just starting

[pickles]

hey there i am a virgin fw aquarist. I have an empty 55g and want to fill it with tropical fish and live plants. (angel fish and discus) i am in need of someone to tell me the best filtration gravel etc. I don't know all that has to be done to get it started. HELP!!!!!!!!!:confused: :confused:

[Richer]

We need to know what you know and what you don't know before we can really help you out.
Check out the sticky thread "Archived Help Stickies" at the top of this forum and check out the links. Especially check out the links labelled "Common Beginner Mistakes" and "Fishless Cycling."

My advice for now... advoid plants if you are an absolute beginner. Even some more experienced FW fish keepers have problems with plants... if you are a beginner, plants will only give you a bigger headach than you really need. Start off small, then work your way up.

I won't go into details about what you should or shouldn't do, since I do not know the extent of your knowledge (just cuz your a "virgin" at something doesn't mean you don't know about it). I will however, give you some general pointers.

Definately read up on fishless cycling. Fishless cycling has the benefit of cycling a tank faster than "normal" cycling (I only call it normal, because most fish stores would recommend this route... it is not recommended among more experienced keepers), it spares any fish from living in less than nice conditions, and after a fishless cycle is complete, you can basically stock your tank fully (to a reasonable extent).

As for gravel, any kind of gravel will do... that shouldn't be a big problem, as long as the gravel doesn't react with your water and raise KH or GH, and as long as the gravel bed isn't too deep, you should be fine. Others may elaborate more on this point, but I personally don't pay a lot of attention to my substrate. I just have it there to make the tank look better, and to block any reflections from coming off of the bottom of the tank.

Filter wise... a general rule of thumb is a 10x turnover rate. If you have a 55 gallon tank, you want your filtration to total about 10x that... so about 550 gallons/hour. If you are on a budget, I'd suggest either an Aquaclear 200 and 300 combo, or a 2 Aquaclear 300 combo. If you have more money to spare, a canister filter (fluval 404, eheim 2026, etc.) with a sponge over the intake and an Aquaclear 200/300 will be better. I won't go any further into possible filters, as that can be a thread on its own. The one thing you should notice though, is I suggest having a redundant system of filters (ie. more than one filter running). I do this mainly as a safety precaution. Having one filter fail on you is possible... and if you only have one filter running, you may be in trouble. However, having two or more filters running mean that you can have one fail, but still have enough time to run out to grab another filter before your tank starts to get into trouble.

That is all I can tell you for now... as I said before, this is all pretty general stuff... so my info can be quite flexible. Since you want to keep slower swimming fish (angels, discus, etc.) you could probably go with a lower turnover rate on your filters, you could use different substrate (not nessessarily gravel), etc. etc.

There are many aspects to fish keeping and I could go on and on and on about how to start, what to do, etc. But you need to go out and do some research on your own. Asking us specific questions rather than the general "How do I start?" question will get you much further.

HTH
-Richer

[pickles]

thanks you have been a great help, i hope to talk to you with better questions after i do more research!!!

[TKOS]

There are definatley some plants that are hard to work with but there are also many very easy plants that are pretty fool proof like Java Fern and Crypts. You say a 55 gallon tank. Is it just the tank or is there a hood as well with a light?

As for Angels and Disuc, I don't think that many people keep both together. Discus, from what I have read here, are pretty sensitive fish and need great water quality all the time. They might not be the best beginner fish. But with a 55 gallon you could easily start with angels and some plants. Then add in a few fish like some catfish or loaches and a small school of tetra and you have an awesome tank.

[tomm10]

Read up on cycling first. Beside fishless and fishy cycling you could also look into Bio Spira which is a dose of the nitrifying bacteria your tank needs to cycle. Doing a quick search on this forum for cycling will return a wealth of information.

While I agree with Richer that plants can be tricky and cause a beginner absolute fits, I disagree that you shouldn't start with them. The key is to start with a couple of easy to care for low light plants. Cryptocoryne, Java Fern, and Java Moss are pretty easy to grow. I've also had a lot of luck with the Rangeri Sword. The big benefit of plants in a new tank is that they remove some of the poinous (to fish) ammonia and nitrites from the water.