55 Gallon or 75 Gallon

[pan0k]

I am debating which aquarium to get a 55 Gallon or a 75 Gallon.  

Well here are the detail.  
55 Gallon
- Price = $99
- 48" X 12" X 21" LxWxH
- Came with hood/light combo (2 of them)

75 Gallon
- Price = $99
- 48" X 18" X 21" LxWxH
- Hood (2 X $30)
- Light (1 long florecent - I think - $120)

Both of them are nice.  I thought the hood/light for the 75 Gallon was a tad expensive.  I currently have a 20 Gallon tank (30" X 12" X 12&quot.  Right now that sit on an old office desk.
My only fear is that the office desk might not support all those weight.

Thanks,
Pan

 

[arcab4]

i'd go with the biggest tank you can afford. it'll allow you to keep more fish and it's more forgiving if you miss a couple of water changes or have some kind of chemical inbalance. besides..in this hobby you'll always want to have a bigger tank. i went from a 6, to a 10, to a 29 and now i'm onto a 60gallon. haha.

i wouldn't suggest placing the 75gallon on a desk. buy a stand for it. try the classfied ads for some good stands. if you're serious about lighting try looking for lights at ahsupply.com instead.

good luck! *thumbsupsmiley*

 

[JWright]

Arcab summed it up nicely. Go with the biggest tank you can possibly afford, you won't be dissapointed.

You'll need a real stand regardless of wheter you go with the 55 or the 75.

Josh

 

[dattack]

Definitely the 75 gallon.  You usually always want a tank that has a good front to back length to give you enough room to aquascape.  
It will help if you find that unique driftwood or piece of rock that requires enough room.

 

[pan0k]

Thanks all.  I will go with 75 Gallon.  Now, how about the filter?  A Magnum 350 is good enough or maybe 2 or any other suggestion?

 

[Cillana]

Definately get the 75! If I was in your situation I would have gotten a 75, but around here they seem to want to charge $99 for 55s and $199 for 75s. I regret getting a 55 gallon. I don't have enough depth for my aquascaping and my lovely piece of driftwood is squeezed in tightly. It prevents my vals from filling in behind it so I have a big hole in the middle of my row along the back of the tank. And finally, I have enough fish for a 75 gallon! *twirlysmiley* I'm still kicking myself. Don't get yourself in my situation.

 

[Fish Monger]

As for a filter, if you're going with the 75 gallon tank, and you have the $$, Eheim makes some good filters.  I've had mine running for a few days now, and it's the easiest starting, quietest canister I've ever owned.

1 Magnum 350 should do the trick as well, and it's a good filter too.

And, as everyone else stated... get a stand meant to hold a tank of this size.  This is gonna be somewhere between 600 - 750 lbs of water/gravel/fishes/whatever to deal with and you don't want to take any chances with breaking furniture and spilling all that water.  In fact, if you're a worry-wart like me, look into re-inforcing the support in the floor beneath the tank somehow (I went to Home depot and got some 2x4's and two adjustable columns to support the floor from the basement).

 

[colesea]

Yeah, what everybody else said  ;D

Although I would like to add that an undergravel with reverse flow powerheads should certainly help with cleaning such a large tank.  It seems everybody always expects one super filter to do it all, and to me that always just sounds a bit, odd.  I like undergravel/power box combos personally, with sealing a canister like a Fluval 404 simply for biological culturing (no chemical media, just bio-stars, balls or whatever).

You might have to DIY an undergravel for such a large tank though, I haven't seen any on the market (at least in my store) that is sized to fit 75 gallons. Instead of buying one super power box, get two smaller ones (penguin 170, aqua clear 200 etc) for each side. When I do filtration for large tanks, I try to divide the tank in half, or even better, into thirds, and set up filtration as if I had three 25 gallon tanks instead of one large 75 gallon.  I feel that doing it this way promotes better flow currents and circulation in the tank, as well as keeping the tank clean the way most people expect it to be without a lot of work. Same with the heating, smaller wattage heaters on either side of the tank is better than one super heater, it prevents hot spots and cold spots provided you have good circulation around them.

Hope that helps. Good luck.
~~Colesea

 

[pan0k]

;D  Well, just to let everybody knows that I did get the 75 gallons and it was worth it.  Unfortunately I have too many fishes (50 to 60 fishes) in it now - all thanks to the Zebra Danio specials and the Neon Tetra specials at my local Pet Store.  I have to do gravel cleaning every 2 to 3 days.  

Oh as for the filter, I purchased a Magnum 350 deluxe (the one with the gravel cleaner).  Excellent.  But I felt it was under power so I went and get another one. ;D  I will put it up either tonight or tomorrow night or whenever I have the time.


Again, Thanks all for answering.

 

[colesea]

Wow, um err, do you plan to have anything else besides zebra danios in there?

So you bought all these fishies? Did you do a fishless cycle before hand, or are you trying to cycle the tank with all these fish in it? Expect some losses, espcially in the neons, they don't handle cycle stress very well.

I can't believe your LFS let you walk out of the store with all those fish like that! See, it's employees like that who give employees like me a bad rep *harumph*. Well, I guess so long as you don't mind gravel vaccing every day, and monitoring ammonia, and having a cloudy tank, or dying fish, whatever works for you.
~~Colesea *still peeved at those LFS employees*

 

[dattack]

Wo, that's a lot of fish.  We didn't recommend a 75 gallon for you.  I think we recommended a 240 G. ;D

 

[pan0k]

;D
Here is what I start out with
18 fishes from the old aquarium (3 neons, 3 black neons, 2 tiger barbs, 2 false SAE, 2 Zebra Danios, 2 painted grass fishes - I know, I know, I should have check the net., and 4 others)
4 ghost shrimps from the old aquarium

30 new neon tetra
6 new tiger barbs
5 new short fin Zebra Danios
5 new long fin Zebra Danios
4 new red swordtails
30 new ghost shrimps
3 otos

Now here is my fish stories.
- Lost 1 fish in the bag during my transfer from 20 gallons to 75 gallons (IDIOT!!!)  Didn't find that out until the day I throw the bag away.  Well preserved body though.
- Lost 1 fish (Tetra with black tail) He jump out.  But well preserved
- Lost 2 ghost shrimps that I know off (1 for some reason jump out the aquarium and landed on the hood where my light completely dried him off)  I just died for no reason - it is still in the water.  Can't really find them since they always in hiding.  Not a big loss since they only costs 6 for a buck.
- Lost 3 new tiger barbs.  They were mishandled when I first got them.  I was surprised that they lasted more than a week in the condition that they were in.
- Lost 3 new neon tetras.  1 was my fault, the other 2 for some reason got stuck to the powerhead and can't escape.
- Finally my latest casualties, 1 oto just died no reason.

Total is 61 but loss 9 so about 52 fishes with 34 but loss 2 or 32 ghost shrimps.  *thumbsupsmiley*

Now that my fish population are stable, I think I will get more plants.  

 

[dattack]

Err, any pics of your tank? *laughingcryingsmiley*

 

[pan0k]

Is there a FAQ on how to post picture?   Hmmm... Simple enough, I will try to post some tonight to show you.  Also, Just a warning.  I am not a pro in aquatic garden or anything.  I am simply testing things out.  Putting things in here and there.  So don't blame me if my tank does not live up to your standard. :

 

[Fish Monger]

Try and read up on some plants on the net before you go buy some.  Alot of LFS sell terrestrial plants and try to pass them off as aquatics. >

Also, do you have only the one flourescent tube above your tank?  You may need more lighting than that if you plan on doing plants.  Again, the 'net is a wealth of info for keeping live plants.