New Set-up - Opinions?

[rotex5510]

We just got a 55 gallon tank off craiglist today, barely 6 weeks after our 26 bow and 10. Unfortunately both of those are in fish in cycles due to bad petstore advice. We will definately go fishless for the 55, but I wanted to make sure the rest of the set up would work for what we're planning.
We are going to use pool filter sand, probably about 1 inch, mostly artificial plants and rocks. The filter we got it with is a whisper 60 HOB.
The fish will be:
6 peppered corys
6 trillineatus corys
1 rubbernose plec (or maybe 2? I'm not sure)
and a small assortment of either platys or guppies (the ones not chosen will end up in the 26 bow when the cycle is complete)

I'm thinking about adding a power head to increase the water current for the rubbernose, will that be bad for the other fish? It will also have 3 air stones.
Can I hang/submerge the two new filter cartridges in my 26 to get them started? My husband has to build a stand for the 55 before we can add water.
Could I add a couple of moss balls to this set up? Would it even be worth it?

 

[OldMan47]

Why not hang the whisper 60 on the 26 bow front and just run it in place until you are ready to set up the 55. That way the filter will get a head start towards being cycled before you even start with the fishless. It should give you a bit of a jump start on the new 55 gallon. Since your existing tanks are not fully cycled, it may not do as much good as it usually would but it is bound to help some.

 

[rotex5510]

We moved all the fish to the 10 to be able to do water changes easier and swapped to fishless on the 26.
Well, we let the filter refills just sit inside the 26 for two weeks, during which time the 26 began to process ammonia quickly (still waiting on the nitrite). The 55 was set up last Sunday and the filter all put together to start running. Within 5 days we had our first big drop in ammonia - to 1.0 and nitrites were at 5ppm. All of our tanks now seem to be nearing the end of the cycle, just need to wait on the nitrite processing.

 

[rotex5510]

Hopefully the pics work. This is the new 55 with the stand we built. It is mostly made up of 2x4s and 4x4s for legs.

Close up of the tank.

The tank now has a background and you can't see the electrical cords. One more fake plant added - real ones seem like too much extra work. We were thinking of adding a couple of moss balls.

 

[bagu]

looks nice! great tank!

moss balls will look lovely! nice job!

 

[Ally555]

Looks good!!!
What colour background do you have?

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like you are making good progress Rotex. The 55 is looking quite nice the way you have it decorated.

 

[rotex5510]

Looks good!!!
What colour background do you have?

We got the one that looks like stacked brown stone and a few plants.

 

[tricken]

wow we need to put up some new photos of the tank, we add some plants and have a decent amount of fish now

 

[waterdrop]

wow we need to put up some new photos of the tank, we add some plants and have a decent amount of fish now

Are you somehow associated with rotex5510?

 

[tricken]

yea i am her other half
more picts of the tank and the others forgot the beta
The 55 gal has 2 skunk, 1 julie, 4 pepers, 8 or so platty fry 1 koi sword tail, 1 rubber lip and 1 guppy fry the plattys in the 10 are for the 55gal tank

some moon light picts

and the 10 gal and 26 bow

wish the 10 and 26 had better picts and both still need a back ground and i will make a list of all the fish later