Ideas or suggestions for a 55 gal

[FWaddict]

Hey ya'll as you all know I have a 55 gal tank, and it seems to be up to par, we live out in the country and sadly have well water. We have a water softener and a VERY high pH, from the looks of it i think its like 8.7-9.0

Yea it's sad water quality. I have to use Muriatic Acid to lower the pH. Yea it does sound painful for fish, from the looks of it my fish last year didn't mind it at all. I used ear/eye droppers to add small amounts of the 90/10 solution of water and the acid. 90 on the water 10 on the acid. My fish didn't ever show side effects or any pain from the acid, so appearantly it works.

My thing is I dont know what type of tank I want. I know for sure I cannot do saltwater because it is too expensive. I have done a community tank, yea it looks beautiful but I guess since I have a big tank, I want big fish. LOL. I tried a goldfish tank, didn't like it that much. I guess I tried somewhat of a cichlid tank, it was mostly angelfish.

So yea, I really dont know what I want for this fresh start on the tank. And yea it seems like I have had alot of changes, but this is all within a 4 year time period, between moves and having to tear down takes at parents request because it is too expensive on the electric bill. lol. So all in all, I would LOVE your ideas, suggestions, and thoughts on this. Thanks in advanced guys.


Andy

 

[Fishyfanatic]

My vote is for African Cichlids. They prefer hard water with a high pH.

 

[FWaddict]

Yea I know what you mean, but the water combination is sick. It is high pH but I dont know how to test the water hardness because I don't have that kind of test. We have a water softener so I don't know how soft it is.

 

[severum mama]

I agree with FF (as usual!), you could have a great African cichlid setup. I'd stay away from discus. I keep them myself, in water that is not quite ideal for them... but your water is much less ideal than mine! I think it would be a lot of work for you to keep the pH down where they would be comfortable, plus they do require a lot more work than Africans. You could keep some great looking peacocks, or you could do an Mbuna tank.. there are tons of possibilities. Whatever Africans you choose are sure to be active and colorful. I wanted to do a pseudotropheus saulosi species tank a while back, but I ended up needing that tank for another project. You should Google that species, they are beautiful!

 

[FWaddict]

Oh wow! Those are beautiful fish. I love the blue one. What type of Africans are those? Mbuna? Malawi(sp?)?

I think you guys gave me what I needed to help decide what I want to do with this tank!! Haha thanks for the help

Now to hammer out the details on this future African tank. How many should I get? What decor should I get? Should I have alot of "cave" type decor? Haha I need help with this, African cichlids is a whole new world for me

 

[bs6749]

Africans prefer a higher pH, and that was actually my vote to start with. I am not very familiar with Africans, though I know there are some very colorful and interesting species to chose from.

I don't know where you are located so I don't know if you have access to reverse osmosis (R.O.) water or distilled water, but those could be used to lower your pH significantly. Say your pH is 9.0 and you fill the tank half full with well water and half full of R.O./distilled water, your pH would immediatly drop to 8.0 (lower if it started lower than 9.0) as would your hardness. You may want to employ this technique if you can keep doing this at every water change.

As for the muriatic acid, I believe it is all HCl (hydrochloric acid), which actually would be one of the best acids to add to get the pH lower. All you would have to do is make sure to add enough dechlorinator to take care of the excess chlorine that would dissociate from the acid. I think your ratio for adding the acid is a little high, but I am not sure of the concentration of the acid.

 

[severum mama]

They are Mbuna, and Mbuna are from Lake Malawi. That's cool that you like them, I thought you would. Some people even mistake them for saltwater fish! Their max size is under 4 inches, so you could keep a pretty decent amount of that species in there if you wanted to do my idea and keep a species tank. I realize that you like the blue ones, but you can't keep all blue ones, those are males. The females are the yellow ones. To cut down on aggression, the best ratio is 1M/3-4F. You could keep 4 males and 12 females IMO, as long as you stay on top of water changes and have good filtration.

For decor, you do need a lot of caves. If you can afford Texas Holey rock, it looks great and has tons of caves for your fish. African cichlids love it, and it helps buffer your water. I'd get a black background, or paint the tank, so the fish will really stand out. You can have some tough plants if you want, but Africans tend to shred a lot of plants so ask here to find out which plants work for others. You can use sand or gravel, it's up to you, but Africans like to dig so they may prefer sand. You can get a 50 lb. bag of pool filter sand for about 10 bucks, if you like white sand- much cheaper than the LFS. For filtration, I'd shoot for about 10x per hour turnover with HOBs, or get a big canister. 2 Aquaclear 70's or 2 Emperor 280's would do the trick.

If you have any questions, just ask away!

 

[FWaddict]

Alright I love the idea of the species tank, but then again, having some more variation would be great too lol. I have 2 Emporer 280's I just turned on one of them and it is working, the other one isnt though, the impeller just doesnt spin, I hear a rattling in there but I dont know. I have pretty aqequate filtration. Along with the 1 Emporer 280 that is running I have a Fluval 404. So filter-wise i think i am set. I have about 1/2-3/4" gravel bed. I will need more info about them though, sadly no LFS that i know of, just petco and petsmart

 

[severum mama]

You'll never find them at Petsmart or Petco. You'd have to order them online, either from a breeder or a seller on Aquabid. I've heard awesome things about www.bluegrasscichlids.com - some folks on this site have ordered from them. I looked into it, and I know for sure you can get them there.

As far as filtration, you're set. If you want to get the other Emperor working (maybe you could sell it), try taking the whole thing apart, pull the impeller out and make sure there is nothing in the impeller housing. Even a couple grains of sand is enough to keep the impeller from spinning.

 

[FWaddict]

How do I take it apart, I hate taking things apart without fully understanding how to put it back together you know? My tank is abit cloudy but the filters should pick that up and I am hoping for it to clear up soon(within the next couple days). Is there such a thing as too much filtration? I have 1 submersible heater in my tank, I have another one I am currently setting up. I keep running down to work on my fish tank but then i remember i have to check my stuff on here So far I love the site, you guys are EXTREMELY helpful and very knowledgeable. I am going to love this site

 

[severum mama]

Thanks! I forgot to welcome you to the site, BTW! Stick around, I'm sure you will like it here.

There's no such thing as too much filtration, but you can get to the point where you have too much flow, and you can get to the point where it won't be beneficial to add any more filtration. If you're keeping Africans, this isn't likely to happen with the filters you have. Really, if you wanted to, you could remove the Emperor as the Fluval 404 could handle the filtration on its own. But, it's nice to have 2 filters on a tank in case one breaks, so that's up to you. Are you doing a fishless cycle to cycle your tank? If so, the cloudiness is probably a bacterial bloom and it will go away on its own. Nothing to worry about.

 

[FWaddict]

I don't know exactly how I want to cycle my tank. I just filled it up yesterday and didn't have any filtration till this morning. I just took my emperor filter and put it in the sink and poured some water and some acid in the hole for the impeller and I'm letting it soak at the moment to maybe dissolve any foreign objects in there. I am sure that it is not a bacterial bloom in my tank unless there was still some living bacteria on my bio wheels from the emperors but i doubt it because they havent had moisture and were dry for a while. I just told my pops that I am pretty sure i want to do an African Cichlid tank... his response "eh too expensive" So yea, my pops is a pessimist somewhat lol.

 

[severum mama]

Cool, but remember that your tank is not cycling as there is no source of ammonia at this time. Check out the articles section for info on fishless cycling.

 

[FWaddict]

Well for fishless cycling i think i have an idea as to put a few pinches of food in there, let that decompose and i think that should work, if you can severum, talk to me in the chat I am in there, its a painstaking wait for these responses

 

[severum mama]

No can do. I'm at work. A few pinches of fish food will not produce enough ammonia to cycle a 55 gallon. Drop a raw shrimp or 2 in there and wait. That will do the trick for sure.

 

[FWaddict]

What size of shrimp? like, a prawn? or something? i dont know

 

[severum mama]

Just raw shrimp from the grocery store, like the ones the size of cocktail shrimp.

 

[FWaddict]

alright... if i cant do that could i just put abunch of fish food in there?

 

[severum mama]

I wouldn't, that really didn't work for me very well even in a 2.5 gallon.

Right now I'm cycling a 15 gallon SW nano tank with 1/2 a raw shrimp. I bought 1 shrimp at Kroger and it cost me 15 cents. You're definitely looking at less than a dollar for cycling your tank.

 

[FWaddict]

LOL!! yea i know but i live out in the country, its 15 min to get to the closest grocery store so thats why i though food would work, if i cant do fishless cycle i just might get a handful of mollies, may seem like animal torture but i have done it before and they didnt seem to mind