New 54g planning

[jaiden]

I have a 54g corner tank that was salt, but I ran out of time and money to maintain it and it has been dormant for over a year. It's not really big enough to do salt properly and I can't afford the reef tank I really eventually want to have.

I had a crazy idea last night to clean it up and switch it to fresh water, but I only have around 10 days before company comes over for thanksgiving. I was hoping to have the tank up and running by then, so I don't really have time for a proper fishless cycle.

I am hoping that 54 gallons is big enough that a (single?) hearty fish wouldn't get too stressed while the tank cycles. Can I get away with it? Maybe I can dose with ammonia to kick things off and add a fish after a week or so. I know it's not the best plan and I know I will get advice to the contrary, but can I pull it off in this size tank?

plan: 54g corner tank, eheim canister filter with broken pump, being run with a power head. Eventually I'd want a planted tank with colorful active fish.

Suggestions for a first fish? I prefer more small ones than a few big ones. I'm used to salt, so I'm kind of picky and want something flashy eventually, but the FIRST fish is less important than the overall mix. I like inverts too.

Suggestions for substrate? I'm thinking Eco-Complete Plant substrate. I think this means I can't vacuum it though(?), but I prefer a natural look and would prefer to add plants at some point. It is possible I could be talked out of this.

Suggestions for an add-on filter, or is the eheim ecco 2235 big enough by itself?

I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions before the day is over.

 

[supradupafast]

Hello.
Your Eheim 2235 is good, but I would also suggest adding a HOB (Aquaclear 50 or +). As for rushing things, I am against this 100%. I would suggest to do it properly. Get your tank running and do the Fishless Cycle. (No Fish needs to go through this) You can always plant your tank right now, and when your company comes over they will have a nice tank to look at. If you decide that you really can't do a fishless cycle, and really need to add fish, I'd suggest Zebra Danios BUT you will need to do 50%pwc every day or every other day.. Daily testing of your water (Ammonia, Nitrites & Nitrates).
Once again, I'm all for the Fishless cycling.. So much easier. No pwc req'd in most cases. Just add Ammonia (Fragrance FREE) and Patience is all you need.

 

[yohann976]

If you would like to have the tank up and running by Thanksgiving, it can be done. I wouldn't put fish in there though until it's cycled, but that's your choice. I won't lecture you about how cycling with fish is the equivalent of a person swimming through sewage for a month. If you are adamant about putting fish in right away, please do many partial water changes....often!

Personally, I would set it up and make it into a beautiful planted tank first. That way, it's a great looking tank from the get go and your company can enjoy the tank when they visit. Then I would eventually add fish.

 

[jaiden]

Thanks for the quick replies!

1) I think you talked me into planting it and leaving the fish out until I can get it to cycle. This is a reasonable compromise between appearance and fish safety.

2) aquaclear - I will keep this one in mind for the future. Right now I realized that I have a phosphate reactor which I won't be needing, so I filled that with Eheim EHFISUBSTRAT along with the ECCO filter which will give me about 4 liters of filter medium.

3) Is the Eco-Complete Plant substrate vacuumable?

4) is the python equally useful if the answer to #3 is "no" ?

thanks again

 

[Markstanfill]

I dont do fishless cycling. Call me what you want, but a few feeder goldfish getting to live for a few more weeks is being spared for awhile. When I cycle aquariums I just throw some meaningless fish in the tank and dont change the water at all untill the cycle is complete. It is much faster than constant water changing and I havent had a fish die from it yet. The goldfish I use now live in their own little home after they did their job and a little sewage mouth was better than being in the oscars mouth imo. Also, no I dont vaccum my eco complete, costs too much to suck out.

 

[fort384]

I recently cycled a tank in about 1 week using a product called Seachem stability and 3 zebra danios. Ammonia never went about 1.0 in a 5gal tank, nitrite spiked about 1 ppm a few days later, and by day 7, no ammonia or nitrite and had about 10 ppm nitrate. I did one water change about day 2 or 3 to bring ammonia down below .5 ppm. All the zebra danios are alive and well. They are a very hearty fish, and fit your desire for smaller type fish. They will fit in fine with the rest of the community you eventually add.

As for plants, are you setup for this? Stock lighting on a 54G tank may not be adequate to grow plants. You talked about the expense of a saltwater tank and reef tanks... planted tanks can rival this depending on the type of system and plants you set up.

 

[jaiden]

I have a two bulb reef setup and am thinking I'll just run one 90 watt full spectrum bulb which I already have. I think the other is an actinic, which I hear are not good for plants/FW. I'll probably swap that bulb out at some point. I will start small to see how the plants go. Mostly I want a natural looking tank, so I think plants and natural decorations are a good fit. I also like the ecological balance provided by plants.

I have the tank cleaned and filled now with my two filters (4 liters of ehfisubstrat) running. I will stop by the fish store on the way home tomorrow to see if they have the eco-complete substrate and see if I can get them to wring out a filter sponge into a bag for me. also, I'll pick up an ammonia source, either pure stuff or a raw shrimp or two.

thanks again. i welcome any further advice

 

[supradupafast]

90w should be ok with some types of Low light plants in your 54g. I would recommende a lil more (you are aiming for about 1.75-2w/gal) for low light plants. You will see how they go. I recommend Root Tabs & SeaChem Flourish Excel for Fertz.
As for cycling with fish, I have done my small tanks with Zebra Danios as well. Took well over 1 week in my experience (everyone is different) but I did tons of pwc. If you ask me, Tons of testing & Water changes compared to the fishless cycling... I'd go Fishless anyday. But that's just my opinion, and I hate testing & doing water changes daily.
I can't give you any advice on the Eco-Complete substrate as I use plain aquarium gravel & Python method.
Good Luck, and don't forget to post Pics

 

[mfdrookie516]

there are alot of factors when using the watt per gallon "rule"... with 90w, you are going to be able to keep several plants, unless it is just ridiculously tall... if you could,replacing the actinic with a 6700-10,000k bulb would definately increase the types and amounts of plants you could put in...

 

[fort384]

You are correct about the actinic not doing anything for you, but it won't hurt anything either. I think the actinic bulbs make the tank look sharp so you could run both lights, just don't count the actinic towards your WPG as it won't benefit the plants.