Hello from Nottingham

[RedLee]

Hello All,

I'm very new to fish keeping and despite long having an interest, have never had a tank of my own.
So earlier in the year I decided to set up an aquarium for tropical fish.
I bought a Marina Vue 87L which came with LED lights and internal filter.
I've always liked the look of planted tanks so decided to go down that route with some easy to grow plants.

I've been gradually stocking the tank and currently have:
5 Rasbora Hets,
5 Panda Cory's,
2 Lemon Honey Gourami
4 Amano Shrimp

The plants are Amazon Sword, Anubias Nana, Hygrophilia rosae australis, Java Fern, Cryptocoryne walkeri, spiralis and petchii plus some hair grass.

The filter that came with the tank was ok but didn't seem to clear a lot of the debris so I have upgraded to a Fluval 207 and noticed an instant improvement in water clarity. The stock filter is still in the tank whilst the fluval cycles. Once that happens the stock filter will come out.

I feel I've learned a lot in a short space of time and look forward to learning more from your good selves through this forum.

[Pleco Fan]

Hi and welcome, nice looking tank!

[Gingerlove05]

Hello and welcome
To save time on cycling the new filter, you can move your media from your old filter into the new one and just use the new one. The bacteria residing in your established filter media will support the current bioload so by moving it over your move the bacteria, so you shouldnt need to cycle. Hope that helps

[RedLee]

Hi and welcome, nice looking tank!

Thanks. Not too shabby for a first attempt
I was thinking i'd overdone the plants a bit but so long as I keep the Hygrophilia trimmed it looks ok.
I'm still working out the best light / fertilizer regime at the moment.

Hello and welcome
To save time on cycling the new filter, you can move your media from your old filter into the new one and just use the new one. The bacteria residing in your established filter media will support the current bioload so by moving it over your move the bacteria, so you shouldnt need to cycle. Hope that helps

Many thanks for the advice.
I read about doing this but assumed that as Marina filter media are cartridges it wouldn't be possible but I guess i could squeeze the cartridges into the sponge area of the 207.

I initially looked at a few online tutorials about replacing the cartridges with sponge and bio media but there seemed to be little room in the filter housing, hence the switch to the 207.
It has all the stock sponge filters plus i have filled two of the trays with Biohome Ultimate.

[plankton]

Welcome to the forum.
You'l be relatively close to Wharf Aquatics then....

[Stephen]

Hello and welcome to the forum

[Annie]

Hello and welcome to the site, your tank looks great, lots of interesting places to explore.
Enjoy the forum.

[RedLee]

Thanks for the welcomes.
No, not too close to Wharf Aquatics, I'm south of the city.

[KevB]

Look on the Severn Trent Water site to check your water parameters and try to find species that arent too on the margins of preference for hardness etc. I'm to the west of the city and my GH is 12, KH 6 (pH 7.2) so I've avoided all the soft acidic water loving species.

[RedLee]

Thanks KevB.
I looked on the Severn Trent site before deciding on which fish to get and also asked the advice of the local fish store.