I have an 85 gallon tank. Dimensions 72"Lx15"Wx18"T. I have an inch and a half of gravel in the bottom, some fake plants, a couple flat sandstone rocks stacked to make a cave type thing, and an actual cave that was meant for a reptile terrarium (but matched my tank and was half the price of fish tank decor). I have two 36" Aqueon LED light fixtures and both have a white light bar, and a red and white light bar, as well as a night time blue. I am running 2 marineland penguin 350 filters. They are both rated for 350 gallons per hour each for a total of 700 g/h, and both have 4 slots for charcoal packs, although I only have two packs in each filter, and each unit has 2 biowheels (a total of 4). I have one filtration unit at each end of the tank (I figured it would give maximum filtration). I have a new world cichlid stock consisting of: two 6.5" Jack Dempsey (although one is in a seperate tank battling a fungal infection, but possibly will come back to the main tank soon), two 3 inch Midevils, two 2.5" Gold Saums, two 1.25" Mayans, three 1" Jaguar cichlids, and two small convicts 1.25" and 2". I realize it is potentially overstocked but most of the fish are small and they all get along for the most part believe it or not. I have plans for the fish when they are too big so don't whine about my future overstock please. Is my filtration good enough for now? How would it compare to a canister filter? I do atleast one 30% water change weekly. Also I have been hearing about powerheads and other stuff similar but don't know what its for. Could anybody please fill me in on some other gadgets that could benefit my tank?
Critique my setup please!
- Thread starter Wesley M
- Start date
How are your parameters today? If they are good, the filtration is good today. Good parameters won't get better with new equipment.
Power heads help in water flow or for UGF. If everything is good today, you won't benefit from new gadgets.
Like you said your tank is very over stocked and 99% of people who say they have future plans for their tank of course do, however never follow through.
With that being said here is my critique as requested. You're going to have a hell of a time with that stock list. Your Jacks are going to beat up everything in the tank (I had 2, I know very well) and the Jaguars are going to grow up and kill everything the Jacks dont get to. So points docked for stock list
I am not a fan of gravel for cleaning purposes, you'll notice cleaning will be a pain in the butt as everything will fall into it and you wont realize it. Thats personal preference though, with sand everything will lay on top for easy easy removal. Okay on that part if it works for you.
Lighting sounds like you have a great set up.
Filtration, I have 2 biowheel 350's on my 55 gallon tank and absolutely love them. That however is a 12 time turn over an hour in the tank, your 85 is about 8 times. General rule of thumb is shoot for 10x an hour turn over. I would say you have a good filtration set up and really wont need to go to cannisters. Cannisters are great but you'll find most of them have the same if not LESS of a turn over rate than the biowheel, pro's are its much easier to hide and some offer a good amount of layers for filtration as well as not cause much noise. I think you'll be happy with your filters.
I doubt you'll have many dead spots in your tank requiring you to have a power head, especially with the amount of fighting you'll have in that tank -- that will stir the water up plenty.
With that being said here is my critique as requested. You're going to have a hell of a time with that stock list. Your Jacks are going to beat up everything in the tank (I had 2, I know very well) and the Jaguars are going to grow up and kill everything the Jacks dont get to. So points docked for stock list
I am not a fan of gravel for cleaning purposes, you'll notice cleaning will be a pain in the butt as everything will fall into it and you wont realize it. Thats personal preference though, with sand everything will lay on top for easy easy removal. Okay on that part if it works for you.
Lighting sounds like you have a great set up.
Filtration, I have 2 biowheel 350's on my 55 gallon tank and absolutely love them. That however is a 12 time turn over an hour in the tank, your 85 is about 8 times. General rule of thumb is shoot for 10x an hour turn over. I would say you have a good filtration set up and really wont need to go to cannisters. Cannisters are great but you'll find most of them have the same if not LESS of a turn over rate than the biowheel, pro's are its much easier to hide and some offer a good amount of layers for filtration as well as not cause much noise. I think you'll be happy with your filters.
I doubt you'll have many dead spots in your tank requiring you to have a power head, especially with the amount of fighting you'll have in that tank -- that will stir the water up plenty.
After seeing, the wish list I did not read further. You are overstocked with fast-growing fish. Reduce your stock or upgrade to something close to 300 gallons. Eventhough, I still think a pair of midelvils (if they pair up) or just one of them or the jaguar will eventually wipe out the rest of your stock. The rest like filtering should follow if you reduce your stock or upgrade.
I will I'm fact follow through with my plan for big fish. My lfs will always take them back, and I know of a pond that's 80 degrees all year round and full of food. My big hope is that I will be able to upgrade by the time they need more room and I won't have to get rid of fish. Would it benefit me to put sponge filter in with the charcoal packs? And I really like the idea with sand. It is probably better for the fish because they are diggers. I've been wanting sand for a while but have yet to find a coarse black or dark sand. I only have three haha because I'm trying to get a pair. If I do then I'm getting rid of most of my smaller fish. I have several friends with big tanks that would gladly take them. As well as my other options.
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I doubt that is a legal option. Your list includes a number of potential breeding pairs and wild release of cichlids (whether paired or not) is prohibited in most states. Placing them in a pond provides the opportunity for birds to spread them to other ponds, lakes and rivers.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...-NEVER-release-an-aquarium-fish-into-the-wild
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/dont_release.html
It's a privately owned pond slash hot spring thing. There already tons of cichlids in it. The only outlet has a screen to filter out any fish. It is legal. It would be my last resort anyways. I would obviouy rather sell them.
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Wesley Im sure you came into this knowing your stock list was going to get slammed, based on that Im going to go with you were prepared and adult enough to accept it.
Both of your ideas are terrible and I feel slightly immature. The fact that "the lfs will gladly take them back" to me says you should never have taken them in the first place. There could be someone else who could adequately house these fish for life. Releasing them into a "private" wild is also a little ridiculous for obvious reasons stated above so I wont touch on that. It also sounds like this is a generally new tank and most likely un cycled? I assume that because I would have rather seen a thread asking about your set up WITHOUT fish and inquiring as to what would live comfortably in that tank. You clearly knew it was overstocked and with plenty of fish that will eventually not get along but continued to stock it as such.
Im sorry if you think thats harsh or mean but I feel you needed to hear it. Good luck with your future fish keeping.
Both of your ideas are terrible and I feel slightly immature. The fact that "the lfs will gladly take them back" to me says you should never have taken them in the first place. There could be someone else who could adequately house these fish for life. Releasing them into a "private" wild is also a little ridiculous for obvious reasons stated above so I wont touch on that. It also sounds like this is a generally new tank and most likely un cycled? I assume that because I would have rather seen a thread asking about your set up WITHOUT fish and inquiring as to what would live comfortably in that tank. You clearly knew it was overstocked and with plenty of fish that will eventually not get along but continued to stock it as such.
Im sorry if you think thats harsh or mean but I feel you needed to hear it. Good luck with your future fish keeping.
Okay, first off, I was originally asking about my filters and other aquarium gadgets that would help my filtration and water quality. I really don't understand why people must take it upon themselves to tell other people what they should and shouldn't do with their aquarium. It seems to me that the people who call me immature are in fact rather arrogant and immature themselves. I am in fact 100% aware that I WILL BE overstocked. The fact of the matter is my fish are only between 1 and 3 inches long except for the two Jack Dempseys which are 6.5, and one of them isn't even in the tank, and most likely won't be coming back because I am giving it to my friend. Also, All of my fish get along just fine, aside from the normal cichlid fin nipping. I am completely aware that my fish will grow larger than my tank can handle, and as I said before I have friends that will take the fish. We trade and swap fish sometimes anyways. It is our way of keeping different species and enjoying them as long as we can. Some people don't have the luxury of affording 350+ gallon aquariums, so we have to make do with what we have. And whats so wrong with keeping it while it is small then giving it to a better home when it is too big to house comfortably? In my opinion I am doing nothing wrong and am handling this in a mature manner. I'm not upset or mad so don't get all defensive. I just wish people would answer the question at hand without feeling the need to bash people's ways of enjoying the hobby. My fish are happy and so am I, so please quit bashing me and if you can, answer my damn question. Is my filtration okay? My water parameters are perfect and my tank is cycled completely and has been that way for months. Are there other types of filters I could add to my setup to improve clarity? I have tiny particles that just drift around the tank. You can only see them up close but still, I notice it. Also, I don't mind someone mentioning my overstock, but once somebody says it that means it doesn't mean it needs to be said again, unless somebody is building on it or something or else it is just redundant. Thats my opinion haha I really do appreciate the feedback and the people that actually answered my question. I just don't like the bashing, its disrespectful. Especially when I have done nothing to you. Sorry if I offend anybody.
That was a very long post that just reaffirmed my suspicion that you really are just ignorant to the fact that you're overstocking to please a selfish need of your own with complete disregard to the fish that you claim to know feelings of. You openly know you're overstocked, you openly know you have very aggressive fish, and you openly know that you dont have the luxury of owning a 350+ gallon tank... so maybe you could answer our questions as to WHY get so many damn fish? Just leave them in the store.
I did however give you my feedback on the filtration and said I liked it. Said I would have shot for 10x and that a cannister was probably not something you needed as those biowheels are great.
I did however give you my feedback on the filtration and said I liked it. Said I would have shot for 10x and that a cannister was probably not something you needed as those biowheels are great.