IS this overboard ???

[Knowdafish]

The reason your LFS gets away with the high number of feeders in their tank is because: 1) they probably get rid of (sell?) them before they have a problem with them 2) they probably do a 100% (or close to it!) water change everyday (We did on our feeder tanks when I worked at a fish store! We would run a garden hose to the tank while a 500 GPH Beckett pump was running and let them both run for an hour or so every single morning!) 3) they NEVER feed the feeders any food! This keeps the ammonia to a minimum! Are you NEVER going to feed your feeders? Even after a month? As they say: "Garbage in = Garbage out"! Poor quality feeders do not do your fish any good!

 

[koop171]

no no no i think some ppl are getting the concept right and some are not they will be feed the water will be tested and treated regularly by no means will this tank be neglected. the concept i feel is sound its just the realization that its alot of work to keep this afloat but it is very fesable

 

[Wolf3101]

I can feed 15 big tanks of fish for 6 months on what your spending on a feeder tank. You said you didn't want to concider a constant drip system but in all honesty here for a 75 gallon tank with feeders...even that many of them...all you need is a pair of hydro5's for bio....a pair of AC110's for mechanical; filtration and the constant drip system. The FX, while great filter is lost on a set up like that. A tank that crowded crys out for a constant drip system.

It's never really a question of spending MORE but rather spending WISELY...

By the way you can easilly pay for a constant drip system with what youd save by cutting out the exotic media.

 

[stingray94]

Now that you have already got some feeders and have already spent money on this set up I would suggest you put the fx5 on your regular tank, feed all of the goldfish that you have to your fish, buy a 20 gallon tank and put a few convicts in it and breed them, now you have a 75 gallon tank with all equitment

 

[koop171]

Now that you have already got some feeders and have already spent money on this set up I would suggest you put the fx5 on your regular tank, feed all of the goldfish that you have to your fish, buy a 20 gallon tank and put a few convicts in it and breed them, now you have a 75 gallon tank with all equitment

i allready have a FX5 on my regluar tank this will be a feeder tank thats not up for debate the longevity of the tank being a feeder tank is up for grabs and IF i do decide this won't work out as well as i wanted then i will have a perfet setup for some other fish the only thing that i might have been swayed on is changing from gold to roseys thats something i might look into but there size is a hinderance b/c i will have to feed more to get my fish full

 

[SemperFish]

If the goldfish wont be breeding I dont see how youre getting around the trips to the LFS. How many of these fish will you be feeding to your other fish a week? You dont want the population to fluctuate by hundreds so that means youre still making trips for one or two hundred fish at a time. It seems to me that with the trips youll have to make to maintain your tank population at around 1000 you might be better off just setting up a small tank to quarantine the few hundred you get each trip until you feed them. Seems like youll be sustaining hundreds of fish for no practical purpose.

 

[importracer]

Why not get a horse or cow trough and fill it with feeders????Line the sucker up with pond liner and stick your filtration on it.....Or go to you local WalMArt, Target, Home Depot and buy the DIY 3 drawer wet/dry/sump setup....The 75 gallon thing is cool, heck you added one of the top filters on the darn thing.....I guess you are braining over the fact of how many feeders to put in at a time without destroying the bio cycle....Your setup is fine, just be easy on the cycle....

 

[koop171]

i am STILL waiting to get the rest of my stuff i ordered last sunday so when i get it all ill repost pics before i stock and let u know how it goes

P.S. i'm NOT happy its taken so long to get my stuff i bought it out of pennslyviana and i'm in ohio should NOt take 5 working days

but when i get it ill repost

 

[koop171]

i got most of my stuff today its to late to put it together but i will post some pics tonight i got a light, new airpump, bubbles stones. all i am waiting on now are the sponge filters


ill post updated pics tonight when i get home and set it up

 

[Merbeast]

Oooh, I see, so I guess it is more fun to have goldfish, which are bigger.

I'm actually planning to do this with a 75, too, except with guppies. I'm trying to get some healthy ones (due to bad LFS stock), but I found a good place for feeders now.

If you just want to be the most cost efficient in the long run, I suggest you get some cheap gravel for good bacteria to grow on the bottom and take care of some of the waste. If you do decide to change your mind, guppies would be much more cost efficient.

Here's my plan:

start w/ 200 in a 75 gallon, lose very few due to cramped tank, have a constant supply of feeders. They'd just keep on breeding, and you'd never have to buy more... Also, when the denitrifying bacteria sets in, you won't have to do many water changes at all.

... except for all the nitrates they will produce. I don't think he is looking for cost efficiency (note the fx5 and other filtration), so there is no good reason for gravel. Gravel would just make it harder to clean the tank.