How am I doing?

[texyank]

Well, I'm kinda new at this. I'd say rusty but my first attempts at the hobby were over 20 years and less than spectacular results were achieved. I'm at it again because a friend gave me most of his setup. Here's my equuipment:

55 gal. tank with a huge trickle filter (designed for a 200 gal. tank) and an AquaClear 500. Full glass cover and a single 48" flor. lamp.

Has been setup and running for about 90 days. Water parameters are:
PH - 7.6
KH - 120
GH - 20
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 25
Ammonia - 0

Stock with:
5 Serpae Tetras
4 Red Eye Tetras
1 Leopard Cory
2 Otocinclus
1 Platy (a "gift" from my grandson)
1 Danio (the only survivor of my cycling period)

I lost quite a few Danios during cycling but at the time I didn't realize just how over filtered I was. Most simply couldn't handle the current, I guess. I only use the AquaClear after a water change to quickly pick up suspended junk.

I do 10% water changes weekly vaccuming the gravel as I go.

Sadly the LFS here is known as WalMart! However, they do have a 3 month gaurantee. All they want is the carcass - no water info. They have reimbursed me more than once, no questions asked.

The tank is in my office (no room at home) and I am enjoying this immensely. Anything I need to do differently or does this look pretty good to y'all?

 

[dwayne]

Sounds like you are doing great!!!

Maybe you could get the danio a few more to keep him company?

I wish I could have a 55gallon at work (or at home, for that matter )

~Tara

 

[OrionGirl]

You might want to pick up 2-3 more cories--they tend to be happier and more active if they have some chums. I'd try getting the same kind--some mix, others won't.

You can adjust the flow of the AC--turning it all the way down and putting a prefilter over the intake should slow it down. However, I've never had a problem with them creating too much flow--I ran an AC500 on a 20 gallon tank for a while with no ill effects. Overfiltering is kind of a misnomer, since it implies that somehow you're making the water too clean--can't happen.

Otherwise, looks like you have a nice setup. Welcome back to the hobby!

 

[texyank]

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I tried adding a few Danios but they don't last more than a couple days. Probably due to my only source of stock.

I'll look into the pre-filter - I wasn't aware they made them. I'll have to travel a bit to find them, I already know what Wally World has on their shelves. (Very little)

I did have 3 Corys but lost two in two days a couple weeks ago. They haven't had any more leopards since then. I plan on replacing them as soon as they get them back in stock. They have others but I prefer the look of the leopards.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Richer]

The danios that you lost during the cycle probably died because of poor water conditions (which is what happens during a cycle), then got sucked into your filter intake. Danios are built to handle lots of current, I doubt that you had too much current on your tank. I clearly overfilter all of my tanks, and no fish (anything ranging from an Angelfish, to a Zebra Cichlid) have died because of current.

Pre-filters can be easily made. Go out to your LFS, and grab some sponges (Aquaclear 300 sponges work quite well). Cut a slit in the sponge, and stick the filter's intake into that.

-Richer

 

[tomm10]

Danios are really pretty hardy fish. A lot of them often survive a whole fishy cycle. If yours are dying shortly after indtroduction to the tank, and your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are what you reported, you're getting some pretty sad fish from Wally World.

With a 55g tank you might want to look into buying a bunch of fish at once from some place like Fosters and Smith online. There are several others too. Generally I hear good reports about the fish purchased from such places and they will offer you a much broader assortment of fish to choose from than Walmart. the big downside is generally the price of shipping but since you may be looking to add quite a few fish, that price (usually between $20-30) may be more reasonable.

Either that or plan a trip with a cooler to a decent LFS even if its an hour or two or three away. From what I can gather from the folks here there are quite a few decent shops in Texas so hopefully some are within a reasonable distance from you.

Tom

 

[snakeskinner]

you are kind of in the middle of everyone aren't ya? pick up the yellow pages for the surround towns in your area. How far are you from Houston? looks like about 3-4 hours maybe? anyway, surely they have some good LFS's I would think. If you can plan a weekend trip to one of the larger towns near you (houston, shreveport, etc.) check the yahoo yellowpages or something, post a question for local people in that area and plan some stops. Any good LFS can package fish up to make a short trip like that. I just picked up several fish in San Antonio and brought them back to Oklahoma City (8 hours) with no losses and they were mostly weak tetras. I agree with the earlier replies that danio's love current so that wasn't the case. not sure on your "trickle filter" as to what that is but the AC 500 is perfect for that tank. the nub that sticks through the cover allows you to move the pickup tube back and forth to adjust flow more or less, at least that's how my AC300 is designed. you should be able to run full blast in a 50 with no problems. Not sure why you're losing danio's from what you've said. Otherwise, you're doing pretty good but I agree you should probably get some more cories and maybe some more platies if you like them. they breed fast so if you're not crazy about them, don't get a m/f pair because you'll have lots soon. KYle