55 Gallon Tank Ideas

Fishfriend1

Fishfriend1

Fishlover Extraordinaire
Dec 11, 2009
3,958
3
38
Southeastern PA
Real Name
Mr. Palmer
So, as of now I WILL be getting a 55 gallon tank to replace my current 40 breeder. The stock is as follows:

  • 14X Neon Tetra
  • 9X Assorted Cory (I think most are bronze, but some are definitly NOT bronze)
  • 4X Serpae Tetra
  • 3X Female Molly (Adult)
  • ?X Molly Fry (I'm assuming there will be more)
  • 2X Mystery Snail
  • 1X German Blue Ram
  • 1X Bolivian Ram
  • 1X Pearl Gouramis

I want to add the following:
  • 2X Serpae Tetra
  • 2-4X Porthole Catfish
As well as some sort of centerpiece fish that will be okay alone and won't harm any of the other fish. Also maybe a pleco of some sort.

Equipment:

  • 2X Marineland Penguin 350 HOB FIlters
  • 2X Marineland Penguin 200 HOB Filters
  • 2X Heaters

I'm debating the lighting. While I DO want to have a nice T5 HO light for plants, I honestly don't think my house (which was wired over 50 years ago) can support another T5 Lighting Set Up. So I'm debating which is better, simple T8 fluorescence, or go with the full T5 Set Up. What do you of Aquaria Central think? T5 or T8?

Sand! I want sand. But how much? What kind? Dark or Light? Maybe a mix? I'm open to any ideas, so long as you have a picture for me to judge it by.

Plants! Fake or Real? I'm not sure if I want real plants. While they always look better, they are harder to care for. Would I want a CO2 system and ferts? I've never used either before, so it would probably cost money to set it up. Ideas for it and prices would be nice.

Canister Filter or just HOBs? Since this is such a large tank, I'm not sure if I want to stick with HOBs or go all out and pick up a Canister Filter. Since this is a budget free project (for now) I am open to any ideas. Naturally, I would prefer the canister to be easy to maintain, strong, efficient (electricity wise) and simple to set up.

Is ther such thing as a Freshwater Sump? Because I have a spare 20 tall I've been meaning to use for something but haven't had a chance to set up. So, if it's possible to do such, I would love to know how.

Finally, the tank is being set up as an 18th birthday present for myself, probably the last birthday where my parents put anything into a present. My mom is buying the tank, my dad is buying the stand, I'm buying everything else. I have a job, so there is no budget limit. I will own both the tank and stand by October 4th (my birthday) so that's the date I hope to have most of what I will need to set the tank up.

So now, thats the info, lets hear your ideas/thoughts/other...
 
I would significantly up the school of serpae tetra. Everything I've read about them always makes them sound very aggressive unless kept in high numbers and even then people still have problems. I'm not sure if neon tetra with a school of serpae would work. Also, unless you REALLY like mollies, I'd donate them. Mollies just poop (too many babies) and it becomes a big mess. I currently have 108w T5HO over my 55 gallon. You can buy them very cheap and they are durable from a certain website if you'd be interested. I'm sure your house can handle the wattage, my electric bill hasn't really changed until I built my monster computer which REALLY uses power ^^
 
:)hi, i guess you are my 1st fishfriend1......just a little humor......
have you ever thought of getting silver dollars? they are the gentle giants as i call them. i started with 2 and now have 4.
they are the size of the palm of my hand and don't bother the smaller fish in the tank. although mostly nocturnal they can be very active during the day especially at feeding time. i like to call mine the gentle piraunas. i love it when they look at me with those big eyes. as they try and spawn they will chase each other around the tank and break the surface of the water when doing so.
 
Plague said:
I would significantly up the school of serpae tetra. Everything I've read about them always makes them sound very aggressive unless kept in high numbers and even then people still have problems. I'm not sure if neon tetra with a school of serpae would work. Also, unless you REALLY like mollies, I'd donate them. Mollies just poop (too many babies) and it becomes a big mess. I currently have 108w T5HO over my 55 gallon. You can buy them very cheap and they are durable from a certain website if you'd be interested. I'm sure your house can handle the wattage, my electric bill hasn't really changed until I built my monster computer which REALLY uses power ^^
Click to expand...

I know should up the serpaes, but right now I don't want to spend the money on it. To risky with the new tank being planned, they could end up not making it past the first bit of time. I'll get 3 more (7 total) when the 55 is able to care for them. The 3 adult female mollies are on their last breeding legs, as there haven't been males with them for almost 6 months now. Once they hit that mark they will be incapable of having more fry because the sperm dies at that point. The fry are being eaten as they are born, though I do have some in my SW tank and some in my 10gal Planted. Those I'll donate away. Having kept mollies for years, I know how badly they love to breed. The 3 I have now are all from fry I raised myself, I love them too much to get rid of them. The new fry can go though. Can you post a link to the web site you got your lights from please, I am interested :)

1greensevrum said:
:)hi, i guess you are my 1st fishfriend1......just a little humor......
have you ever thought of getting silver dollars? they are the gentle giants as i call them. i started with 2 and now have 4.
they are the size of the palm of my hand and don't bother the smaller fish in the tank. although mostly nocturnal they can be very active during the day especially at feeding time. i like to call mine the gentle piraunas. i love it when they look at me with those big eyes. as they try and spawn they will chase each other around the tank and break the surface of the water when doing so.
Click to expand...

TBCH, I'm a little scared of such large fish with neon tetras.... worried the neons will become an expensive snack, as would happen with angels. I'll think about it, and if I can find some others who back that they won't eat neons I will really look into it.
 
Hey fishfriend1.

I have a 55 also waiting to set up, but i don't have unlimited funds like you; gotta pay rent first lol. To start i would say if you want to do plants go for it, yes they can be a huge pain in the butt, extra money for test kits and chemicals, and lighting. But it looks so much better then fake plants. Plus it's fun to plant your tank and then watch it grow and mature into a established environment for your fish.

For lighting i would suggest going with a Coralife 48' T5 HO or a Glo 48" T5 HO. I would not suggest getting the Odyssea light i have read an article stating that they have started house fires, ill try to find it and post back. When it comes to lighting you get what you pay for.

http://www.amazon.com/Coralife-0860...FEP4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1315904620&sr=8-5
http://www.amazon.com/Output-Lighti...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1315904739&sr=1-1

For substrate i would say maybe a small river rock gravel so it will allow your plants roots to get a good grip in the substrate. I personally don't like sand, i had a fine sand substrate in one of my tanks for a little bit and it ruined my filter by getting sucked up and grinding the motor out. You will need some kind of ground fertilizer, don't waste your money of the pre mixed bags. I use a clay mixture i purchase from my LF, I then make marble size balls with it and bake them in the over then add them around my plant roots. Then you need liquid fertilizers. Seachem products are the best i think.

http://www.google.com/search?source...c.r_pw.&fp=a29d6498b9260543&biw=1874&bih=1079
http://www.seachem.com/Products/Products.html Should be able to find at LF

For the filter i say get a canister filter for sure. I have had no problems and absolutely love my marineland canister filters. Canisters provide soo much more biological filtration then HOBS, and are easy to clean and maintain, and cheaper then having to buy new filter pads all the time for HOBS. You can reuse a lot of the media inside a canister plus purchase bulk pads for cheap then just cut it to size. I would suggest maybe running a small HOB also just to add some surface agitation. Marineland or Eheim are the way to go. And a marineland penguin for HOB filter (NOT NECESSARY)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marineland-...ltDomain_0&hash=item53e8c8ab68#ht_2386wt_1170
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l2736&_nkw=eheim+canister

And i'm not sure on the sump. I'm also interested in that lol.

Good luck and keep us posted with any more questions or comments. Happy early birthday to you.
 
I love this hobby. I'm completely opposite of Kmodd in the fact that I prefer sand over any other substrate. Probably 90% of the tanks I've setup have had sand or sand-gravel mix. I have not once had a filter fail from sand. I've had filters need repair or die but never from sand damage (most died on bare bottom tanks, go figure).

I do agree with him that Canisters are much better than HOBs. I have a Rena Filstar XP3 on my 125 that has been running flawlessly for nearly 10 years now. I also had a Fluval 304 that I had to repair 4 times and finally died in about the same amount of time. Now I have the XP3, an Ehiem 2226 and just set up a 30g 500gph sump wet/dry on it. I also recently set up a 10g wet/dry 230gph on my 65.

Wet/Dry (sump)- Pro: filter the best out of anything and can be configured however you want. Easy to maintain.
Con: Expensive initial cost. can be noisy. There are plenty of ways to quiet them and I think they are still way less noisy than HOBs or at least the sound is more tolerable.

Canisters - Pro: Quiet. You will never hear them (if you get the right one). About half the cost or better than setting up a sump. Good all around filtration. Good for planted tanks because you can control output to not disturb surface so less diffusion of CO2. Can customize input and output configuration.
Con: Can be costly to repair. Sometimes insufficient mechanical filtration. Work best in pairs, either with another canister or HOB. Can go anaerobic during power failures.

HOBs - Pro: Great mechanical filtration, especially AquaClears. Cheap. Easy to setup.
Cons: Noisy. Messy. Break down a lot. Not very good on biological filtration. Not good for planted tanks with injected CO2 because they will diffuse CO2 because of constant surface break.

Here is a picture of the 65 sump:
IMGP1818.JPG
Eshopps PF300 overflow. Goes to a filter pad and bio balls. Added live plants with a mini Power Compact light to absorb Nitrogen (I need more plants really). Tetra 325 pump to a 3/4" outlet. On a 42" head it's running roughly 230gph. I already had the light, acrylic media box, and an ugly 10g. Cost around $150 for pump, overflow, media, and plumbing.

Check out this substrate for a planted tank:
http://www.aquariumplants.com/Freshwater_Aquarium_Plant_Substrate_p/ss.htm

Even if you didn't plant heavily and add CO2, live plants are always better than the fake ones, imo. They look better and work as part of bio filter by utilizing Nitrogen.

IMGP1818.JPG
 
So, what I'm seeing is that both sand and river rocks are good ideas.... so naturally, I have to think about a mix. My 40 breeder has sand on one side with larger grain sand in the middle and gravely sand on the other, it looks amazing. So I think I'll ry a mix like that. As for sand getting into filter pumps, I've had that issue with my HOBs.... I'll just give the tank a few days to settle. There's no rush on this, and I'm thinking (key word there) about using the 55gal as my Senior Grad Project. I'm still debating it, but fishkeeping is the only thing I really know a ton about. Anyway, I'll be well documenting the construction of the tank. I'll be buying equipment when I get home, but I can only spend 150$ at a time due to not wanting to over-bill myself (I make about 160$ a week, so if I stay under that amount I break even... for now).

As for filters, I do think I will go with a canister and two HOB filters, probably my Mainland Penguin 200s. I like a full tank, so there is little surface agitation, but the waterfall will have lots of mixing. Hopefully it won't undo the CO2 stuff.

Anyone know how much a CO2 system costs (for a new one) and if you have a link to one I can buy that would be cool. I'm fine with used stuff, but new would be nice because I know what it is and that it works. But cheap is better (the less money spent the better, budget or not).

Now, about the lighting. I already have a 24in Double Bulb Hood for my SW tank, from Corallife and using their bulbs as well. I can get a larger size for the 55gal at my local petco, on online (and I do hope to get it online because it's cheaper. I just need to refill my paypal (I pulled my money out because I thought I was being scammed, turns out I was wrong, meh, long story) then I can buy again. I can't do that right now, so I can't buy stuff right now.

Thanks for all the help, I still want pics of the tanks with river rocks and sand to compare the two!
 
While yes it is true that there were rumors that the odyssea fixtures started fires, the dates of the threads and complaints were all old and never proven to my knowledge. The company has become very reliable since then and mine still works perfectly after so many hours of use. Also, the fixtures that were rumored to cause fires were the metal halide fixtures from odyssea. Once again the complaints were all old and when the company first started. I spent many hours researching when I first bought the lights because I was worried and told that they didn't work properly. If it makes you feel better I can take pics/vid of the fixture still working and being used.

You can also buy from http://www.bigalspets.com/ which just sells everything pet related and is extremely reliable. Another common and reliable website is fishneedit.com which specializes in light fixtures.
 
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