it off.

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You can go 100% distilled vinegar if you need to.

Ok,thank you guys Will try to lean it tomorrow , got to go to work now ...

Just did the same to a new tank I aquired. Good advice!

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55 Gal Planted Community Tank
50 Gal Sand Planted Bronze Cory Tank
20 Gal Planted RCS Tank
20 Gal PlantTank "Beaslbob"
20 Gal Planted RCS Tank
20 Gal Platy Breeding Tank
15 Gal Electric Blue Crayfish Breeding Tank
15 Gal Platy Breeding Tank
(3) 15 Gal Planted RCS Tanks
10 Gal Planted Golden Mystery Snail Breeding Tank
10 Gal Planted RCS Tank
10 Gal Swordtail Tank
10 Gal Endler Tank
5 Gal RCS Display Tank
4 15 Gal RCS Tanks (Waiting to stock)
2 20 Gal Longs (Waiting to stock)

Congrats on the new tank! LOL, no one has room for more tanks.... but you always find more room! Admit it, you are addicted! ;)

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

haha,i will be getting rid of computer table ....

The light unit (not bulbs) is not working on this tank .... :(

Replacement costs £60-£70 !!!!

I dont want to pay that kind of money , because i was never going to buy another tank,but as it was given to me free, i couldnt say no .

The tank is Juwel Lido 100 : JUWEL Aquarium Homepage

And the hood is made out of 3 parts , in a middle goes light unit , and then 2 flip lids :
Juwel Replacement Lido 100 Multilux T5 Light Unit 2 x 24w 55cm [4022573463552] - £65.80 : ArkPetsOnline.co.uk

I found some light unis on ebay : INTERPET 15watt Light Unit GWO on eBay (end time 26-Jul-11 20:44:59 BST)

Has anyone used them ? how would i attach them to the hood ?

Or if i cant get the lights working , would fish be ok without light ? i know plants need light,but do fish need it ?

Thanks

I don't see many light hoods over the rivers,lakes, and seas, just sunlight. Indirect lighting should be ok for the fish.

Just research some fish that like more ambient light... there are a lot of them. (For example, Chili Rasboras and Gouramis like floating plants because they block out light).

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

So in the end i decided to spend nearly £100 on a new light unit and bulbs .
This one will be t5 unit and will have 2 x 24w bulbs in it . How is that for plants in 100 litre aquarium ? low? medium ? high ?

Now i have seen "light reflectors" under £10 on ebay,which should give more light to the tank , would anyone recommend these ? are they really as usefull as it sounds ? i dont mind spending another £10 on it if it really is usefull

If the light is T5HO, it could be considered high light and you may need to elevate it off the tank some. Do you have a link to the light you got?

I'd say high light.... and since you have 2 of them... yeah... high light... like Ben said, may have to have them hang above the tank... or have a stand for them to be above the tank.

Bonus: you can have colourful plants!

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20g Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981
36g Bow Front Heavily Planted http://www.aquariumforum.com/gallery...00&ppuser=8981

Thank you guys for replies,this is the light unit that i bought :
Juwel High-Lite 2 x 24w Light Unit 55cm* - 47755 - AquariumSuperstore - The UK's Leading Online Aquatic Retailer

and these are bulbs for it :
http://www.iquaticsonline.co.uk/inde...mart&Itemid=53

oh no ... only got t5 light unit because i read its better than t8 ... Why do they need to be above the tank ?

T5 is indeed better than T8.You could get away with not being above(many fixtures of T5 have legs to elevate it a little)If you cut the lighting period down some,and have some plants that really enjoy lighting.

That being said,thats a very nice tank for free!You must post some pics of it when it gets setup.Any thought on what type of fishes you will be placing in there?

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Thank you

But what harm could it do ? Whats the reason for it to be hanged above the tank ?

I havent decided what i am going to keep in it,need to cycle it first,but was thinking bigger fish,in my other tank ( kids tank really) we got 7 neon tetras , but they are too small,keep getting stuck behind a filter,thats how 3 of them died :(

Too much light without CO2 and ferts can cause an algae bloom.Everything about a planted tank is about balance.

The reason low light setups work as well as they do,is with the small amount of light,then the needs for certain minerials and carbon are small as well,letting the fish respiring take care of the CO2 needs and the poo and waterchanges handle the minerials and ferts.If you increase the lighting significantly then you will need to also increase other aspects.

Hanging it above the tank will make the light less intense,and therefore you wont need as much of the other things to keep algae down,and still get some nice growth.

You can do DIY CO2 with some yeast and sugar water.Your tank is small enough.The addition of some liquid ferts will help as well.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Thank you so much for very usefull information ...

I do use liquid ferts and root tabs in my other tank , so i will use them in this new tank aswell .

Would bubble wall/airstone be enough ?do they actually have any benefits or just looks good ?
i really havent got space to put this bottle of diy CO2 .

Starting to think i made a mistake by ordering this t5 unit,should i exchange it for normal t8 unit & 2x15w bulbs ?

And one more question i need help with , what do you guys do with carpeting plants ? i mean how do you clean/vacum gravel ? I would love to have carpeting plants , cos i think it would look cool,just dont understand how would i have to clean gravel ?

I dont gravel vac my tanks.The plants enjoy the mulm.

Airstones are helpful to add oxygen,useful mostly at night from what I understand,when the plants are using oxygen.

As far as a DIY system,a two litre bottle will work fine.I use the ocean spray cranberry bottles,they are the three litre bottles.They fit very easily under the stand beside the canister filter.

I would keep the light you ordered.It will not be that hard to get it set right.If you see algae growth,just cut 30 minutes of the lighting period off,and see how that does.If you see no results after another month,take 30 more off the lighting period until you get it balanced.You may one day decide to go with a nice CO2 setup and will already have the lights to do so.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Danger will robinson

danger will robinson.

(or sondre)

MTS


(multiple tank syndrome).

For the heard water marks I just soak the tank and they usually just peal right off. Some us vinegar as well.

for glass tank single edge razor blades do a good job. but will scratch acrylic tanks. With those you may want to try old credit cards or other thin plastic things.

Best of luck

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden