Another newbie needs free advice...

[JHawk]

I stumbled across this site recently & have been really informed by the various feedback given on the forum. I have had 20 gallon FW tank for awhile and took a partial plunge into SW. I say partial because I bought the tank, stank, light, book, filtration,etc. Upon further review, I decided that I didn't have the stomach or desire to spend the $$ on SW. Unfortunately, I purchased a bunch of stuff online that I now need to return. (40 lbs of Aragalive Fiji Pink Sand, XP2 Filstar Cannister Filter, EBO Jager 200 watt heater, as well as the massive pail of Instant Ocean).

Going back the FW route, my question is about the XP2 filter and Aragalive sand. For a 38 gallon tank, is that filter & heater overkill and can the sand be used in a fw tank?

Also, what direction on filtration, heating and other basic equipment would anyone recommend. I plan on having a variety of fish for a basic community tank. Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Harry

 

[Menagerie]

[center:e3d03aafe8] Welcome to AA, JHawk! [/center:e3d03aafe8]
You can always go brackish
Regarding a brackish tank--the only thing I am unsure of is the sand that you have. The one additional thing you would need is a saltinity reader (hydrometer) that measures down to a specific gravity of 1.0. Get a good one--I think the one my husband likes is @30-40 CAD. You will probably have enough salt to last the lifetime of the tank
I have bumble bee gobies, flounder and Celebes Rainbows in the tank. Their are other gobies that do well in BW as well as some other fish--scats and monos, I believe. I have pics of all my tanks in my gallery, just look for the BW tank and the fish I mentioned. Well, the Celebes to too fast to photograph, so they appear as blurs in the big tank pic.

As for FW, keep the heater and the filter. Again, I'm not sure about the sand. Does it add calcium to the water? I'm not good with sand differences.

 

[TankGirl]

You could keep the XP2 (one of my favorite filters, btw) and the sand and keep a small African community of maybe shellies or N. brichardi. That is indeed a buffering sand, Menagerie, so it would be perfect for such a tank. You could also go with livebearers as well if you want to save $$ and keep the sand. Keep the heater.

You could learn at Menagerie's (and others) knee and go brackish to use your Instant Ocean, or sell it on ebay!

 

[Menagerie]

African tanks are great--I have 3 of them! You will have lots of choices with smaller African cichlids. So many choices that you may need another tank

 

[pkremer]

I'm not familiar with that filter, but the heater is perfect. I generally go with 50 watts per 10 gallons, so 200 watts for 38 is perfect. That's what I have in my 38.

Paul

 

[JHawk]

Thanks for the advice to all who responded. I like the African tank idea...I guess I didn't know how green I was until I came to this site!! Brackish is a term I have never heard before. I guess I have more homework to do. That massive pail of salt might make a nice stool in my basement! Interesting-that Filstar was trashed on an earlier post a while back. He said it was the worst filter he ever owned.

 

[Menagerie]

Interesting-that Filstar was trashed on an earlier post a while back. He said it was the worst filter he ever owned.

You never know what really happend. I could trash ebo jager since my 50 watt broke in a 10 gal hex leading to ich Of all the ebo jagers I have that was my only problem. Plus, it was quickly fixed--I went out and bought a new ebo jager!

Brackish tanks are not kept by many. The fish selection is much less and I have yet to find an algae eater for my tank!
Of course, African tanks are wonderful too