First big tank!

I really hope that I'm posting this in the right place

Well, it's finally happened! I got my first big tank! Well, it's not like 120 gallons big or anything like that, it's a 55 gallon. I have two ten gallon tanks and a 2 gallon shrimp tank, so this is quite the adventure for me! I'm putting in some natural colored pool filter sand as substrate, and I got an aqueon quietflow 55/75 as a filter. It will soon be housing three fantail goldfish that my mom gave me. I'm just so excited, I had to post something about it! I'm not sure what kind of hood/lighting I'm going to get for it, so if anyone knows a good setup please let me know. I plan on planting some anubias and java fern in there and hope that the fishies don't eat them

 

Congrats on a new tank! You may want to up your filtration if keeping goldfish as they are messy fish. A good rule of thumb is getting a filter that has a GPH 8-10x the volume of your tank. If you're just growing low light plants, you probably won't need any crazy lighting; I have Java Fern thriving in a tank with lights that came with the kit.

 

Congrats on the big tank! ( it was hard convincing my mom to get a 30 gallon, so I don't know how you did it but good job!) Lol

 

I give my plants 10 hours of florescent lighting including 2 hours of sunlight. Its a bit too much light, but I don't mind cleaning algae once a week

 

Agreed with Lchi87, you may want to get more filtration. Goldfish are super messy fish. As per the lighting, you could do either a regular flourecent light or an LED light. Either should be enough to grow low light plants

 

Alright, thanks guys! I'll try to get a filter with more "oomph"

I have an extra filter for a ten gallon tank laying around. If I added that, would it fix this issue?

 

Unfortunately no, for a 55 gallon tank with goldies, you'd need a filter that can do at least 440 GPH

 

Alrighty! Thanks for the advice

 

good luck! Goldfish are really cool.

 

What is the 10 gallon filters GPH? And what is the 55/75's? what would the total be? Like someone said you would want it to be arouns 440 min for a goldie tank. I had an extra and put it with another filter to up my GPH to 300 for a 38 gallon tank.

 

The aqueon is 400gph, and the other one is 90gph! I guess it'll work then

 

The Aquino should be fine by itself. The tank is only 55 gallons. 400GPH is plenty

 

I'm still going to put both filters in for good measure what else am I gonna do with a filter that's just hangin' around? Might as well use it plus, with my little poop machines, more is better!

 

lol, nice nickname for your fishies!

 

Bout to set up my first 135 gal and never used a cannister filter. Inherited a penn plax cascade 1200. Any suggestions or links would be greatly appreciated. Lookin to do an an angelfish discus tank setup but goin to take all the time nessesary to season tank main concern is canister filter setup. Thanks

 

If I were you, I'd go with a bigger filter with more gph.
I strongly recommend a Fluval FX4/6.

 

If you didn't want to buy such a large filter, you could use the one you inherited and add a second canister that, when used with the Penn Plax 1200, would give you the GPH you'd need?

 

People with aquariums that are under filtered usually have to do a lot water changes.

Just sayin' not an aquarium expert by any means.

Discus look freaking amazing though.

 

IMHO I would do a sump on anything over 100 just for ease and overall look of the tank. Most don't think sumps when it come to freshwater but it works just the same

 

What's the recommendation for gph everything I've read says it's good for 150 gal

Also I would love to build a sump if it's cost affective

 

For a 130, I personally wouldnt go lower than 500gph. Just on my 75 I will have close to 400gph. I will be running two Magnum 350's.

 

Sumps are pretty cheap if you are a little handy and build it yourself. Most expensive thing would either be the tank ($1 per gallon at petco) or the pump used to push the water back to the tank from below

You could probably build one for around $100-200 total

 

What is the stocking is going to be? A dozen neons vs a 50 Africans cichlids makes a big difference on filter needs.

 

South American cichlids not gonna overstock

Lyfe, what's a good place to order the mechanical parts pumps and stuff I understand building the baffles and how they work

 

You can look on dr foster and smith website

 

South American cichlids not gonna overstock

Pretty heavy waste makers, I would look into additional filtration to add along side your penn plax. Probably another canister. It's always good to have 2 sources of filtration anyway, in case one breaks down.

 

I love sumps, I actually used a heavy duty storage container for mine to save money. You either have to have a drilled tank or make/buy an overflow though which can be complicated.

A canister filter is the easier choice.

 

Filtration is not just a matter of tank size but a matter of how the tank is stocked. Just because , let's say ,you have a 55 gallon tank doesn't mean you necessarily need 550gph filtration if you are lightly stocked.

 

Overflows aren't hard to make just need pvc and basic knowledge

 

Thanks guys that's why I always come to this site when I start a tank

 

For discus, you want pristine water quality. Most of that comes through water changes. When they're juveniles, you'll be doing daily or every other day water changes. When they're adults, you can back off the water changes to 1-2 times weekly. However, filtration also makes up an important component, and I would aI'm for at least 7-8x GPH for a discus tank for canisters or sumps, personally.

 

Overflows aren't hard to make just need pvc and basic knowledge

So to get the water into the sump do I create a siphon? And then use a submersible pump to flow water back into the tank? Or two pumps.

 

Siphon/overflows are what most people do. When I do my next tank build I will just use an overflow. Mine will be made out of pvc pipes. Basically these sit just barely under the surface or the display tank and water can flow down into the sump from here. Submersible pump will send water back up to the tabk

 

I prefer a drilled tank to a suction overflow. It's generally considered safer. Can you drill the tank (or get it drilled)?

 

I plan to go bigger eventually and worried about resale value.

 

Drilling a tank actually usually increases it's value. It shouldn't decrease it.

 

Oh I'll look into it

 

Suction overflow is relatively safe if planned and done correctly. Same as drilled really

Yeah drilled will increase resale usually because you open the tank up to reefers

 

More can go wrong in suction overflow than drilled tanks. I looked into it quite a bit before I decided to drill my tank. It's drilled now, I just have a canister filter instead of a sump at the moment.

 

IMO you can not beat the Fluval FX Series Canister Filters for larger tanks.... and for a "first big tank"... that's what I would be doing.