I bought a 4 foot tank with beutiful pine stand
& hood, light, gravel, 2 huge coral rocks, new
4 months back ,since then my wife lost her job
because of those new industrial relations laws
that came in we are doing it so hard at this
momment. I have never owned a fish tank
before & have basic knowledge how to set
it up. what is the absolute cheapest way to set
it up for tropical fish i know i need a heater &
is a under gravel filter with a power filter the
cheapest way to get it up & running please i
am not kidding money is so tight i just want
help, i have checked out ebay but the jargon
kills me i dont like going into aquriam shops
as they follow you around like you are going
to steal something & try flog me stuff that is
far to expensive at present & tell me the
undergravel filters are crap i was trying to
be flogged a external filter around $300
they dont seem to listen or care about the
lower end setup it is embarrising as i dont
have the cash at this time.
How do you connect tube & do i need a normal
pump for ornaments as i bought a split sunken
ship can that run of a power filter honestly i
have no idea.
regards david.

It is true though UGF aren't good.

can u give me any help on a basic setup will a
power filter do the job on its own, i have seen these
on ebay at a good price & will i need a stand alone
pump for ornaments what is the minnimum power
filter best to suit a 4 foot tank how many gallons
do they roughly hold.

What are the exact measurements of your tank?

It is 121 cm ( long ) 35.5 cm ( deep ) 46 cm ( height )

thanks david.

Sounds like a standard 55 gallon (208L) you are going to want to get at least 10x filtration if using a power filter or 3 or 4x if you are using a external filter.

I found on ebay a power filter internall called
tota tif-2200 it does 2200 litres hour & has 4
cannisters on it with a air outlet for air stones
i assume or things like sunken ship etc it states
u can use only 2 cannisters if f you like or use it
for a undergravel filter as a power head
they state a price with post at $37 all up half
retail price in shops will this do as a stand alone
filter to suit my tank or will it need extra like
undergravel they say it will but i want advice from
real people that know there stuff will this do or
do i need something bigger please help me out
as i joined this forum for help & as a beginner
i really appreciate your help.

Hi there David! I am sorry to hear about your wife's job. Does the tank have any fish in it at the moment?

It is true about the under-gravel filters- they are junk (In my opinion, anyway) I had one on my first tank and all seems well for a while, but inevitably you will end up with gunk (uneaten food, fish poop, etc) clogged up under there. I ended up starting to have problems on that tank- I pulled up the under-gravel filter- there was about an inch of gunk under there. That is not an exaggeration. Don't get an undergravel filter!

David, I know it is embarrasing to find yourself in a situation where cash is tight. If you do not have the fish yet, I might recomend waiting until situations are a little better to start buying stuff. (It all starts adding up pretty fast) I'm not trying to be nosey or anything, but do you think things might get better? I do not want to discourage you away from the hobby because it is a wonderful hobby, I just don't want to see you get in over your head.

To keep a tank you would probably at bare minimum need:
-a heater
-Some sort of filter
-water conditioner (to remove chlorine, etc. from the water)
-gravel-cleaning vac/syphon and cleaning supplies
-net
-foods (different fish have different requirements food wise- some can do on commercial flake, some need sinking food, some need frozen food, live food, etc.)
-a testing kit- during the cycle and "new tank syndrome" your tank will go through the nitrogen cycle and you will need to moniter for levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.
-thermometer- I like the ones with the little suction cups
-most filters require media to be replaced
-if you use airstones, they will need replacing on a fairly regular basis
I may have left some things out, that's just off the top of my head

I looked on ebay, but couldn't locate the filter you are looking at. I've never heard of that brand or anything. I have never used canister filters. Both my tanks have power-filters.

It is possible to do fishkeeping fairly inexpensively, but everything adds up.

You may want to start setting money aside and doing some planning and research as far as what kind of fish you want to have, etc

It is great to do a lot of research before hand anyway and you could just work on planning things out while you work out the money situation.

Once you get your fish, things will inevitably come up that you have never thought of before. Your fish could get sick and may need medicine, etc.

I'm sure it seems awful staring at the empty tank, but you want to get a good start with the right equiptment and get everything planned out cost wise. If you get cheap stuff, it may or may not be good. If things end up needing to be replaced it kinda defeats the purpose of saving money originally.

You already have the biggest cost behind you, tank and stand. So look at the positive side :D

Let me know what you decide. I want to help you because I know money problems are tough. I really feel for you!
;)

sorry to hear about your situation. follow this link, and buy this product: its one of the best power filters out there, and i have used this site and bought this exact product, which im very impressed with.:

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/produc...id1=2885;pcid2=
^
51.44 w/ shipping

or:


http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp
^
this is the same product at 47.99 w/ shipping


im very suprised petsmart has the better price.

'print off the sheet of petsmarts filter and take it to a local petsmart. as if they do mark up, if they do, you should get the filter for 39.99 (the price online w/o shipping.)

there are some wonderful research sites online- here's a few of my favorites

Great site for general info on types of fish
http://www.aquariumfish.net/
not that you need to order fish online, there is just some good info

if you are interested in catfish- great site to explore pictures and stuff
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/com_list.php

if you go to www.google.com you can just run searches and come up with all kinds of interesting information

There is lots of great information in you just search through threads on this site and there are also links on this site

Thanks for your input i dont know how to bring up redirection to
ebay sites but there called Aquarium products on line or just type
up powerfilter in search area u will see it as 2100 hour but for
$1 more can get 2200 hour have a look please & tell me is this ok
or not it states airator -yes hmax 2.3 metres what is that in jargon talk
it is called a tota tif 2200 at $28.95 + post but i want to combine it
with a heater & few other things as it is cheaper to buy a lot to
save on postage.
much thanks for help
david.

I totally agree! With Catlover, and Bartier. NO UGF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Check out the DIY on Shop talk. Air Pump, No Stones. All you need is the pump. That will save a few bucks at least.

I know your situation! I deal with it all the time. I even make all my own backgrounds and tank decor.

Check out how to make your own plants too.

My home made backgrounds are under Freshwater, Tank Journals, Theme tanks.
It is a cheap way to do things. My favorite is the very colorful Looney Tunes Set up.
:o

AgainstAllOdds posted an AWESOME article on how to make your own trickle filter. I bet he didn't have 30 dollars in the entire setup and it's good enough for at least 50-75 gallons. It should be all that you need, filtration wise. It should be extremely low maintenance, too. I'd check out our DIY sections and see what you can find. All you would need is a pump to pump the water up to the trickle filter or vise versa.

You can find online deals from petsolutions.com. I bought my Aquaclear 70 which is 300 gallons per hour for 25 dollars. I also bought a 250 watt heater for 20 dollars.

Great deals and the shipping is really cheap. It'd be the way to go, in my opinion. Be sure to check out AquariumGuys.com. They might have some good deals, too.