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Post by slurik on Mar 13, 2009 16:47:24 GMT -5
Tank Size: 60 Gallons Age of the tank: Brand Frickin new pH: empty Ammonia: empty NitrAtes: empty nitrites: empty Temperature: empty Fish in your tanks: no Fish: Question/Problem: So, as some of you may know, I'm a pet care associate at my local Petsmart. As a store "opener" I have access to the deals as soon as they hit the shelves. Recently our corporation has decided to no longer carry the waterhome series manufactured by Hagen. To my understanding this has to do with the excessive cost for the aquariums, and also as they are packaged with more appropriate hardware (for the kit packages) they seem to be snagging some of our revenue which would ideally be spent on the Top Fin series which we have manufactured for us by All Glass Aquariums.
Anyone who works retail knows how this situation is working already, we are flushing out all our stock of Waterhomes, and so this leaves the consumer with some killer deals. I missed out on the 20 gallon kits for 40 bucks, but what I did land my greedy hands on is a 60 gallon waterhome and stand for 76 bucks.
Its nice to have a big aquarium again, but as noted, its empty, I have no solid "plans" for it yet, and I'm looking for some ideas.
This aquarium in particular was hagens attempt to be a bit "different" and it has an open top design, meaning it has no black borders, and as this is true, it has no canopy or lights with it, its nothing but 1/2" thick glass and caulking. The measurements of it are 48 " x 16 " x 18 " giving fair space for larger species to move around in.
One of my co-workers bought the same tank a few months back and is enjoying a saltwater setup, I'm less inclined to go for this since the hardware will add up the price, along with livestock that I'd never want to have hop out of the open top to land on my floor. However, being an employee of petsmart I have access to parts orders for Hagen products. For a nominal fee I can obtain the black plastic borders for the top of the tank and buy a canopy and light system for it if in the event I REALLY REALLY want it.
As it stands I've purchased a new fluval U4 to filter the water and if I cannot come up with better ideas i may just go the discus route again, though I'd like to hear what you guys would do if you fell into a 60 gallon tank on an impulse buy.
The only condition I have is that this tank WILL be planted, all my tanks are planted and everyones should be because plants are BEEUUTEFUL. ;)
Thanks for your input.
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Post by eve on Mar 13, 2009 18:03:42 GMT -5
That's an absolute deal you got there, even without the hood and lights, congrats on that  if i had the water conditions for discus, i would definitely go that route with a 60 gallon tank, you can do varieties of fish in there you could do rainbowfish as example, different schooling fish sounds like an awesome project at hand |
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Post by murdock6701 on Mar 13, 2009 19:49:19 GMT -5
awesome deal! having a new tank empty in front of you gives you plenty of time to plan it right, and working where you do gives you access to ideas and stuff some can only dream of! have fun with it my friend!  |
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Post by murdock6701 on Mar 13, 2009 20:09:06 GMT -5
Slurik, quick question - we only have petsmart here which also deals w/ TopFin - I have a TopFin 40 hob filter that needs a new impellor - Petsmart says they will sell me a whole new filter only - any suggestions?
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Post by kagome on Mar 13, 2009 21:22:07 GMT -5
 What a deal! This makes me sad once again that I haven't been able to land a job at Petsmart. For me personally, it come down to two choices. Either I would go with the Discus as you have already mentioned or I would put in a school of Lake Malawi African cichlids. However, either way, I would really suggest that you invest in the lids, for the sake of water evaporation and the possibility of jumpers. I would hate to come home and find my pride and joy cichlid dried out on the carpet.
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Post by bikeguy33 on Mar 13, 2009 21:40:33 GMT -5
i have a great idea Blair/Slurik.....ya may not like it tho. As of late, there have been some incredible breeders of flowerhorns. as you know, they are a 1 fish per tank, but they are gorgeous and these new flowerhorns have humps,colors, and markings that i have never seen before.
as well, why not try a tea cup stingray with a couple gold severums.sand bottom with planted corners makes a beautiful tank.
the way i see it, none of these fish are cheap, but neither are discus.you have the staff discount and the knowledge to make either of these ideas work if you are so inclined...
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 13, 2009 21:57:27 GMT -5
i too do not have any lid on my aquarium the evaporation is pretty bad but if you keep up on water changes it only gets a few inches low by the weekend. and as long as you keep your fish smaller you dont have to worry about jumpers. if i had a large aquarium i would do multiple schools of tetras. and a few bottom feeders either cory cats or a catfish of some type. and of course with larger tanks plecos are a must. i would say with the size of tank you just picked up you could probably get a way with 1 pleco. 1 catfish for bottom feeder. or a shoal of cory cats if you go the cory route. and 4 or 5 schools of tetra. and just make sure whatever fish you get is compatable with plants since your going to plant the aquarium.
James n Lana
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Post by goldenpuon on Mar 14, 2009 14:46:24 GMT -5
Hate to go against what you said Corycatwoman but Slurik will need a hood for lighting, to cover the fish (I have had many jumpers die from my tank being uncovered, even very small fish), and also in case there was situation where something could get into the tank, cover it. Also, if Slurik is going for expensive fish, all the more reason to keep a hood on to discourage jumping.
Great deal by the way! Good luck with your 60 gallon! I'm sure you'll make good use of it.
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Post by babygeige on Mar 14, 2009 15:47:13 GMT -5
I've read articles in TFH where people don't have lids on their tanks. They have lights suspended above them, and floating plants to help keep the fish inside. It would definitely make me nervous, but apparently people do it without many problems.
There are so many options with a 60 gallon tank! Have fun!
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Post by goldenpuon on Mar 14, 2009 17:36:21 GMT -5
Sorry if I was wrong on that then. I guess everyone does things differently.
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Post by bikeguy33 on Mar 14, 2009 19:00:12 GMT -5
Blair does keep fairly expensive and large fish....not to say he isn`t going to try something else tho. things like rays and most cichlids aren`t known as jumpers either. these tanks with suspended lighting are gorgeous too....
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 14, 2009 21:43:11 GMT -5
Hate to go against what you said Corycatwoman but Slurik will need a hood for lighting, to cover the fish (I have had many jumpers die from my tank being uncovered, even very small fish), and also in case there was situation where something could get into the tank, cover it. Also, if Slurik is going for expensive fish, all the more reason to keep a hood on to discourage jumping. Great deal by the way! Good luck with your 60 gallon! I'm sure you'll make good use of it.
the floating plants help aswell but you also have to keep in mind if your doing fake floating plants the jumpers that arent heavy enough to make the float sink then they may end up jumping on top of them which would be just as bad as jumping out.
the only downside to what i have been forced to do with my non lidded tank is not use any aerosol sprays such as.. deoderant, hair spray, perfume, air freshener, dust remover, windex, all that cleaning stuff etc.. its just a reminder i have to use and also have a sign on the outside and inside of my bedroom door saying no aerosol inside. but luckily its only me and lana in my bedroom and we both know the risk so we just do most of our getting ready in the bathroom.
James |
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Post by slurik on Mar 15, 2009 11:50:27 GMT -5
Let me clear some things up. First about the lights. The fixture I have in mind is a T5 HO by hagen which clips to the walls of the tank, so a hood/canopy is unnecessary to house the lighting. Aside from that I've looked into a reptile cover, those metal screen mesh lids to stop any jumpers. This will cut my cost down from a proper canopy by 150 dollars. I like the idea of a tea cup ray bill, unfortunately I'm not a big fan of golden severums, I'd rather go with the turquoise if I went that route... I find them much more appealing for their wild colours. Also I would have to special order the discus or ray through a different company and would not have my discount. I'm not concerned about discount on livestock, as long as the fish I request come in healthy, which they have for me with my discus in the past working through little critters. CoryCatFishWoman has a good point for me to keep in mind too with an open top assembly... aerosols are dangerous and will not be able to be used near the tank. I'd encourage everyone to be wary using aerosols near any of your tanks or tank maintenance equipment. I have monster loads of floating hornwart plants, somewhere in the realm of 5-10 lbs of the stuff, I've been harvesting it out of 2 20 gallon tanks for the past 5-6 months. This will further impede any fish from escaping the tank. For the question about the Top Fin powerfilter with a broken impeller, all top fin products are guaranteed for life. If your impeller breaks then you will be able to bring it in and receive a new powerfilter to replace the old one with a broken part. If they bend around corners about this and say it only applies to the kit sets (which it actually does). Tell them you purchased it in a kit, and you've worked around the snag. No receipt will be required for this exchange as long as you produce to them a top fin brand filter, which has identification on the cover for the box component of the filter. If you dont have that part because you've somehow lost it, bring the whole thing in, and tell them top fin aquarium hardware is guaranteed for life and you'd like a new one. If you'd rather just replace the impeller cheaply, Big Al's has your impeller for 5 bucks. Also although we do not carry top fin impellers, most impellers are a universal guage, and therefore you may, you just MAY be able to find an appropriately sized impeller within the pond section where laguna and aqueon replacement impellers are available. As for evaporation, a 60 gallon tank will lose more water to evaporation over the course of a day than a 28 gallon tank would. This is simply surface area, my 29 gallon tank has a surface area of 12 " x 28 " = 336 "^2 whereas the 60 gallon tank has a surface area of 48 " x 16 " = 768 "^2 if a tank with 336 "^2 loses 1/2 or 0.5" of water depth, you can expect: 768 \ 336 = 2.285714 ~~~ and therefore you can expect to lose approx 2.285714 ~~~ x 0.5 = 1.142857~~~ " of depth each day. thank issac newton for that one  The figures arent rock solid, humidity in the air will effect rate of evaporation, as will room temperature. But so long as air had a way to escape to remove humidity from the air, and the 2 tanks were in the same room, you could absolutely expect more than twice the evaporation rate on the larger tank. These figures are grossly out of order, variables rock the world of evaporation: temperature, relative humidity, surface area, air speed, air direction, presence of solutes in the water, cooling produced by the evaporation, ... And this is a short list. Either way, the large tank WILL lose a lot more water. I <3 Newton |
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Post by murdock6701 on Mar 15, 2009 12:25:25 GMT -5
thanks Slurik, the filter did come in a kit
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Post by corycatwoman on Mar 15, 2009 20:40:51 GMT -5
ic way to do the math on that one but either way if you keep up on weekly water changes it isnt enough evaporation to hurt anything. and i might have to look into a screen aswell sounds like a cheap fix. would any old regular screen work since i have a bow front i might need to custom cut a window screen to fit.
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Post by murdock6701 on Mar 15, 2009 20:46:53 GMT -5
you could use the fibermesh screen if you had a big enough rubber strap to hold it sedure to the tank, would be chepaer and easier then buying a heavier gauge metal screen you'd have to cut w/ tin snips and mold to fit the top - you just have to try and be resourceful and see what works for you
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Post by eve on Mar 16, 2009 13:23:59 GMT -5
Let me clear some things up. First about the lights. The fixture I have in mind is a T5 HO by hagen which clips to the walls of the tank, so a hood/canopy is unnecessary to house the lighting. Aside from that I've looked into a reptile cover, those metal screen mesh lids to stop any jumpers. This will cut my cost down from a proper canopy by 150 dollars. i want to jump in on this, as i had to learn the hard way about this i had purchased a T5 light, but didn't have a lid/glas cover it was mounted at least 5 inch above the tank, however my light still died the evaporation can get into your lightning, and kills of any circuits in there i recommend getting at least a glass cover for your tank no canopy required mine was $30 for a 55 gallon tank so even if you pay $50 for it, you're still on $100 savings IMO, i rather spend an extra $50 instead of bying another T5 for $100+ |
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Post by Carl on Mar 16, 2009 14:17:19 GMT -5
Let me clear some things up. First about the lights. The fixture I have in mind is a T5 HO by hagen which clips to the walls of the tank, so a hood/canopy is unnecessary to house the lighting. Aside from that I've looked into a reptile cover, those metal screen mesh lids to stop any jumpers. This will cut my cost down from a proper canopy by 150 dollars. i want to jump in on this, as i had to learn the hard way about this i had purchased a T5 light, but didn't have a lid/glas cover it was mounted at least 5 inch above the tank, however my light still died the evaporation can get into your lightning, and kills of any circuits in there i recommend getting at least a glass cover for your tank no canopy required mine was $30 for a 55 gallon tank so even if you pay $50 for it, you're still on $100 savings IMO, i rather spend an extra $50 instead of bying another T5 for $100+ I agree with Eve, however I will offer one more idea as I agree about the damage water can do to electrical lights. I will start with some background; Open top aquarium designs such as this are not all that new (Hagen is a late comer here), and are very popular with Marine Reef Keepers and FW live plant enthusiasts as well. The problem is especially pronounced with marine tanks with the obvious problem of the corrosive power of salt, HOWEVER the reason for the open tank is to allow more beneficial light rays that plants and coral need to reach the water and a top can block this. In fact glass can block as much as 60% of this light energy, while acrylic can block 40%. The answer is to make a shield out of polycarbonate at least in the area of the light as polycarbonate is about 90% efficient (blocking less than 10%). The other alternative is quartz which is 99.99% efficient, however quart is both too costly and too fragile. I usually found a plastics specially business that would cut this piece for me. Paragon Plastics is where I went in the LA area, but I am sure there are similar businesses elsewhere. I have information about light penetration and lids, etc at the very bottom of this article: Aquarium LightingCarl |
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