New 55g Starter Tank

jonny steele

Just bought a 55gallon starter kit, was on sale this weekend. Comes with power filter, tank, lights and hoods, heater and im going to transfer from my old tank the thermometer. Also went out and bought a new air pump and air stones and a few peices of decor. I also bought a metal stand from petco, should be deliverd this week sometime.

Im looking for ideas of what to do with it. Right now, i have a smaller tank with a blood parrot, some yellow chichlid and a small fish and pleco. Im going to transfer them into the 55 once its setup. Also i have to live plants in the smaller tank im going to transfer over as well.

Any tips on helping my tank out?? Im going to turn the old ten gallon into a small reptile tank. Prob just get a small lizard.

outpost

You should do a pure planted tank/ community tank with angels and all the other community fish. You could have a lot more fish if you did it that way. That's what u would do.
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jonny steele

Thats great, i was also going to use sand. I was told by several people you can use play sand or pool filter sand (home depot) and its only $5 for a 50lb bag.

tropicalfishsuccess

I would watch the parrot, many become very aggressive with age. I use pool filter sand and love it. 55's give you a lot of options. You can do a community tank, a cichlid tank, and angel and cardinal tank... a lot of options... good luck with it!

outpost

You just have to rinse the sand out a whole bunch. What color is the pool filter sand?
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tropicalfishsuccess

Mine is tan and white mixed. Gives a good light tanish color. Just rinse it ... it has a good amount of "dust" in the bag.

jonny steele

Mine actually is getting more and more shy. Its to the point where he only comes out of his hole when im not in the room, or laying in bed. But he attacks my plants harsly, lol.

I decided to use play sand, i found a 50lb bag at work, its white, but looks like once it gets wet, it turns a darker color, mix b/t white and tan.

Also, i was thinking about putting some rocks in there, what about slabs from home depot, i can break them up and make it looks like a rock reef. Is there a certain stone i need to stay away from???

Byron

Avoid rock that is calcareous; limestone, marble, lava. These will raise the hardness (by dissolving mineral into the water) and pH. This assumes you intend having a planted tank with soft water fish. If you intend livebearers or rift lake cichlids, this rock would be fine as these fish do best in basic, harder water.

Inert rock (that does not affect water chemistry) includes quartz, shale, granite. Although expensive, buying it from a reputable fish store avoids any risk of contaminant. Rock collected outdoors may have been exposed to any number of toxic substances that if absorbed into the rock could slowly leach out and harm/kill the fish.

Same holds for gravel or sand used for the substrate. And darker colours for both substrate and rocks suits forest fish (tetras, catfish) better than light colours. The fish will be more "relaxed" with dark surroundings and thus show their best colouration and normal behaviours.

Byron.

jonny steele

Wow, good to know. Thanks.