I am currently setting up a 55 gallon goldfish tank. The current plan is 75 gallon canister, 2 130 gallon sponges, 2 75 gallon sponges. The canister can be hooked up to HOBS as an output. I only want 3-4 fancies. I bought all their food, NLS goldfish, omega one goldfish, shrimp pellets, salmon pellets, a few types of veggie pellets and wafers plus fresh foods. Any thoughts?
Dang, that’s a lot of filtration! If you don’t have the fish yet, I vote for the fishless cycle. Good luck!
Unless you are plnning on more tanks in the future, I would dial down the filtration. If you are planning on more tanks, then keep the filtration in there. You will just need to move a filter and you have an instant cycle!
I don't think you need to remove any filtration. The canister won't create too much flow, and sponge filters provide very little water movement outside of the bubbling. Fancy finned goldies are messy and don't like much flow, so I think your filtration is fine.
Eh, if they're really heavily finned and aren't struggling, it shouldn't be a problem. My point was that it looks like a lot of filtration, but it's definitely not too much given that much of it is in the form of sponge filters.
I wasn’t concerned about the flow, actually. It just appears a bit clunky having filtration and cords everywhere, IMO. It doesn’t hurt to go overkill in filtration, however. But I only use a single canister for my three goldfish.
Sorry I have been a little busy. There won’t be as many cords as it looks like, the plan is plants around the sponges and clear airline tubes and a couple gang valves. I have an established tank as well as dr Tim’s ammonia so cycling is no issue, I also prime the tank daily when they are added just to help in case I do get any spikes.
Nah, different opinions are just part of being a pet owner. I tend to take advice and do whats best for my pets since every pets needs are different. Personally I prefer to over filter. it will not hurt. Those two HOBs are only an output for the filter but its an easy place to put mechanical filtration and be able to maintain it which is very important with such high bioload animals.
I'm not sure I would do four sponges in addition to a canister, but that's totally up to you. Are you interested in certain types of fancies? What are your stocking plans? Always glad to see another goldfish tank ... be sure to post pictures! As to food ... you have some good choices. After your goldfish mature, they will need less meat based foods and more plant based. I currently only feed NLS small goldfish, bloodworms, and fresh veggies. I plan to add a gel food (Repashy Super Gold). Moist foods do some to help with floaty issues, so keep gel foods in mind.
I also have omega one kelp and NLS algae wafers. I am hoping for one Ryukin, One Oranda, a fantail and maybe a lionhead or something? It all depends what catches my eye. I did have a 38 gallon set up as a grow out tank but I had a battle with Ich and lost all but 1, that last one is not looking great. My stocking plans are 3-4 fancies.
