Back to an old hobby

Hi Everyone
I am returning to the hobby I had as a 15 year old. Concidering I am now 46 it's been guite a break.
I have just purchased an Aqua 1 R2 120, which is the 4 foot tank and stand. I have been looking at a lot of forums, trying to find anyone with this type of tank however there does'nt seem to be many people that know much about them.
I have spoken to a few people that have the opinion that the filter system may not do the job quite efficiently. I have a feeling because these tanks are reletivly new on the market people are a little affraid of them, and because the filter sits on the top of the tank, and not beneath the stand they wont work as well as they should.
Anyway I have gone against the opinion of some fellow hobbiests and taken the plunge. If I come unstuck I only have myself to blame. I like the look of these tanks. They are neat a pleasing to the eye, however are probably not the easiest tanks to do maintanance on I have discovered.
I am currently cycling this tank, and taking my time with the whole setup as I want to get the whole thing perfect before introducing any Discus to the tank. At present I have sand as substrate, wood, rocks, and a few plants Blue Stricta and some Java fern.
I want to keep things simple at first,until I am sure I'm going about things the right way. I would appreciate your opinions and value your feed back

Ashley
:?

hmm... sand and rocks, I would check the PH level for sure.

Ashley, I love those Aquaone tanks. I have several of the smaller ones that I use as breeding tanks, and several larger Jebo tanks, which are along the same lines as the Aquaone. I have them in 3, 4 and 5 foot models.

The top filter works like a charm. It makes an excellent bio filter because all the media is open to the air and gets lots of oxygen. Maintenance I find nice and easy, just a matter of lifting the baskets a quick rinse of the bio balls and replacing the dacron media. I do one basket at a time so as not to disturb the bacteria colony too much.

My tanks are all fairly heavily stocked, and of course, I'm fairly liberal with the fish food so I found that the top filter alone could not keep up with the bio load, so I added an Eheim filter with UV to the tank as well.

It all depends on how many fish you intend to keep in there. Four to 6 adult discus plus a few tetras, and it will cope, but any more than that, you would need an additional filter.

Welcome to the wonderful world of discus. They are easier to keep than most would lead you to believe. Start with good quality, healthy stock, either from one of our excellent local breeders, or from one of our sponsors, and you're off to a flying start.

Hi FishLover & Ladyred
Good to recieve replys to my post. The ph in this tank is sitting at 6.8 after 1 week of running, it came out of the tap at 7.0 so I'm hoping it stays were it is, fingers crossed.The sand I picked up at the local pool shop, it's pool filter sand. If anyone tells you you can put pool filter sand straight into your tank dont believe them. I was told that this is the case and ended up cleaning it 3 times before being happy that it was clean enough to start setting up. It was the filthest sand I've come across.
Its good to here that others have had success with Aqua 1 Ladyred, many have told me to stay away but I could'nt help myself and just had to have one. I plan to have only 4 Discus in this tank, with the Neons and Corys that I have as long as they come through the cycle ok.
The maintanance I was talking about was vacuming and plant trimming, as you have to move the light hood to one side or take it off the tank altogether, then you cant see what your doing but I will just have to get over it.
I have already come to terms with the fact I may have to add a small canister if the bio load gets too large for the Aqua 1 filter but I'm confident that it will manage ok.
Ashley

Hi! I'm also buying an Aquaone (6 foot) and will have the same trouble trying to clean it. Any tips on how to vacuum it?

I was hoping for a planted tank, but now I'm thinking it might have to be a bare bottom or with a few pots and driftwood only, using the siphon hose (narrow) to vacuum. I can't move the lid by myself to get a gravel filter in! Any ideas? Thanks!

Hi DiscusEden,

If you cant move the light hood by yourself, you wont be able to vac the sand.
You may have to purchase a light hood with a hinged lid.
Have you looked at a Jebo tanks? I know they do have a lid that is hinged but Im not certain if it gives complete access to the bottom of the tank.
These tanks are very similar to the Aqua 1 tanks.

Perhaps LadyRed can help with your issues, as I know that Merrilyn has quite a few of these tanks, and is very experienced with them.

Cheers Ashley.

Welcome to the forum DiscusEden.
I'm really sold on these hooded tanks. Love the look of them. I now have Jebo, Aquaone and SunSun tanks, a total of 14 of them ranging from 10 foot to 2 foot.

Yes they are more difficult to carry out maintenance, but I find that with all of them, if the opening is not large enough to get my hands in, then the whole lid, including the light housing can be hinged up and stood on it's edge on the top of the tank. This allows easy access to the whole tank.

I can easily manage to lift the front of the hood on the 5 foot on my own, so I guess the 6 foot wouldn't be too much more difficult.

Before you make your purchase, go to the shop, and ask how to gain access to the tank for cleaning, and try it for yourself. :P

Hi Ashley and LadyRed,

Thankyou both for your replies and assistance. I've put the tank on layby (as a replacement for my 3 ft tank), but will go visit it again tomorrow and have a play with it.

Thanks again for your help. I hope you don't mind, but I'm sure there'll be more questions before the tank's cycled. So much of the advice I'm getting is contradictory! I'd love to draw on your experience (as people who have no vested interest in selling anything). It's very much appreciated.

Thanks again,
DiscusEden