Inherited A 55 Gallon With Fish Got Some Questions

[ADT320]

Very new to this forum. I had a 29 gallon successful tank 8 yearsago and just got back into tropicals. My neighbor gave me her 55 gallon tank with 18 fish including a 21" pleco in it. questions:

1. no heater with tank temp is around 70 should i buy a heater

2. has a penguin 170 for up to 50 gallons. should i upgrade?

3. when we moved it 2 weeks ago we did a major water change as well as gravel. I have been testing the water, ammonia is very low, no2 no 3 are very high yet all fish are very much alive. Any concerns upcoming.

4. i planted live plants (she had plastic) and I cannot keep the 21" pleco from up rooting any ideas?

5. what can i do with the pleco?

 

[Barbie Bubbles]

Welcome to this site and back to fishkeeping. That's a pretty big pleco for such a small tank! Is there any way your LFS will take him in on a trade maybe?

 

[rockerBOO]

Buying a heater would be a good option. Upgrading the filter would be another good option, as it can handle 170 gallons per hour, which gives you 3.2 times it will filter all the water in the tank per hour. Should look for something more between 5-7.

I would also suggest that if you can, you change about 25% of the water daily until the nitrites go back to 0 to help with the load.

 

[t.ropical_m.istx3]

would your neighbor be upset if you gave away her pleco though? he is big, but you wouldn't want to make your neighbor upset...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Very new to this forum. I had a 29 gallon successful tank 8 yearsago and just got back into tropicals. My neighbor gave me her 55 gallon tank with 18 fish including a 21" pleco in it. questions:

1. no heater with tank temp is around 70 should i buy a heater

2. has a penguin 170 for up to 50 gallons. should i upgrade?

3. when we moved it 2 weeks ago we did a major water change as well as gravel. I have been testing the water, ammonia is very low, no2 no 3 are very high yet all fish are very much alive. Any concerns upcoming.

4. i planted live plants (she had plastic) and I cannot keep the 21" pleco from up rooting any ideas?

5. what can i do with the pleco?

hi and welcome back to fishkeeping

1 - yes you need a heater, 70 is a bit too low

2 - yes, especially with a big plec in there, i always think the size ratings on filters are generous and you should get one that can do more than your tank.

3 - yes the tank's probably gone into a mini cycle, it happens when you move tanks sometimes. I'd do 20% water changes every day until nitrite drops to 0. Getting a better filter on there should help, make sure you transfer over the existing filter media to the new filter.

4 - not a lot, big pelcs don't do to well with plants! If you get plants with large root systems like amzon swords you'd be ok once the roots developed and took hold properly however in the mean time you'll be constantly replanting. But that being said I think the plec is a bit too big for the tank anyway so I would look to either upgrade the tank or re-home the plec.