Aquarium Crew - please help

[ghart999]

I have decided to do a freshwater tank for the first time in years. Always small 10G tanks as a kid so I remember a little. I want to go 55/55 gallons to start with. Plan on a community tank and have some questions if you don't mind.

1) How beneficial are plants other than looking better than fake ones? Do they require more maintenance, etc?

2) I was considering an Emporer 280/400 Bio Wheel Filter. Is this sufficient or do you really recommend a canister filter?

3) When using a power filter like the Emporer, do I need an airstone, setup as well for aeration or will the filter be sufficient?

4) Do I need any other type of device to make the water flow more?

5) Do I need a U/V filter?

6) What type of lighting is sufficient for a 50/55 gallon tank?

7) How much maintenance per week would you say you do? I certainly plan on typical 20% water changes weekly with the Python grazel siphon which I hear is great. Any other major maint I should be aware of?

Thanks all.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

1) and 6) As far as plants, they help by adding oxygen to the water. The only thing you'll need to do when you have live plants is add a fertilizer once a month. Lighting for the tank will depend on if you want to keep real plants. If it's just fish, then the standard hood and bulbs are fine. If you want real plants you can get replacement bulbs at the fish store. You'll want about 1-2 watts per gallon.
On my 105 gallon tank I have 2 - 80 Watt shop lights with plant bulbs in them that I got at Home Depot.

2) Filtration wise, an emperor 400 will do fine. You can get a canister filter and get better filtration. I got one rated for 100g tank for about $70 from www.bigalsonline.com
3)You don't need an airstone
4)Water flow should be sufficient with you filter.
5) You do not need a UV filter unless you experiece an Algae bloom.
7) I do water changes on a monthly basis.

 

[d3n]

I am really fond of the Eclipse systems. All self contained in the hood, trouble free.
I like the lighting that comes with this setup. A bit pricey but Its a nice look.

Make sure you have the tank setup for a few days before you put fish in. I use 3 in 1 boxes of distilled water from WalMart to fill the tank. Trouble with tap is that has a lot of mineral content and you'll get a lot of algae growth with that. Half and half should be ok but make sure you get some of the water additive to neutralize the chlorine in the tap water. You'll also get a lot of algae with direct sunlight. Not sure if the uv filter is needed or not.

When adding fish I would put 4-6 in to let the nitrogen break down and get the bio wheel up and running. To many fish and you get ammonia and your fish die off.

Also WalMart has a vacume hose setup thats awesome for cleaning hooks to your faucet and comes in 25 and 50ft.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

1) Live plants are great, I wouldn't do an aquarium without them ever again. Around the plants, you'll see the gravel will be a bit cleaner, that's definitely a big advantage since that means less cleaning. Fake plants are hard to clean because you have to remove them from the aquarium. They have other benefits such as adding oxygen to the water, keeping some other chemicals things in balance I'd imagine, etc. One more thing I've noticed is that my gourami's will tend to swim against and float around the real plants rather than the fake ones, obviously one is plastic and the other is live. I wouldn't even think about this and just go for live plants.

7) You shouldn't need to do 20% changes on a weekly basis, at least that's not what I'm seeing I need to do. If you have a good amount of algae eaters, plenty of bottom feeders, etc. then you should be fine.

 

[KK]

I have an aquarium that I probably haven't done any type of maintenance to in atleast 6 months. I'm down to one fish and I hope he croaks, but I don't think he's going to. What's amazing is the water is clear as it's always been. I got one of those fluval 400 series canister filters and that's it cleaning the water. I do have to add water every few weeks due to evaporation.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: KK
I have an aquarium that I probably haven't done any type of maintenance to in atleast 6 months. I'm down to one fish and I hope he croaks, but I don't think he's going to. What's amazing is the water is clear as it's always been. I got one of those fluval 400 series canister filters and that's it cleaning the water. I do have to add water every few weeks due to evaporation.

Sounds like the slow train to salt water...

 

[FoBoT]

plants require very good lighting, i have never had much luck with them (long term)

i have yet to try a canister, although i have been tempted, but the price just stops me. i mostly use hang on type, with a few UGF with powerheads

i never use air stones, the only air i ever use is with UGF if i want the bubbly noise

U/V filters are rare on non-salt water setups

i clean my tanks about every 6 weeks, 3-4 gallons on the smaller tanks, 4-5 on the larger tanks

have fun!

 

[ghart999]

Thanks a lot for all the replies.