55 Gallon New Setup?

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FSUphitau85

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Aug 28, 2007
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I'm setting up a new 55 gallon tank and trying to piece together what equipment I would need for cichlids. Any help would be great....Also, I have heard that the marineland bio-wheels are the way to go for the best filtration. I also heard that it is best to get a 75 gallon rated filter for better filtration in my 55. The two choices from Marineland for Bio-wheels are the penguin 350 and the emperor 400. the price difference is pretty significant, but I can't decide if the more expensive emperor is actually worth the money when I haven't really seen any differences. Any help would be great! Thanks

Zack
 
The main (and maybe only, not too sure) difference between Emperor and Penguin filters are that Emperors have a spray bar to spin the bio-wheel and Penguins don't. I honestly don't think the spray bar is necessary.

As for the size of filter, if you're set on an HOB filter, get 2 rated for at least 30, that way if one dies for some reason, not all your bacteria will die. You could also go for complete overkill and get 2 rated for a 55, but that might be a little much.

I'm not sure on the specific needs of cichlids, but you may want to figure out which ones you're getting and maybe list what you plan on getting (i.e. any stands, lighting, hoods that you plan on buying/making).

If you plan on planting the tank, make sure you have enough light.
 
The E-400 is a slightly bigger filter, i would think the spray bar could get restricted at some point potentially not keeping the bio wheel saturated all the way across, if your set on HOB's 2 P-350's is what i would go with, i just got one from Big Al's for 28.00. and would filter your 55 very well. Use 4 media cartridges in each filter.............:)
 
If it was me I would get 2 AC 70's, I dont have much expierence with canisters but that might be a better route
Click to expand...

I agree with the Aqua Clear post. With Cichlids, (if you are going with African Cichlids) you need you ph to be about 7.8-8.2. The aqua clear lets you put your own media, so you could do a bag of crushed coral at the top of each filter, over the sponge, and the biological filter media, and have your water ph maintained for you, with almost 0 maintenance. I like the flexibility of the aqua clears too, since you can set extra filter media within them, to help start a new tank later on down the road.
 
cannisters when set up correctly are more efficient.
but that said
there is nothing wrong with using a couple HOB's.
I like the AC's for their flexibility with media.

my experience with the penuins..the bio wheels are a PIA.

the emperors with the spray bars may work better.but may be an issue in a planted tank with pressurized CO2
 
FSUphitau85 said:
I'm setting up a new 55 gallon tank and trying to piece together what equipment I would need for cichlids. Any help would be great....Also, I have heard that the marineland bio-wheels are the way to go for the best filtration. I also heard that it is best to get a 75 gallon rated filter for better filtration in my 55. The two choices from Marineland for Bio-wheels are the penguin 350 and the emperor 400. the price difference is pretty significant, but I can't decide if the more expensive emperor is actually worth the money when I haven't really seen any differences. Any help would be great! Thanks

Zack
Click to expand...

go with this

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl3684/cp19169/si1379661/cl0/marinelandpenguin350bpowerfilter

its the 350 for $28!
 
Thanks for all the great feedback from everyone!!! From looking around it seems like if I decided to go with the Aqua Clear pump, I would need to get an under gravel filter to boot. I have a 10 g hex on my desk (w/about 10 very small tiger barbs...beautiful!) that has a bio-wheel which seems to be doing great, so as of right now, unless someone can sway me, I'll probably roll with the Penguin 350 Bio-wheel. Would I really need to get 2 350s since my tank is only 55 gallons (seems a little excessive), or just one rated for 75 gallon tanks, or 2 150s, each rated for 30 gallon tanks. On the note of potential failure of a pump, I thought I understood the Emperor to have 2 separate pumps, so if one fails, the other is still running (short of a power outage). See what you think
http://www.petmountain.com/product/...arineland-aquaria-emperor-filter-system.html#

...does that seem exclusive to the Emperor series and not the Penguin?

Stocking:
I'm looking at doing an African Cichlid tank. I know people are hardcore against LFS, but Petco ran a sale on premium African Cichlids ($3 for about 2 in!!!) and I have a raincheck for about 13. I also got my 55 from their dollar a gallon sale...sweet! I really wanted to make a tiger barb/cichlid tank, which most people would say no I think, but I've heard of things like angelfish and cichlids....any thoughts?

Cleaners: So what's the word with what type of fish to clean a tank. I have a Pleco in a 20 doing great, but I have heard cories, cats, and loaches are other options...what does everyone like in a combo with cichlids?

Substrate:
I really want to keep this one natural, so I'm definitely looking at doing some holey rocks, driftwood, and broken pots, courtesy of Wal-Marts garden shop, but are there any good websites for affordable natural substrate?....I'm a poor college kid. Also, what would I need to keep live plants in the 55, and are there any benefits. I heard that you can't run a pump with a current across live plants (seems kinda wrong if you look at nature), any truth to it? And also I have heard both sides (good and bad) of putting some form of an aerator in a tank with live plants...what do you think? What kind of lighting and maintenance is necessary?

Stand:
Being very short on $$$, I kinda figured it would be cheaper to build my own stand, that way I could also customize it to my liking. Know of a website or anything to get free plans and diagrams to build one?

Thanks,
Zack
 
angelfish and african cichlids= no more angel. africans are just to aggressive to have with angels. you should really stick with ONLY african cichlids, especially since you are going to have 13.

Emperors and Penguins arent that bad to get started once you get used to them.
 
FSUphitau85 said:
Thanks for all the great feedback from everyone!!! From looking around it seems like if I decided to go with the Aqua Clear pump, I would need to get an under gravel filter to boot. I have a 10 g hex on my desk (w/about 10 very small tiger barbs...beautiful!) that has a bio-wheel which seems to be doing great, so as of right now, unless someone can sway me, I'll probably roll with the Penguin 350 Bio-wheel. Would I really need to get 2 350s since my tank is only 55 gallons (seems a little excessive), or just one rated for 75 gallon tanks, or 2 150s, each rated for 30 gallon tanks. On the note of potential failure of a pump, I thought I understood the Emperor to have 2 separate pumps, so if one fails, the other is still running (short of a power outage). See what you think
http://www.petmountain.com/product/...arineland-aquaria-emperor-filter-system.html#

...does that seem exclusive to the Emperor series and not the Penguin?

Stocking:
I'm looking at doing an African Cichlid tank. I know people are hardcore against LFS, but Petco ran a sale on premium African Cichlids ($3 for about 2 in!!!) and I have a raincheck for about 13. I also got my 55 from their dollar a gallon sale...sweet! I really wanted to make a tiger barb/cichlid tank, which most people would say no I think, but I've heard of things like angelfish and cichlids....any thoughts?

Cleaners: So what's the word with what type of fish to clean a tank. I have a Pleco in a 20 doing great, but I have heard cories, cats, and loaches are other options...what does everyone like in a combo with cichlids?

Substrate:
I really want to keep this one natural, so I'm definitely looking at doing some holey rocks, driftwood, and broken pots, courtesy of Wal-Marts garden shop, but are there any good websites for affordable natural substrate?....I'm a poor college kid. Also, what would I need to keep live plants in the 55, and are there any benefits. I heard that you can't run a pump with a current across live plants (seems kinda wrong if you look at nature), any truth to it? And also I have heard both sides (good and bad) of putting some form of an aerator in a tank with live plants...what do you think? What kind of lighting and maintenance is necessary?

Stand:
Being very short on $$$, I kinda figured it would be cheaper to build my own stand, that way I could also customize it to my liking. Know of a website or anything to get free plans and diagrams to build one?

Thanks,
Zack
Click to expand...

Instead of 1 350, get the 2 150s. Since you already have a penguin filter with an established tank, go and buy some filter material (not cartridges, just the blue filter material) and put it into your penguin filter now. That way, when you finalize everything and you're doing your cycle, you can move the extra filter material to your new tank to speed up your cycle. Since it's a small tank, it might not speed it up a whole lot, but it'll cut some time off of the process.

As for the flexibility of aquaclears, I bet they're awesome filters, but penguins can be just as flexible. You don't actually have to put a cartridge into the filter, you could remove the cartridge and put a bag of whatever you want in it, and in addition to the material you decide to put in, you have the bio-wheel, which is, essentially, a wet-dry filter.

And if/when you get a penguin filter, you also don't need to buy their ready made cartridges. Unless you need the carbon, before you even set the filter up, tear out the filter material from the cartridge and buy some filter material and get some fishing line and just tie on the filter material to the cartridge's plastic. That way, you never have to buy a ready made cartridge, and if you have a pack of the filter material, it'll be a long time before you run out of it.
 
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