10G To 90G...

[TheJ0kerrr]

Hi, I just found a decent deal on a 90G with stand, filter, heater and a few more things... I was shooting more for a 55-75G type of tank, but this is the best I found for the price so far.

Question is... Am I gonna be overwhelmed by the amount of work required to maintain such a beast?

I'm definetly not an expert here, I learned a lot trying to make a 10 gallons run smoothly with medium success (Moving twice over 2 months didn't help), but this is a whole different ballgame now isn't it?

I know some say it's easier to maintain a large tank, but still...you can't just make 90% water changes in 15 minutes with that anymore...haha.

So, shall I make the big jump or what?

 

[Sammy1911]

ive got a 55 us gallon but it is a planted 2' deep tank which is time consuming - just depends on how much u like to tinker with it lol

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Went to see it last night and that thing is a #138## swimming pool... Don't think i'll take it, the 18" depth is a bit too much for my living room. But I found a 65G (advertized as 55G) that has the same dimensions (48" wide x 24" high) but only 13" deep. Sounds like a perfect size to me!

 

[Tizer]

the bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I had a 120g in my living room. I had an easier time maintaining the water parameters in that beast than i did with my smaller tanks. The larger the tank, the more room you have for error.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Good points, I sort of expected you to say that... And I suppose it's not any more time consuming to maintain a 90g vs 65g either. Just a matter of how it'll look in my living room.

Either way, I wanna say goodbye to buckets for maintenance.

Décisions, décisions...

 

[jourdy288]

the bigger the tank, the easier it is to maintain

Precisely, while there's definitely quite a bit more set-up involved, a bigger tank will be, over the long run, easier to keep.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Just curious about this "bigger tank is easier to maintain" theory that I see. So a bigger tank has more stable water parameters, but doesn't it require cleaning of the gravel just as often as a smaller tank? Or no?

 

[angelfishguy]

I have a 300g and water changes take about 20mins. The hard part is its 28" high.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

I had a 120g in my living room. I had an easier time maintaining the water parameters in that beast than i did with my smaller tanks. The larger the tank, the more room you have for error.

Just curious, why don't you have it anymore?

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I had a 120g in my living room. I had an easier time maintaining the water parameters in that beast than i did with my smaller tanks. The larger the tank, the more room you have for error.

Just curious, why don't you have it anymore?

I still have the tank, but the stand cracked so its out of service until i get the stand repaired

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Just curious about this "bigger tank is easier to maintain" theory that I see. So a bigger tank has more stable water parameters, but doesn't it require cleaning of the gravel just as often as a smaller tank? Or no?

You still have to regularly clean the gravel, but with a larger tank, there is more water to dilute out the toxins and stuff. It leave a little room for error. When I had oscars, in a 47g they would create about 4ppm of ammonia a day (it was a hospital tank while the big one was getting set up.) once i move my oscars into the 120g, it was down to about 1.5 a day. made it easier to cycle the tank without over exposing them to toxins

 

[Tizer]

Just curious about this "bigger tank is easier to maintain" theory that I see. So a bigger tank has more stable water parameters, but doesn't it require cleaning of the gravel just as often as a smaller tank? Or no?

I use kitty litter....i've not once have to clean it, get some flow in there ;P

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Well, I ended up buying the 55g I thought was 65g because they said it was 24" high...but it's 21". It is plenty big enough for my living room...gf would have freaked out if it had been the 90g...haha.

I started a journal thread here : http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/403657-learning-on-the-fly-my-55g-journal/page__view__findpost__p__3398082__fromsearch__1

Tizer, i'd like to know a little more about your kitty litter and flow that saves you from having to clean gravel/sand... You have power pumps that create enough flow that the poop and other debris end up getting caught by the filter or am I missing something?

 

[Tizer]

Yeah, Hydor power heads win win win. Very little settles on the bottom and the two filter intakes suck most of it up.