Upgrading To New Tank

[Jivatma]

New poster, and relatively new fish tank enthusiast. I've had a Wal-mart bought 10-15 gallon fish tank for the better part of 4 years now. I'm not the most diligent person as far as weekly water changes and regular water tests go, but I really do enjoy keeping fish.

My brother is joining the Army and i am "inheriting" his snake aquarium. I want to get rid of the snake and clean the tank out and start it up for fish. Its either a 55 gallon or a 70 gallon and I had some general questions/concerns as for upgrading my tank.

First off, I know that the snake could have "damaged" the tank or made it uninhabitable for the fish. I'm working around this and I can assure you I have my fish's interests at heart in trying to find them a bigger home.

Set-Up
----------
I don't really have all the money in the world so doing a cycle with sturdy fish doesn't seem like a very worth-while effort. I have read about fishless cycling and wanted to hear some opinions on it. Furthermore, I've also read to use as much of my old tank in the new tank to help with the cycling (more questions on that later!)

I'm getting more into it, and I wanted this tank to be a teeny bit more extravagant. I am considering live plants and so I know I need some sort of substrate along the bottom. First off, I'm not 100% sure I want live plants from square 1. I'd much rather just have the option to add them later on without having to go through too much tank remodeling.

Should I add substrate from the beginning regardless if I have live plants right away or not? And probably more important, how do I do substrate? I have the tiny purple rocks/gravel in my tank now and frankly, they've become quite boring. I like the look of sandy tank bottoms as well. Any opinions or suggestions are highly appreciated.

While plants are an option for either now or later, I still want to add decorations in either driftwood form or the little plastic-things you can buy at the LFS. Thoughts, ideas, concerns?

Equipment
----------
I have no clue about lighting, filters or anything like that. I know they're important and all but definitely not my forte.

My main concern with lighting is the welfare of the fish, and then secondly the costs of electricity. Suggestions, concerns, ideas again?

My LFS has suggested these two filters of choice....

http/www.marineland.com/sites/Marineland/products/productdetail.aspx?id=2054&cid=2013&mid=3226

-or-

http/www.marineland.com/sites/Marineland/products/productdetail.aspx?id=2054&cid=1055&mid=3226

These both look good to me. As long as the fish are healthy and they look good and pretty in the process!

Fish/Plants
------------

My current tank concerns a school of 4 Mollies (and about 5 fry growing). It also contains about an 8" Pleco. I think its a common variety but I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I want to transfer the mollies to the bigger tank, but for sure I wanna transfer the pleco over. I really up in the air about other fish I want to stock in it. I'm quite interested in "bigger" fish. and more Vibrant fish. I don't want anything too extensively tough to care for. I've looked around online and found a few I was interested and wasn't sure about compatibility.

black ghost or zebra knifefish
Angelfish
Yellow Lab Cichlid

 

[clay]

on your filter choice i would take the emporor 400. it is what i have and it keeps my tank crystal clear.

 

[Jivatma]

How big is your tank? And how often do you do your water changes?

 

[lilfishie]

to the forum.

glad to hear your thinking about going the fishless cycle route, much better in the long run you could always add some of your current sponge to the new filter to give it a kick start

The pleco would definatley be greatful of the extra space.

Substate wise, i have sand in all my tanks (regular childs playsand) its great stuff, especially if you are thinking of taking a leap into live plants, if your not sold on sand you could always try half sand have gravel

 

[Gvilleguy]

LilFishie - I have gravel in my two tanks - I've wondered with sand, how do you clean it? Does a regular siphon vacuum suck the sand into the bucket, or does the sand settle out before it goes all the way in??

Jivatma - welcome to our nice little forum! You have come to the right place to ask questions like this. There are a couple of links in my signature that are good starting points to further research the fishless cycling.

A few other comments from your questions:
1. The best way to tell if the snake has done any damage is to simply fill the tank part way with water and see if it leaks (and put towels under the tank first).
2. If you think you might like live plants at some point (I have both live and fake in my tanks), be sure to go over to the planted tank part of this forum and check for threads regarding Watts Per Gallon (WPG). You want to make sure your current lighting, or the lighting you buy, is enough to handle the plants you might want.
3. Once you have your filter, do not use carbon based media in it - stick to sponge type media and bio-pellets, etc.
4. The only things you really need to get going on the cycle are the filter, some media, a heater, and some pure 10% ammonia. You can then decide on substrate and decorations as your filter "cooks".

If you are keeping the old tank then your Mollies are probably happy where they are. But I agree the Pleco would probably thrive in the bigger space.

 

[lilfishie]

Sand is very easy to clean once you get used to it, for a start the mess is on the top, you just hold your vac slightly above the sand

 

[Gvilleguy]

So it just calls for light siphoning and isn't too bad, then. I might have to try that one day.

 

[lilfishie]

definatly worth a try, i tried it in my 15 gal, now i have it in all 6 of my tanks its also very cheap

 

[Jivatma]

I'm definitely thinking about sand. I'd love black-colored sand, but I dunno if that even exists lol. So I may be going with the kiddy white sand. Do I need anything else to mix with the sand for plant food?? I already have a gravel vac, so I don't think cleaning the sand will be too hard. I may even invest in several other bottom cleaners like ghost shrimp or snails.

@GvilleGuy - when you say "cook" you mean during the fishless cycle? If that is the case, o i not fill the tank up 100%? Plus moving sand around the bottom with a full tank sounds like a very messy way to do things. How do I know if my filter is carbon-based? If it is carbon based, how do I use a non carbon based filter? I've heard great things about bio-balls from 2 LFS, so I was probably wanting to go with those. I also got thoroughly confused with the plant forum. I read through the "back to basics" guide on there and kind of learned a teeny bit, but nothing that I would feel sufficiently learned with to start plants. I did have somebody in the chat room suggest something about T5 *shrugs* I'm quite umb when it comes to all those technical terms and jargon.

 

[weezawoo]

Hi and welcome!
Firstly i def reccommend sand!
T5 is a type of light, thinner than t8 and gives higher light.
The easiest way to test the tank would be filling it up outside and leaving it a few days to check it stands the pressure.
You wouldnt need to cycle the tank if u transfer the filter media from ur current tank to the new filter and add ur current fish. There would be enough good bacteria to cope and then add any new fish slowly to make sure the bacteria grows with the more waste. It is advisable to buy a liquid test kit to check parametres.
CArbon is generaly black and is to remove things from the water.its not needed unless u have treatments to remove
I would recoment going real and geting plants and bogwood for a more natural look