anyone have a freshwater aquarium?

[NotFishyFishGuy]

hey I know that this is supposed to be for saltwater aquariums, but I was curious if anyone else had a freshwater tank as well as a saltwater. I have my fluval evo 13.5 with two clowns, a damsel, and a coral banded shrimp in my saltwater, and I have a 10 gallon freshwater with several guppies, 2 re eyed tetras, a golden algae eater, and a neon swordtail, and a fish I think is a molly (this was my first tank when I wasn't really serious about fish so didn't really care what they were called sry I don't know the name). I am planning on upgrading the lights soon, if you own a freshwater aquarium, please tell me if you know a good light that is cheap and works well thks

 

[basement reefer]

A 50w metal halide from the hardware store is cheap and works well. ~$75 You would have to make a small hood or canopy.

Even cheaper and probably better, more DIY friendly is a 5000K LED bulb from the hardware store. 10 - 30 watt of LED would be a ballpark for that size of tank depending how bright you want to run it. ~$10 plus for some type of fixture. If you want some shimmer you will want a LED without the diffuser.

With a planted tank there isn't much compelling about aquarium specific lighting, so feel free to get creative.

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

A 50w metal halide from the hardware store is cheap and works well. ~$75 You would have to make a small hood or canopy.

Even cheaper and probably better, more DIY friendly is a 5000K LED bulb from the hardware store. 10 - 30 watt of LED would be a ballpark for that size of tank depending how bright you want to run it. ~$10 plus for some type of fixture. If you want some shimmer you will want a LED without the diffuser.

With a planted tank there isn't much compelling about aquarium specific lighting, so feel free to get creative.

you have a freshwater aquarium? if so can you post a pic? I was also thinking of getting a fluval plant light or just finding a cheap led light

 

[MTBake]

Here's a recent thread about this topic.

Some really nice looking tanks as well.

www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-many-also-still-keep-fw-tanks.551716/

Edit:

My parents kept freshwater while I was younger. I went straight to saltwater myself.

 

[basement reefer]

you have a freshwater aquarium? if so can you post a pic? I was also thinking of getting a fluval plant light or just finding a cheap led light

Sure thing.

Couple caveats about this picture I just took. I nuked the plants a few months ago with too much hydrogen peroxide trying to get rid of the white film that develops on the surface from time to time, so things are still kinda ragged looking lol. It used to look great. lololol

The picture you see here is with the 50 watt metal halide turned on, but the plants were grown back with 6 watts worth of LED also in the same fixture. I never really intended to use the 6 watt LED for growing plants, (I intended it for sunrise/sunset) which is why I recommend 10-30 watt of LED as a ballpark to start with.

The plants would look a lot better if I ran the 50watt on the timer like I used to, instead of the 6 watt LED plugged in all day long. It's mainly a "fish" tank with a couple little dwarf puffers and I don't have much of a green thumb. The fish like it a little darker then the 50 watt halide, one day I might redo the fixture with 20 - 30 watts worth of LED would be just right.

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

Here's a recent thread about this topic.

Some really nice looking tanks as well.

www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-many-also-still-keep-fw-tanks.551716/

Edit:

My parents kept freshwater while I was younger. I went straight to saltwater myself.

thks I will check out the thread later. Also I know this doesn't have anything to do about what the thread is about and I will start a thread on this later but, I might upgrade in a year or 2 to a bigger tank. I have room in my basement for ~200 gallons. since I have only been in the hobby for a few months and only had experience with the smaller fish, can you give me some stocking ideas? thks

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

Sure thing.

Couple caveats about this picture I just took. I nuked the plants a few months ago with too much hydrogen peroxide trying to get rid of the white film that develops on the surface from time to time, so things are still kinda ragged looking lol. It used to look great. lololol

The picture you see here is with the 50 watt metal halide turned on, but the plants were grown back with 6 watts worth of LED also in the same fixture. I never really intended to use the 6 watt LED for growing plants, (I intended it for sunrise/sunset) which is why I recommend 10-30 watt of LED as a ballpark to start with.

The plants would look a lot better if I ran the 50watt on the timer like I used to, instead of the 6 watt LED plugged in all day long. It's mainly a "fish" tank with a couple little dwarf puffers and I don't have much of a green thumb. The fish like it a little darker then the 50 watt halide, one day I might redo the fixture with 20 - 30 watts worth of LED would be just right.

that's a cool tank. the water level looks a bit low though

 

[Brad Miller]

Turned my lifelong freshwater habit in for a reefing habit, and haven't looked back since.;Happy

 

[LnL]

I keep a freshwater planted tank, it is low tech so no co2 but with a high lighting in case I want to use co2

The light is a finnex fuge ray - they have a clip on one for the back that would probably look nice on a 10 gallon

here is a quick photo of my 29 gallon tank

 

[DCR]

I would suggest the Beamswork fixtures on ebay or Amazon. The DA if you want to keep live plants, the EA otherwise. Available in either a 6500K or more of a 10,000K depending on your preference. The Fluval, Current and Finnex fixtures can also work but are more expensive.

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

I keep a freshwater planted tank, it is low tech so no co2 but with a high lighting in case I want to use co2

The light is a finnex fuge ray - they have a clip on one for the back that would probably look nice on a 10 gallon

here is a quick photo of my 29 gallon tank

What fish do you keep?

 

[NotFishyFishGuy]

I would suggest the Beamswork fixtures on ebay or Amazon. The DA if you want to keep live plants, the EA otherwise. Available in either a 6500K or more of a 10,000K depending on your preference. The Fluval, Current and Finnex fixtures can also work but are more expensive.

Thks I’ll look into them

 

[Evan28395950]

I know @Joshua Krueger has a freshwater betta tank. Helped him pick out the tank which came with light preinstalled in lid, nice feature.

 

[Evan28395950]

I know @Joshua Krueger has a freshwater betta tank. Helped him pick out the tank which came with light preinstalled in lid, nice feature.

Photo

 

[LnL]

What fish do you keep?

In this tank I have 2 electric blue rams cichlids, there light is normally off now and when I turned in on they hid

 

[SeaJay]

I kept a 10 gallon freshwater most of my life until shortly before I took the saltwater plunge last year. Just kept various mollies, tetras, algae eaters, etc. basically anything a kid could get at Walmart for a couple bucks.

I keep a beta and bamboo stalk in a small wall tank next to my kitchen sink.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

In my experience Plant selection matter much more than light selection in freshwater but I'm also biased because I my two 40 gallons are dedicated to various South American catfish so light is minimal to say the least... I just have some LEDs on timers, ones the light that came with a fluval 55 gallon kit (a foot of the lights hangs off the 40 though) and the other is an Aqueon light I got with a 65 gallon tank (same base dimensions so the light actually fits.

With catfish theres no point in having plants that need to be put in the substrate so my tanks have nothing but different kinds of java fern, Bucephalandra, Anubias, a little moss (all glued to the wood or rock) and some floating plants. I have yet to find a light that won't grow these plants, they could probably live in ambient light but growth would be pretty slow.

Here are my tanks first photo is when the tank was a 55 and second is the same piece of wood, I just kept forgetting to trim it... for the last two years The last one is the other tank with the opposite problem, waiting for it to fill in. I really need to trim back that java fern, I forgot what the wood used to look like until I saw the first photo but the banjo cats really like the shade;Hilarious

 

[basement reefer]

that's a cool tank. the water level looks a bit low though

Its supposed to be like that, its a riparium.

 

[Sea Pickle]

I have a 75 gal, 55 gal, 10 gal, 30 gal, 10 gal,and 20 gal freshwater systems. Just getting into saltwater. I have kept FW fish for four years now. Cichlids are my jam.

 

[hart24601]

180 miracles starfire ext overflow discus tank. 120 3/4 starfire ext overflow wild altum tank. Apex with automatic water changes and gluteralderhide doseing.