New tank setup

Well it's an old tank being setup again, not knowing where is a good place to post a basic journal I've done it here, please move it somewhere more appropiate if there is a place for it?

So far the tank is clean, the 2 external filters are clean and their media is void of bacteria

I just ordered 100Kg of 3mm pea gravel for it, I don;t expect to be keeping any cories or eartheaters etc so it should be fine, and easier to keep clean over a long time than sand!

I plan on seeding the media from a friend and adding stock little by little, starting with some schooling fish I think, not sure what yet though. I would like something that will get fairly large i.e. no edible by small/medium cichlids so am thinking something like gold / cherry barbs for now.

Feel free to make suggestions on a good schooling fish that's cheap so I can get a decent size school without breaking the bank, that isn't tooooo big, and that isn't too small either so the likes of a cichlid the size of a firemouth or nic etc wouldn't have it for lunch....

Here's the obligatory pic of the tank at the moment (click to enlarge):



More to come

Welcome back Kaivalagi n_n

Sounding like a good project, making me think about stocking up a new tank myself.

The cherry barbs would look quite nice i'd reckon, maybe you could go with some Rosy Tetra's or something similar??

Well I don't recommend cleaning gravel in this cold weather, I thought my hands were going to drop off today!

I ended up using 50Kg of the gravel and thats' more or less enough for the tank...I might add another 10Kg or so later on once I've landscaped a little.

Filled the tank too and have both filters running now with fresh media in them, I'll run them on and off for the next week and get the water up to temp and ready for seeded media and fish.

I have a load of rockery to put in the tank next

I am now thinking I will go for a planted tank again, so long as I don't add big cichlids the plants should survive, I did like having some real plants way back when. Just gonna start with a few when I add the first fish and see how it goes first. I don't want a mangrove in there but some nice hiding spots would be good.

@Rusty, yeah probably have one school of barbs and one of tetras in the longer run. I need to read up on behaviour and choose based on wanting schooling fish at the top of the tank and the middle. I would love some torpedo barbs or rummy nose tetras but I wont be adding them to a new tank...I could just get some Danios to begin with, they stick near the top of the tank when cichlids are about and can get quite big...if they get frisky they do get nice and colourful too. Arrrgghh, too many choices......

Tank pic: