Starting a 40 Gallon Tank

[DieselJunki]

One very grumpy rainbow shark haha! But that is a great idea! I never thought of doing that. I could just throw him in there with his filter and he should be fine because there wont be any other fish besides him. I would have to move him back into the 10 once I start getting other fish though.

Should I take his filter and put it on the 40 for a couple days before moving him? I don't want to shock the crap outta him lol. But then again I don't want him to run out of oxygen either. I'd say he's a pretty tough fish . . He survived me setting up my 10 (before I knew anything about cycling) putting him, 2 black skirt tetras, and 6 neon tetras in the tank at once!

 

[zpromoter]

One very grumpy rainbow shark haha! But that is a great idea! I never thought of doing that. I could just throw him in there with his filter and he should be fine because there wont be any other fish besides him. I would have to move him back into the 10 once I start getting other fish though.

Should I take his filter and put it on the 40 for a couple days before moving him? I don't want to shock the crap outta him lol. But then again I don't want him to run out of oxygen either. I'd say he's a pretty tough fish . . He survived me setting up my 10 (before I knew anything about cycling) putting him, 2 black skirt tetras, and 6 neon tetras in the tank at once!

Here is what you should do, depending on what kind of filter you have, you should take out the sponge/biobag, or whatever you have and place it in the new filter for the 40gal. Let it filter through for a couple of days and then add the shark. Make sure to accimate him correctly.

 

[DieselJunki]

Sounds perfect. Thank you guys so much! I have to wait until this weeks or next weeks check (depending on the cell bill this month lol) before I can get the filter I want. But I will keep you all posted on what's going on and also if I have anymore questions or changes.

In the far future if I decided to go with a canister filter could I go with the marineland C series? I was thinking about getting the C-360 incase I ever decided to upgrade to a larger tank which could very well happen. Would this be waaay to much filter power for my 40 gallon if it was the only filter on it? Remember this is in the far future as they are expensive lol.

 

[Ozymandias]

it wouldnt be too much filtration and i think the flow you should be fine with. i was using a C-220 on a 30 gallon and i wasn't completely satisfied with the flow i was getting (i had a heavy planted tank)

 

[Flying_Diamond]

what i would do in regards to the cycling, is take the filter media from your ten gallon tank, and put it in the 40 filter running on that tank. i'd put new media in the 10 to start building back up, and i'd leave the rainbow shark in his 10 gallon home. as soon as i put the used media in the 40, i would put the two platys that will be in the tank in there.

then keep testing your parameters for a week or two, make sure you keep any ammonia down, and start gradually adding more fish. the reason to start out small and work your way up is so that the biological filtration from the media has time to build up beneficial bacteria as each new fish enters the tank so that it doesn't have a huge cycle to go through. likely you may see a mini-cycle though, which is an occasional spike of ammonia because of lack of enough beneficial bacteria, but that's why you'll have to keep testing the water and doing water changes, the media will help a lot though.

 

[DieselJunki]

GOOD NEWS! I was cleaning out my closet today and found $90! So some things may start coming together by the end of this week. Hopefully a couple platys will be in the tank by next week! Now I have to start cracking down on exactly what kinda plants I want and where I want them. Should I just order the plants online? I heard that my LFS (Petco) does not carry true aquatic plants.

I have cleaned my whooole room and took out my TV and xbox360 to be able to fit all my animals in here, hahaha. The crazy things I do.

I'm not sure which route I want to go for sand . . . It's between Esters Black Marine Sand and Pool Filter Sand. I am going to my LFS tomorrow to pick up some esters sand for my 10 gallon to see if I like the looks of it.

but I have one more question. . . What types of things should I buy to put in my water. You know like stress coat. I have a very small bottle of that but have heard here that Prime is much much better. So I'll pick up a bottle of that, but is there anything else?

 

[Nak]

but I have one more question. . . What types of things should I buy to put in my water. You know like stress coat. I have a very small bottle of that but have heard here that Prime is much much better. So I'll pick up a bottle of that, but is there anything else?

The only thing i put in my water is Prime, and CO2 injection for the plants. I dont like to rely on too many chemicals in the tank, greater chance of something going horribly wrong.

 

[Flying_Diamond]

SCORE! i love finding money i didn't know i had.. haha, anyway.. buying plants online really is your best option. while petco/petsmart does sell some truely aquatic plants, the majority of them aren't aquatic, and aren't in good shape most of the time. if you look around on the classifieds, you'll find a lot of users selling really cheap, good quality, low to high light plants. as for what you'll need to put into your tank, all you really need is prime. stress coat isn't really necessary. like nak said though, if you get really into plants and want a heavily planted tank, you can start playing with the idea of injecting co2 into your tank or dosing liquid ferts to help plants grow. this isn't necessary though and you definitely shouldn't worry about it right away.

 

[DieselJunki]

Ok so I am now rethinking some of my stocking plans! I want more activity in the tank. I decided that I do not want the angel as I hear that they get rather large and probably would prefer a bigger tank. Could I possibly get more schooling fish in here? I really want atleast 1 blue ram, if not a breeding pair would be nice as my center piece fish. Or would a breeding pair of these guys be pretty hard on my bio load? But I also want activity too.

Kuhli Loach - 6 of these guys
Rummynose Tetra - 6 of these guys unless you all suggest more?
Harlequin Rasbora - 8 of these guys unless you suggest more of course.
Topsail Platy - 1
Red Wag Platy- 1
German Blue Ram - atleast 1 if not a breeding pair
Swordtails - I fell in love with these guys when I was pricing fish at my LFS. Could I possibly incorporate these guys in there. Maybe 2 or just 1? Any issues with being aggressive or are they good community fish?


I also ordered my filter and heater for the tank. I am still deciding what to go with for a substrate. It is between 3M colorquartz sand (S-Grade) and regular play sand. I may just go with the play sand for convenience sake although I might just hate myself for it down the road lol. As for plants I am not sure still I know I want low light - medium light plants. I was going to ask that one plant guy on here ( I already forget his screen name but I can find it again ) if he could throw me together a plant pack and let me know how much it would cost.

As for the lighting and hood system. I don't have a clue!!! UGH! The lightening system is what's giving me all my confusion problems. I was hoping to be able to go with a glass top for my 40 gallon from http://www.glasscages.com if they can even ship it to me (they haven't let me know yet). All the other places I've looked at require your tank to have a center brace because the glass comes in 2 pieces. So if anyone knows a place that does a 40G glass top without requiring a center brace please let me know! As for the lighting system I would really appreciate recommendations from people so I can just pick one lol. I am thinking 2WPG would be sufficient or should I perhaps do more? But I have no clue what bulb type or light fixture to buy . . . This is the only thing holding me back so far on getting my tank running.

 

[Flying_Diamond]

your stocking looks really good if you're leaving the angel out. you could easily do a breeding pair of rams imo. you could keep one or two swordtails; whichever you prefer. they're very peacefuly community fish.

i use glass tops on my aquariums that i cut myself, and i have started using these light systems with 13, 23, or 26 watt daylight compact flourescents.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752557&ab=hp_ln_reptile

i think they're the cheapest alternative for fish lights i've seen yet, and you can calculate what size you'd need depending on the wattage of the bulbs you'd put in there. they seem to work great for me.

if you want to stick with 2 watts per gallon [wich should be sufficient for growing low-medium light plants] then i'd suggest getting two 2 bulb fixtures and equipping them with 3x 23 watt lights and a 26 watt light. you'd have about 2.3 watts/gallon then.