[tanked]

had a 30 gallon tank while growing up but that's all behind me now. the tank that is - first a freshwater community tank in grade school, salt water in high school, oscars in college, then i gave it all away (including the 8" surviving Oscar) to a friend's little brother. some years later now, am looking at a used 55 gallon tank (will meet it tomorrow). after starting the relearning process and perusing this forum, have discovered there's quite a lot that has changed or that i never knew. am sure to have many questions. would appreciate any general words of wisdom/best first tips. will at least let you know if i go for the tank. my biggest concern is filtration. it has an undergravel filter which i dont plan on using powered by two powerheads (Penguin 660s - 170 gph ea.) which am thinking i could/should use by themselves. and it comes with an AquaClear 70 hob. Is that sufficient? Am thinking i may also get another AquaClear 50. or have a line on a Fluval 305 cannister for a great price. well, will check back in later. wish me luck...

[willow]

hello there and welcome.
patience is my offering,oh and the fluval 305 is i nice filter.

[Romad]

Hello and welcome to the forum

Yes, the hobby has come a long way since adding water to a tank, adding fish, watch them die, repeat.

The best advice that I can give you is to have patience and research research research. Get your tap water tested to see what your ph levels and water hardness are before buying stock to see which fish will work best in your parameters. See what you like at the fish store, write everything down and then check the Tropical Fish Profiles at the top of the main page of the forum to see what their requirements are.

As for filtration, I would consider live plants and lots of them. If you don't feel like you want to start with live plants, choose a filter rated for 25+ gallons higher than the tank size you are getting. I'm a fan of the Aquaclear for HOB filters but am a bigger fan of the canister filters for performance.

Here a a few links to get you started. I'm including a link to the planted tank section (part 1) in case you think you might want to start out with live plants.

Ask any and all questions that you need to along the way and good luck with your new setup.

A Beginner's Guide to the Freshwater Aquarium Cycle
A Basic Guide to Freshwater Fish Stocking
A Basic Approach to the Natural Planted Aquarium--Part One

[tanked]

thanks for the welcome willow. and for the advice Romad. got an inline email notification of your post and came back here from the "Basic Approach to the Natural Planted Aquarium--Part One" thread. never had much luck with natural plants but want to give it another go. think my lighting was insufficient back in the day. but like i said, am only on Part One. Still on the site tho. Great stuff thanks to contributors like you guys!

EDIT: do you think the Fluval 305 is sufficient for a 55 gal. and guess i'll know more after reading up on the Natural Planted Aquarium but should i be concerned about water flow/current speed?

[Romad]

I can only give an opinion on the Rena caninster filters since that's what I'm using on my 75g (fairly heavily planted) tank. I'm using the XP3 on my 75 gallon and have been loving it for 2.5 years now.

The Rena Filstar XP2 is rated for up to 75 gallons and what I love about this filter is that the baskets that hold your filter medium stack inside the canister. It makes cleaning a breeze IMO.

And the output tube can be pointed anywhere by rotating it. I have mine pointing toward the water surface to agitate it and keep "scum" from forming.

I believe the Fluval has prepackaged filter cartridges like a big HOB setup so you'd have to stick with those cartridges replacements but I'll let other members speak to the Fluval line.

[Reefing Madness]

[willow]

Amazon.co.uk: fluval 305

i got on well with the fluvial 305 and 306,i found it easy to clean
very quiet,the baskets inside easy to fill with media,and the sponges easy
to remove and clean also,not bad priming either,so i guess you can see
by my response i liked it