Filter/Plant Questions

[Layd Dly]

I received a wal-mart 55 gallon tank kit for christmas. this will be my first real tank setup. i was thinking of retro-fitting the aquatech 30/60 (about $35 after shipping from various e-tailors) to a penguin 330 but its actually cheaper to go out and buy a new penguin 350 (26.99locally) with bio wheels. my question is should i keep the 30/60 additionally? use different filters? keep the bio filters in it?

Currently the tank is completley empty, and i have top fin gravel from pet smart (had gift card) would this be adequate for some live plants? any plant suggestions.

Im undecided as to what fish i will putting in it so far.

[blackwolfXKAV]

honestly, i would keep in addition to the penguin; you have a hard time overfiltering a tank.

as to live plants, i would decide what fish you wanted, then pick plants.

also, since its completly empty, and i'm sure, as most of us, you'd rather not muck around w/ things in the tank once you get fish; i have seen some people who will acyually cycle w/ live plants, though i dont have a link.

anyhow, Congrats on the tank, and good luck!
B.W.

[webcricket]

Really your lighting, not the gravel, will dictate whether you can successfully keep plants, and what types you can keep.

What sort of lighting and wattage of bulbs came with the kit?

[BrkD]

yes you should use both filters. as for plants, im guessing you have a 40w fluorescent tube. i doubt any plants will live. you can try upgrading your lighting with retrofit kits from www.ahsupply.com. do you know about cycling your tank? heres a thread by rbishop explaining the process : http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

[Layd Dly]

So if i keep my 30/60 should i just keep the generic filter & bio-filter in it as well as the utilize the 350. Also should i cycle with the 30/60 first? or do both at the same time?

I was reading the cycling sticky, since i have no previous tank,and dont have the time/want to do a fishless cycle i will probably get some hardy fish to start a cycleand monitor it.

for th elights im sure they are jsut generics that came with the hoods. any suggestion on fairly simple plants and what bulbs to buy.

[minnesotagal866]

I love the walmart 55 gallon set ups! I grew java moss and java fern attached to driftwood, red melon sword, and anubias with the standard lighting from that set up. They grew but a little slowly, which isn't bad. After a year or two I decided I wanted to grow more plants so I upgraded from AHS, which is a company sells lighting reto-fit kits.

One other suggestion for low light plants is to go to aquariumplants.com and look under their section for hardy/hard to kill/low light plants. They have a great selection and I have found their customer service to be fantastic.

I have used the filter that comes with the set up for three years and it is going strong. I just rinse out the filter media and keep it in the tank for months at a time. When you do change the filter, just do one at a time. I also stuffed some filter floss in back for increased mechanical filtration and to help seed any new aquarium that might happen to show up in my house!! Always be prepared!

The heater is only a 200W heater and I bought a second.

Right now I have 100+ plants in my tank, two nice pieces of bogwood, 6 rummynose tetras, 7 kuhli loaches, 2 bristlenose plecos, a dwarf guarami, and 3 peppered cories. Tank is looking great. I plan to add 4-6 more tetras and 6 hatchets to complete the tank.

Good luck!

Jackie

[Mgamer20o0]

i think the fishless cycle was way easy. not only did i didnt have to worry about killing off the fish i just had to add ammonia. it may seem hard but really isnt. you know its going to take a couple weeks so i just kept adding the ammonia. when i tested it was fully cycled. gravel doesnt matter much like others have said. i used gravel from home depot that was 5 bux for 50 pounds or so. i dont trust cheap heaters. i would ditch the heater and go with Visi-Therm Stealth Heater. heaters are a very important and often over looked. as for the filters its better to have 2 filters if one goes out. the same goes for heaters.

the plants i would get some low light plants and see what happens. you could go out and get better lighting giving you a better chance to see what happens.

[Layd Dly]

Finally got the tank filled with gravel and water and filtering with the 30/60 until i can pick up the penguin 350.

I also looked at the lights they were Marineland Eclipse Natural Daylight (F15T8) 18" bulbs

[Layd Dly]

How long do you guys think it would take for a black ghost knife fish to outgrow a 55 gal?

[Mgamer20o0]

i wouldnt put a ghost knife in a 55 gal even for short term.

[Layd Dly]

what medium larger sized fish would be recomenned for a 55 gal. and with what other tank mates

[Ghost_knife]

Ghosts will outgrow a 55G in about 2-3 weeks, what are you lookin to stock?

[Layd Dly]

nothing really specific, somthing semi-agressive , and a some other colorful or playful fish. !st tank so really no preferance, but i would like so to grow to fill the tank.

[Layd Dly]

Picked up a penguin 350 today for the tank. i added some bio supplement but i still need to go get some ammonia.