Filters and Plants for a 4-foot tank?

Hiya!

I'm about to get a 4 foot tank and I was wondering if my Aqua One 500 l/ph filter will be good enough for it? I'm using it now in my 4 foot- Is that too strong?

I am interested in these Canister filters but they are rather expesive and I reckon I would be the worst person to set one up. So is my filter going to be good enough? If not, what do you reccomend? I could get one of those big internal filters and attach a spray bar? I guess that'd be better. I'll be using air stones as well, so keep that in mind. I'll probably have a big long one and a smaller, disk one for massages. ^^

In my tank I'm planning to use Tahitian Moon Sand (I think some people here use it? It's the black stuff). I'm buying a 9kg bag so hopefully that's enough for my tank. I'll be buying some plants, too, and a light. I only want a few live plants (for oxygen) and the rest will probably be fake. I'm really keen on some moss balls, though. On ebay there are some in the UK that ship worldwide- Will they pass Aussie quarantine? I really want some.

And this Java Moss? Is it hard to grow or what? I'll probably just get some bunches of Pearl Grass for my live plants. Oh, I dunno!

So:

Black Tahitian Moon Sand
Pearl Grass (about 3 large bunches)
Moss Balls (10 in the ebay lot)
Internal Filter
Air Stones
Pumps
X-Large Pebbles (like the stuff you put in bird baths, about 3 inches) (about 20 scattered around)
Fake plants (about 15)
LARGE terracotta pot (cut in half and open on one end for them to sleep and play in!)
Food dish
Test kit with PH up + down
Seachem Prime (water conditioner, does chlorine, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate)


How does that sound? I might also get some driftwood (if there's any room left!)

Java moss is easy to take care of. I have the moon sand make shure you rinse it alot. The only thing I dont like it's hard to see the poo so you can clean it up. Moss balls are easy also. I would check the fake plants for sharp parts I didn't cut my guy up.

I wouldn't recommend a canister filter unless you really want one, they aren't the easiest thing to use and alot of things can go wrong if your not spot on with set-up.

I have a 4-foot tank and use an AquaOne 1200L an hour internal filter, it has an extremely strong out-put but i managed to reduce this by attaching a seedling tube (with an elastic band) to the out-put.... Magic!

With your decor have you considered drift wood? It is extremely effective.

Plants I would recommend are Elodea ( one of the best oxygenators ) and very easy to grow.
The banana lilly is quiet nice too and another easy one to grow.
Also there is a common house plant called Spider plant, it doesn't grow fully submerged but if you can attach it to the side its roots will grow into the water and remove nitri/ate

With sand I found I only needed 5kg and even then there is probably a little too much in my tank!

If you use an air stone your axie's won't have very big gills, I removed additional airation when I moved my axie's into their new home and now their gills are big and frilly.

Also I wouldn't recommend getting plants from over-seas. I am pretty sure they won't get through. There are plenty of places to get aquatic plants right here in oz!

With your terracota pot, if you are smashing it yourself I have found the best thing to file down the sharp edges is to use an edge on pavement or if you live in a brick house you can file it down on the corner. No more sharp edges!

Hope that helps.


Regards Eastern_axle

I dunno if I want black or natural sand. I guess Natural would be better as I'm plannng on getting a black axolotl as Gonnies friend. Hah! He wouldn't show up. ^^

So scratch the moss balls- I think I'll get:

4 Foot Aquarium
4 Foot Cabinet
Light sand
Pearl Grass
Elodea
Internal Filter- W/ Spray Bar (1200L I guess)
X-Large Pebbles
Fake plants
Large Terra-cotta Pot- Cut in half
Test kit with PH up + down
Seachem Prime Water Conditioner
Large Apple Snails- 2 (I'll make sure they're very big- Bigger than an axie mouth!)
Leucistic Axolotl
Melanoid Axolotl
*Maybe* a fourth Axie, a Wild Type
Lighting

Sound good?

Sounds like you've got a plan to me! One thing about snails, make sure they don't have a trap door as axie's arms and legs can get caught and cause alot of damage! Ramshorn are probably your safest bet but be warned they breed quicker than rabbits!

By the way, you should avoid using ph up and down. There are better ways of controlling ph

All the best!

Regards Eastern_axle

So instead of the PH up and down things I'm getting a liquid PH test kit, and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate test strips. Sound good?

I didn't cycle my tank last time (it ran but I didn't do a PH or anyhing, I don't even know what the levels are). After reading the Caudata oage on cycling I'm going to use a frozen prawn to cycle the tank and do tests to the word.