120 Setup

[hydrashocker]

Newbie here, but not to forums.

It's been about 5 years sense I had my semi pot planted setup community freshwater tank, so I've gone to the stores to see what has changed. Well quite a bit has, as usual things come and go in aquatics. Anyway, I moved which it sat in storage for a while. I brought my tank with me, which I found cracks in the top encasement so the tank was replaced, and now it's time to set it back up. I'm having issues because I don't know what exactly to do and I'm very frustrated.

One thing that always used to bother me is that I would have fish die with no reason or sign of disease, yet sometimes there would be signs of unknown disease. And maybe it was due to set up and having an UGF, I don't know. Many experts were perplexed, maybe toxicity. Anyway this is what I used to have;

1 - Penn-Plax Cascade Heater 300 watt
2 - UGF because of size
2 - Maxi-Jet 900 a top of the UGF
2 - Coralife model 53005 at 65 watts each
2 - Emperor 400 HOB filters
2" gravel

I've heard yes and no still in the use of UGF's, so I really don't know what to do. I want to have some crabs and/or possibly shrimp, and a semi aggressive tank so I can have a bit larger fish community tank. I really want another bushy nose plako and I loved my striped Raphael cats as well.

My first take was to look for a canister which I would like over and above the HOB 400 filter I currently have. Now I have a Marineland magnum 350 canister filter but it's kind of undersized which I'm not sure I can use? So I started looking into larger canisters and found a few I liked. The Aquatop CF-500 with UV that was only $160 but it kind of looked cheap. I did like the UV however, but then I started thinking about good bacteria getting annihilated. Then started looking at some others and started holding my pocket book tighter and tighter as I went up in price. However functionality went up. One thing is if I'm not home someone could still manage the filter without mess, so that’s defiantly a plus.

I just find myself looking at one thing and going back a different avenue every time I look at something. Can someone help me with my rollercoaster ride and hopefully get this tank set up right the first time?

Thnks for reading my long wind,
Rustin

 

[librarygirl]

How about a Fluval Fx5? Should do the job. I haven't used a UGF but I've read more negatives than positives about them.

 

[hydrashocker]

Priced one out here in town at $377 and I'm thinking I don't want to go that high this close to Christmas. Besides I'm a Federal worker that is considered "exempt "so I have to show up for work everyday without getting paid right now thanks to the Senate.

Well UGF's have been around for many years, and do their job well. But not being able to fully clean out under one is not very good on fish. Now if someone is using a flat UGF, and if you have an open bottom stand so you can see the crud under there you can push the gravel over enough to suck the crud out with a large gravel cleaner. I've had tanks like this and that surely helped. But being the one I have is WWWWWWW style you can't get a solid flush surface to suck the crud out. Also being the bottom to my stand is solid you can't see it either it makes me think it's not a great idea to use it.

 

[Rokuzachi]

I used a UGF about 15 years ago, but haven't since. I think they're just unnecessary. There's a few ways you can set up your tank that mean you don't have to plumb the depths of your substrate when you clean.

My preferred quick/cheap setup is to use pool filter sand from Leslie's pool supply - about $12 per 50lb bag. Waste sits on top of it and breaks down, so if you have good circulation, it disappears fast and gets sucked up into your filter. I ran two tanks this way, one with a Fluval 404 and FX5, and one with a pair of Aquaclears.

FX5 is a great filter, IMO. So much throughput and capacity for media. the 400 series is great too but probly not enough for a 120.

 

[Sillyfishies]

The aquatops are good filters. If your low on cash get some of those.

 

[hydrashocker]

I've been really looking into Eheim Professional 3 as I love their design without the electronics. What model would be good for 120 gallon plus as they don't really list model numbers on their site?

 

[hydrashocker]

I think it's a Eheim model 2075, can anyone confirm that? I found them on line for like $230 which isn't too bad.

 

[hydrashocker]

After more consideration I think I want over filtration. I think going up to the 1200 series is likely to be better, even though I have to buy the media. I think a Ehiem 2080 would be the better over the FX5 with more media and less power consumtion. It will just take me longer to get it up and running because of funds.