hello all. first time posting here. anyway, my wife is going to buy me a 55 gallon tank kit from walmart for our anniversery. i plan on putting an assortment of cichlids in the tank. i am trying to decide what kind of filtration i will need. i have thought about maybe in the future going sw with it though. the guy at the pet store told me that to do it right i would need a drilled tank with a sump. is this true? if so, can the wally world tank be drilled? not sure if it is tempered or not.... anyway, if not is there any other way to run a sump on a non-drilled tank along with maybe a fluidized bed filter? thanks, tyson
new 55 gallon tank setup from wal mart
- Thread starter twostepct
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shawmutt
Aquarium Advice Addict
I can take a shot at the first part of your question. If you are going with African cichlids, you will need excellent filtration. You will find in your research that most cichlid tanks are overstocked to reduce aggression. I have a canister filter in mine--a filstar xp1 in a 30 gallon tank with 8 cichlids. I would say something like a filstar xp3 would be good for filtration for a 55 gallon.
If however, you want to get some South American cichlids, you will find that most are less aggressive. Therefore, you don't necessarily have to overstock them--if you stock wisely. For these fish the filter that comes with the kit should work fine.
Hiya and welcome to Aquariumadvice twostepct 
Nice gift! Tell your wife I think she has very good taste *grin*
And to add a little more, no, the Wallymart tank will not be able to be drilled. However, a sump is not always necessary (a skimmer would be a more important item) for a SW tank depending on what you do with it. You might want to ask this question over in the SW section for a more detailed answer
You'll really need to decide first, as shawmutt said, which type of cichlids you are interested in. Africans, South Americans, everything from huge oscars to little shell dwellers and all sorts of interesting fish in between. The fish you decide on will help guide the equipment you'll need. For example, you wouldn't want live plants with oscars; they're known to dig em up. But you'd probably want them for discus. You'll need a lot of filtration for an oscar or 2 as well, but maybe not as much for some angelfish. And some chichlids don't get along with others, even not their own species.
Lots of decisions to make!
Nice gift! Tell your wife I think she has very good taste *grin*
And to add a little more, no, the Wallymart tank will not be able to be drilled. However, a sump is not always necessary (a skimmer would be a more important item) for a SW tank depending on what you do with it. You might want to ask this question over in the SW section for a more detailed answer
You'll really need to decide first, as shawmutt said, which type of cichlids you are interested in. Africans, South Americans, everything from huge oscars to little shell dwellers and all sorts of interesting fish in between. The fish you decide on will help guide the equipment you'll need. For example, you wouldn't want live plants with oscars; they're known to dig em up. But you'd probably want them for discus. You'll need a lot of filtration for an oscar or 2 as well, but maybe not as much for some angelfish. And some chichlids don't get along with others, even not their own species.
Lots of decisions to make!
thanks for the replies. i plan on having an assortment of african cichlids (the tank at the pet store says 'assorted') in the tank. i have spent alot of time at duboisi.com and that is where i got the idea about the fluidized filter. now... since this aquarium can't be drilled, i don't have to worry about that! anyway, i just wasn't sure about what my options were for filtration with this tank. of course the filter that comes with the tank is the same one that you can buy at wal mart seperately so i don't know about the quality of it. my wife is the one that really liked the saltwater fish at the store, and of course the 180 gallon reef tank so that is why i was asking about the sump since the man told me about that. this is going to have to be a budget project in the starting, so any diy suggestions are greatly appreciated! thanks, tyson
i was setting here doing some more surfing and i thought of something. why could i not put a submersable pump in the tank itself, pump out of the tank, through a filter of some sort and then back in the tank on the top? it would create current as well as going the extra mile that the stock filter will not go. i plan on making a rock back for the aquarium using plexiglass. why could i not just build a small box to hold the pump and run the outlet up and over the edge? are they too noisy? i would think that a pump would be able to push water 20", through a filter and back into the tank with no problems. does anyone see a problem with this? it seems that this concept would even work should i decide to go saltwater in the futer. i would think that a rio 1700 would be plenty. here is a picture of the concept. if i am not supposed to post a picture found on the 'net, moderators feel free to remove it. thanks, tyson
shawmutt
Aquarium Advice Addict
Be very wary of cichlid "mutts." Assorted means that they've crossbred between species, and it is very difficult to tell the temperament and adult size of these fish. The price may be attractive, but the resulting headaches may not be worth the savings. IMO, purebred (for lack of a better word) cichlids are hard enough to keep, but there is a wealth of knowledge for each species.
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