120 gal tank advice please.

[bob112233]

Iv had a 30 gal fresh water tank for a couple years now. I have just purchased a 120 gal tank with stand that has been sitting empty for about a year. It used to be a salt water tank the previous owner cleaned it before storage. I want this tank to be a fresh water tank because the fish i have are outgrowing my little tank. i want to use sand this time instead if gravel. Before i start building the tank up is there anything i should know about cleaning, fish care, water care. will i have alot of trouble keeping the sand clean. i was also thinking of adding a turtle and iv seen some neat tanks with grass growing on the bottom. if anyone one could give me some advise about these subjects i would be thankful

 

[ripvanrina]

turtles eat fish
what kind of turtle were you thinking of?

 

[Jchillin]

Reptiles and fish should not be mixed. Turtles are extremely messy and may have your fish for snacks.

Though I don't use it, sand is overwhelming used by several members of this forum. Hopefully they will chime in with ideas.

Cleaning the tank is easy...fresh water with 1/3 bleach solution and rinse, rinse, rinse until the bleach smell is gone...then rinse again. Fill the tank with water and let it sit for a few days to check for any leaks.

The water parameters are the same no matter the tank size.

By "grass" you indicate that you want a planted tank. Check the planted tank forum for some ideas (sticky's) at the top of the page.

HTH.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

If you are going to use sand, I would HIGHLY recommend Pool filter sand in your situation. Ok, I always recommend it, but when you are looking at having about 140 lbs of sand, it will be much cheaper than going to the lfs. Fill a 5 gal bucket 1/3 full of sand. Put the hose in the bucket and let it fill. Then start swishing the end of the house around the sand. Be sure to get it all the way to the bottom of the bucket. That way it kicks up all the debris. Do this until the water that comes out is perfectly clear. And repeat with the subsequent buckets. Keeping it clean is very easy. Just swish the gravel vac above the sand and it will kick up the debris. OR, what I do is push the gravel vac about an inch or two into the sand. If you use the heavier sand, it will not suck the sand out of the tank. Then just tilt the gravel vac tube to the side and it will fall out. But that is only if you are using the heavier sands (such as pool filter sand).

If you are planning on planting it, I'd ask around the Planted Forum about carpet grass and sand. Some plants don't fare well with sand. Also, make sure you have adequate lighting for the plants.

I also agree with JC, nix the turtle. You could get some frogs though.

 

[zenkatydid]

i used sand in my axolotl tank in the past, and to be honest, i hated it. it was hard to clean without sucking up half the substrate every time i vacced, and i had more problems with mucky water than with gravel - it seemed to just never settle right.

i've also heard that it doesn't allow for much bacteria to colonise in the substrate as gravel, so i assuume it would be more difficult to maintain a stable, cycled tank environment (maybe that's why my axolotls diedd... )

 

[Blazeherd2306]

i used sand in my axolotl tank in the past, and to be honest, i hated it. it was hard to clean without sucking up half the substrate every time i vacced, and i had more problems with mucky water than with gravel - it seemed to just never settle right.

what type of sand did you use?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

so i assuume it would be more difficult to maintain a stable, cycled tank environment

I've never had a problem with maintaing a cycled tank. The big majority of your bacteria is in the filter anyways. I would have to question what kind of sand you use if you were having mucky water and it didn't settle. That is nothing like pool filter sand.

 

[greenmaji]

Im going to take a shot at one of the questions I didnt see an answer to before..
the grass is something referred to as a carpeting plant and requires a high light high tech tank in almost all instances.. if you really dig it, plan on investing some $$$ in lighting, CO2 injection, water coelom fertilization and if you want sand.. look into searching for layered substrates in the planted aquaria section.. reading the stickys in the planted aquaria area would be a great start.. HTH

 

[zenkatydid]

i bought it from an aquarium shop, so i assume it was aquarium sand. wish i knew about the pool stuff before

 

[bob112233]

Thanks for all the help guys. k turtles are out hehe. and i do not want this to get to complicated in the beginning so i think ill wait for the carpet grass. i do want to use sand however. i have read that you should only have a half inch of gravel at the bottom of your tank. now my new tank is 48X24X24 is the same rule held for sand or should i have more than half and inch at the bottom

 

[Fishyfanatic]

You can have as much sand and gravel as you want in the tank. I personally have about 2 inches in the 55, 4 in the 150, 3 in the 10, and about 3 in the 29. When using sand be sure to stir up the sand when doing your weekly water change. This will prevent pockets of gas from forming. OR you can just put some Malaysian Trumpet snails in the tank and they will take care of it for you. Most lfs have them and will give them to you for free. I just mix the sand myself because the fish I have will eat the snails.

There is a calculator link at the top of the page, click on it and chose the link to determine the lbs of sand that you will need for your tank. Put in the dimensions and the depth that you want it and it will tell you a round about figure on how much sand to use.

 

[severum mama]

Good luck with your new tank! I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here and say that pool filter sand is great, I use it in 3 of my tanks. It is too heavy to get sucked up in the filter or make the water cloudy, and it is very cheap compared to aquarium sand.
Also, I wanted to point out that even if you nix the grass carpet idea and go for low light plants, it will be very difficult to grow even low light plants in a tank as deep as yours if you are just using the stock lighting. Then again, you mentioned that it used to be a SW tank, so hopefully you got lucky and the previous owner had some compact flourescent lighting that you could replace the bulbs on to make it more suitable for plants. Do you know what kind of lighting you have?

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Only an inch, im brand new, and that doesn't seem right to me... the deeper the base, the better ability to house all the necessary bacteria.. not to mention it looks prettier because you can sculpt it, and it isn't all just flat

 

[Jchillin]

I would suggest 3" at minimum if you're still considering plants of any kind.

 

[bob112233]

k ill go with 3 inches thanks. as for the lighting yes the old owner provided me with 4 floresent lights installed in a tank hood each running the length of the tank. i was also wondering the tank has an air pump, filter, and a water pump is there any other equipment i must have or is that fine.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Thermometer and a good test Kit. Also, you will need a gravel vac. Since your tank is so large, you are definately going to want a Python. It is a long hose that you hook up to the kitchen sink or garden hose (outside) and you turn on the water and it pulls water from your tank. I could only imagine how many buckets full of water you would have to lug around to do weekly water changes on that tank. When we had a good water pressure, we could do our 150 gal tank in about 20 minutes. That was emptying 20% of the water and refilling.

 

[greenmaji]

great testkit..
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19475;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=

 

[bob112233]

its np i have a gravel cleaner thats about 30 feet line that attaches to my sink. i will also pick up that test kit. i have seen packets of cemicals for cycling my tanks are these ok or should i use the natural way and how many fish would i need to do that with a 120 gal tank?and has anyone tried this way and if so how did it work http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[Jchillin]

I have done the fishless cycle by using raw shrimp in my 75 gal. It worked real well but for that sized tank, you will need to use quite a few of them. Not to mention that when you use shrimp, the tank will look ghastly and emit a pretty foul odor.

Your best bet would be with pure ammonia IMO.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'd go with the ammonia method.