30 gallon lighting and filter help, please :)

[Chris22]

Hey everyone, I've currently got a 10gallon biube but to be honest I think it's restricting my options of fish and how many I can have so I'm upgrading to a 30gallon tank but not sure on what kind of filter and lighting system I would need. Any help is appreciated.thanks.

 

[Hubert90]

Hey everyone, I've currently got a 10gallon biube but to be honest I think it's restricting my options of fish and how many I can have so I'm upgrading to a 30gallon tank but not sure on what kind of filter and lighting system I would need. Any help is appreciated.thanks.

What are u planning on keeping. Depending on what stockings u want. The filter will vary. But I recommend a canister filters. They are great and easy to maintain. Look into eheim or fluval. Fluval is more affordable. But u get what u pay for I guess. Do some research between products before u decide.

As for lights. I'm gonna leave that for the pros. I'm no good with lights.

+1 on upgrading btw happy cyclying!

 

[Chris22]

What are u planning on keeping. Depending on what stockings u want. The filter will vary. But I recommend a canister filters. They are great and easy to maintain. Look into eheim or fluval. Fluval is more affordable. But u get what u pay for I guess. Do some research between products before u decide.

As for lights. I'm gonna leave that for the pros. I'm no good with lights.

+1 on upgrading btw happy cyclying!

I was gonna decide what fish I wanted after I've set it all up an cycled the tank but I'm obviously goin the wrong way about it lol I know for sure that I want a red tailed shark but that's it at the moment. Thanks for the advice I will look into the eheim and fluval filters.

 

[dollabill420]

I find my red tailed shark only became active after I gave him plenty of caves to choose from and where ever his favorite one was he liked subdued lighting on that side of the tank, the tetras liked it too, it's a regular eclipse natural daylight fluorescent tube I think it's 18 watts and somewhere 24 inches, if you have a full hood put black paper or cardboard under the light on top of the plastic window, if there's enough light in ur room in the day don't even turn on the light unless you got real plants but that's a whole different story then fish only lighting hope that helped a little bit

 

[dollabill420]

I meant to put this in my post too, I find canister filters overkill on a 30 gal a good old hang on the back works perfect just get one that has a little higher gallon rating and jam in some filter floss as a prefilter, I use a powerhead on the other end of the tank too but that's because I keep overstocked but that's up to you if you have the extra cash to flow it's way canister Is ideal.
Ps my red tailed black shark loves that blackwater extract stuff too , he was shy with too much light and no tinted water

 

[Hubert90]

I meant to put this in my post too, I find canister filters overkill on a 30 gal a good old hang on the back works perfect just get one that has a little higher gallon rating and jam in some filter floss as a prefilter, I use a powerhead on the other end of the tank too but that's because I keep overstocked but that's up to you if you have the extra cash to flow it's way canister Is ideal.
Ps my red tailed black shark loves that blackwater extract stuff too , he was shy with too much light and no tinted water

I have to disagree. I'm sure slot of people will. I have a 40 gallon recently replace it with a eheim pro 2 2028. It's no overkill infact it's one of the decisions I've done!

 

[Irish.OG87]

I meant to put this in my post too, I find canister filters overkill on a 30 gal a good old hang on the back works perfect just get one that has a little higher gallon rating and jam in some filter floss as a prefilter, I use a powerhead on the other end of the tank too but that's because I keep overstocked but that's up to you if you have the extra cash to flow it's way canister Is ideal.
Ps my red tailed black shark loves that blackwater extract stuff too , he was shy with too much light and no tinted water

I never heard of anyone sayin too much filtration is bad lol, i have an eheim ecco 2236 with a marineland 150 in my 36g bf and its great waay overkill but keep my water pristine shape.
If u can get a canister filter I wud highly recommend it.

 

[Chris22]

I find my red tailed shark only became active after I gave him plenty of caves to choose from and where ever his favorite one was he liked subdued lighting on that side of the tank, the tetras liked it too, it's a regular eclipse natural daylight fluorescent tube I think it's 18 watts and somewhere 24 inches, if you have a full hood put black paper or cardboard under the light on top of the plastic window, if there's enough light in ur room in the day don't even turn on the light unless you got real plants but that's a whole different story then fish only lighting hope that helped a little bit

Thank you, my gf's brother has a red tailed shark I think he does a similar thing to this, I'm gonna pick his brains when I see him for some more info on them.

 

[Chris22]

I never heard of anyone sayin too much filtration is bad lol, i have an eheim ecco 2236 with a marineland 150 in my 36g bf and its great waay overkill but keep my water pristine shape.
If u can get a canister filter I wud highly recommend it.

Im still relatively new to this hobby, I've never even heard of a canister filter lol, I will definitely check them out tho, thanks.

 

[Hubert90]

Im still relatively new to this hobby, I've never even heard of a canister filter lol, I will definitely check them out tho, thanks.

Canister filter is an external filter. It's capable of housing alot more bb then ur conventional HOB and internal filter.

 

[Chris22]

Canister filter is an external filter. It's capable of housing alot more bb then ur conventional HOB and internal filter.

Ok that helps a little, I might be bein stupid but wat is bb?? Lol

 

[Hubert90]

Ok that helps a little, I might be bein stupid but wat is bb?? Lol

Beneficial bacteria. They are the ones who convert ur ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate which is the least harmful of all. We get rid of nitrate by pwc (partial eater change).

U should do fishless cycle before u introduce any fish to Ur brand new 30 gallon

 

[Chris22]

Beneficial bacteria. They are the ones who convert ur ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate which is the least harmful of all. We get rid of nitrate by pwc (partial eater change).

U should do fishless cycle before u introduce any fish to Ur brand new 30 gallon

Right I'm with ya, I did a week cycle on my 10 gallon but for the 30gallon I was gonna do at least a 4 week cycle will this be enough? I will keep checking water parameters every other day to make sure all is good, does this sound good??

 

[Hubert90]

Right I'm with ya, I did a week cycle on my 10 gallon but for the 30gallon I was gonna do at least a 4 week cycle will this be enough? I will keep checking water parameters every other day to make sure all is good, does this sound good??

4 weeks is a good estimate but it may take longer or shorter. One cant really say how long exactly, it will vary from tank to tank. But ya heck ur parameter every other day and u will be all set. Search this forum for a fishless cycle thread. Ill try to drop u the link later when I get hold of a desktop.

 

[Chris22]

4 weeks is a good estimate but it may take longer or shorter. One cant really say how long exactly, it will vary from tank to tank. But ya heck ur parameter every other day and u will be all set. Search this forum for a fishless cycle thread. Ill try to drop u the link later when I get hold of a desktop.

Ok brilliant, you've been a great help, thank you.

 

[dollabill420]

I have to disagree. I'm sure slot of people will. I have a 40 gallon recently replace it with a eheim pro 2 2028. It's no overkill infact it's one of the decisions I've done!

On a 40 find it nessacary, on a 30 find it on the line, also stated the canister was still the best but not compulsory and also stated to use a bigger HOB, you are all right with more filtration the better (unless low current fish) , I use a 40gal rated HOB and a powerhead on my 30s , if had it my way would be a whirl pool in my tank bahaha....but I don't think the fish would enjoy that lol

 

[Chris22]

On a 40 find it nessacary, on a 30 find it on the line, also stated the canister was still the best but not compulsory and also stated to use a bigger HOB, you are all right with more filtration the better (unless low current fish) , I use a 40gal rated HOB and a powerhead on my 30s , if had it my way would be a whirl pool in my tank bahaha....but I don't think the fish would enjoy that lol

Sorry to be stupid, as I'm new quite new to this hobby it's like everyone is using special code words hahaha wat is HOB?? And yeah don't think the fish will be to happy about a whirlpool hahahaha

 

[Chris22]

Also for my heater I was gonna get a 100w aquatop aquarium heater, will this be ok?? I've read the review on it and there all positive with people using it on a 30 gallon.

 

[dollabill420]

Sorry to be stupid, as I'm new quite new to this hobby it's like everyone is using special code words hahaha wat is HOB?? And yeah don't think the fish will be to happy about a whirlpool hahahaha

Sorry bout that, it's just a hang on the back external filter, it's what you normally see on aquariums, a canister is one that can sit under ur tank and be concealed, it's also more costly, ur not stupid either, most people on here seem to forget they were newbies at one time and probably still are lol, a whirlpool would be sweet though maybe a fish that lives under a waterfall would like it bahaha

 

[dollabill420]

There's a rating called watt per gallon (watt/gal) 1 watt of heating per gallon is considered low 3 watt per gallon is considered high you'd be a little over 3, you can go higher though I have a 200 watt in one of my 20 gallons which is 10 watts per gallon and works fine, the more watt per gallon you have actually seems to save power because it has to turn on less for a less amount of time, it seems better for fish too because with a low watt system it tends to let the water temperature vary more with a heating cooling cycle, I use higher watts too because I like it a little colder then most people in my house and higher watts compensates that. With a hundred watt you should have no problems at all, my friend only has a 200 watt on her 55 and seems to work find but that's too because more water takes more time to lose heat, I full hood over your tank helps with heat loss too and evaporation, my 20 gal with the 200 watt has no top at all (over stocked with guppies for feeder fish) so I needed a bit higher watts and more air to get to it
Hope that helps out a bit my friend private msg me if you have any more questions or post here I'll check back in