I'm 'hexed' (60 gallon on sale at LFS)

[webmoose]

Thanks everyone for all your feedback I am soo glad I asked about the hex! My shopping list has started.. haha.. 55g long tank if I can find one and 2 Emperor400 filters and a bunch - o drift wood for low ph....

Best to start with 2 filters or 1 and then add the second once tank is established?

What are the approx. measurement to be considered a long tank? Just a rough Idea would be fine.. I can go to local fish store jumping around saying 55 LONG 55 LONG!! but being a big Moose they might fear I am a football player and start throwing driftwood at me.....

 

[BrianNY]

Don't like hex tanks. Basic reason is because there are so many seams, they are much more prone to leaking. And I know from experience LOL

 

[freshwatergal]

To be honest, you might want to check wal-mart. I have said this in previous posts. My mom purchased a 55 gal from there not too long ago, and we never have any problems with it. It comes with a "Wal-Mart special" filter, so that you might want to get that else where. Other then that the tank is nice.

 

[dralarms]

To be honest, you might want to check wal-mart. I have said this in previous posts. My mom purchased a 55 gal from there not too long ago, and we never have any problems with it. It comes with a "Wal-Mart special" filter, so that you might want to get that else where. Other then that the tank is nice.

I also have the 55 from wal mart. the filter sucks as freshwatergal said, but otherwise it's a good tank.

 

[webmoose]

The Walmarts in Canada must not be the same.. I did see a 29 gallon acrylic there one time but they don't really have a fish section.

Is yours acrylic? What brand is it?

The ones at my LFS are all glass.

 

[ferret]

Walmart, at least at some US locations, is apparently selling All-Glass tanks now. For you new guys, All-Glass is a fairly well known brand of glass aquariums, and pretty good quality. So when someone says "All glass" they may mean the brand, or literally "everything is glass" ;p

 

[grimlock3000]

"It comes with a "Wal-Mart special" filter, so that you might want to get that else where. Other then that the tank is nice."

The filter is a Penguin 330 without the Bio Wheels.

 

[ferret]

Heh. Penguin 330 without bio wheels is about useless. Except to make the water churn a bit.

 

[madasafish]

Long tanks are generally tanks that are more than 1.75 times as long as they are high. BUT, really, a long tank is a relative thing. A 30 Long is much longer than a 29 gallon. A 40L is longer than a 40 Breeder. The prime example is the 20G tank which comes in 20L (20.25'L*12.75"H*12.5"W), 20 H (24.25"L*16.75"H*12.5"W), and 2H (20.25"L*23.75"H*10.5"W).

A 55-gallon tank comes, almost without exception, in 1 size (counting the black rim):

48"L*21"H*13"W

This is not considered a "long" tank, though it certainly fits my description above. When tanks get larger, they tend to be much longer than high or wide, as this facilitates viewing and cleaning. E.G. a 180G tanks is usually: 72.5"L*25.75H*24.5"W.

HTH.

 

[Electrobes]

also try checking your local newspaper listings for people trying to get rid of tanks.. you'll find some unbelievable deals out there!

 

[webmoose]

ok so I narrowed it down to these 3 tanks:

gallons dimension surface area
45 36x12x24 432
54 36x18x20 648
55 show 36x12x30 432

I am going to go with the 54...
Everyone agree say I. anyone disagree say.. BLAH.



I ordered a heater and filter (EMPEROR 400 FILTER)(Visi-Therm® Heater) as step 1 to take the plunge! They are in the mail... ya!

 

[Sati]

I

 

[webmoose]

Thanks Holly always supportive!

What should I use for a lid? glass? lighting? I want to do a planted tank...

 

[madasafish]

Blah!

I was supportive of the Hex idea, but I don't think you need a rectangular tank that deep. 18 inches is quite deep, and takes away from the impressive look of the tank. In fact, I always think 54s look considerably smaller than 55s as a result.

But that's just my opinion...

Sorry I can't be supportive like Holly.

 

[Sati]

I agree that 18" is deep. My 38g is 12" front to back. I think 6 inches more would be nice for a planted tank because it adds a lot of depth for background to foreground plants/wood/rock. I feel my tank is actually pretty "thin." One could really pack a lot of plants in there and create a wonderful, rich depth. I'd like to get a wider tank for a thicker planted tank, but that's just my opinion. No matter what you choose I'm sure it will be beautiful. It's hard to go wrong with beautiful fish and plants :]

As for lid, I can't recommend what you need for live plants because I'm no expert on that. Whatever you do, though, Make sure the electrical elements for the lighting are protected from condensation. So you might want a glass top no matter what you do.

 

[Allivymar]

If you're gonna go planted, get a glass hood. Then you can do whatever lights you want. For a 54g you'll want a lot of light, at least 150 watts.

 

[webmoose]

I missed on the hex they sold it.. not suprised it was really nice with a light wood cabinet.. The three choices of reg tanks they make I posted above... Madasafish would you think the 55 show would be better? I was pushing myself to surface area but if 12' would look better than 18' I could go for the 55 show... I liked the 55 show but thought I didn't want to grab it just cuz it looked nice and had less surface area.. I really liked all your ideas about the hex. I think I do some drift wood and river looking pebble's substrate for what ever tank I end up with...

going to have to think about this for a while.. Holly makes a great point about the plants. all the plants I have in my current tank are tall and I guess I envisioned my 'real' tank to have tall plants as well.....

I still want to do something like madasafish inspired me to do... riverish theme....

 

[madasafish]

I appreciate your response to my ideas.

Well, I have a regular ol' 55 (48L*20H*13D or something like that) which I love. It combines good length, not-excessive height and shallow depth (which I think is great for all but the larger fish when they need to turn, as water quality appears clearer this way). Also, the thinner the tank back-to-front the more distance the fish have to swim at a time. A small fish can swim for almost 4 unfettered feet in my tank, and that makes me feel a little better about keeping them cooped up!

I guess the point I'm really trying to make is one of perspective and surface area of the "viewing" glass pane. The larger and wider the viewing pane, the more you will enjoy the fish, and be able see what's going on in the tank. With a tall/less wide viewing surface, you miss out on this. Plus, as was mentioned before about tall tanks, fish don't tend to use up all the possible space in the tank. The higher the front pane it is, the less of it will be filled with fish at any given moment.

Keep in mind, also, that hoods and lights for standard sizes are much cheaper and easier to buy/replace. A hood for a regular ol' 55 is easy to find, though not *cheap* per se...

Lastly, there's no restriction to what you can do with a really cool piece of driftwood (or several) in a 55. My recommendation would be a long log-like piece (20-30 inches long) with small branches or roots radiating from the central trunk. These should reach a fair way "up" the tank if possible. With this shape of driftwood the tank can be brought together perfectly. Furthermore, you can attach java moss and other mosses to this central log in order to give it a more natural or planted look. See what Alliv has done with her java ferns. This can be done on a larger scale with different types of plants. Also, if you're into rocks, you can spread small pebbles/stones (about 2-5 inches in diameter) around the driftwood in such a way as to simulate entropy(!) and that will help too. If you want a large rock, you can decide to divide your tank a little, and have the large rock define a back corner and have the driftwood a little further over towards the other extreme of the tank. PM me if you want some more ideas. Also, if you didn't check my gallery out before, I have some simple examples of this in my main tank. Mine aren't fully expanded on as I've got somewhat limited time and resources...

Anyway, by now I'm blathering and making little sense. HTH

 

[BrianNY]

Just a note here as I'm just beginning my planted tank. I put a lot of research into it (maybe too much) LOL. It's expensive. Before you make a decision on gravel or substrate do a little research first.

And definitely go with a glass top!!!

 

[webmoose]

This is so funny I feel like I live on some remote island... I really really really really wanted to support the LFS that I get all my fish from. They only carry these glass tanks:
45 36x12x24
54 36x18x20
55 show 36x12x30
If they carried a reg 55 I would snap it up in a minute. The supplier of the tanks doesn't ever make 55 reg. Strange I tell ya.

I went to the big chain type place (petcetera) They also did not have a 55 reg. .But even if they did I didn't like the idea of buying my tank from there. I was looking at their fish stalk and they have open tanks and I saw fish that had jumped into the other tanks and many not so healthy fish. it just looked like an unfriendly environment for fish and the prices were all higher!!

So I am kinda looking at it like this: the 55 show is too high. The 54 is to wide. So from the madasafish/point of view the 45 is my best solution?

Not forgeting Holly and Allivymar the 55 show is probably a no as well.

Like I said i wanted to find the right tank out of the three choices above. But maybe I have to think about this even more..

It is hard for me to visualize the tank from an empty cube.

Thanks for sticking with me this far. I really do appreciate it. Even if you are starting to think I am a hopeless newbee......