55 Gallon Stocking

[Man of fish]

I'm hoping it'll look nice. Can I put rocks from a ditch in my backyard?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I got a Penguin 350. It is a nice filter, but I had to replace it as my display tank had a top support that blocked a filter that large from fitting on my tank. So, I got two Penguin 200s. In the end I like that a little better. It gives me TWO intake points instead of just one with the 350. I have one that draws from the top of the tank and one that draws from the bottom.

The Penguin 200s, 350 and the Emperor 400 all have two slots (the 350 and 400 actually have FOUR, two on each side. You only need to use one floss cartridge in each side, if you ask me. I use a bag of ceramic media behind each cartridge. The ceramics plus the biowheel will never have to be replaced. The thing I like about the ceramics though is that I can give these to any new filter any time I want and have an instantly cycled filter for a portion of my stock with no concern about ammonia spikes, etc. As stated about every month I swish the filter media in a bucket of tank water to keep water flowing through it, but I haven't replaced any of these cartridges at all and it has been running like this since April. I did remove the donated media I added to my filter a while ago. These filters are great as HOBs go because of the extra space for other filter media materials. For my money the ceramics are the single best for biological filtration because they NEVER need to be replaced EVER! And they are easily transferred to another filter whenever needed.



Be careful about putting found objects into your tank. The answer is generally yes, but you want to test it first. Pour some vinegar on it. If it fizzes, you don't want to use it. If it doesn't, give it a good scrub and you should be fine. (I assume that these have never had any type of pesticide or herbicide used anywhere near them, correct?)

 

[Man of fish]

I doubt it but it's possible. They have been buried under muddy water sometimes though because it in a ditch.

 

[Man of fish]

But it's definitely possible from the runoff. The ditch if you follow it long enough upstream Long enough you'll find a lot of garbage and a sewer drain pipe. Will pesticides etc. Show up with the vinegar?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

No, the vinegar test is just to test for whether or not the rock will dissolve and add minerals to the water over time. There is no way to test for pesticides on the rock, as far as I am aware. Given your recent experience, it probably isn't worth the risk, or else you may go through unexplained deaths all over again.

 

[Man of fish]

Ok. I won't try it I'll just buy some stuff.

 

[Man of fish]

Will my fish eat the plants I selected and will they grow with 2 bulbs each at 15 watts? Will the yo-yos do good with a diet of frozen bloodworms freshly hatched brine shrimp frozen brine shrimp and algae wafers?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'm sorry, can you remind me about these items...

What plants? Are these T8s or T5s?


Yo-yos should be fine with that selection of food. What other fish are you going with?

 

[Man of fish]

I'll relist the fish and plants:
Plants:
Java fern
Anubias
Anacharis
Fish:
6-8 yo-yo loaches
8 bleeding heart tetra
8 black widow tetra (or other tetra of similar size)
2-3 bristlenose pleco
6-8 leopard/zebra danio
1 male, 1 female flame gourami.

Lighting:
2 T8 bulbs each 15 watts.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes, those plants should all do nicely with that lighting. Your lighting will be considered 'low'. These are all good plants for low lighting. They will grow, but slowly. The anacharis will melt when you put it in. Just vac up the leaves as they fall off, and it will eventually grow new ones.


Plecs need some wood to chew on to aid in their digestion, so make sure that you have some sort of wood in the tank, or buy algae wafers that are made specifically for plecs (these have some sawdust in them to help the plecs. I would go with the wood though, if I were you... it looks better and the plec can seek it out when they want/need it.

Those fish should be fine with your plants. Your gourami will enjoy some very densely planted sections, so I would try to keep the anacharis together and keep it bunched up as much as possible.

 

[Man of fish]

will do thank you.