Bravo2zero_sps

Nice one on the tank purchase, plenty big enough for a good stock of fish and your clown loach will love the extra space.

However do not get silver sharks for that size tank. Firstly they grow enormous and secondly they are actually a member of the carp family and that means they produce a hell of a lot of waste which in turn means you need a hell of a lot of filtration and very regular water changes. If the filtration can't handle the waste you will soon end up with amonia problems and fish will start dieing off. Visit the London aquarium where they have a huge (I mean big enough for peope to swim about in) tank with a very large shoal of silver sharks to see how big they get, very impressive.

Good starter fish to help establish the tank are white clouds or zebra danios. These are small fish but very hardy. They will produce small amounts of waste enough for the filtration system to get established and be able to survive the water conditions while the cycle occurs.

As for hot water be careful with this as hot water tanks will normally contaminate the water with harmful substances and add metal elements to the waters chemistry. Its not drinking water because its not pure. If you do use it there are plenty of water neutralisers out there that will clean hot water.

As for stocking that size tank it all depends on the size of the fish and how much waste they produce. The more food the fish like they more waste they will produce so the more of these types of fish you have the less total number of fish you will be able keep. Also only build the stock up at a couple of fish at a time so that the filter can handle the extra waste produced by new fish. Too many in one go and the amonia levels will shoot up.

Plec's are very hardy fish and produce huge amounts of waste, one of the hardiest out there but again grow massive. I have a sailfin and 190 litres is too small for it and I have stunted its growth over the years I have had it. They are supposed to reach full length of upto 18" in less than 2 years. MIne is only 9" in about 6 years I have seen some full grown plecs's at Bournemouth aquarium and they were enormous, not just in that they were near on 18" in length but the width and size of their bodies made my sailfin look like a baby. Personally I don't think common and sailfin plecs should be sold to the public after seeing what they should grow too. However you can buy much smaller plecs that will only grow to 6" or 9" for others. These tend to be specialist breeds and will cost around £30 upwards instead of the couple of quid for commons and sailfins. There is a thread on one of the fish forums that lists all the plec names/L numbers of the ones that are small breeds. I will see if I can find it.

Angel fish are pretty fish but notoriously difficult to keep mainly because other fish will like to chew their fins. Again they grow very big depth wise so need a deep tank to keep them in.

Once its up and running get some pics up

Bravo2zero_sps

In my opinion I think you would be better off buying a smaller tropical tank and learning from that. Also you don't have to spend a fortune buying new stuff from aquarium shops. There are various free ads that will have an abundance of 2nd hand aquariums where you will pick up some real bargains and get a good setup done for a fraction of the cost of new kit.

Bravo2zero_sps

Also Sonic got the moonlight sorted out mate but not impressed with it and need to get brighter cold cathode tubes:

Bravo2zero_sps

No problem. Leaving the water to settle for a week should be fine and then add 10 white clouds or zebra danios and feed lightly every other day. Leave these for a few weeks to get the cycle complete and do regular water tests to see the state of the cycle with how much amonia gets created in the first couple of days where it should peak and then how it breaks down, the amonia should fall and the nitrite and nitrate rise and then they should fall. Once the levels of all 3 have peaked and then fallen you are ready to start adding more fish. One piece of advice on this though, leave your clown loach until last. Its a skin fish, it has no scales and is very susceptable to disease and stress from poor water quality. Skin fish should always be the last fish to add to a new aquarium only when everything has settled and the filtration is established.

For oxygenation have a look at air stones. They are not everyones cup of tea and don't suit every tank, they can crack some tanks depending on where they are placed so best discuss these with the local fish shop. As central as possible is what I have always heard/been told. Mine is smack bang in the middle of my tank and the bubbles aren't affected by the strong current around the outside of the tank and produce a lot of breaking bubbles on the surface. I also have 2 additional fluvial pumps added to the tank with one slightly above the water to add oxygen as the water hits the surface. Clown loaches require more oxygen than other fish so can not have too much.

Oh and nice looking tank, don't worry about the water clouding they all do that at the start.

Bravo2zero_sps

Tiggs I know full well air stone bubbles do **** all on the way up, the whole point is the breaking of the bubbles on the surface of the water when they get to the top. Its the surface disruption that oxygenates the water.

Bravo2zero_sps

Very nice. The poster can be attached with tape. I cut mine very carefully and then cut off strips of tape and the poster is on fine, just need to make sure its pulled tight and that the tape can't be seen by making sure the poster goes all the way to the edges of the glass.

Here is that thread on small plecos 30 Plecos Under 8 Inches - Tropical Fish Forums