Starting a 55G

[uglylittlegirl]

I have a couple questions because this is the first time I am setting up a tank this big. I have worked with freshwater fish before but with fish bowls and a 10 gallon tank with simple goldfish and beta. For the 55g I was thinking about adding sand instead of gravel because I think it gives it a really nice beach look. Although I'm not so sure how hard it would be to clean rather than using gravel. Also I thought instead of having a whole bunch of different freshwater fish to get a school of fish, how many fish would I need for a school, and what kind of fish school, and do they stay schooling because I heard they need a bigger fish in the tank to scare them into schooling.

 

[fishcatch22]

I have a couple questions because this is the first time I am setting up a tank this big. I have worked with freshwater fish before but with fish bowls and a 10 gallon tank with simple goldfish and beta. For the 55g I was thinking about adding sand instead of gravel because I think it gives it a really nice beach look. Although I'm not so sure how hard it would be to clean rather than using gravel. Also I thought instead of having a whole bunch of different freshwater fish to get a school of fish, how many fish would I need for a school, and what kind of fish school, and do they stay schooling because I heard they need a bigger fish in the tank to scare them into schooling.

sand is a good substrate. you can buy tons of it cheap from home depot.

if you want a school, I definetly reccomend a school of 7-8 congo tetras, they are magnificent, with a rainbow shark or a senegal bichir for the bottom. you know about cycling and all that good stuff, right?

 

[uglylittlegirl]

Thank you so much for that advice! I'll look into those tetras, but do you know how i could clean the sand, or if its dirty its time to just clean out the whole tank?

 

[fishcatch22]

Thank you so much for that advice! I'll look into those tetras, but do you know how i could clean the sand, or if its dirty its time to just clean out the whole tank?

if you buy play sand you should wash it as you would wash gravel before you add it to the tank.

you know about cycling, right?

 

[uglylittlegirl]

Yes I know about cycling, about emptying part of the tank and then adding new clean water, I have another 10 gallon tank I was going to use to cycle so i could keep the temperature. Thanks for telling me to wash the sand, but how would i wash the sand after its in the tank?

 

[willsher]

I don't use sand but had considered it, the LFS recommened wrapping my siphon with a fine net like the ones used for catching brine shrimp. Hope this helps

 

[D-Man]

sand to use

i use silica sand its pretty clean just dump in tank the cloudiness from it will clear up within a day at the most, or a water change will help, its alot cleaner than play sand also looks really nice it is white sand u can buy it at home depot menards or most hardware stores

 

[Daudzegier]

well you have to be carefull not to disturb the sand as you drain water from the tank so gravel cleaners are OUT. Try taking some sort of object and just stirring up the sand, so that it releases all of its muck into the water above, after the sand begins to settle back down, just go in wiht a net and get a majority of the debris out. As long as you do that you should be fine. Youll have to clean your tank a bit more often cuz sand will noticalbly get more dirt on its surface than gravel. 10 - 20% weekly water change for a tank setup that would normaly just do 25% a month is my rule of thumb. If you keep messier fish, i would do a 50% change once every 3 or 4 days.

 

[uglylittlegirl]

thank you so much for all that information, its making my decision much easier to make, I think I will go with the sand. Are schools of fish considered messy?

 

[fishcatch22]

thank you so much for all that information, its making my decision much easier to make, I think I will go with the sand. Are schools of fish considered messy?

not really, unless you've got SDs....