Newbie in need of help, 75 Gallon Tank

[PAwrangler08]

Anybody have an issue setting up their SunSun 304B?

 

[Coachpjg]

Bottom Tray: One Course filter and two fine

 

[Coachpjg]

Bottom Tray: One Course filter and two fine

Second tray: bath sponges, I am not sure about this one. Looking for a cheap way out. Is it any different than the dollar tree pot scrubbers?



Third tray: Seachem Matrix





Top tray: Seachem Purigen, there is still a lot of room left in the tray. I was thinking about adding 2 bags of carbon, or ceramic rings. Any thoughts.?

 

[Coachpjg]

Sorry, I wanted this to be one post but unfamiliar with the app.


I am hoping to start my fishless cycle this weekend, and just want to double check if anyone sees a problem with my setup or has suggestions for improvement. I also have my Prime and Stability ready to add. I think I am finally ready to start.

 

[Coachpjg]

I hope you can see I have been following all of the great advice I have already received. Thank you!

 

[Rodeo one]

Rings for sure. You don t need the carbon for regular filtering.

 

[Rodeo one]

Oh and not sure about the bath sponges, most people use poly fiber . It s cheap at Walmart or where ever .

 

[Babakapusta]

Don't get common plecos. I bought one for my 20 gallon tank. He grew to be around 10 inches long and he made his territory under a rock formation I had built for him. That was good, he used his tail to sweep all of my sand substrate out of his cave. Made a mess but ok, then I caught him sucking on the side of my gold fish. I thought it had hole in the head disease but it was him eating the poor thing.

So I moved the pleco into a 125 gallon tank. Again he had a cave for his territory and he swept it clean. He grew to be maybe 18". He was huge. He started going after my angel fish.

So I moved him into a solitary tank on my back porch for the summer. He just kept getting bigger and bigger. Eventually I talked my LFS into taking him. I had no where left to put him and I don't have room for another solitary 125 gallon tank.

He was a nice fish and very interesting to watch but he just grew way too big. I had no idea they grew that big when I bought him. I wouldn't have bought him if I knew.

Just note, plecos can be very territorial and while you think of them as algae eaters they do eat fish as well.

 

[Rivercats]

Pleco's actually suck the slime coat off other large bodied fish when they get hungry.

 

[Mebbid]

Pleco's actually suck the slime coat off other large bodied fish when they get hungry.

It's good to note that as long as they aren't starving to death 99% of plecos won't resort to this action. If you do get an oddball pleco that has picked up this behavior there's nothing you can do to make him stop short of a fish muzzle

 

[Rivercats]

Yep should have worded that a little differently. But seriously once they get a taste of slime coat on larger bodied fish they tend to keep going back for more as it's an easy and readily available food source.

 

[Babakapusta]

This one ate the scales off my fish. He left big bloody wounds.

He wasn't hungry, he ate, he grew. He was just either territorial or mean or didn't now the difference between a big flat wall and a big flat fish.

 

[Rivercats]

Sounds like he didn't care if it was a wall or a big flat fish! They actually rasp off scales when they rasp off the slime coat but I know once they start they don't stop! I had a friend in two who decided to "summer" her 8 or so inch pleco in her pond that had goldfish and some bullhead catfish (they stay around 12" or so) and that pleco killed every catfish and I'm sure would have had goldfish slime on the menu had I not happened to be over there one day and she asked me why all her catfish were dying and showed me one she had just pulled out.