Many random questions.

[Zyrk]

I have mostly decided to ask my questions in this post because it will get rid of the notice at the top of the page as well.

I am sort-of new to fish keeping. I got thrown into fish keeping around the beginning of last October because a kid left his impulse-bought goldfish at my arcade and I felt sorry for it. Now he's in a 55gal with two shubunkins, though I experienced my fair share of fish-keeping mistakes in the mean time.

In any case, while I would absolutely love to aquascape my large tank, I cannot hope to afford doing so in my current situation.

So, I am coming to you guys (and probably crossposting elsewhere eventually) to ask a few questions.

I want to start a 5 gallon tropical tank to house a beta and some MTS in. I know virtually nothing about heating, lighting, and proper substrate for plants despite the fact that both of my current tanks have live plants in them.

I have some experience with gravel, but I find it pretty ugly since the black gravel I bought tends to break in half when I vacuum it. This wouldn't be so bad except for it's a cheap brand (Estes) and is coated in black and white on the inside.
I have less experience with sand (more Estes). I have about an inch in my quarantine 10gal full of plants and MTS. I like the look of it better, but haven't vacuumed it once and keep getting told that it could not possibly work in my 55 gallon. (Why wont anyone tell me why??) My real motive for wanting to switch to sand in my large tank is because I would love to add 3-6 weather loaches when my financial situation improves.
Zero experience with heating, but my main question is whether or not heaters compensate for frequent and heavy room-temperature fluctuations. My bedroom is freakishly insulated and it's either intensely hot or bone-chillingly cold.
Lighting... I simply can't understand for some reason. How is someone to know the correct bulb to get? I've heard all kinds of conflicting reports. T12. T5. 6500k. Actinic blue. Can anyone recommend a daytime fixture/bulb for a highly lit 5 gallon? I have seen some very interesting DIY ideas, but I don't trust myself with electrical components that will eventually be above water with a living creature in it.
Finally, algae. I have heard that algae in a tank is a great indicator of good water parameters... But I have also heard of algae being a bringer of bad news. What's the deal here? Is it because one type of algae is good and one is not? I certainly don't mind it since it keeps my MTS colony happy, but they've nearly wiped all of it out so I've resorted to feeding them algae wafers so I can keep the population up. (Why? I don't know. I'll find something to do with them some day!)

Thanks for reading. I hope to eventually become a useful contributor to aquarium sites instead of simply asking questions all the time!

 

[petluvr]

Welcome to teh community. I would definitely cross post some of your questions in the appropriate sections but I will try to answer as many here as possible.
Sand will certainly work in your 55 I have it in mine. Play sand for sand boxes can be used and is relatively cheap. Just make sure to wash and wash and wash it first.
Yes, heaters will make up for room temperature fluctuations but the fact that you say it can be freakishly hot at times is concerning.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

hello and welcome home to AC Zyrk! you're gonna love this place and never want to leave, lol.

sounds like you've learned a fair bit in the past few months and kudos to you for taking that forgotten finkid home with you from work.

as for lighting, you could go with a screw-in type compact flourescent over the small tank, aiming for about 1.5 watts per gallon. i don't claim to know much about lighting but my plants do really well with only 40 watts (two 20 watt bulbs) over a 55 gallon tank, one bulb being a t8 'power-glo' 18000k and the other is a 'flora-glo' t8 2800k (dang petsmart didn't have two matching bulbs when i needed them! lol).

and oh, we love photos here..... so post lots of your finkids, plants, and full tank shots!

 

[Rbishop]

Welcome to AC!

 

[msjinkzd]

Welcome and good luck with the new tank!

 

[Zyrk]

Sand will certainly work in your 55 I have it in mine. Play sand for sand boxes can be used and is relatively cheap. Just make sure to wash and wash and wash it first.
Yes, heaters will make up for room temperature fluctuations but the fact that you say it can be freakishly hot at times is concerning.

Oh, I am aware that some kind of sand would work. But everyone I have talked to has told me that I shouldn't use the Estes sand in particular. I'd be fine with relenting and getting play sand or 1mm sand, but I love the look of a tank with black substrate and nobody can seem to give me a specific reason to avoid Estes. I guess people are just strange, heh! Do you find that your sand clouds your tank if you clean it at all?

To me, freakishly hot is between 76 and 80 degrees according to the temperature strip on my 10 gallon. Would it still be unacceptable to get a heater in that case? If it helps, the temperature only rises in here when I'm around because the issue is with running two computers and a flat screen tv. Maybe body heat, too. Who knows?

as for lighting, you could go with a screw-in type compact flourescent over the small tank, aiming for about 1.5 watts per gallon. i don't claim to know much about lighting but my plants do really well with only 40 watts (two 20 watt bulbs) over a 55 gallon tank, one bulb being a t8 'power-glo' 18000k and the other is a 'flora-glo' t8 2800k (dang petsmart didn't have two matching bulbs when i needed them! lol).

and oh, we love photos here..... so post lots of your finkids, plants, and full tank shots!

I have seen a couple of DIY things posted using LEDs and compact fluorescent lights. I don't mind buying a fixture, except for the fact that they're pretty expensive. Here is a link to a DIY moonlight someone made for their set up. I love the idea of it, mostly, but couldn't figure out whether or not those two dinky fluorescent lights would be adequate for the highly lit aquarium I want to work toward.
Unfortunately, I only have a one-bulb fixture over my fish tank. Are double-bulb fixtures expensive?

I didn't think to add pictures of my set-ups. If these are too large, please let me know and I'll downsize them!

Here's Harvey. I know he shouldn't be, but he's my favorite.

Shortly after I got him, he developed these strange bumps on his sides and lost his tail to fin rot. I have no idea what happened, but through some magic I was able to keep him from dying on me. (By magic, I mean I have no idea which combination of treatments worked, but something did and he's healthy now.)

Here's a better picture of his former condition:

Here's Pauly.

I am starting to believe Pauly may be a girl, because he has outgrown the other two by leaps and bounds. Pauly jumped out of the original tank I had been housing them in. I must have found him just in time because he was dry as a bone but revived after I held him under the filter outtake for a while. In any case, he's the reason they're now in a (covered) 55 gallon.

Here's Petey.

Petey is my Walmart fish. He had a buddy when he started out, but my lack of knowledge and fear of harming fish with chlorine is probably what killed him off. They were left at my store in a tiny critter carrier that I wouldn't even place a gerbil in. I moved them to a larger critter carrier that I use for feeding my snake, but didn't have a tank to move them in for quite a while and thought I wasn't supposed to do any major water changes.
In any case, Petey has survived. I think I may have stunted his growth because the other two fish are outgrowing him even though they're a little younger.

Here's the 55gal 6 days after I first set it up. I used everything from the 30gal in order to keep it from having to completely cycle from scratch.

And here's the quarantine tank. It's a 10gal and housing a colony of MTS right now. I've been having more success with plants in this tank because of it's small size, oversized light (from the 30gal), and a once-in-a-great-while dose of Flourish Excell. Don't mind the messiness of the tank; I had let it get overrun with algae so my snails would boom.

Cute snails!

I'll fix up the random picture sizes later on since I have to run.

Thanks for all of the replies and help!