Starting a 120gal any suggestions.

[nitromarc]

Hello again:
I am slowly aquiring equipment for a new 120 gallon tank. I would appreciate any help offered on selection of heaters and filters. I have been rather successful on keeping a 45gal, freshwater tank so far. I enjoy tropical fish and currently have a large pleco, Pike Chiclid, and a polyptomus (Sorry about the spelling). I want to purchase a South American Red Tail cat for the new tank. Any help would be appreciated.

Marc

PS how long should the strip light on a tank be left on? No plants.

 

[Gibbo]

I know how tempting it is to have a Red Tail, but your tank, even at that size, will be too small. The problem with big Pims like that is that they like a lot of space. They will grow to full potential (3ft +) given this and lots of regular water changes (30% twice a week even) in, say, a twelve foot by five by five. They need swim space too being open water species and can produce a lot of waste!! Plus they will try to get anything small enough in their mouth (heaters, clips etc) which can be dangerous to them. If you really want to get the full potential and happiness from a fish like this you will have to give over a lot of your time and a hell of a lot of money and dedication.
You could always start off with a young one I suppose but if you can't keep up with it's needs as it grows then you may have to move it on.
There are species however that will do well in a tank that size. a large cichlid setup would do well or a catfish community (Plecs, Syno cats etc) that don't get huge but still become great character fish. If you do want a Specimen Catfish though, take a look at this. It doesn't get as big as, say, a Red Tail but it has bags of wow! factor.....
Go to this link, look at Catfish of the month article and then select the CotM Archive option and look at December 2002.... Hemibagrus Wyckii. Tell me what you think?

There may be other fish there you may want to look at...

ps Heating and filtration; 2 x large external Canister filters (eg. Fluval 404 or Rena Xp3) and 2 x 300 watt heaters hidden (with all fittings) behind glass/perspex for their protection!!!

 

[Gibbo]

Sorry mate, the link is this;

Planet Catfish

 

[semper fi]

hope that you realize the amount of time that is involved in setting up a tank this size and maintaining it. better start the upper body workout for the water changes! i've got a 180 that is still in process of being totally done for a show tank. still working out the bugs for it.

the best suggestion is to have the tank drilled for the filters and keep the filters out of sight if possible. if it is possible to hide the filter in the stand then go with a fluidized bed filter (fbf). if it is not possible, then would suggest a wet dry. the nice thing about a wet dry is that you can get two tanks out of it. the main tank that the wet dry is filtering and for the sump use a larger gallon tank (55 or better) and turn it into a planted tank. nice way to hide the fact that it is an integral part of the filter system. the plants will also help to filter out the nitrates in the tank since they feed on nitrates. faster growing plants will use up more of the nitrates than the slower growing ones. your wet dry you can fashion yourself out of a spare tank. taller tanks are ideal for it. another nice thing about the wet dry is that heaters can be hidden in it instead of in the main tank.

depending on the effect that you want the tank to have will determine what kind of fish you will want to stock with. if you want a few fish, then go for the larger ones. south americans, frontosas would work. if you want alot of activity, then go for the africans. victorians are very nice and colorful.

are you going to be adding plants to the tank? then stay away from the plant chompers or diggers. will wreck havoc on your tank. nothing makes a tank a pain is having to redecorate on a daily basis.

need more info.