Setup Questions

[Donald J Saberniak Jr]

I currently have a few apistogramma cacatuoides in a 10 gallon (20x10x12) tank. I would very much like to move them into a larger setup. What are your thoughts on a 40 gallon "breeder" (36x18x16) tank? If that's a generally acceptable size, what would your water cycling / filtration recommendation be? Would I be OK using a a Marineland / Penguin 150 gph or would a small air pump and "coarse" air stone be OK; enough to circulate the water column from bottom to top? 30 watts of tull spectrum LED light enough? Thank you for your feedback!

 

[Bart Hazes]

A 40 gallon breeder is a great tank (I have one) though I prefer the 30 gallon breeder (I have three) which has the same surface space just less tall. I can't help with the filtration as none of my 20+ tanks have any filtration and over the summer many even don't have any current. Just plants including a generous layer of floating plants is all that is needed. But I am definitely in the minority using this strategy. I have 30 watt of LED lighting per 2 by 6 foot shelf of multiple tanks. So 30 watt for one 40 gallon breeder should be plenty (my lights give about 2-3 times more light per watt than commercial aquarium LED lights though). You can find blogs on these various topics, including how to build your own cheap but very powerful LED lights at biodives.com/blog

 

[Akraziatic]

[QUOTE biodives.com/blog[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the awesome link Bart. Went for the DIY stayed for the awesome content. Definitely following this one.