Planning 55G Tank, Advice?

[BrkD]

=) hello all,

im gunna persuade my dad into buying a 55 gallon tank for me for xmas but if he doesnt i'll just get it with my own money(hope i dont have to resort to that).
so here are what the tank specs are gunna be:

Coralife Aqualight Single Strip Lighting(130w)
Visi-Therm Stealth Heater 200W
Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel Power Filters 350
and 40 pounds of eco-complete - will that be enough for 55 gallon tank?

Now questions on cycling.

i'll try to do a fishless cycle with bio-spira but exactly how does it work?
if i put a filter from a cycled tank for a day or two, would it speed up the process?

And lastly......tank stocking

I want to have discus in the tank. i read that they are schooling fish and should have at least 5 in a tank.Can i have just 3 discus? would i be able to add a school of 12 or more neon tetras, a L-018 gold nugget pleco and a small school of 4 cory cats if i decided to get 5 discus in the 55g tank? or should i get just 3 discus and get the other fish?

any advice and suggestions would be appreciated. thanks all

 

[Rbishop]

I'd use two, 125 watt heaters vice one.

I'd put one canister on there plus one HOB.

Follow directions exactly on the bio-spira, and yes, aged media from another healthy established tank will help. You might want to try running your new filter on the established tank for 2-3 weeks to help even more.

 

[BrkD]

I'd use two, 125 watt heaters vice one.

I'd put one canister on there plus one HOB.

Follow directions exactly on the bio-spira, and yes, aged media from another healthy established tank will help. You might want to try running your new filter on the established tank for 2-3 weeks to help even more.

thanks for the info

anyone have stocking ideas? bump

 

[BrkD]

B.ringing
U.p
M.y
P.ost

 

[tjBlotto]

You should check the compatability of Discus with neon tetras. 3 should be fine. At the LFS they always have Discus in groups of 3 or less.

Setup seems sound otherwise