Introduction, advice.

[Papero]

Hello, the names Eric, I'm 21 and from the lovely state of Pennsylvania and I've recently(the last two months) got myself into keeping gold fish.

Here's some pics, I haven't quite mastered taking pictures of goldfish, they wiggle so much. There's a Lionchu, Telescope and Oranda in there, haven't named them quite yet.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0231.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0230.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0227.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0218.jpg

The tanks 29G, it's running a Tetra EX45 and a Whisper 20. I cycled this tank for 1 month with gravel and 6 Tiger Barbs(gave back to a friend ^^), I removed the gravel today.

A question, I'm pretty much following the 10G per gold fish rule as it best fits my situation. I feel if I give them adequate filtration they should do fine in this tank for quite some time, I still live at home with the parents and I'd rather not put anything larger than a 29G upstairs in my parents house the danger is too high.

I'm slightly worried though, as it seems there's a gaining acceptance of 20G per gold fish. Obviously I'm trying to counter this by giving them optimum space(I had to put some decor in there) and by running two filters. However, are my two filters enough? Neither model has a Bio-Wheel, their filtration is 340GPH sufficient for these young for the next couple years?

Now I do have an option, I used to keep two Convicts in this tank but they perished by my ignorance and a disease(ick). I have this Marineland Emperor 400 out in the shed, I remember it acting up a bit but I bet I could get it running. I was thinking if it was suggested here I would run that 400 with the EX45. But I'd rather not go through the hassle or money spent if a more seasoned keeper finds it unnecessary.

Cheers!

[rich311k]

Welcome to AC!

[HomaridNoob6]

well, that is a pretty dang good water turnover for that size tank. I really would worry less about the filtration than the size of the tank though. As long as you keep up on regular WC's I see no problems at all with your filtration. If you get that other filter out it may turn into too much flow for fancy goldfish. I think the 20g for each goldie and 10g for each additional may be the real accepted or reccomended size for tanks. I'm not 100% on that, I don't keep goldfish. I do think if I have heard correctly many fancies do not usually get as large as your typical comet (feeder) goldie. A friend of mine has a comet that is almost at a foot, his daughter got it from the fair almost 10 years ago. Not having a bio wheel shouldn't be a big problem, but removing all the gravel at the same time as adding the fish could cause a mini cycle I would think. Some beneficial bacteria will be in the gravel. As long as you dont change out filter media, and test and do WC's though it may work well. If you are really afraid to have a larger tank, look into tanks that have a bigger footprint, a long, or a breeder. Goldies do not need a lot of tall tank space, but the bigger the footprint of the tank, the better. I think that for about anything but angels or discus.

[cer]

Cool setup!

[Papero]

well, that is a pretty dang good water turnover for that size tank. I really would worry less about the filtration than the size of the tank though. As long as you keep up on regular WC's I see no problems at all with your filtration. If you get that other filter out it may turn into too much flow for fancy goldfish. I think the 20g for each goldie and 10g for each additional may be the real accepted or reccomended size for tanks. I'm not 100% on that, I don't keep goldfish. I do think if I have heard correctly many fancies do not usually get as large as your typical comet (feeder) goldie. A friend of mine has a comet that is almost at a foot, his daughter got it from the fair almost 10 years ago. Not having a bio wheel shouldn't be a big problem, but removing all the gravel at the same time as adding the fish could cause a mini cycle I would think. Some beneficial bacteria will be in the gravel. As long as you dont change out filter media, and test and do WC's though it may work well. If you are really afraid to have a larger tank, look into tanks that have a bigger footprint, a long, or a breeder. Goldies do not need a lot of tall tank space, but the bigger the footprint of the tank, the better. I think that for about anything but angels or discus.

Excellent I'm happy the filtration seems sufficient, I had decided to just try and fire up the Emperor for boredoms sake, it's dead. I had these plans of boosting the filtration from 340GPH to 740GPH, but that fell short and I suppose that would be a lot of suction.

I'm going to look for maybe a 40 gallon breeder, but I think the fish at their size right now will be good for a few months. My eyes are going to be fixed on craiglist, I actually had called about a 40 gal breeder locally but it was sold a day after posting.

Does anyone have a suggestion for lighting? I have some generic 18W light in there, I want to increase the brightness! It's a 24" bulb, I all ready bought this 22" bulb(I eyeballed rather than measure :hmm3grin2orange:) it's 6700K 24W, but now I have to return to the Petsmart but as I recall the 24" didn't have all the high output models.


Here's a couple new pictures of the tank finished. I got rid of the crappy old broken hood(I kept the ballast) and added a nice Marineland glass hood, got a nice black background. The only thing I might do yet is replace the plastic plants with silk ones.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0241.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0240.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/Aibo/IMG_0238.jpg

[ThatFishGuy]

Interesting setup, I like it!

[HomaridNoob6]

Wow, looks much nicer with the black background! I got a good deal on a nova t5 dual fixture on ebay a while back, but can't remember the seller. They had them in all kinds of sizes. May want to check ebay if your LFS doesn't have a good selection.

[Papero]

I bought a 18,000K 20W bulb, it's a failure.

I thought this original bulb I had in the tank was generic, never heard of "ALL GLASS AQUARIUM" brand. But the bulb that has long been in the ballast is nearly twice as bright! I was hoping for a bit of a deep brighter blue color for my tank.

I'll be taking this one back too, sheesh, it's all they had! I can't seem to find any reviews on 24" lights.

If anyone knows of a genuinely good 24" super bright blue bulb that won't stimulate algae growth be sure to let me know! I did see one that had a box impressive enough to spark my interest but it said stimulates growth of plants.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the tank, I put some good thought into it.