new tank

[hemptation88]

i saw marine sand at the store today and im setting up a new tank for pirahnas, is it ok to use marine sand for fresh water? Also any filtration sugestions for pirahnas cuz i kno how they can be messy. :feedback:

[piranha45]

I don't know about the sand, but what size is your tank and how many piranhas of what specie do you plan on keeping?

[hemptation88]

gettin a 29 for lik 3 or 4 caribes, i got em in a 10 gallon now but im sellin it, so im switchin but im plannin on puttin them in my 55 gallon when i get my 300 gallon. also i dont want to spend that much money, but i kinda want a canister filter ne ideas?

[hemptation88]

their also small caribes lik 1.5" so it should be ok for now.

[piranha45]

one Aquaclear 300 or equivalent filter on a 55g should be fine if you thoroughly vacuum your substrate once a week. You run a higher-than-average risk of having 3 caribas reduce their number to 1 in a 55g tank, though.

[predprey]

marine sand is fine but try not to let loose to much sand into the water i've had a barra die from the really fine grain stuff, and you lose a lot when cleaning.

[hemptation88]

what do mean by 3 to 1??

[piranha45]

I mean that they will cannibalize one another; caribas are much more territorial/aggressive towards one another than nattereris. 3 nattereris in a 55g is held to be acceptable by general consensus, but 3 caribas should be put in a 75g or larger. It's your fish and your tanks, and a little risk is never a bad thing in my book, but just thought I'd let you in the know...

[hemptation88]

is it less likely w/ more caribes or even more of a chance. and ive got the 2 in a 10 gallon now and ones been gettin his fin eatin. I might just trade them in a get super reds.

[mpgleisten]

marine sand? i have aragonite in my sw tank and it buffers the pH. Check to see if that stuff will raise your pH to 8.0 or above. P's will do better in lower pH water and i dont know if you want to mess with using additives.

i have sand in my rhom tank, tahitian black moon sand specificially. it is not too fine and doesnt cause too much trouble for my filter. cleans fast and easy and settles in hours.

cut a sponge and put it over the filter intake to prevent and sand from jamming the impellor. go to www.thatpetplace.com and check out their wide variety of sands they have.

[piranha45]

Yo can try overstocking, but I think you'll be trying to cram too many fish in too small a tank in the long run, if it does work. Super reds sound like a better idea..

[BUBBA]

Sand can be hard to maintan.
I perfer small gravel..

[guppy]

Sand can be hard to maintan.
I perfer small gravel..
Agreed, but i also supplement the overside filter with under gravel, fine sand tends to compact unless you add trumpet snails. 3 is better than 2, 5 is better than 3 if they are small enough but expect to lose at least one as they grow, super reds might be better for a 55g

[Oddball]

In the wild, the more dense the P shoal becomes, the higher the incidence of cannibalism (From writings on "The Territorial Imperative" - forgot the author). This is a drought response to less available food as the number of prey animals are reduced in isolated or near isolated pools. You could probably overcome this instinct by providing more food but, I wouldn't envy you on the increased maintenance.

[aniki]

sand should be fine, but once you set it up it might remain cloudy for a couple of days up to 2 weeks depending how fine the sand is and how well you wash the sand beforehand. there should be something you can buy from your lfs to add to the water so that the small particles floating around settle much faster, forgot what its called.

as for canister filters, a nice and cheap one like a fluval 404 or xp3 would do the trick, but if you have extra money to throw around get a eheim, best filter you can get can enevr go wrong.

[RhomBeusBoi]

I would get an EMP 280 over an AC300.