I have a 60 gallon tank and am going to "upgrade" to a 90 gallon.
Given this great opportunity to start more or less from scratch, is
there any thing that you folks would have done differently in your
current set up or is there a dream set up that I could steal ideas
from?

One thing in particular I'm wondering is if I should replace the
Flourite that I've been using as a substrate up to now or just transfer
it over and add new Flourite or another substrate to the mix.

My plans as they sit now/current equipment include an Ehiem cannister
filter, compressed CO2 injection and 2-55 watt + 1-96 watt compact
fluorescent bulbs.

Thanks!

Bob
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

I'd have included a cable heater in the substrate. When I do my upgrade
to a 90 (I've a 38) I'll find a way to hide all the junk (Hose, heater,
CO2 reaction chamber, pH probe, etc.) either behind a false back wall
or under the cabinet.

jet wrote:
I'd have included a cable heater in the substrate. When I do my upgrade
to a 90 (I've a 38) I'll find a way to hide all the junk (Hose, heater,
CO2 reaction chamber, pH probe, etc.) either behind a false back wall
or under the cabinet.

Thanks for the feedback; I was thinking about doing that as well.

Another thing I'm considering is a chiller. It's pretty common for
temperatures to hover consistently in the 90 degree plus range in my
area and that pushes tank temperatures into the mid-80s for much of the
summer. (I don't use the A/C much, prefering to leave the windows open
to keep air flowing through the place.) Chillers seem to be getting a
bit more affordable from what I've seen, so I might do that.

Thanks!
Bob
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 60 gallon tank and am going to "upgrade" to a 90 gallon.
Given this great opportunity to start more or less from scratch, is
there any thing that you folks would have done differently in your
current set up or is there a dream set up that I could steal ideas
from?

One thing in particular I'm wondering is if I should replace the
Flourite that I've been using as a substrate up to now or just transfer
it over and add new Flourite or another substrate to the mix.

My plans as they sit now/current equipment include an Ehiem cannister
filter, compressed CO2 injection and 2-55 watt + 1-96 watt compact
fluorescent bulbs.

Thanks!

Bob
Rancho Cucamonga, CA


One of the things I would have done differently is I would have put flourite
in my tanks as a substrate exclusively. 2 of my tanks have "clown puke"
exclusively as a substrate and my other tank has washed commercially
packaged river rock. If I ever "start over" I am going to make sure that the
exclusive substrate is flourite, it wouldn't hurt and in fact would look
natural and frankly I would love to have great plants with a lot of growth
because of it.

jet wrote:
I'd have included a cable heater in the substrate. When I do my upgrade
to a 90 (I've a 38) I'll find a way to hide all the junk (Hose, heater,
CO2 reaction chamber, pH probe, etc.) either behind a false back wall
or under the cabinet.

I'm with you on cable heaters. I wish they made them for small tanks,
although my plants are doing reasonably well without.

My dream setup includes some sort of an overflow with a sponge prefilter
for surface skimming of leaves, debris, and surface scum. I think I'd
drill the back of the tank and use a small overflow box leading to the
Eheim intake.

Flourite is expensive. I'd transfer the old and add whatever fresh is
necessary.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

I hear about heat living in Phoenix. I'd never build a large reef tank
without a chiller, they do much better in the low 70's. I've gone with
heat tollerant plants and fish which can handle the mid-80's the tank
runs in the Summer. Fortunatly this is easy in freshwater.

I've not used flourite, I've always been partial to laterite (cheap
from ceramic supply stores) and 2mm sand.

How do you know that the laterite you buy from the ceramic supply store has
a high iron content? Besides the lush plants it hopefully produces :-)

"jet" wrote in message
oups.com...
I hear about heat living in Phoenix. I'd never build a large reef tank
without a chiller, they do much better in the low 70's. I've gone with
heat tollerant plants and fish which can handle the mid-80's the tank
runs in the Summer. Fortunatly this is easy in freshwater.

I've not used flourite, I've always been partial to laterite (cheap
from ceramic supply stores) and 2mm sand.

Well I figure it is too cheap to lie about. You can request an analysis
for it. Here is the general analysis for laterite
http://ceramic-materials.com/cermat/material/2240.html

I didn't use it this time around as I didn't want to wait for the order
and was only needing 5lbs. I instead paid more for 5lbs of granuals
from the LFC then I would have for 50 lbs of raw clay, but then I don't
have the extra clay to have kicking around the garage.