Questions from a new member

[butters]

Hi there, I'm new, obviously. I live in Edmonton, and I'm reletively new to the whole aquarium hobby. I had goldfish as a kid :Smile: , I owned a few Betta's in my time, I most recently had a 30 gallon tank with a small community of fish. Now, I am upgrading to a 55 gallon tank and I have some plans and questions.

I've been doing a lot of research on some fish I'd like to have and I've decided I want to commit to 5 or so red bellied pirahna's. I've been reading a lot the last few weeks to know as much as possible before I actually buy them and in the mean time I've been buying some new accessories and what not.

A couple things I am unsure of though. I am in need of some new lighting and I've been looking around and it all just confuses me. I'm wanting to spend about 200 on lighting at the very most so I have been looking at T5 setups. However, as far as I can tell in the price range I'm limited to a double bulb setup of some sort. Something like this.. http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17943/si2949162/cl0/currentusanovaextreme482x54wt510000kfreshwater But I am wondering if that is enough light for a 55 gallon aquarium, possibly with some live plants.

Is the link I posted a good choice for me? What about bulbs? The whole lighting thing has got me confused. :confused:

[thegrandpoohbah]

Welcome! The light you have linked to would be a good choice for a basic planted tank with some low to moderate light-requiring plants, though I'm not sure that the included "Freshwater" bulb would be suitable. You want a bulb with a Kelvin rating in the range of 6700-10,000K to grow plants.

The other thing to consider is that RBP's are a very skittish fish and such bright lights may startle them. Though that experience is only from working at a fish store, not from my own personal fish keeping experience.

[OldMan]

If you have decided that you need the output from a twin T-5HO, you might look at these (http://www.fishneedit.com/t5ho-ligh.html) fixtures. I have had one now for a few months and it seems to work fine.

[Blossom112]

It is too bad you live so far as I have a fixture ....that I used about a month then gave the tank away as it was way too big ...

I find low light plants and depending on Co2 and ferts you could probably get away with medium plants as well .

[fishclubgirl]

I'm a big plant person but there's no way I'd have piranhas in one of my planted tanks. I'm always redoing something and my arms are in tank. I've been bit by my oscars, angelfish and a yoyo loach. Research shows you need a full school of piranhas but better safe than sorry!! Also there's the Edmonton auction October 24 and you might get a good deal then.

[neon]

hello and welcome!

just had to say I love your name, a true South Park fan!:laugh:

[Pamelajo]

Hi and Welcome.

[butters]

Thanks for the welcomes.

I ended up buying this unit here.. http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17943/si4099112/cl0/2x54wt5linkablelightfixturefw48 Apparently I can attach two more lights down the road if I need to. And from reviews I've read most people seem very pleased with AquaticLife fixtures.

It comes with two bulbs, a 6000K & Roseate. I think I've decided to not go with live plants at the moment. So are these bulbs good enough for my situation?

Otherwise, I will post pictures of my setup soon, it is nearly done. I'm hoping to go pick up the Pirahna's by this weekend.

[OldMan]

The 6000K is more or less a sunlight color. I have never heard of a roseate.

[thegrandpoohbah]

The Roseate is their equivalent of Coralife's Colormax bulb which has a pink light output. If you have opted to not plant the tank then I would consider getting this fixture instead: http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17943/si1316053/cl0/coralifefwt5aqualightdoublestriplight48. The T5HO will be far too bright for RBPs and will result in a lot of algae growth as well.

[butters]

So my tank has been running for almost a week now, I added 10 minnows to hopefully help the cycle process a little bit, although one has died already.

With thanksgiving this weekend I wanted to at least put something a tad more flashy into the tank to show it off a little bit. I went out and bought a couple convicts as I have read they are a hardy fish and are known to survive cycles, however, despite them looking fine at the start, less then a day later they are now both dead. I have been testing the water and it's obviously still in the cycle process but I thought this wouldn't matter much with the convicts. What could have went wrong here? I'd like to put something in there this weekend that's a little more exciting than the minnows.

[OldMan]

With 10 fish in a week old tank, how much water are you willing to change every day? If you are doing less than 50% daily and not testing for ammonia and nitrites, you are probably going to keep losing fish for another month or two at least. I see no reason to make the problem worse by adding more fish to an uncycled tank.

[butters]

With 10 fish in a week old tank, how much water are you willing to change every day? If you are doing less than 50% daily and not testing for ammonia and nitrites, you are probably going to keep losing fish for another month or two at least. I see no reason to make the problem worse by adding more fish to an uncycled tank.

I see what you're saying but I've come to believe there are some fish that can handle a full cycle, and I thought Convicts were one of them so I'm stumped as to why they died so quickly. The last tank I had setup I kept a Betta fish in it through a full cycle with no problem.

[OldMan]

There are lots of fish that can live through a full cycle, but not without frequent large water changes.