need advice.

[aqua man]

hello all, here we go, i have a 55 gallon with 2 opaline goramis, 4 t barbs, 1 pictus cat, 1 rainbow shark, 2 chinese algae eaters, 1 betta and recently a new edition 2 gold gouramis. i would like to now how many fish i can put in there with out going over limit and i have a whisper 60 will i need to get i better filter i was thinkin about gettin a fluval filter? i have 2 nice pieces of drift would with some live plants the substrate is clay on the bottom covered with small tiny rivre rock. i want to make it. oh yeah my nitrite stays at 0 ammonia 0 but nitrate is 10 is that alot.?

 

[bluerose]

10ppm for nitrates is fine- under 20 and you're safe. Ammonia and nitrIte need to be 0, looks like you have that covered.

I can't help you with the stocking question but I'm sure someone will drop by and chime in.

You may want to upgrade/add a filter- generally the filters are rated for higher than they can actually filter adequately, so you're probably right on edge with a filter rated for 60 gallons.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

nitrate up to ~40 is fine

I would double your number of tiger barbs, how many fish depends on what kind they are, if they are agressive/territorial then less in the same tank size as other people with more friendly fish. So far most of the fish you have can be known as territorial or aggressive so keep that in mind.

A canister filter is nice on larger tanks, but many get away with HOB filters. Just remember to get one that is larger then your tank size. Like 2x the tank size if you can. Or you can use that with your current filter also.

Aquaclear makes good HOB's, most would say an ac110 for that size tank, if you wanted to use your current one then a ac70 would be a good addition.

For canisters I have a Fluval 304 on my 55G, I would have gotten the 404 but I thought I was getting a 40G tank. You can find these cheap on ebay they are the older models but brand new. Some people have issues with them, just like all the other filters.

The rena filstar and Eheim canisters are the most reccomended.

 

[aqua man]

i was thinking i would fluval 405 filter plus the one i have what do you think? gotta save a little though

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

i was thinking i would fluval 405 filter plus the one i have what do you think? gotta save a little though

Personally the 405's are expensive for the probs some people report, I got mine b/c it was the cheapest one that would work and I'm not afraid of making/modifying things if I have the need to.

If your going to spend $150 or so for a newer model, I would get a Rena instead. These are good prices on Rena filstar filters, I would get the "XP3"
filstarcanisterfilters


best prices here on the Fluval404 here(older model):
Hagen Fluval 404 Aquarium Filter NIB~ FREE SHIPPING 405 - eBay (item 380070406484 end time Oct-08-08 21:59:18 PDT)

 

[aqua man]

so youre saying to get more barbs with the filter i have or leave it alone till i get another filter?

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

personally I would get a new or extra filter 1st

 

[aqua man]

thanx for the info, im gunna do that, i also want to put some java moss in there.

 

[aqua man]

So i just added an extra 40 gall0n filter to the one i currently have, so thats nice. also got some java moss and two smal tiger barbs so it's start to look ver y respectable i will post pics soon