many many questions

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875mill

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
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hanson ky
I currently have a 20 gallon tank that I have been running for pretty successfully for 2 1/2 years. So I'm not completely new to this, but I know enough that i don't know enough:). I'm seriously thinking of upgrading to a 55 gallon tank and have a few questions. I would like to try a medium planted tank with a few angel's (thinking 4), a couple of dwarf rams (2 or 3), 4 cory cats, and a few other small schooling fish.
First question from what I have read so far ppl seem to suggest a canister filter over a HOB filter for anything 50 gallon and up. Why is this? Will the standard hob filters not provide enough filtration? Or is it the filter media? I have seem some HOB filters that have room for adding extra filter media. Second I have also read that many suggest adding an additional power head at the opposite side of the tank for better circulation.
When they say powerhead are the referring to a Hob filter, or is this an additional attachment for a canister filter?
Third question would 4 angels be to much for a 55 gallon? Would they have room to grow? Also i would like it if I could get 2 males and 2 females. Is there a place online where i can order fish and specify weather wether I want male or female? And I was wondering for them to pair off do the need to be the same type? I.E. 2 golds and 2 marbles, or can I have 4 different types like 1 gold, 1 block, 1 marble, and 1 white and they still pair off.
One to the fifth or sixth question I done lost count lol. I know cory cats forage the bottom for food. Will a med. planted tank still leave enough open bottom area for them to forage on.
Last question how do you vacuum a med to heavy plated tank, or do you even need to? Do the plants break down all the waste them selves? If not how do you keep from disturbing or harming the plants and their roots with the vacuum? I've seen some beautiful plated tanks where almost the entire bottom was covered and I always wondered how they clean them. Also could someone recommend a good test kit that test ammonia,nitrites, and nitrates. And also one that test co2 levels and whatever else i need to test for in a planted tank, and where I could get them online. My LFS isn't that great. Not even sure if i can get Co2 from them.
I'll also post this on the general forum sice this one is mainly about plants and i have a few fish question in here.

Thanks in advance.
 
I can't do much for your fish questions, but I'm good on the equiptment.

A) HOB vs. Canister.
From my own experience, a standard HOB filter plain old won't fit over the edge of my 75 gallon aquarium. The larger aquarium has wider bracing on it. The second consideration is the flow rate. You can usually get a much more powerful pump in a canister filter than an HOB.

B) Powerheads
A powerhead is just a pump, with no filter or anything attached. You will often seem them advertised for use with undergravel filters, but they work just fine on thier own. Get one with suction cups for mounting on the inside glass, and stick it in a corner that isn't getting enough water flow. You could use a HOB filter with no media in it in place of a powerhead.

C) Siphoning a planted tank.
Do not siphon deeply around the roots of plants like you would in an unplanted tank. You could damage the plant, as well as rob it from the nutrients it needs. You can lightly run the siphon over the plants, to pick up loose debris that land on the leaves or on the substrate. A well rooted plant should not get pulled up by the suction. You do want to continue regular partial water changes wether you decide to siphon or not.

Shrimp and bottom feeding fish can help keep the bottom clean without siphoning very much.

D) Catfish/open areas
Many catfish are adept at manuvering between the plants to feed. Otocinclus catfish even prefer the planted areas to the open ones.

E) Test kits
For the mentioned tests, you can usually get away with using the cheap test kits, unless you are caring for a particularly delicate species. For CO2, if you get a KH kit and a pH kit, you can look up on a chart what your CO2 level is.

F) Fish pairs
I've seen a couple websites that offer mated pairs for sale. Usually you only see males and females sold as seperate items when one gender is much showier than the other. In such cases, it is often easier to find males than females.

That said, my 75 gallon planted tank runs with very little conventional filtering, and has decent water quality. I think I would like to add some powerheads for more circulation, but a decent number of plants and some airation can do most of what your canister filter would do. If you really want to re-use your HOB filter, give it a try. You can always upgrade later if those test kits you pick up show that the system is not keeping the water quality high.
 
The biggest reason people use canisters over HOB for planted tanks is the decrease in surface agitation. Surface agitation outgasses Co2 from the aquarium water which plants vitally need. Canisters also make it easier to add Co2 into a tank.
 
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