Hello from south texas!! Equipment questions!

[unicknn]

Hey yall Im Nick I live on South Padre Island at the moment. Im going to be moving to Tyler Texas at the end of this summer and I would like to get into some different fish while Im there. Right now Ive been keeping an Oscar, a Salvini Cichlid, and a M/F pair of Convicts and thier many many fry lol. I think Discus are the fish I am going to be doing next. Heres what I have planned so far:

120 g acrylic tank
wet/dry filter
RO unit
Coralife Digital Thermometer
800W Pro Heat D-58 LED Heater Controller
8-10 discus
BB
daily water changes lol

Does this set up look like it will work well for my new friends? I will also have a breeding tank set up eventually but Im more worried about getting the fish up and going rather then breeding ATM.


lmk
nick

[swinters66]

Welcome to Simply Nick....

Youll probably find everything you need to know here...and then some :p

[Polar_Bear]

Hi Nick,
Welcome to SD. Everything you mention is fine, although your heater is a bit of over-kill unless your tank is going to be outdoors. I used to have salvini's too, beautiful fish, but mean as heck, great parents though.

[Cosmo]

Howdy Hi Nick.. welcome to Simply :)

My primary comment is on the heater as well, although a tad different than the Bear's.. but I guess one of the determining factors would be whether you're putting the heater in the sump or in the tank.

In the sump you probably don't want to go below the 800, but if in the tank I'd split it into 3 250 watters and space them out to get better heat distribution.

I'm also a big fan of heaters with internal thermostats that are slaved to external controllers .... gives you a fail safe against one thermostat determining the life or death of your livestock.

Don't know the Pro Heat, but if its the type that has only got the thermostat on an attached external controller I'd be a little concerned myself. The other thing that would worry me is one heater = all eggs in one basket... never good

Keep us posted :)

Jim

[unicknn]

hey thanx for the info guys. Cosmo is there a heater out there that you can hook a few up to a main controler that would be nice.


thanx guys
nick

[Ardan]

Looks like a pretty good setup to me too. Welcome to Simply:)
Would also use a few smaller heaters as if one sticks on you won't overheat the tank. with one big heater if it sticks on it could alone overheat the tank.

Also you probably don't need RO unless breeding.

hth
Ardan

[Cosmo]

hey thanx for the info guys. Cosmo is there a heater out there that you can hook a few up to a main controler that would be nice.


thanx guys
nick

Nick, you can hook up almost any heater to an external controller. I think Ebo's are the best because they're virtually unbreakable and they'll give you a max temp of 93F for those times you need high heet to treat certain diseases.

I'm currently using stealth heaters, but they max out at 92F, which was a little disappointing. I can set my controller to 93F but the water temp stops at 92 :( You essentially turn the heaters to the max setting them plug them into the controller and set your water temp using the external controller.

Jehmco.com has a good selection of heater controllers, and, a good writeup on how to use them. I have both the lower cost digital one's and his middle line ones and the lower cost ones are more flexible and easier to use. You can hook up to 1800 watts to either of them.

In my 90 gal I have 3 250 watt stealth heaters, and in my 180 I have 4 250 watt heaters... all hooked to controllers in both tanks. I use power blocks to plug the heaters into, then plug the power blocks into the controller - If you go with stealths get the power blocks with the switches that light up otherwise it's difficult to tell when the heaters are on or off. The ebos have lights so it's not the same issue.

Nice thing about the controller, other than the fail safe feature is that all the heaters come on at one time and then go off at one time, you don't have one heater on all the time and some off all the time as you would expect without the controller.

I'd recommend you visit jehmco.com and read up on temp controllers. I'd avoid using his hi wattage titantium heaters that he sells matched to controllers simply because they do not have internal thermostats of their own, so if the controller goes wild your fish will cook in short order. Plus, my fish always thought they looked like the perfect place to spawn which never worked out very good :)

Mount the controller to the side of the tank but above the water line. water will fry the controllers turning them into instant junk. YOu get plenty of sensor lead so no problems with the distance. Also, the cheaper digiital model has a much nicer probe than does the higher priced models.

hth

Jim

[AADiscus]

Hi Nick and Welcome to Simply.

You have already been given some good advice. I'll just mentioned that it is better to use 2 or 3 heaters in your tank just in case your 1 malfunctions. You are kinda on that guarantee thing with multiply lower watt heaters.

[dishpanhands]

I think you should stay away from the wet/dry filter. they are alot of work to keep clean..I use one(from my saltwater days). I would not buy one to keep just discus.the fish don't care for the pump make a jet of water in the tank. Now if you already have one(like I did) it will work fine, just takes more time to take care of and you will need to make a spray bar to stop the jet the pump makes..You can't use this filter on baby fish it will eat them. I won't put a fish in there till its 2 1/2 inches atleast.IMO
HTH

[pcsb23]

We all have differeing ways, if I could I would have sumps on all my tanks, absolute rolls royce o filtration imo. Welcome to simply, hope the weather is better in Texas than it has been here. Oh and I would put the heater in the sump.

[unicknn]

We all have differeing ways, if I could I would have sumps on all my tanks, absolute rolls royce o filtration imo. Welcome to simply, hope the weather is better in Texas than it has been here. Oh and I would put the heater in the sump.

So its either run 2 or 3 in the tank or 1 in the sump. Wouldnt 1 in the sump be better because Ive read on here that sometimes Discus like to use the heaters to lay eggs on and that can burn their egg tubes and that can eventually lead to a possible life thretening problem for the fish?

nick

[pcsb23]

Hi Nick,

On my rack of tanks I have 2 heaters in the sump. I'm very much of the opinion that if I can get it out of the tank I will.

The benefits of running 1 big heater in the sump is that the water entering the tank is always warm, with good distribution around the tank, and there is no heater in teh tank for the fish to injure themselves on, either by trying to fry eggs or just bump into. Disadvantage is that if it fails on, it may cook them, off it may freeze them, ie single point of failure.

Multiple heaters in thetank will distribute the heat nicely and give you a failsafe, off hte others pick up the slack, on it takes longer to cook them! However cleaning and injury are not helped. I've had a female lay on a heater, only thing tha suffered was the eggs, fortunately she was unharmed.

One other significant benefit of a sump is that it increases the body of water.

[unicknn]

OK ill just run 2 or 3 smaller ones in the sump thanx for all the awsome info

[dishpanhands]

I don't like central filters for health problems. Its a fast way for bad stuff to spread.
IMO

[dishpanhands]

I have fish that likes to lay on the heater I just cut a piece of 1 1/2'' PVC pipe and put the heater in that and then put it on the bottom. I have drilled a bunch of big holes in the pipe. Now they lay on the flower pot. I figured they would just lay on the PVC but they didn't.

[dishpanhands]

So its either run 2 or 3 in the tank or 1 in the sump. Wouldnt 1 in the sump be better because Ive read on here that sometimes Discus like to use the heaters to lay eggs on and that can burn their egg tubes and that can eventually lead to a possible life thretening problem for the fish?

nick

you won't be able to breed with the central filter very easy. they eat babies..

[unicknn]

ill breed in a different aquarium if i get lucky enough to actually breed the fish anyway lol.


nick

[GrillMaster]

I have fish that likes to lay on the heater I just cut a piece of 1 1/2'' PVC pipe and put the heater in that and then put it on the bottom. I have drilled a bunch of big holes in the pipe. Now they lay on the flower pot. I figured they would just lay on the PVC but they didn't.

Awsome idea!!Take off the pvc pipe an watch em lay all over the heater again!;)

Welcome to SD Nick!!

I grew up in San Antonio, an was always at PI growin up...Lot of great memories there for sure! A few sun burns as well...:p

800W heater huh? Like they say everything is big in Texas!!

Cant wait to see sum pics of the endeavor!!:thumbsup:

[unicknn]

For down here I probably wont need that much heater but Im moving to Tyler, tx after this summer and Ill need them up there. It gets COLD! Actually I just recently used my heater for the first time in my 55. It snows and stuff up there and my stepdad complains about running the heater and AC so Im gonna need some heat lol.


nick