Aquarium Tank advice

[007ELmO]

Hi,

What are some recommended manufacturers for my first aquarium tank/accessories? I would like a 72" wide x 24" width x 18-24" height.

It would be fresh water. I'd love to do salt water but everything I hear it's too tough for a beginner. Are there devices that can make it easier for me? I need help figuring out all the accessories either would need, as well (does it need a sump/etc?).

All I know right now is I should get a tank with Starphire glass so it's clearer to see through.

Thanks!
ELmO

 

[sdifox]

Contact aquaman. As in the one in atot scanning magazines.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Look man here's what I'm telling ya.

Call my boys over at Acrylic Tank Manufacturing. Ask for Irwin and tell him I sent you. He'll send Brett and Wayde over for a personal estimate. They'll hook you right up.

 

[Denly]

what kind of fishes you planning to get?

For a tank that big make sure your floor is level and strong enough.

Get two heater.
Buy the biggest canister you can afford
Light
Buy and run a second small 5-10 gal tank for emergency like sick fish or new addition
Look at options on between sand and gravels
Location, you can move the tank once you add water
Prepare to change water once or twice a week
don't over stock the tank
real plants is not recommended for beginner.
buy/make the best food you can afford
you will get a lot dead fishes your first years
put a clay pot in the tank

 

[blackangst1]

what kind of fishes you planning to get?

For a tank that big make sure your floor is level and strong enough.

Get two heater.
Buy the biggest canister you can afford
Light
Buy and run a second small 5-10 gal tank for emergency like sick fish or new addition
Look at options on between sand and gravels
Location, you can move the tank once you add water
Prepare to change water once or twice a week
don't over stock the tank
real plants is not recommended for beginner.
buy/make the best food you can afford
you will get a lot dead fishes your first years
put a clay pot in the tank

All good advice. I would add also add a piece or two of driftwood (REAL driftwood) as it will keep the water soft. Looks nice too.

 

[Jodell88]

Unless you're looking for something very specific, aquarium manufactuers don't matter.

Look on craiglist for aquariums. You can get them cheap. Just make sure you full it up and check for leaks before you buy.

Also, before you buy any fish for your aquarium, make sure your nitrogen cycle is established.

what kind of fishes you planning to get?

For a tank that big make sure your floor is level and strong enough.

Get two heater.
Buy the biggest canister you can afford
There's such a thing as over filtration, so be careful with this.

Light
Buy and run a second small 5-10 gal tank for emergency like sick fish or new addition.
+100

Quarantine tanks are essential. I recommend 10 gallon because most doages are for that size.

Look at options on between sand and gravels
Location, you can move the tank once you add water
Prepare to change water once or twice a week.
Depends on his setup. I just set one up that I'm going to be do a water change every three months or so.

don't over stock the tank
real plants is not recommended for beginner.
I disagree. A beginner can have great success growing plants. Java fern, Anacharis, Jungle Val, Anubias, etc are some great beginner plants.

buy/make the best food you can afford
you will get a lot dead fishes your first years
put a clay pot in the tank

All good advice. I would add also add a piece or two of driftwood (REAL driftwood) as it will keep the water soft. Looks nice too.

While tannins released by the driftwood can soften water, in reality it might not do anything because of his water's Carbonate Hardness (KH) and General Hardness (GH).

If the OP's water is easily affected by the tannins, then his water is not suitable for aquariums because he can have wild swings of pH and can even have a ph crash. Both of whic will kill fish and plants.

 

[blackangst1]

Unless you're looking for something very specific, aquarium manufactuers don't matter.

Look on craiglist for aquariums. You can get them cheap. Just make sure you full it up and check for leaks before you buy.

Also, before you buy any fish for your aquarium, make sure your nitrogen cycle is established.




While tannins released by the driftwood can soften water, in reality it might not do anything because of his water's Carbonate Hardness (KH) and General Hardness (GH).

If the OP's water is easily affected by the tannins, then his water is not suitable for aquariums because he can have wild swings of pH and can even have a ph crash. Both of whic will kill fish and plants.

Agreed. Good point. I was just giving general advice

 

[MongGrel]

Pretty much all of the above.

Have been out of the hobby awhile, at one time I had 4 55 gallon and several others set up, some were Angel and Discus tanks.

55 gallon is a good standard tank for a large starter.

Buy cheap fish at first, if you do not all ready have gravel to seed from another tank to establish the bio system in the tank.

If you know someone with a well established tank you could maybe steal some of their gravel, canisters are nice to have but I still liked having an under gravel filter with air tube lifters.

Actually, I used to run the intake from the canister in one of the lift tubes in one tank at the time.

Starting out with hardy fish like a couple blue Gouramis and just neons some that are non aggressive is a good start, I used to get about 4 little corey cats just to hang around and suck things off the bottom.

Avoid fish like Tiger Barbs at first that nip fins, research your fish a bit before you throw them together.

Throwing in an Oscar or other Cichlid in with some fish will yield bad results

I used to have some tanks with live plants looked like living artwork, but you have to research a bit on how you do it.

I still remember living in Indiana decades ago and my 55 gallon with 4 very large beautiful Angelfish and a small school of Coreys died one winter during a power outage for days during an ice storm.

Well they all did, but I was trying to save that tank more than the others.

I was trying to insulate the tank and do everything I could at the time.

 

[Schmide]

Step 1: hidie holes.

Step 2: big ass plecostomus and upside down cat

Step 3: change water twice a year

 

[MongGrel]

Step 1: hidie holes.

Step 2: big ass plecostomus and upside down cat

Step 3: change water twice a year

Yeah, I used to have a few very big honking Plecos around in a couple of tanks, a small herd of corey cats in a couple of tanks. I thought were kinda cooler They are cute little buggers and are busy a lot, a herd of those guys are pretty fun to have. Usually kept the same types together of course, the 4 emerald greens in the Discus tank I think were my favorite, had 4 big Discus with just those 8 in that one tank.

Hidie holes are essential for a good tank, some fish will set up home there and probably come out more often outside their spot. Having no where to call home and hide at stresses a lot of fish out. I used to have a couple of tanks in the past a large piece of driftwood placed right with live plants took up almost half the tank. I forget the name of the plant offhand, was a very cool one that grew and floated on top filtered the light and covered almost the whole top of one and the roots just dangled into the water.

One that note, something like a Gro Lux light helps a lot if you have live plants.

As far as water changes, I used to do about a partial water tank change on all of them about once a month. If you use a siphon tube and just a 5 gallon bucket to clean the gravel out while you are doing it the tank can stay in good shape a very long time.

If you do more regular water changes on just one tank once it is established, you probably would not even need a canister filter.

I only bought one myself once I had the need to clean multiple tanks with it myself. Is still one of the better things if you have the money for it short of a serious PVC filter system.

There are many good overflow ones out there that work well.

While I'm at it, I always liked using stone more than a finer media with an under gravel filter, just to get the water flow through it like it should be.

I used to have a cheap food processor I even used to make and freeze some of my food myself. Even had a Piranah tank at one time I made pureed beefheart for and kept it frozen in freezer bags

Fish love mosquito larva btw, as long as you do not toss in so many they don't eat them all. Used to have a big rain barrel on the garage gutters I'd fish the out of with a strainer net and they would go on a feeding frenzy.

The farther you get into the hobby, the more you can become involved. Like about anything I guess.

I could get a lot more diverse than that I guess, but that is basic.

Good Luck :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[MongGrel]

Heh, I have a 55 and a few other large ones around I do not even have set up, your making me want to.

 

[Jodell88]

Heh, I have a 55 and a few other large ones around I do not even have set up, your making me want to.

Well... You can slowly gather plants and grow them emersed in the month or so it'll take to mineralise some dirt. Then start a planted aquarium.

()

 

[cbrunny]

A tank that large, when full of water, will weigh 1500 pounds. In water weight alone.

Hope you have strong floors!

 

[mnewsham]

A tank that large, when full of water, will weigh 1500 pounds. In water weight alone.

Hope you have strong floors!

Yeah make sure you have an idea of where you want to put the tank, anything over 55g and you really need to start making sure the structure can support all the water and whatever substrate you are using.

 

[Kaido]

On a tangent, I was hanging out with a buddy of mine today who was on submarines for awhile and he kept referring to it as a "people tank"

 

[MongGrel]

Well... You can slowly gather plants and grow them emersed in the month or so it'll take to mineralise some dirt. Then start a planted aquarium.

()

Actually, I've had this 55 hanging around awhile now in the house just ready to be filled up.

It is all ready prepped more or less.

I tried it once and the wife had a fit, she says she wouldn't be adverse to the idea if I moved it a bit to the end of the room. It used to be in front of the mirrors in there.

Have enough old things around I might start one 55 up again, and still have the old big log around that looked good with the plants in the discus tank.

Probably could salvage a few heaters and pumps in the garage also.

The canister filter I still have operates, just needs a few replacement parts if I wanted to make it serious again.

That is empty atm btw.

Yeah, it needs a bit of clean up, but I imagine the media in the bottom is still fine, and it has grow lights in it. I set it up for live plants to begin with.

Is a layer of peat in the middle of the two stone layers to begin with.

 

[Jodell88]

That's a lot of substrate.

I set this up less than two weeks ago.

https://goo.gl/photos/uTcisoudTd53nXny6

Custom hood, with three 60 watt LED bulbs.

The Anacharis on the left and right has doubled in length, the giant duck weed has doubled in population.

Mineralised dirt with with a pool filter sand cap. :thumbsup:

 

[MetalMat]

As people have mentioned you can get a used tank on craigslist for cheap. I picked up my 20 gallon tank with everything for dirt cheap a few years back and it is still working fine.

I kind of wish I had a bigger tank but I don't really have the room. Don't get me wrong, I like my tetras and loaches but it would be nice to have some cooler big fish. I put a couple african dwarf frogs in the tank a couple months back and I am not really that big a fan, they are surprisingly pretty boring.

 

[Meghan54]

OP, just don't make the mistake of buying too small a tank for your first tank. Sounds counter-intuitive, but a larger tank, like a 55 gal, is much easier to cope with for your first tank and will give you every possibility to have a successful tank.

The concept is: small tank has less volume of water vs. a larger tank. Therefore, inattention, missed maintenance, poor water quality, etc., will affect a larger tank slower than a smaller tank from the dilutional effect of a larger volume of water.


Then, after getting the tank situated, filled and ready to go....use black mollies as your starter fish. Very cheap, very, very hardy. After a couple of weeks, the nitrogen cycle should be established (test kits exist to test for water quality/pollution, so you can keep an eye on what's happening), and you can begin stocking what you want.

I suggest black mollies because of their hardiness and because some good pet shops will actually "loan" black mollies out for cycling in a tank. (You buy them, return those left alive for credit towards your "real" fish.)


As for tanks, bunch of brands. One of the better brands is Oceanic, although I don't know if they still make tanks, having been out of the hobby for a while now.

 

[MongGrel]

That's a lot of substrate.

I set this up less than two weeks ago.

https://goo.gl/photos/uTcisoudTd53nXny6

Custom hood, with three 60 watt LED bulbs.

The Anacharis on the left and right has doubled in length, the giant duck weed has doubled in population.

Mineralised dirt with with a pool filter sand cap. :thumbsup:

I think I have even identified the floating plant that I used to have over the top of the log in the old tank long ago.

Nice pic, if I do get mine going in the future, I'll be posting more.

If I do that might even break out a few other old ones

 

[bradly1101]

I looked into it and saw what an incredible hassle it would be for me, not to mention the potential immorality of the tropical fish trade, so I went with this.

 

[MongGrel]

I looked into it and saw what an incredible hassle it would be for me, not to mention the potential immorality of the tropical fish trade, so I went with this.

If you are really worried about the morality of the tropical fish trade, you should be about as worried about buying most beef, chicken, fish etc in your local grocery store to be honest. Unless your a vegetarian, I guess.

 

[Rubycon]

These may be illegal in your country, but they make great "pet" catfish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-aZFQeRtA

They will eat you out of the house and need a much bigger tank than in that video. Think tens of thousands of liters and circular...

Out of all the Pangasiidae, the Sanitwongsei sp. is my favorite.

And best kept in public aquaria.

 

[MongGrel]

I actually liked the Arowana in the pic, I had one myself that someone took over and got to 4' before he had to take it to the Indy Zoo when one of my friends 110 gallon tank became too small for him.

That thing could swallow a rat in one gulp when he got massive, he became larger at the zoo.

"Osteoglossids are carnivorous, often being specialized surface feeders. They are excellent jumpers; Osteoglossum species have been seen leaping more than 6 ft (almost 2 m) from the water surface to pick off insects and birds from overhanging branches in South America, hence the nickname "water monkeys". Arowana species typically grow to around 2 to 3 ft in captivity."

"Arowanas are solitary fish and only allow company while young; adults may show dominance and aggression. Some compatible species often partnered with this fish are clown knifefish, pacu, oscars, jaguar cichlids, green terrors, gar, tinfoil barb, Siamese tigerfish, and any other somewhat aggressive fish that cannot fit in the arowana's mouth. These fish are best kept with live or frozen feed and they easily outgrow the tank within 8 to 10 months. An aquarium of at least 150 gallons is preferable.[9] Australian species are best kept alone in aquaria "

Arowanas are basically a freshwater Tarpon, if the thing can fit something in it's mouth it will eat it.

Tarpon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon

 

[MongGrel]

To be honest, I've always found it a bit funny how things like Cichlids are supposed to be so aggressive. I guess they can eat a lot of feeder goldfish. Granted they actually can be intelligent and learn behaviors, believe it or not.

I had one Oscar in a tank in a tank buy himself decades ago, I caught a Bluegill one day fishing and for just to see took him home and threw him in the tank with the Oscar. The Oscar was so freaked out and hiding I just took the Bluegill out and let him go.

Used to have a lot of weird fish myself and friends with even weirder ones.

The guy I gave the Arowana to had a whole bank of about 50 5 gallon Killie tanks, on top of an electric catfish and a many other odd things.

He was into Herpatology also.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_catfish

Even had a Snakehead at one time in a 55 by himself in the house.

Some of the coolest fish I liked where the Killis, you could have many in separate 5 gallon tanks and they looked so good. It's not a casual pursuit as regarding some fish, you have to watch the PH and water more than a Salt Tank, if your doing it right and trying to breed em.

Trading the eggs to hatch them was even a thing at one time, I imagine some still do it to keep the lines going. Having a rare Killifish used to be like almost having a rare bottle of wine with a few people at one time, some people used to collect them.

I had a few species of them at one time.

[

Those are the common ones, have seen a few others.

Been rambling on too long, outa here.