newbie needs HELP!

[ashes2ash]

Hi. I'm 16 years old and after working in Pet Supplies Plus for about three months its time that I get a tank of my own. Someone told me the best way to learn is to expirence it for yourself.

I decided that I want a 55 gallon tank. My mom isn't too sure of that size yet because we have an old house and she's afraid that it will weigh too much. I'm thinking about putting it in the kitchen because we had a room made in the basement so there are tons of studs supporting our kitchen ceiling. It should be strong enough to support the weight of the water--wouldn't you think? If I cannot get a 55 gallon tank I might settle for 40 gallon or something around there.

I want to start buying supplies and I'll buy the actual tank last. I was looking at petsmart.com to get a general idea of how much prices are. I'm lost when it comes to buying the supplies. I made a list of possible buys. What do you think? I might have picked too big or too small so correct me if you can!!!

Decided on the Penguin 330 Filter and the Ebojager 150 Watt heater. Lots of people on here recommended them so they must be good!!

So I hope someone can give me some ideas!!! I'm pretty much lost at this point. It's all so confusing!!!!

 

[mcps95]

You really are going to want to figure out the size of the tank first before you start buying supplies. Case in point: Most 55 gal tanks don't use a single 48" hood, but rather 2 x 24" hoods (because of the center support beam).

Don't buy Cycle. It doesn't work as advertised and is a waste of money.

Buy Prime instead of Amquel/Amquel+Plus. It's cheaper and more-concentrated.

AquaClears or Whispers should work fine, but you may also want to consider an Emperor 400 (assuming a 55gal tank). This is one of the most recommended HOB filters for this size tank, and you can usually find it cheap online at sites such as bigalsonline.com.

I'll let others comment on the heater and air pump. I have a Rena Air 300 (for my 55gal), which is pretty quiet.

Mike

 

[daveedka]

First things first, welcome to the site. I have been keeping fish off and on for 24 years, and can say without a doubt this website has been the greatest and most accurate source of info I have ever seen. so In other words you are in the right place!!!

Next, IMO 55 is a good tank for many things, not big enough for some of the SA cichlids or other largish fish, but great for community tanks etc. a 55 is a tall tank, so it presents some problems with maintenance and plants that you won't have witha 40g, but nothing that is hard to overcome with a little knowledge.

As far a floor weight, find a well supported spot. 55 is big enough for concern, but not dangerously heavy either. you are talking about roughly 500 pounds ( give or take 75-100) on 600 sq inches of floor. not a lot by building standards. Make sure the tank sits perpendicular to the floor joists not parallel. this will spread out the load across 3 joists and make things more stable as well. whatever you do make sure the stand is level and solid, shifting stands lead to slit tank seams.

As far as equipment, this is my opinion, there are plenty of differing opinions out there.
Unless you want the bubble look, or want to run a conventional UGF, skip the air pump, they have there place but can be avoided in almost all cases. I simply don't like them.
Go for twice the filtration you are thinking about, In all cases I prefer redundancy, as an example on a 55g I would use 2 emp 280's ( or equivalent) and an RFUG (reverse flow undergravel) the ratings don't hold up beyond being comparison numbers. And while many people get away with using small single filters, your life and your fishes life will be better with some extra filtration. In all cases I like redundancy because if something goes wrong with a piece of equipment, I still have something else in the tank working properly.

I know nothing about the therma flow heaters, 200 watts should be about right, I use visitherm deluxe, I also see ebo jagur and tronic mentioned a lot. Once again, I would have two small rather than one big, in other words 2 100 watt visi-therms would be my personal choice.

As far as Amquel and cycle, they do two different things ( I believe) you will need a good water conditioner, you will also want to know if your tap water has chlorine or chloramines in it if you have chlorine, there are lots of products to neutralize it, if it's chloramine, amquel and prime are the best two options.

Cycle is supposed to help estabilish bacteria, it doesn't. the only product of this type that is said to work well is off the market right now do to overwhelming popularity and the need to greatly upscale production ( for some reason I can't think of what it is called right now)

To start a fishhless cycle go to Wal-mart and get clear ammonia, no scents no additives. the ingrediaents should list nothing but ammonia, water and cheleating agents. Add 1 tsp pr 10 gallons test the water, you want 5 ppm ammonia in the water. Keep it at that level to start. When the ammonia eating bacteria begins to estabilish you will get an increase in Nitrite, once your nitrites start going up and you have to add ammonia every day, you can cut the ammonia dose in half. The nitrites will eventually dissapear as well and you will see an increase in Nitrate. when you can add ammonia to 5 ppm and 24 hours later you have no ammonia or Nitrite present your cycle is ready for fish. do a large volume water change to reduce the nitrAtes that have built up and add your fish.

With fishy cycling ( I don't reccomend it) the big trick is to have a very small fish load, feed very lightly and do constant testing and water changes, ammonia will be produced by the fish, but it will also damage or kill the fish if the level gets very high at all.

Keep posting questions, this place is great.
Dave

 

[daveedka]

Case in point: Most 55 gal tanks don't use a single 48" hood, but rather 2 x 24" hoods (because of the center support beam).

While two 24" hoods will work just as well, all of the 48" hoods Ive owned have a cut out so they will set right over the tank brace. I've had a manufactured single hood on every 48x 12.5" tank I've ever owned. I've never owned one without a tank brace accross the middle.

While you are doing your fishless cycle you will have at least a month to figure out lighting and stocking.

BTW I meant to add to my last reply, if you want to speed up the cycle, get some filter media or gravel from work, and put it in your tank. this will introduce the bacteria, rather than waiting 2 weeks for them to show up magically. proceed in the described manner with the fishless cycle, it will just go faster with a jump start.
dave

 

[chkltcow]

One more tip about the ammonia that I remember. When finding pure ammonia, if you're not sure about additives.... pick the bottle up and shake it. Pure ammonia will not foam... but ammonia with additives in it will. If you're like me and avoid Wal-Mart at all costs, Food Lion brand "clear ammonia" is good and pure.... but Bi-Lo brand "clear ammonia" foams over. It's gonna vary by store, so be sure to check.

 

[ashes2ash]

What exactly is filter media? Poodoo?

 

[daveedka]

Whatever material is in your filter, for instance sponges, floss, bio-balls, activated carbon (unnecessary most of the time) rocks pre-made cartidges etc. Almost any media will colonize bacteria, the more pourous the media the higher the surface area and therefore the more bacteria it holds. I saw on one of your other threads that you ordered an Emporer 400 (good choice aside from the redundancy issue) the bio-wheel is the primary bacteria bed on this filter. Bio-wheels claim to have more surface area than a football field, and judging from their effectiveness I can't argue that point. If you can get a sponge or some old cruddy floss from work, keep it wet all the way home, don't wash it! and when you get home put it in your tank preferably in your filter ( in your emporer just stuff it in the area where the cartidges are supposed to go. add the ammonia and then let things take their course. If there are active bio-wheels on tanks at work, see if you can trade your new one for an already estabilished one. if this is the case you will cycle the tank very quickly. just don't let your bacteria go more than 2 days without food (ammonia) and don't let it get cold or dry out.

 

[hcgirl80]

Buy 2 smaller filters instead of 1 Bigger one. That way if one of your filters stops running, clogs, or breaks, you'll still have a little bit of filtration. If you only have one filter, one day you could come home with a tank full of dead fish. You could also do the same thing with heaters. You don't NEED air pumps, so it would be okay to only have one of those.