Regrets with large tank and other newbie questions!!

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str8dum

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2005
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Hey guys,

Long tme lurker, relatively 1st time poster.

I am about to make the plunge so to speak into a monster tank. Either a 180 or a 240g, prolly a 240g.

Either one would go fine on my back wall in my living room. I have a few questions. I have gone thru the search function and answered a bunch of my simple questions but here are a few I could use opinions on.

1. has anyone bought too large of a tank and regretted it. Going from a 20g where you can water change with a 5gal pail to something I'll need a Python and signifanct amounts of water, it seems you can go overboard quickly. I dont want a tank that is going to run my life with 2 hr water changes 2 or 3 times a week. I know the bilload wont be too high. maybe 6 fish at most At MFK size they are $$$)

2. Overflows? With my new tank, say the 240g, would most people use 1 over flow or 2? I guess I can have 3 holes drilled in each over flow (2 out and 1 return). Does it matter if its 1 big center overflow or 1 on each side? Also with overflows I guess you need to stay on top of vacuuming teh bottom more since water is just recycled from the top? It will be a bare bottom tank or large river rock prolly for that reason.

3. filtration? this also seems to be another touchy subject. For the price of dual overflows and tank drillings, that almost the cost of 1 FX5. IS wet/dry really that much better? I know my canisters (fluval 405s) are nice a quiet. I'd sure hate to get overflows and mess with durso pipes and still have that running water sound. The tank is going in my home theater room, so I dont want that noise. But If i needed 2x FX5 (assuming 240g tank again) thats ~400$ in filter and I could buy a pimp premade W/D for that much.

4. Will a full grown TSN,red tail cat, or silver arowana be comfy in a 240g? Seems like most the monster fish ppl buy will out grow even the largest of premade tanks. Pretty sure I want some oddball bottom dwellers and a top swimming fish.

5. Thanks guys, just nervous about gettin in over my head. Any other advice apprecaited!


Newbie Rich
 
well, I seriously doubt you'll be disappointed with a bigger tank. They really arent that time consuming if you do it right, and there are other things you can do that make maintenance close to nothing (search drip system). I have a 300, 265, 135 and several other smaller tanks and I never feel like i spend too much time on them. A couple hours a week, tops.
I am a wet/dry lover, and having a canister I will go with nothing but wet/dry filters on anything over 100 gallons in the future. Wet/drys are easier to maintain and you can build them fairly cheaply. If you get a glass tank you can get (or make) hang on overflows that work very well, and dont require drilling( plus you can move them around).

As far as the fish you are questioning, both the RTC and the TSN will outgrow a 240, but an arowana can live comfortably for a long time in one, but bigger would always be better.

If anything, you should worry about wanting more tanks after you get hooked by the 240 :grinyes:
 
1) if you get a python it isn't that hard to do water changes

2) I have one overflow on my 125 and it works well

3) wet/dry isn't better but it was more convienient for me and I can customise it more

4) the short answer no, red tail cats alone get 5' in the wild

Also I prefer to grow fish out because not only is it cheaper but you get to see them grow up
Someone else should be able to help you more than I can but I hope I helped a little!!
 
i built my 180 and now i wish i had gone bigger
i would stay away from rtc and tsn as rally stated
i have a rtc in my 180 that i am now going to get rid of
he grew fro 3" to 8" in a little over 3 months and then he ate my chinese perch

as for filters i would go wet/dry all the way
they are easy to maintain
if you need help building one let me know i built all of mine
overflows can be made super cheap out of pvc
look for my thread on diy overflow

mike
 
eh1421 said:
as for filters i would go wet/dry all the way
they are easy to maintain
if you need help building one let me know i built all of mine
overflows can be made super cheap out of pvc
look for my thread on diy overflow

mike
Click to expand...

I built my filter system as well and am very pleased with it "Wet/Dry... It doesn't take long to stifel the falls :) I bought a 150 and now am wishing i waited for a 300 minimum.. LOL Like stated above I don't think you will be disapointed with starting out that big :) I think you'll be wanting bigger after a few months..

I also bought a Braided pvc clear tube.. 1 inch or 1.5 specifically for waterchanges.. I can empty my 150 in 8 to 10 minutes if needed.I have to 25 gallon bucket that slide easily across my floor to the door for watering my flowers LOL.. My water changes take about 15 to 20 minutes total... :) You can even go biggeer. I am currently working on a gravel vac to put at the end. I have sand and have no problem with the crap on the bottom.. it disappears somehow. And that that doesn't i can get with my Python. Which is how i refill...
 
I think you would regret getting a smaller one more than you would regret going bigger. And as for water changes, I have 2 /55g. drums next to my tank. You really dont need that large but I have 8 tanks to change. So, anyway, get maybe even a 20 to 40 gallon barrel and fill it with garden hose water, add your dechlor then get a 1" hose long enough to go from your tank to outside. Siphon your water out, however much you change, then from the 20 to ro gallon barrel, use a pump to pump the water back to your tank, problem solved. i do a 100 gallon water change in less than 15 minutes. Most people dont change that much, but Im an idiot.
 
Just this past weekend my son called me into the TV room and there was a guy fishing the Amazon, pulling in a RTC with a mouth a foot and a half wide if it was an inch. The guide lifting him/(her?) into the boat could barely reach around the thing. I don't see the attraction, with them devouring tankmates and busting through their tank sides. Someone may shoot me down and insist they're great, but I frequently see juvies in LFS's at fairly reasonable(!!!) prices. One has to wonder what percentage of those fish will live to anything close to a ripe old age.

I guess the same thing could be said for shovel-noses. I had one twenty years ago that went from 8" to 18" very quickly. He could knock down three dozen feeders in an hour. After he dined on my 7" Jack Dempsey, Leon (after Leon Spinks), I was way luicky to have a shop owner take him off my hands. (That's another consideration in this Petsmart/PetCo world - - finding a place to unload mistakes!)

I'm going to model my 200g after Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. No gladiators for me! I'm sure I'll still get burned a few times.

krn
 
I agree with what everyone said. I would also like to add that i have never met a hobbyist that ever told me after a few months of keeping that " their tank is too big " . People even find standard tanks inadequate after a while and thats why they move to ponds and concrete tanks.

If anything, all of them regretted that they didnt buy the next size up when getting their tanks.
 
I believe the often cited rule of thumb is to buy the largest aquarium your spouse or significant other will allow you to get. :thumbsup:
 
your smart for asking ??'s 1st
one problem with big tanks is people dont think things through and end up wasting lots of money on everything filters, substrate, medications, water conditioners etc

i was one of these people

3 Lg cannisters and 2 Lg HOB filtering my 240
worked fine but looked bad and was a lot of time wasted

treating a 20g for ich no big deal
treating a 240g $$
Quarantining fish is a must
 
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