Setting up 55 gal aquarium

I have been looking at pictures and read the posts about filters etc and need help in setting up our 55 gal aquarium for axies.

What filter is best to help keep the aquarium clear, what is the best substrate to use on the bottom?

Right now I feel like I am fighting fires in keeping it clear and clean.

Also how often when setting up the ideal aquarium for 55 gal do you clean with a siphon and change water?

I greatly appreciate your time and thoughts.

I am having problems with the search when trying to search the forum but I am sure it is probably my phone. When I try and do a forum search it sends me to an Internet search not on the forums.

Once again thank you for your time.

We are still just barely surviving day by day. It's hard to believe it has been 2 months since the car accident when we lost Alana and Caiden. I did set up the go fund me account like someone suggested and it is posted on our "prayers for alana wuolukka" Facebook .

Happy New Year to all of you. You have been wonderful!

lissalana said:

I have been looking at pictures and read the posts about filters etc and need help in setting up our 55 gal aquarium for axies.

What filter is best to help keep the aquarium clear, what is the best substrate to use on the bottom?

Right now I feel like I am fighting fires in keeping it clear and clean.

Also how often when setting up the ideal aquarium for 55 gal do you clean with a siphon and change water?

I greatly appreciate your time and thoughts.

I am having problems with the search when trying to search the forum but I am sure it is probably my phone. When I try and do a forum search it sends me to an Internet search not on the forums.

Once again thank you for your time.

We are still just barely surviving day by day. It's hard to believe it has been 2 months since the car accident when we lost Alana and Caiden. I did set up the go fund me account like someone suggested and it is posted on our "prayers for alana wuolukka" Facebook .

Happy New Year to all of you. You have been wonderful!

Click to expand...

Hey
I know a lot of people suggest cannister filters but i think theyre quite expensive.
I personally use an internal corner filter for my tanks but theyre only 3 foot X 1 foot.
Sponge filters are good for axies too, but you have to be vigilant with cleaning as they only do biological filtration.
The thing to bear in mind is that a filter works best when it turns over 4X the amount of litres in your tank, so for example if you have a 100L tank, you want a filter that does 400L/PH
A 55 gallon is approx 200L so you would need a 800L/PH filter flow.

Substrate can be either none, sand, slate, very large flat rocks or some people use astro turf type stuff hehe
I have sand (i tried no substrate and found the floor always looked 'dirty') And i use a siphon to clean it, takes me around 5 mins a tank, filling two buckets out of each tank

Once you have cycled your 55 gallon tank, depending on how many axies you have in it, you might be able to get away with 1 water change every two week changes.
I change 20% every week out of my tanks, i find the routine easy to keep up with.

If you have your liquid test kit, you could test the new tank after a week of the lottles being in it and depending on how high the nitrates are, you can judge if it will need cleaning weekly or fortnightly.

Happy new year

I don't what the best anything is but my 55 gallon has 2 large sponge filters in it, one in each corner. The water stays clear with the help of a few plants. I siphon out poop when I see it and do about a 25% water change twice a week.

It's not my "ideal" setup, but my 4 axies are happy with it and it works for me. I would love a canister filter, the sponges are ugly and hard to hide, but like Layna said they are expensive.

Also like Layna said, the amount of and times of water changes are going to depend on your water parameters. After my tank cycled I checked the nitrate levels right before a water change and about an hour after the water change to help determine how much and when.

You can always do DIY filters to save yourself some money.

HOW IT WORKS: DIY wet/dry filter - YouTube

That guy I linked you to is great for DIY stuff, and he's got tons of videos that could be helpful in that aspect.

Canister filters are becoming very affordable if you don't mind a Chinese cheapy.

I've got this one on the way:

Internal & External Filters - Pro-Aqua Canister Filters - 1500L/H CANISTER FILTER WITH ALL FILTER MEDIA NEW - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - 1500L/H With UV CANISTER FILTER WITH ALL FILTER MEDIA NEW

To run with my chiller:

Chilling & Heating - Hailea Chillers - Hailea HC-130A 1/15hp Chiller Marine Aquarium to 300L - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - Hailea HC-130A 1/20hp Chiller Marine Aquarium to 400L

I'm using the canister to replace an internal power head type that is ugly, difficult to clean and takes tank space, as well as the power head (also internal) that runs water through my chiller.

I'm also using a 4 foot tank and realize the canister is rated at 1500L/hr, but I did read a lot that the cheap imported canisters have highly optimistic ratings (I know, Chinese imports with fraudulent advertising, sounds crazy) and that you can expect half the rating in real world conditions.

So I'll run water into the filter, out through the chiller and then through a spray bar/diffuser, and I'm hoping that'll put my flow rate in the right place as well as remove one whole electrical appliance from the equation.

The thing I like about the canister is the quick release hoses that allow me to do my water changes and stir up all sorts of stuff, then when I'm complete and the filter has sucked up all the finer debris I didn't get with my vac I can THEN remove my canister and clean it.

The chiller is just AWESOME for the Australian summer and gives total automated temp control, worth every cent.

I'll report back on how the canister goes.