55 gal....it's coming!

[Fishyfanatic]

I have had a tank in storage since Feb. Our loft is just too small to fit it in here with our current tanks. Well......we are moving in July to a house so I will FINALLY be able to set it up. I am SOOO excited! The tank came in a kit, but I upgrade the filter from a standard hob to a H.O.T. Magnum. Below is what I have.

55 Gal All Glass tank
2 24" light fixtures and hoods
Stand (really cool design, part of the reason I am so excited)
H.O.T. Magnum
Visi-Therm Heater
Plenty of decor from upgrading old tanks

I don't know what I want to keep yet. My mind has been jumping around from a nice Community tank with lots of schools of small fish, planted of course. To another African Cichlid tank, to South American Cichlids, to Brackish, to Saltwater.

Here's my prediciment. I wanted to do a community tank and have maybe 8 different schools of fish and toss in some Cory's, and a nice center piece fish. I am comfortable with slightly overstocking since we do weekly water changes and do them religiously. I plan to put the filter on the 150 gal for about a month before setting the tank up. That way I don't have to go through a cycle.

The more I have been reading, I'd also like to try puffers. I've been wanting to keep them since about January, but now that I have an open tank, it is a possibility. I doubt that these can be kept in a community tank. Or can they?

I like colorful fish. I'd like to have schooling occur. And definately have it planted. I know, I am all over the page here. But I just can't make up my mind. I don't want something that is going to breed like crazy. If it does happen, I don't plan on taking fry from the tank and trying to raise them. I did that with mollies and ended up with SO many of them.

What do you guys think of the community setup? I think I've satisfied my African Cichlid obsession with the 150 gal tank. And I'd like to try something new. I think for the center piece fish, I would like to get maybe 3 or 4 German Blue Rams. They have always been something that I've wanted to try, but again, never had the tank space.

Does anyone have recommendations of what to put with the Rams? I definately want them to be in the tank. The tankmates will be based around them. Sorry for the post being so long, it's just I am so excited because we are going to look at the house again tomorrow and I've already layed out the floor plan of where all the tanks will be going.

I feel like a kid in a candy store. Also, quick thought- Is the H.O.T. Magnum enough filtration?

 

[WooHoo]

Sounds great. Have fun! I have a 55 up in storage that I have been thinking about pulling down. I have the stand and will need to buy everything else.

The H.O.T. Pro is rated by Marineland to 50 Gallons so I think it may be undersized. Maybe a HOB Emperor 400 or something like that?? I have one on my 58 Gal tank and it has been great!!

Good Luck. (Man, a planted SA or community mix sounds like a great idea. I might have to pull it out of storage sooner than I was planning)

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It's not the H.O.T. Pro version, but I assume that it has the same capacity. I don't want to have 2 filters on the tank, so maybe I'll just have to sell this one and buy a different filter, another Cascade canister. I'm not too fond of any hob's.

I'm still trying to sort out the stocking. Not a fan of Gourami's or Mollies. There are so many fish to choose from.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Ok, I came up with a temporary list. I will probably have to drop at least 1 or 2 groupings. I know, I shouldn't go by the 1 inch per gal rule, but I'm just using that as a starting off point. What do you guys think:

4 German Blue Rams
5 Swartz's Cory Cats
6 Zebra Danios
6 True Rummynose Tetras
6 Neon Tetras
1 Bristlenose Pleco

The tank will definately have a sand substrate. How does the beginning rough draft look?

 

[WooHoo]

Without the Pro version where will you get your biological filtration from? The Magnums are chemical and mechanical only unless I am missing something?? :?

 

[Guest]

That sounds really close to the 55g I have, I really like it. Enjoy!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I don't understand what you mean. If you are referring to not having the bio-wheel, my 150 gal doesn't have bio-wheels. Isn't that what the ceramic rings are for? *Not trying to sound sarcastic, so please, don't take it that way. It's more of a question.*

 

[greenmaji]

do they have filter baskets in the HOT magnum? I havnt had one apart before.. I would take the chemical filtration out and put in bio-rings in.. JMO though..

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Tony- I never even noticed that. I'm just trying to find a nice peaceful tank and be able to get the fish locally. That's why many of the more common fish, aren't listed in the list. For example, White Clouds- impossible to find around here. Head and Tail Light Tetras- Not even if I tried. Platies- Only on rare occassion.

The True Rummynose Tetra's will have to be a special trip to STL. I'm basically looking for color to offset the green plants. I can't emphasize enough, it will be very well planted with big leaf plants, even if I have to pay the $30 in shipping. This will be MY display tank. He has his Cichlids, I have my Community.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I won't be using the Magnum since it's not adequate in filtration capacity. Instead, I will be getting a Cascade 700 Canister Filter. It makes me mad though that I "upgraded" from the 303 to the H.O.T Magnum because the woman at the lfs (I know I know, can't trust them) told me that the Magnum would be more than enough filtration.

I don't use Carbon in tanks, it is always replaced with ceramic rings. Except for my 5 and 10 gal tank. Those would be impossible to fit ceramic rings into.

 

[Fatal Foxglove]

The puffer fish look sweet, I suppose they're really hard to look after though. I don't have much productive to say, but that does sound like a fun tank! I hope you enjoy it twice as much as you enjoy the planning.

 

[WooHoo]

That was my point. I have an older magnum 330 canister and it does not have a way that I have figured out to use ceramic. I use it now only as a polisher if needed. I had a Eheim Classic which did allow for biological filtration and it worked great. It was model 2213 and I loved it but alas I ended up cracking the canister housing when I moved from California. Isn't this fun!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I've always been a fan of the Cascade line, so I'm going to stick with them. I've never been disapointed with my Cascade 1000 or 1200. And then I will just replace the carbon with ceramic rings. Crushed coral won't be needed in this one though as I will try to bring the pH down to 6.8 to 7.0 with driftwood. I just can't wait to get it started.

So how does the stock list look? What (if anything) needs to be removed?

 

[Guest]

I've always been a fan of the Cascade line, so I'm going to stick with them. I've never been disapointed with my Cascade 1000 or 1200. And then I will just replace the carbon with ceramic rings. Crushed coral won't be needed in this one though as I will try to bring the pH down to 6.8 to 7.0 with driftwood. I just can't wait to get it started.

So how does the stock list look? What (if anything) needs to be removed?

It looks great, the only fish I might add would be otos (if you can find them, I can't) and/or ADFs. ADFs are just so interesting to watch they really steal the show in a tank. The one problem with the tank you are getting if it is like mine is you better be happy with the lighting because its a pain to upgrade for planted. As long as you are happy with fake plants (and I am in my 55g), then its just fine. Might want to get the same bulbs I have though to really bring out the color of the fish, my guess is its coming with those crappy "Eclipse Natural Daylight" bulbs we are so familiar with.

 

[greenmaji]

WooHoo.. I have a old Magnum 350 canister and they sell a carbon holding cartridge for it that you could put bio-rings into if you wanted..
*edit* the cartriage works in the 330 as well *edit*

 

[greenmaji]

I actually have a carbon cartridge I dont need for mine.. I want to convert mine into a DE filter.. e-mail me if you have something for trade!!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'm not using the magnum. I'm using a Cascade. I'm going to try and get rid of it. The Magnum doesn't have enough capacity.

Tony- I've had an ADF before, three actually, and they just didn't do anything for me. One died the day that I got him. The next one was maybe a week later (I don't think he was eating), then the third lasted about a month, but just didn't do anything. I took him back to the lfs. ADF's are plentiful here, but Otto's are not. It's kind of like Ghost shrimp, noone ever has them. Odd, I know.

Also, as mentioned before, I am not using fake plants, it will be planted. The lighting won't be too bad to upgrade because I will probably just buy a single 48 inch strip and get glass tops. This being the same as my 150 If I went with a triple tube, that would give me 120 Watts which gives me just above 2 Watts per gal. Then add CO2 injection, and I'm all set.

 

[greenmaji]

WooHoo.. I have a old Magnum 350 canister and they sell a carbon holding cartridge for it that you could put bio-rings into if you wanted..

I was refiring to the person who said they had the Magnum 350 and didnt know a way of using bio-rings with it, WooHoo.. I do realize that it was easily misunderstood though.. sorry about that..
*edit* the cartridge works in the 330 as well *edit*

 

[bussardnr]

the only fw pupper that can be kept in a community tank is a south american puffer. i was looking at those but they are fin nippers so they wouldnt work with my angles.

 

[Guest]

I'm not using the magnum. I'm using a Cascade. I'm going to try and get rid of it. The Magnum doesn't have enough capacity.

Tony- I've had an ADF before, three actually, and they just didn't do anything for me. One died the day that I got him. The next one was maybe a week later (I don't think he was eating), then the third lasted about a month, but just didn't do anything. I took him back to the lfs. ADF's are plentiful here, but Otto's are not. It's kind of like Ghost shrimp, noone ever has them. Odd, I know.

Also, as mentioned before, I am not using fake plants, it will be planted. The lighting won't be too bad to upgrade because I will probably just buy a single 48 inch strip and get glass tops. This being the same as my 150 If I went with a triple tube, that would give me 120 Watts which gives me just above 2 Watts per gal. Then add CO2 injection, and I'm all set.

Sorry, I didn't read that all. How much will a glass top and triple tube lighting cost you? For me, I got the new tank, hood, lights, heater, filter, and some other extras for $150, so I felt dumb spending more than I did on the entire tank just to get new lights.