Carey's 125G Upgrade/Conversion Thread

[kenny69]

So should I buy my filter now I'm wondering? I see getting the new tank in the next 2 weeks or so. I was gonna just run both fluvals for awhile when I get the tank setup to avoid cycling.

I guess I'm going with the crushed coral substrate, works now and no one has suggested anything different. Wasn't sure if sand was an option with cichlids.

I always thought that sand was the preferred substrate for cichlids. I have crushed coral and coral sand mixed and they are fine and the PH is stable.

 

[kenny69]

Just got back from pricing some tanks. Petco doesnt go over 55 gallons so I ended up at petsmart. They have a 125 6 footer in stock. It comes with the 3 glass lids and 2 light strips, nothing special. they want 359.99 for it and the stand is $259. How do these prices sound? I havent found anything on CL yet so I thought I might buy new.

Any and all comments welcome. I know this is a boring thread but I'm tryin LOL

That sounds sooooo cheap to me, but I'm in Sydney Aust. I think that a new tank that size here with lids and lights would be at least double that, and an FX5 cost between $500-$600 depending on what store. We are dollar for dollar with the US right now too!! I feel we get ripped off lol

 

[kenny69]

]

When did you get your fixtures? I've only had mine a few months but I feel they could be adequate for my cichlid tank. I know the quality isnt exactly there and they arent the prettiest fixtures but I'm way over budget already so any place I can save a few bucks would be great.

I run 6x 30 inch 25w fluros, 2 of them are T8 actinic and they look awesome. I don't think light spectrum/temp etc that you normally worry about for plants matters and fluro lighting is fine. I never have all my lights on either, only ever one row of white fluro's with the actinic at the same time, makes the fish colors go BANG!!

 

[carey]

Hi kenny,

so you just use the regular tube lighting? Nothing fancy? Thats another option for me but I wast too sure. The tank setup I'm looking at comes with flourescents already but I was trying to find a tank only and then buy the lights. Ack! So much to plan. Thanks for the input, everyone else is voting for t5's. LOL

 

[carey]

That sounds sooooo cheap to me, but I'm in Sydney Aust. I think that a new tank that size here with lids and lights would be at least double that, and an FX5 cost between $500-$600 depending on what store. We are dollar for dollar with the US right now too!! I feel we get ripped off lol

You should hit the internet for the fluval, definetly can save alot there. It's too bad about the tanks and prices over there, I guess fish keeping is a rich mans hobby in Australia. Least you live in an awesome place, Austeralia is on my list to visit!

 

[carey]

I made arrangements with the CL lady to go by on Saturday to pick up my $30 6 foot stand. The only worry is that someone will buy it before then, now that would totally stink. Once I get a stand i can start buying the rest of my gear.

I'm in kind of a pinch here since I need to get this thing going quickly, my red zebras and my zebra OB are absolutely tearing things up in my 55. I'm actually worried for their well being at this point. I hope they can last a few more weeks. I also have a red zebra holding so it's just a mess in there right now. I'm figuring the 125 should alleviate those issues hopefully.

 

[carey]

I was just thinking, my single heater isn't gonna cut it in a 125g. I would suppose two should be good but what watts?

Thank you!

 

[Epuerto]

I was just thinking, my single heater isn't gonna cut it in a 125g. I would suppose two should be good but what watts?

Thank you!

doesnt it say in the description of the product?

 

[carey]

Well they say up to a certain gallonage but I wanna know the best combination. 2 X 300 or 1x500 1X 300 or 2X250 ya know

 

[Epuerto]

you could always get 73 5000 watts, to be safe =)

 

[carey]

anybody else got any ideas? ;-p

 

[Epuerto]

i say 2 300 hundreds to be safe so not all of it is focoused in one area

 

[carey]

Thats what i was thinking. Unfortunatley I need to rush this build ASAP. I had a major aggression issue tonight and one of my red zebras had to removed to save him. he;s beat to crap but he should be ok. Only thing is now I have 3 fish in a 10 gallon qt.

A paralyzed johanni, a very small kenyi and a big red ripped up zebra.

The clock is ticking

 

[kenny69]

Hi kenny,

so you just use the regular tube lighting? Nothing fancy? Thats another option for me but I wast too sure. The tank setup I'm looking at comes with flourescents already but I was trying to find a tank only and then buy the lights. Ack! So much to plan. Thanks for the input, everyone else is voting for t5's. LOL

They are 8000k "super lights" they came with the setup, from Aqua One. To me they just look like normal everyday fluro lights. They look amazing with the actinic t8 marine blue lights on too.
AquaGrande 150
Check this link out, mines the 150......

 

[carey]

Looked at the link and it says 6X25watts. Thats not very much at all and they still look great huh? See yet another thing to ponder. Like I said above my time is running out LOL

 

[kenny69]

Looked at the link and it says 6X25watts. Thats not very much at all and they still look great huh? See yet another thing to ponder. Like I said above my time is running out LOL

Believe me they are very bright, I only ever have 2 on at a time, that’s how bright they are (plus the actinic), remember that they are 30 inches long each so that's 60 inches of fluro lighting, it's plenty. Remember your not growing plants so light temp etc doesn't matter, normal fluros are bright enough, to bright and you will wash the colours out of your cichlids LOL

 

[carey]

See thats the trick, I want to accentuate the colors. I'm not very happy with the lighting I currently have stock flourescents at 15 watts each. The bulbs only say daylight I believe. I bought the setup used so who knows how old they are too.

 

[HUKIT]

If your in a hurry forget the lights for now, there more for us anyway. How's the tank search coming?

For heaters I'm running 2 Eheim Jäger 250w on each the 150/180 and keep the tanks dead set within .2 degree.

 

[WhiteWidow11]

Thats what i was thinking. Unfortunatley I need to rush this build ASAP. I had a major aggression issue tonight and one of my red zebras had to removed to save him. he;s beat to crap but he should be ok. Only thing is now I have 3 fish in a 10 gallon qt.

A paralyzed johanni, a very small kenyi and a big red ripped up zebra.

The clock is ticking

Maybe try to completely rearange your decorations and maybe that will lower the agression temporarilly untill your new tank is up? Weird your red zebras are so agressive, my red zebra and ob zebra are actually the ones who hide all the time in my tank, then again my albino fish is pretty frequenty chasing the adult male red zebra. Thankfully he leaves the other fish alone. Hope everything goes well.

Sent from my Droid using Aquarium

 

[carey]

hey Hukit....

I am supposed to pick up the stand saturday so i can pretty much buy the petsmart tank if nothing else shows up on CL. I've got one more place to try tomorrow and I'll pick the best deal out of them. I'd kinda like the tank to be new so at least theres a warranty just in case.

So 2 250's should do it for six feet? And keep them far apart i know.

Thanks for stopping by, I love input. Woot!