Soon To Purchase 100 Gallon

[danie1]

I intend to purchase a 100 gallon tank, a Aqua one (AquaGrande) anybody have any experiences with one of these it has curved glass corners and the filter is built into the hood it looks like 8 stacks of square sponge.

http/www.aquaone.co.uk/prod_details.php?id_no=52050BK

My main question is what type of heater should I purchase ?
Would it be better to get two or just a single heater ?

I have decide on a planted Gourami tank as I am way to inexperienced to keep discus and I don't like the plain sand and rock of a chilid setup, although that is what the LFS guy reckons would bee the coolest thing to do with a tank of that size.
(just found out the price of decent substrate, it is a killer)

As to stocking would the following be OK

3 yo yo loachs (will take the single lonely one out of my 20 gallon)
1 albino shark (he comes out of the 20 gallon as well)
??? Another cool bottom feeder

Any chance of a elephant nose or black ghost knife?

What/how many gouramis, and can you mix them ?

I realise these questions get asked all the time but it not everyday you decide to buy a big!! fish tank.

Any suggestions welcome

Thanks Dan

 

[rabbut]

My main question is what type of heater should I purchase ?
Would it be better to get two or just a single heater ?

I would go with two heaters, or even three. The rule of thumb is 1 watt of heater power to every litre of water. A 100 gal tank will hold 500 litres(large rounding error there intentionaly, as it is better to overheat that under when using more than one heater), so you will need either 2 250watt heaters, or 2 150 wats and a 200watt to make the total power. I spread the load of heating a tank accross more than one heater in large tanks, as it gives better heat distribution and a flilsafe, should a heater fail.

3 yo yo loachs (will take the single lonely one out of my 20 gallon)
1 albino shark (he comes out of the 20 gallon as well)
??? Another cool bottom feeder

Any chance of a elephant nose or black ghost knife?

What/how many gouramis, and can you mix them ?

A 100gal tank gives you arround 100 inches of fish to play with. Those bottom feeders should mix, but the tank os not large enough for a BGK. Elephant noses can also be difficult to keep, unless a large amount of research is done prior to purchase

HTH
rabbut

 

[shang hi]

i recently bourght a awau one tank with the curved glass corners. beaware that most of the modles hve a "suport" built internaly, it is unremovable and already fitted. this could limit to the size of decor (i highly dbout though as the tank wll be big enough meaning there will be a big hole for items to be put into the tank.

they are very nice with the curved glass, im not sure if yours will come with every thing like mine did (not the air pump btw) but the filter suplied was not very good. maby your LFS will do what mine did, take the filter out the box and replace it with a filter of your choise if you pay the difference.

im not sure 100% about all this as it varys from tank modles so you may not have the suports at-all.

good luke with it though, shang hi

 

[Scotty001]

I'm not too sure on this specific model but i have heard horror stories about the trickle filters on the aqua one tanks, i was looking at the aqua one style 850 which had a trickle filter built into the hood and discovered that it isn't a "sealed unit" when you lift up the top cover that isn't clipped in or water tight you can see the filter and flowing water, this means that if the filter blocks the water will flood out the back until there is no water left or u notice your new unplanned swimming pool

Other manufacturers i looked at when you lifted the top of the hood off inside was another sealed unit (the trickle filter) that had a lid clipped down and was a waterproof seal so if the filter blocked the water stayed in the filter and didn't pour out everywhere because of this i went for a Aqua vital / Vista, 830 I swear it is made by the same people it is the same glass, same style same cabinet, everything is THE SAME !!!!! but came with an external filter and not the trickle filter, i was thrilled !!

it is very hard to find info online about the aqua vista / vital range but a few LFS where i live sell them and i believe they also do a model the same that your looking at and it may be cheaper. Mine was.

my experience with the tank i bought, it is good quality, robust, doesn't feel like cheap plastic, good lighting unit, and the external filter (mush smaller than what u need Aqua vista AVEX800 works great too, oh it also came with the heater too !!!

hope this helps a little, I would recommend throughly investigating the filtration system as to me it just didn't look safe if things went wrong (This was on a smaller model i was looking at however)

Scott

 

[fatfishman]

Hello Dan

Thats a nice big tank you have chosen you could do alot with that. You could have a ton of gouramis in there the choice is up to you, though with most it is best to have two females to every male, but in a planted tank of that size it wouldnt be the end of the world if you couldnt.

Secondly what substrate were you thinking of using because if you wanted sand then argos play sand is what many people on this forum use it looks great and is quite cheap for how much you get (not sure how much would be needed to cover that tank)

Also you mentioned black ghost knife, I dont know that much about these fish but i do know that they get very big so maybe not a good idea.

The elephant nose fish is a demanding fish its very sensitive to water quality and has certain feeding requirements. It is also a very clever fish and has been known to escape from the tank, but then dies . I do think they are a great fish but you will need to research them before hand if you havent already and maybe it would be best to leave it for a while until the tank is up and running before getting one.

Good Luck