BMueller777

Hello everyone, great forum, saw a lot of feed back and couldn't help but be apart of it. I've been keeping small tanks, 10g, since forever, very easy kinda getting bored. I want to move on to bigger and better things. I joined a saltwater forum also with the exact same setp/format as this one, maybe the same person runs it or it's just a basic set up the site is: http://www.fishtankforums.com/

That forum won't be visited as much since the new information I found out today about Marine tanks, those things are pretty expencive!!

But anyway I'm getting a 55g tank from a friend, we're in the process of cleaning it out, got some of it done today. Boy oh boy was that sucker dirty!! Wish I took a picture for a little before and after action. Took just about 2 hours to just get the water and muck out of the tank and yet there is still some in there!! So much harder with a bigger tank, But like I said before I've kept 10g tanks since forever, with those I just take em out back and blast them with the hose, the 55g on the other hand is pretty big and its winter so no hose I'm also getting the metal stand with it also which is pretty sweet saved me a couple hundred bucks (tanks + stand)

Now what to do with this mini-monster?!

I want to do Freshwater since I already have experience with em. I was looking at Fluval 405 Canister Filter and one of my other friends runs one on his 29g tank and its crystal clear so I figure the 405 + an AquaClear hang on filter (Does HOB stand for "hang on back"?) Think that will be good enough filitration?

What should I keep in it? Would it be possible to keep 2 Oscars? (I read in another post that it was, with a lot of filitration of course) I want to keep semi-agressive/agressive fish, Cichilids? Plants? Alive or fake? I have no idea what to do!!

If someone could answer me back on those questions and if they'd like to, tell me what you'd do if you got a 55g tank (i.e. Fish, Filitration ect.)

Thanks alot

BJP

I think I'd decide for certain what type of fish and or plants I want to keep first.

Then we can match your filtration setup to what's easiest or best for them.

Then we can help you get it cycled fishlessly using some aged filter material from your smaller tanks and a little clean ammonia.

Andyoybna

if you were thinking about keeping 2 oscars in a 55, that would be OK.... for about 6 months then it would become overcrowded and eventually probably wouldn't be able to turn around, oscars will hit 15 inches in a very short period of time, probably within a year and a half for 2 oscars I would definately reccomend at least a 90 gallon tank for enough swimming room, but that won't account for their aggressive territorial behavior though... the bigger one will most likely kill the other one eventually and then kill ANYTHING else you put in the tank with it

"experts" say that if you plan on keeping more than one oscar you should have a group of at least six to spread the aggression from the dominant one out and they also so a minimun of 60 gallons per fish, so it becomes somewhat unrealistic to the average person

I'm sorry to shoot your oscar idea down, but they're just hard fish to keep and too widely available.

You could definately keep some smaller species of cichlids in a 55 if you wanted though, either african or south american, but because of preffered water quality for best color i would keep the 2 groups seperate
american cichlids like soft/nuetral water
africans like hard/acidic water

although you see yourself as finally having a bigger tank and want bigger fish for it, you can also go the route of just stuffing it full of peacefull community fish and other small fish, you could probably do something like a school of 30 tetras and still have room for stuff like catfish and barbs or something

do you want plants?? if so, decide if you would rather have real plants or big fish, most all big fish will rearrange the tank for you, which also means tearing up all your plants and making a huge mess

also like GM said, whatever route you decide to go with your fish, you need filtration to fit the needs of those specific type(s)

I'm sure you have MANY more questions, don't be afraid to ask

BMueller777

I was just asking anyone who'd reply to the Oscar question, I heard about it on another post and I know they get huge. I'd deff keep em if I had the big enough room but since I don't they are out of the question.

I accually want to keep African Cichilids, maybe about 10, I'll have rocks and all those hiding places. No plants since they'd peob destroy them... so just rocks, found this cool site, http://www.txholeyrocks.com of course I won't buy those rocks from them seeing they are pretty expencive, just wanted you guys to see the idea I was trying to put across.

Can you keep 10 cichilids that'll grow to about 6 inches in a 55g tank?
Just those ten and nothing else?

If that's possible, that's what I want to do.

What kind of filitration would a tank need with a 10 fish bio-load?

Andyoybna

there would be no problem keeping 10 african cichlids in a tank like that, just stay away from the much larger ones, like frontosa(~15 inches, also costs $20+ for a 1 inch baby)

I have a 29 gallon african tank right now, there are about 10 fish in there I believe, 7 Cichlids, 2 Yoyo botias and a Cory Catfish, I will probably eventually upgrade to a 55, or at least transfer them to my 33long which isnt in use ATM but even in a 29 they are extremely active, no aggression and they have plenty of room... however the tank gets very dirty very fast, i have 2 whisper 60 filters on it and that doesnt really keep it clean

BJP

For a 55 gallon with africans and no plants I would go with a couple hang on back filters in the 300-330 gallon per hour box advertized flow range. One on each side of the tank with the intakes set as low as possible to the bottom.

The most common choices for that would be a couple of the Emporer 280 power filters, a couple of the Penguin 330's, a couple Millenium 3000's or a couple of the Whispers in that range.

The Whispers and Penguins in the double cartridge setup can be aquired at Walmart also in the generic options although you want get the bio-wheels with the generic line.

You can mix and match the brands also but I tend to stay with one to keep the media shopping simple.

There are a few other lines out there as well but I either don't like them for many reasons or I haven't had the chance to try them yet like the new API line.

BMueller777

I'm a big Hagen fan, the AquaClear products and filters are pretty good, also the Fluval canister filters. I'm most likely going to have the 405 with 2 or 3 HOB filters just for that little extra somethin somethin

I pretty much finished my new 10g tank today, finally got some natural gravel and some nice rock to put in with my 2 little cichilids. I'll get pics ASAP

BJP

Hagens Aquaclear is about the worst quality HOB on the market. I could type a long list of problems. The most important though is the brittleness of the plastic. If you aren't careful the lids and all parts of the intake tube break very easy. I've even had the adjustment lever snap off in my fingers leaving a hole in the top of the tube while trying carefully to show a customer how to operate it. If you let the lid break and don't replace it, the media can clog, rise slightly and divert most of the aquarium water out the back onto the floor. I've had that happen twice. The Impeller can't be accessed while hanging on the tank so keep the cord in an easy to access location and be careful hauling them to the sink to service. The body as far as I know is still that see through type plastic so don't have a window open behind the tank or the sunlight can grow massive amounts of algae on the sponges increasing the chances of clogging and flooding. Try to always use that grey wrap around insert to hold the media in. Without it there's too much water bypass on the sides letting water reenter the tank unfiltered. I ended up throwing away around 40 Aquaclears. It just wasn't worth the headaches.

The main benefit to the line is you can double up the sponges so you aren't rinsing all your media at the same time damaging all the bacteria at once. Just alternate the placement after servicing one of them.

Please be careful. The carpet you save may be your own. In my case it belonged to my landlord.

BMueller777

Well that sucks lol.... what filitration do you suggest?