Newbie Aquarist's First Real Tank: 55gal Planted Community...

[Aremihc]

So, here's my foray into "real" aquariums. I've had several growing up, mainly Guppies and Goldfish, but they've always been short lived. Mainly because other than dumping Dechlor and pH Up/Down in I(and my parents) did nothing to the tanks. "Ammonia? New Tank Syndrome? Nitrate? What are those?"

I've recently had a Goldfish tank that lasted for over a year, still with the "huh?" attitude. JUST as I began to figure out that there was more to Aquaria than Fish food and a gravel Vac my Goldfish tank went Belly-up. Finrot from overfeeding, Ich from a new fish 2 months later (yeah, I know....) More Finrot as a secondary infection, followed by Dropsy (I believe). On the plus side, the Pleco is happy as a clam despite a 2 week battle with Ich....... of course I now know that in a year or so I'm gonna need to donate him since he'll be too big for me to want. ****...

So my next bright idea... cruising eBay looking at Aquarium stuff for fun.

What? 55 gallon tank near me for (at first bid) 20 bucks?!? Wow...

And so... I now have a 55 gallon tank, and VERY little knowledge of Aquaria. BUT! I have Aquarium Advice, so maybe I'll be okay, or at least have someone to commiserate with me when it all goes belly-up

I'll keep this post updated as I go along, but bear with me, I'm also broke, so it'll be slow going for a while.

 

[Aremihc]

I've had the tank for just shy of a week, so I've already got a couple updates ready.


First thing, the tank WAS a salt-water tank... No problem, fresh water and a good spray nozzle fixed that. Next problem, the tank rim was painted Silver to go with the room decor... er... sorta painted silver...

Next, the stand had been painted Blue.... then Silver.... then Black.... never well:

Two Newspapers, a roll of masking tape, and 5 cans of spray paint later the stand was nice and matte black. The rim however was originally plastic with a faux wood print... Did you know that normal spray paint will strip OTHER paint off of plastic?

Whatever is in spray paint to keep it flowing must act as paint remover/softener.... Krylon to the rescue!!!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Nice acquisition! I believe if you are willing to read and take some of the "experts" advice you are in great hands here on AA. Don't hesitate to ask question, also many times using the search function will give you great insight and wisdom.


Good luck and happy fishkeeping!!(from a newly intrigued fishkeeper)

 

[Aremihc]

So, after finally getting it painted I went shopping to let it dry. There's one bad thing about living in Colorado in the Spring/Summer... it rains nearly daily.

I dashed home with some hastily bought plastic drop-clothes, take THAT Cumulonimbus!!!

Finally got it inside and set up in the living room. Somewhat level (had to go buy a 4ft level and some shims). After some searching/posting to AA I figured out the best way to get my background on (Mineral Oil), and it all looks nice.

 

[Aremihc]

Some of you may have noticed my flurry of posts recently, well here's the info I've gathered from here and elsewhere:

I've decided on a Peaceful Tropical Community Tank. I've also decided on a maximum adult size of <3" (ish). I love shoals, and don't see the point of 1 or 2 large fish in a medium sized tank.

Here are the breeds I intend to use:

Zebra Danio Danio Rerio

Glofish

Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish Melanotaenia Praecox

Cherry Barb Puntius Titteya

Otocinclus Cat Otocinclus Affinis

Zebra Loach Botia Striata

Red Cherry Shrimp Neocaridina Heteropoda

Dwarf Green Shrimp Cardina cf. Babaulti "Green"

 

[Aremihc]

Nice acquisition! I believe if you are willing to read and take some of the "experts" advice you are in great hands here on AA. Don't hesitate to ask question, also many times using the search function will give you great insight and wisdom.


Good luck and happy fishkeeping!!(from a newly intrigued fishkeeper)

Speaking of search, I get an error when I try...

Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing or mismatched.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error.

 

[Aremihc]

I've also decided to make it a planted tank. I don't even have house-plants, so we'll see how this goes. Here are the plants I'm looking at selecting from. All seem to be low-medium light and very hardy. This is pulled from my other post:

This is a sampling of plants I want to put in the aquarium, depending on availability, and seeing them in person:
Ozelot Amazon Sword
Giant Hugrophila
Green Wendtii Crypt
Undulated Crypt
Windelov's Fern
Willow Moss
Dwarf Hairgrass
Java Fern
Tape Grass
Water Wisteria
Dwarf Ambulia
Corkscrew Val
Dwarf Sagittaria
Coffee Leaf Anubias
Brazilian Pennywort

I'm going to eventually hit 2WPG, but initially I'll plant the low-light plants with the existing 40W tube that I got with the tank.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Speaking of search, I get an error when I try...

Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing or mismatched.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error.

I'm not sure what the issue is with this, what browser are you using?

As far as plants I would stick to the Ferns, Moss, Crypts, and Anubias until you upgrade lighting. I'm not real well versed on this stuff but always here that those are good for lower lighting

 

[Aremihc]

Well, that's nearly all I have so far, though I've got most of my equipment picked out, which I will profile here. I'm not wealthy, but I don't want to skimp on things too badly, so I've been looking for economy, and plan on it being at LEAST 2 months before a fish sees the inside of my tank. Here's my eventual plan for equipment, with decorations/air basics left out.

Marineland Emperor 400 Biowheel Filter - it seems obvious to me that standard powerfilters are a bad idea since you remove the bacteria everytime you change the filter, and I don't like under-gravel for a couple of reasons: a) I'm going to use Pool Filter Sand, b) I don't like not having access to my filter. I plan on augmenting that filter with a Hydro III Sponge Filter that will also be my Quarantine filter (sponge replaced after QT use and filter bleached of course)

I'm going to use a Tetra Whisper 100 Aquarium Air Pump
for running my airstones/bubble walls with a set of Gang Valves so I can adjust the flow rate easily and vent off all the spare pressure I'll normally have (I plan on having buried bubble walls on 3 sides so I can pump the O2 level through the roof if I need to medicate or some such ). And I figure a pair of Aqueon Submersible 150W Aquarium Heaters should provide plenty of control and heat for my tank, especially since it's on an inside wall.

For the plants I'm going to eventually add a 48"
Nova Extreme HO Light Fixture with 2 54W tubes as well as most likely a CO2 system comprised of a Milwaukee Regulator and Red Sea Reactor that I will add later on.

Man... I need to hit the lottery and get one of these.

 

[Aremihc]

Oh, and one last quick thing. I've tried my hand at my first custom-made aquarium decoration. It's a road, in case you can't tell. We'll see how it looks in the final layout, if it doesn't work, oh well. I made it out of Plexiglass, Loctite Silicone Sealant and aquarium gravel.

Speed, I'm using Safari on a Mac. Maybe that's the issue.

 

[Purrbox]

Marineland Emperor 400 Biowheel Filter - it seems obvious to me that standard powerfilters are a bad idea since you remove the bacteria everytime you change the filter, and I don't like under-gravel for a couple of reasons: a) I'm going to use Pool Filter Sand, b) I don't like not having access to my filter. I plan on augmenting that filter with a Hydro III Sponge Filter that will also be my Quarantine filter (sponge replaced after QT use and filter bleached of course)

I'm going to use a Tetra Whisper 100 Aquarium Air Pump
for running my airstones/bubble walls with a set of Gang Valves so I can adjust the flow rate easily and vent off all the spare pressure I'll normally have (I plan on having buried bubble walls on 3 sides so I can pump the O2 level through the roof if I need to medicate or some such ). And I figure a pair of Aqueon Submersible 150W Aquarium Heaters should provide plenty of control and heat for my tank, especially since it's on an inside wall.

For the plants I'm going to eventually add a 48"
Nova Extreme HO Light Fixture with 2 54W tubes as well as most likely a CO2 system comprised of a Milwaukee Regulator and Red Sea Reactor that I will add later on.

Unfortunately your plans to use Bio Wheels and an airpump, along with injecting CO2 will not work well. Both of these methods of filtration are excellant and disturbing the water's surface which in turn will gas off the excess CO2 that you are trying to inject. Since you plan to go with pressurized CO2 you can make it work to a degree, but you'll be wasting quite a lot of CO2 and making things harder on yourself.

You would be better off with a good HOB like an AquaClear or a Canister Filter. With the Aquaclears, there is plenty of room for media so you can replace part of it at a time and avoid the issues with removing the bacteria. You could use small bioballs or ceramic rings which wouldn't need to be replaced along with some floss to polish the water.

Since money is a concern, there are some much more cost effective ways of diffusing your CO2 other that the Red Sea Reactor that you've picked out. You could build a reactor out of PVC and power it with a waterpump if going the HOB route, or plumb it inline with the Canister filter. You could even just plump the CO2 into either the HOB or Canister filter and let it act as your reactor.

 

[Aremihc]

Purr, the AquarClear would work, but how does that disturb the water less than the Emperor? This is what you were thinking of? AquaClear 70

As for the Air pump, mainly just there in case I need to oxygenate the water/ show off the tank. It'll be hooked to a set of gang valves so I can taper the flow however I need it.

And the reactor is just an idea, it's a ways away, so I may go DiY in the end.

 

[Purrbox]

HOB are fine, it's the BioWheels that you need to avoid. BioWheels are more gimmick than function anyway. Apparently they are much too small to work as designed in our aquariums. I've removed one from a filter and there was absolutely no negative affect on the aquarium (not even a mini cycle), just an immediate increase in the CO2 levels.

The Aquaclear (like the one you linked) doesn't have a biowheel, has a large compartment for media, and is relatively inexpensive. It's often the first choice when getting a HOB for a Planted Aquarium for these reasons.

If you are doing a good job of taking care of your plants, you won't need an airstone to oxygenate the water. Plants do an excellant job of oxygenating the water, and can release so much oxygen that it saturates the water causing pealing (bubbles of oxygen that can't dissolve and look like pearls cling to the plant leaves and floating to the surface).

 

[Aremihc]

YAY! Just got the airlines installed. Still no money, but tired of looking at an empty tank. There are also cardboard templates for the 2 large ornaments I plan on getting... too broke to buy the real thing yet.

I went with silicone airline tubing since it seems to last longer and be more pliable.

These little Wire Minders seem like they work well. We'll see when I get it running whether they were worth the five bucks.

Yeah, tons of little Airline Holders. =) At a few cents each I figure "why not?"

And a pair of Top Fin 4-Way Metal Gang Valves to make everything nice and adjustable. I haven't hooked them up yet so I can still have slack to play with when I add the actual airstones/ornaments.

 

[new2betas]

You have done a beautiful job, Aremihc! Can't wait to see how it progresses!

 

[haykay]

ooo I want an update!

 

[Aremihc]

ooo I want an update!

No real update, but thanks though. In the process of splitting with my gf of nearly 2 years, so the tank will be kind of an impulse thing for the next few weeks while I deal with this/ figure out how to afford my place on my own. I'll update when I do something. In other news I DID get 7 Harlequin Rasboras for my 10g that I absolutely LOVE! Great schooling fish and a blast to feed.

 

[Aremihc]

So, finally got all the air accessories put in, and got PFS in the tank. Looks good. I like the PFS, especially for 22 bucks for it all.