setup for a 125

[dave76]

I have been planning a upgrade to my current aquarium. I want to get a 125 gallon and have found one for $359.99 for tank, lights and lids. I was going to build a canopy and stand and I already know what I want to use for the filtration but I have a few questions on other things. The inhabitants will be a Green Terror, a Convict and a pair of firemouths and a pimelodus pictus, a striped raphael, and a CAE.

Here are my questions:

can I use sand as a substrate with CA/SA cichlids?

If so can I use some kind of sand from lowes or home depot?

Also How much sand/gravel should I use in a tank that size?

Is Quartzite aquarium safe?

I plan to use a penguin 330 and a cannister filter of some sort, possibly a fluval 404. I hope to build rock structures from quartzite. I have read of some types of aquarium gravel is made from this and I can purchase it at very cheap prices.

[deathspike63]

i wouldent use sand from home depo its ment for outdoors and who knows what the heck's in it

[Harry Tolen]

deathspike63 is correct. Sand and gravel sold by stores like Home Depot for construction purposes is not intended for use in aquariums. Thus it may be collected in areas with chemical contamination, or may be contaminated in transportation or storage en route.

Aquarium gravel is usually available in 50 or 100 lb. bags from the better local fish stores, for as little as $.29 per lb. Since the fish you have chosen are not really compatible with plants, 100 lbs. should cover your needs quite nicely. Mix in a little crushed coral for KH buffering, and you'll be all set for not too much money.

[TKOS]

Don't use construction sand but you can use Playsand, which should also be available at Home Depot for pretty cheap. It is sand meant for children's sand boxes and is pretty clean.

[dave76]

Any information about quartzite? Any thoughts against quartzite?

TKOS have you used the play sand?

my tap water is 7.6 so I dont really need to add any buffers or it will cause my ph to rise even more, correct?

[TKOS]

Sorry, nit yet but when I finally get a big tank I plan to. There have been tons of threads in this forum about sands and which ones not to use (the ones that shoot up the pH). I would just do a search for playsand or quartzite. I assume quartz sand will be fine as it is very stable.

[Harry Tolen]

Quartzite sand should be OK as a substrate, although if it comes with sharp edges your fish may injure themselves as they dig.

To repeat, any sand not specifically made for aquarium use may be contaminated. If someone else has used it and not had problems, that doesn't mean that the same product from same source will be safe in future. So why take the risk just to save a couple of dollars?

Finally, pH and buffering capacity are two very different things. If you are going to make the commitment to something as expensive as a 125g tank, you should do some reading to understand the principles of water chemistry so as to avoid frustration and potential disaster with your investment. Tetra has a good series of general books (A Fishkeeper's Guide to a Healthy Aquarium is probably the best of the series). Or you can go to the archived stickies section of the Freshwater Newbies forum for a thread that lists a lot of other good books.

Good luck.

[dave76]

Ok, does not increasing your buffer capacity in effect directly effect what your PH will be? I have run tanks of decent size, granted not a 125 gallon before, but I have run them successfully for a couple of years. One does not succeed at keeping a tank without a little experience. I also understand that in larger tanks stablity is easier to obtain than your average newbie who sets up a 10 gallon. The water I use is hard and alkaline. I thought that increasing your ph buffer would also raise the PH and I had read they go hand in hand. That is something I would prefer to avoid. My ph in my existing tank has been stable for over a year without my tinkering with water levels. I took the lazy method in picking fish that would do well with my water quality if you will. If you can think of a reason that changing to a 125 will change all of this since most of the things that are in the 55 will move to the 125, then I would be glad to hear it.

[scott]

I would not use sand. If your fish are diggers it will constantly cloud your water. It is also a royal pain to clean, syphon to close sand gets sucked up and goes everywhere, syphon to far nothing gets sucked up. I only use it because my eartheaters enjoy it.

Ph and KH do go hand and hand but are not the same thing. KH is a measure of the carbonate hardness, basicly the amount of dissolved calcium and other minerals in your water, it keeps the pH stable; you can raise KH without effecting pH. I always keep a stocking full of aragonite in my filter. You might want to do some research on it, it sounds like your water is fine if it has been stable for so long, but personally I find the chemistry of the water interesting. Check out Wetman's site (www.skepticalaquarist.com) . Lots of great info.

I used to use the one pound per gallon rule for gravel but now I think that is to much. If you just cover the bottom by about an inch or two it gives the fish a place to play, the bacteria a place to grow, and it makes your life a whole lot easier come weekly cleaning time.

I have no idea what quartzite is, have you googled it?

Lastly I would use two penguin 330s and the canister as a bio only filter. You pack the canister with efimech from eheim and it does all of your biological filtration. You pack the HOB with pads for mechanical (personally I use AC 500's they are cheaper and move more water). You drill the intake with multiple holes for about two inches from the bottom and cover it with a prefilter so no gunk actually goes down in the cannister. Since the cannister only does bio filtration you never have to open it (well maybe once every four months or so to clean the lines). I had a thread on it in general freshwater where RTR layed it out for me with some good links. Search cannister biofilter. It will save you forty five minutes a week in cleaning, it's great.

[dave76]

Yes I googled it and thats where I found the info that some aquarium gravel is made out of it. It is sandstone that is introduced to hot magma. And my penguins handle the Bioload just fine so far, but that is definately something to consider. Most of the results came back in spanish though and when I translated it was gone from the page :confused:.

[scott]

Sandstone can also be available at your LFS or the stone yard. Sandstone is formed of quartz and feldspar grains mostly, cemented under pressure in a muddy matrix. Sandstones vary as widely in color as shales and slate.

From skeptical aquarist. All in the link. I would say sandstone is fine if it can also be found in a LFS for aquarium use.

I am sure the penguins handle bio fine it just gets to be a pain to open and clean that cannister and I found myself putting it off and putting it off and the cleaning not getting done, thats why I swiched. I did not mean to imply that your bio filter was inadequate.

[dave76]

Thanks for your advice on sand Scott, you answered the question I had. I have considered a cannister before but have avoided using them because of all of the talk about how difficult they were to maintain, with my penguins I just wrinse the cartrides every month and clean the impeller, takes about 5 mins. I will definatley consider the use of a cannister in the method you stated though as it seems more inline with the way I like to do things..................lazy :D.