Anyone got trickle filter tanks from Coburg, Victoria

[RichVic]

Hi, just been doing some retail therapy in town over the Easter Break and come across these tanks with a built in filter with the blue bioball things that I'm told are idiot proof and "state of the art" Would love some feedback from anyone who has one, or from more experienced aqaurists who have checked them out I'm looking at the 6foot set-up which comes with the water change
gear already installed. Thanks in advance
Vicki

[taksan]

Can't go wrong but ....
they are no good for plants

[RichVic]

Thanks Taksan, but as a newbie,I need to understand why they're not good for plants. As ithappens, I've moved the discus out of the heavily planted tank (hubbys) because he kept thinking the Plants were a priority- STOP no cheeky replies thanks.
Anyway that didn't work. He got 5 lights and Co2 and no more bubbles etcetc. was only thinking about a few anubias on big bits of driftwood and maybe a pot or two of swords? Is all plantlife out of the question?

[taksan]

Is all plantlife out of the question?
Yep cause they degas the water and rip all the Co2 out of it. You have to does Co2 to 25-30/mg to make up for it which eats a big bottle in about 3 weeks or does daily with Seachem flourish excel (which is about the same cost)
They r great systems ....but no good for plants.

[RichVic]

Thanks for your help. I was told by shop assistant that tough plants like anubias, swords & vallisneria were being grown in these tanks, using the
slow release fertiliser tablets like Seachem flourish tabs. I may try a couple of small containers with a bunch of plants hiding behind the driftwood to see how it goes, and if it fails I can at least give feedback to the shop.
Vicki

[taksan]

LOL ..... if by grown they mean dying slowly then thats true.
Without Seachem Flourish excel daily dosing (and Flourish EXCEL is NOT a fertilizer its a carbon source you must use normal flourish weekly as well) or massive Co2 injection a trickle filter that degasses as much as theirs do will not grow plants at all well as their ability to do photosythisis is destroyed.
Only by adding Co2 or a liqued carbon source can these tanks grow plants.
Be careful of what sales staff tell you they are trained to sell stuff not to grow plants. That said with the proper use of Co2/liqued cardbon the trickle filters are very good ...for fish and ok for plants.

[RichVic]

Hey.
I'm getting the tank delivered this weekend. If I work out how to post pictures on this forum, I'll take a photo same time each fortnight and we can all see what happens. Better things to spend cash on that Co2, besides Rich has the whole state of the art set-up for his planted garden and I'm happy to sit and enjoy his tank when I need a green fix. At the end of the day - its a Discus display tank. The rock backdrop & nice bits of driftwood means it doesn't NEED plants, and its more like their natural biotope but plants cost nothing - just pinch a few from Richards tank - he can never tell where I took them from and we have a deal - if he cant see them missing, he doesnt need them back! Cheers Vicki

[OscarManAlpha]

G'day Vicki,

Certain plants will survive and in fact grow in your newly chosen aquarium.
Some of these are Swords and Vallis ( dark green large Vallis ) cork screw dwarf Val does seem to need Co2 and intense lighting and laterite in the substrate to prosper and stay alive. ( from my experience )

May I also suggest taking the time too attach some Java fern and Java moss to your chosen pieces of wood as they will not only survive they will prosper provided you start with healthy root stock.

Some Crypt's may also grow in that environment.

I would forget about bunch ( stem ) plants if you want them to grow and look really pumped up like in hubbies tank. They may survive and grow slowly but they will not have the impact you are after in say a Dutch Style or Amano style aquarium.

As for Anubias the ones sold in the stores attached to wood are to the best of my knowledge not grown in the water at all rather they are grown in moist green houses or similar conditions. The mass production of them is through tissue culturing techniques. Also even under great conditions they can get algae on the leaves and most times do. Think of the old saying a rolling stone gathers no moss. Well as Anubias leaves are so long lived and slow growing they tend to gather moss.

If you stick with those plants and put some laterite under the Vallis and Crypts and Swords then no additional ferts should be necessary and may even prove to be a waste of time IMO , they have there place and are really beneficial for the lush growth of stem plants.

As for the Java moss and Fern if you are creative they could just give your set up that extra wow factor. ( spend your money on these IMO )

These are just my thoughts on a way around the setup you are doing with out it having to be totally nude LOL. ( the bonus will be in the low maintenance, and the awesome health and growth of your fish.)

Good luck with the tank it will be interesting to see how it comes along.

Are you going bare bottom or will you be adding substrate ?

What lighting will you be using ?

If normal fluro T8 how many strips will you have ?

Cheers,

Mark

[Proteus]

I have to agree with both Taksan & Mark.

It is not the ideal tank for plant growth, however if you select the right plants they will survive.

[cactusboy]

Hi Vicki,

I'm getting mine delivered hopefully by the weekend as welll. Hopefully we can share notes.

[RichVic]

Hello to all and thank you so much for you help!
I'm gonna steal a few more plant species to test - I've had a couple of pm's from other trickle filter users suggesting I can have plants- They didn't want to disagree with advice from aquatic specialist, I think it will be interesting...
NOW can anyone tell me how to post pic's ??
Mark, I have a 2m, T5 Akvstabil reflector and 1x80w White tube. I'mgoing with this but I have Richards old T8 set-up with 4x1m 30w tubes lilac/whites. I'll swap it over if T5 is too bright. Also have some Red sea Flora root stuff which goes into the pots? Rich has laterite and a ton of gravel I can have but I'm not sure - he decided the gravel he bought at LFS wasn't pretty enough after a trip to Melb's bigger fish shops. God know what his will end up looking like. His is being made over this weekend as well!
I'mthinking of putting in about an inch of gravel so vaccuming is efficient - although I'm told I'll never have to vaccuma again! Also I have a latex
background which is not exactly 2foot all along, so I can bury bits to even it up and same for driftwood, I think the gravel can hold it in place better.
may end up using nothing, if it looks dodgy though. I'll update after the weekend. Thanks again Vicki

[taksan]

I'm told I'll never have to vaccuma again!


What do you mean?

[RichVic]

Hello Taksan,
I mean that I will not have to vacuum (typo on original) the bottom of the tank either with or without gravel. This is because of the way this particular
(patented) trickle filter works. Are you located in Victoria? have you physcially seen this version of the tank? if not I'll describe in more detail.
Vicki

[taksan]

I own 4 tanks with that system and trust me ...you have to gravel vac just like any other tank ...proberbly more then using a cannister filter because the filters intake is at the top of the water. Its not patented eirther ....just a normal backdrop trickle filter system.

[Ben]

Hi Vicki,

An important facet with gravel in the aquarium it needs to be vacuumed, once a week is great but preferable no longer than every fortnight.
Fish excrement, decaying left over food and maybe some plant matter rots into the gravel where it can cause pollution in the tank. :D

The "old school" method was the use of an under gravel filter but it is still recommended to vacuumed the gravel frequently. :o

One excellent point about forums like this, it will give you various opinions on the related questions whilst the information from a LFS is generally one persons opinion.

If we can help any further please ask!:wink:

Regards
Ben
:D

[RichVic]

Taksan please confirm that you purchased four tanks from that shop.
Thanks, Vicki

[Proteus]

Taksan please confirm that you purchased four tanks from that shop.
Thanks, Vicki

I think you will find Taksan has bought more than 4 tanks from Coburg, including the type you are refering to.

No matter what system you use, unless you have a ravenous gang of eartheaters, you will have to gravel vac your tank (I use canisters, HOB's, sumps, trickle filters and still have to do the same maintenance)

[Merrilyn]

Hi Vicki. Your new tank sounds lovely. Don't forget to post pics of it. I hear it's arriving as I type this.

Taksan has purchased a lot more than 4 tanks from Coburg Aquarium, including my 10 foot Jebo. He is a personal friend of the owner, Peter Long. He's owned just about every style of tank (and filter) known to man, so we tend to rely on his experience for our technical information.

As you know, I've got several Jebo tanks with backdrop filters, and boy, I really wish that they were right about never having to vacuum your gravel again. But look, this is probably something you'll need to see for yourself, so my suggestion would be this. Try your tank as a bare bottom to begin with. Don't vacuum for two weeks and just see how much mulm has accumulated on the bottom of the tank. I wish they worked Vicky, I honestly do, it would save me a lot of time with tank maintenance, but the truth of the matter is, they don't.

Over the years, I too have grown val and anubias and swords in the tanks, without special ferts in the water, but unfortunately they just existed, never thrived, and most of the time ended up covered in algae. I'm now having more success with them adding liquid ferts to the water, and plant tablets in the substrate, but the real solution to growing plants in a discus tank, is to swap them over with fresh ones all the time.

You're lucky Rich has a lovely planted tank. I'd be taking a few potted plants from his tank, using them in your tank for a month or two, till they start looking tired, and then put them back in his tank to rejuvinate and rid them of the algae. Meanwhile, borrow some more plants off him LOL. Best of both worlds.

Now you mentioned that you're putting a latex backdrop in the tank. Been there, and done that. So let me give you a few tips on that. Either silicone the backdrop in fully, so no water can get behind it, or have an airstone in there to allow the water to circulate. You don't want stagnant water in there or worse, a dead fish going rotten and poisoning your tank.

Had a friend with one of those, and she used to call her tank "the tank of death". It was set in the wall like a picture frame, and looked wonderful, but fish kept dying till she and hubby did a full teardown, and found dead fish and rotting plants and food had built up behind the latex background. One of those strip bubble walls behind the background kept the water in there fresh and no more dead fish.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Setting up a new tank is very exciting.

[taksan]

Taksan please confirm that you purchased four tanks from that shop.
Thanks, Vicki

Few more then 4 actualy.... guess doubting Thomas is your patron saint.
I don't give a fat rats flying *** if you take my advice or not .... its all good advice based on a lot of direct experience with exactly the systems you are talking about but you seem to know much more so I'll leave you to enjoy your new tank without any further input from me.

[cactusboy]

Taksan is man of immense knowledge in fish-keeping. I only wish that I had consulted him more prior to getting an Akva Stabil tank which arrived this morning. :D I thought I would be able to have a nice lush aquatic garden in my tank with one of the trickle filters. Not to be.

[Merrilyn]

Well I think you can have a reasonably good looking planted tank cactusboy, but it just takes a lot more work. Have a look at some of those wonderful Amano tanks. The plants take priority, and the fish are almost an afterthought.

Once you've got it set up, you need to do some serious testing for CO2 and pH and KH and we can work things out from there. I'm trying to get lush plants in my trickle filter tanks too, and I think I'm halfway there, but I'm going to try bottled CO2 and controllers etc and see what difference that makes.

I'm definately of the opinion that you can have one or the other ...... either a magnificent planted tank, where the plants thrive, and the fish just exist, or you have a fabulous discus display tank, where the discus thrive and breed, and you settle for growing just a few of the tougher plants. I'm still trying to have my cake and eat it too, so to speak. Maybe if we all put our heads together, we can work it out. :book

[taksan]

Taksan is man of immense knowledge in fish-keeping. I only wish that I had consulted him more prior to getting an Akva Stabil tank which arrived this morning. :D I thought I would be able to have a nice lush aquatic garden in my tank with one of the trickle filters. Not to be.

Thanks for the compliments mate ...

Now funny enough I got a knock on the door today about 1.30pm and guess what ? There were the boys from Coburg with a new toy for me .... say hello to my 950 litre Akva Stabil 8-)

http://www.akn-media.com/AS1000litre/VC1Q4150.jpg

[Proteus]

I want, yet the bank just wont allow such an indulgence... bugger

[Merrilyn]

It looks wonderful taksan. Can't wait to see it all planted up.

[Ben]

Sensational Tank!!!!! :D

That’s one big tank to water change and clean!:lol:

[cactusboy]

Taksan, the tank looks better at your place than it does at the store. :wink: It's truly a ginormous tank.

LadyRed, I think I will have it as a discus display but keep it moderately planted. I've been looking at heaps of Amano tanks as well as discus biotopes/habitat. Trying to get an idea of how I want things to look. Everythings got to be done in stages, I'm a bit broke. :(

[Merrilyn]

After talking to someone who has actually trekked along the Amazon river, (yes it's taksan :D ) it seems there are no lush green plants where discus are found, just some tough reeds growing along the shoreline.

The true discus biotope is apparently a sandy bottom, with lots of leaf litter and the water stained brown from the fallen leaves. The fish live in and around fallen branches and twigs.

I think the most interesting Angel Fish tank I ever saw was set out just like that. Branches appeared from the top of the tank, as if they had fallen from the trees, and the fish swam elegantly in and out of the branches and twigs. No green in the tank at all, apart from a little Java moss attached to a couple of the branches. The whole thing had an eerie and fascinating appeal.

I guess a discus tank can be anything you want it to be, but it doesn't have to have plants in there to look fabulous. :P

[taksan]

The true discus biotope is apparently a sandy bottom, with lots of leaf litter and the water stained brown from the fallen leaves. The fish live in and around fallen branches and twigs.



If everyone saw what they actualy live in .... you wouldn't believe it.
Murky filthy smelly stagnent pools .... polluted ...coke cans on the bottom etc
They get it pretty good in our tanks ......
8-)

[endless]

This is because of the way this particular
(patented) trickle filter works

When i started out this hobby i went to coburg aquarium to have a look at their tanks. I must say they have a good range of wonderful (though pricey) tanks. However, they too were spinning crap to me saying that "their trickle system was patented worldwide, that there was no need to vacum, any idiot could maintain the tank blah blah blah". I actaully believed them at that time and nearly bought a tank from them. However after searching the net and going on forums especially discus forum i eventually made a decision based on as much available information as i could gather rather than listening to one persons biased point of view. The point is most LFS are there to make money and sometimes their advice do not reflect your interest as the number one priority. Best thing you could do is go on forums like this and ask questions as ppl here are more than willing to help and there is no ulterior motive to their answers.

[Ben]

When i started out this hobby i went to coburg aquarium to have a look at their tanks. I must say they have a good range of wonderful (though pricey) tanks. However, they too were spinning crap to me saying that "their trickle system was patented worldwide, that there was no need to vacum, any idiot could maintain the tank blah blah blah". I actaully believed them at that time and nearly bought a tank from them. However after searching the net and going on forums especially discus forum i eventually made a decision based on as much available information as i could gather rather than listening to one persons biased point of view. The point is most LFS are there to make money and sometimes their advice do not reflect your interest as the number one priority. Best thing you could do is go on forums like this and ask questions as ppl here are more than willing to help and there is no ulterior motive to their answers.

Never a truer word spoken.

[RichVic]

Wow -
What a reaction! Briefly, I'm not offending Taksan (whom, by the way I dont know except that he once advised me to put Pirahna? or some such into my discus tank. Chill out all of you - I've warned you - I'm fully imported and have a few problems communicating. Now here's the background - I've been speaking to all sorts of people all over the planet about vaious Trickle tanks.
Taksan refused to post his location so i needed to be sure he was aware of the tank i meant. I did not want an Akva - too close to laminex kitchen cupboards and i did not like jebo after testing its plasticy metal look materials
I was interested in the filter! The double trickle filters which are built into the
wooden cupboard tanks are what my post was about. And I'm over it now so the last thing I will say about it is that I cant see my filter system in the photo posted as evidence, that taksan has one.
Next I have no reason to call Peter Long a liar. I was buying a tank from him and neither the pending patent or no-need-to-vacuum was mentioned until we lobbed into town to collect the tank.
Will post feed back on the tank shortly.
And photo's if someone can tell me how
PS Love the way its working so far
Vicki

[Merrilyn]

Okay, this has gone far enough. Aunty is locking this post. We simply don't allow people to be called liars. You're getting to be on very shaky ground here.

I have personally seen taksan's tanks, and I can assure you he has them. I have several of those "kitchen cupboard" tanks, not to mention a whole room full of those Jebo "plastic" tanks.

Now, let's get on with the job of keeping fish and leave personalities out of it.