# Help...on a budget!



## iupui1299 (Sep 23, 2010)

I am writing a grant for a freshwater aquarium for my classroom. It appears that the most I can get from the grant is $750. There could be a possibility of $900 but it's not likely. My original plan was a 60 gallon cubed tank. However, I think that may be out of reach now. Anyone have any ideas on what size tank I should be able to get for that price range? Tanks are easy to price but with the plants, lighting, sand, etc......what size range should I consider? Thanks for any help!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

55g tanks always seem the best priced to me and they usually come in kits. You could get that and go crazy with the rest.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I don't know...$750 is a nice budget to work with and you can get a pretty nice sized tank out of it.


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

It cost me about that to set up my 90 gallon


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## dave in Iliamna (Aug 15, 2009)

What kind of fish are you wanting? Are the fish part of the grant money?
Does your grant allow you to do used aquariums?
If you can get used I have seen some full setups of 125 gallon aquariums for around $750.
Other wise 90 gallon will probably be about it for $750.
You could probably get a new 125 gallon for $900 if you stick to the standard size. Last I checked I could get a 125 gallon and stand for $775. So that leaves $125 for filter, vac, decorations, and sand/gravel. I think thats doable if you don't need anything fancy.
I guess another question would be how much space do you have?

As a general rule you get the biggest aquarium you can afford and have room for.


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## iupui1299 (Sep 23, 2010)

Thank you for all the help. I believe it has to be new. I was looking for amazon fish and plants so we could study that area of the world. I want to make sure I can afford live plants to go along with the fish. For the live plants will I only need special lighting and soil/gravel? Anything else that has to be purchased for a live plant tank?


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

What will happen to it in the holidays? Will some one be able to look after it, will it need to get moved? A large tank is hard to move but if that is not a problem go for as big as you can. 

I tend to buy second hand tanks as you get more for your money but it sounds like that may not be an option for you. What ever you do make sure you get a good filter. And if you buy an all included deal make sure the filter and lighting are really what you need as they tend to skimp.

The tank and filter you get will be what you are stuck with. Fish and plants can always be added and happy plants will grow so if it was me I would not worry so much if I fell slightly short on that part of the budget.

Do you know what kind of fish you want to keep?


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

You need to find a member on here named Damaaaaax. He (or she?) has a beautiful 75g amazon tank.

this link should take you to pictures of it. 

http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/my-planted-75g-amazon-tank-1969.html


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## iupui1299 (Sep 23, 2010)

snail said:


> What will happen to it in the holidays? Will some one be able to look after it, will it need to get moved? A large tank is hard to move but if that is not a problem go for as big as you can.
> 
> I tend to buy second hand tanks as you get more for your money but it sounds like that may not be an option for you. What ever you do make sure you get a good filter. And if you buy an all included deal make sure the filter and lighting are really what you need as they tend to skimp.
> 
> ...


I am hoping to create an Amazon Biotope. Some of the fish I am considering are angelfish, tetras, guppies, Gold Rams, Cory Cat, possibly a fiddler crab. I also want to use plants that are native to the Amazon as well.

I went to my local pet store today and priced everything out. This is what I came up with:

40 gallon tank (36 inches long) Says it is a breeder tank but I think it would be great for observations. $110.70
Glass Lid $ 36.99
Stand $ 180.00
Aqua Clear Filter $ 38.88
Marine Land heater $ 42.99
Eco-Complete Planted Aquarium Substrate $29.99 a bag
Lighting $129.00 (not too sure on this) If anyone has any suggestions on a brand or type to get please let me know.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I would just have concerns about the filter. What model is it? The important part is the GPH or gallons per hour. This number should be at least 4 times (some people say more) the tank volume. That means that the water in the tank will be circulated 4 times in an hr. So for a 40 gallon tank that's at least 160GPH. Often the box or person in the shop will say a filter will do for a bigger tank so you have to keep an eye on that. It is possible to run a tank on a smaller filter but it will take much more work (ie daily water changes) and you can't have so many fish.


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## Amie (Sep 15, 2010)

Snail; A filter that is designed for tank size, would that filter the water 4 times per hour or less?? For example, a 40 gal tank and a filter that says it's for size 40gal. Would that filter the water once per hour or 4 times?? Also, instead of getting a bigger filter could you get a second filter? Also, is there any sort of rule about how that effects fish capacity?? I know that generally 1 inch of fish per 1 gal of water is a good rule to go by. But if that is with a filter that is only filtering a tank once per hour and your filter is filtering the water 4 times per hour then does that mean you could have 4 times the fish??? Also, does a bubble wall effect total capacity. There seems to be some debate about the definition of that so, to me, a bubble wall is a series of long air stones hooked up to an air pump. Does that increase the fish capacity of the tank??


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Amie; Sorry I just saw I sould have said GPH = gallons per hour, not minute, I edited it now but that may have confused you. I'll do my best to answer your questions but it's just a general outline. I am not an expert and even amongst experts there are many different opinions.



Amie said:


> Snail; A filter that is designed for tank size, would that filter the water 4 times per hour or less?? For example, a 40 gal tank and a filter that says it's for size 40gal. Would that filter the water once per hour or 4 times??


It should filter at least 4x the tank volume in an hr but different Manufacturers rate their filters by different standards and it often is just not enough. A filter that says it's for a 40gal from one Manufacturer might be twice as powerful as one from another manufacturer for the same sized tank.

It's safer to work it out yourself. Multiply the tank volume by 4 and that gives you the GPH (gallons per hour) of the filter you want to buy. So for a 40 gallon you want 160GPL. Some say it can be 3x tank volume some say it sould be 6x but most will agrea it should be at least 4x so I've used that here. The type of filter and quantity and type of filter media has an effect also. Heavily planted tanks kind of go by other rules so I'll not go there.



Amie said:


> Also, instead of getting a bigger filter could you get a second filter?


Yes, lots of people do that. You just add the GPH of the two filters and use the total number. It also means if one filter breaks down it's not such a big problem. I don't like having to clean two fiters but that's just being lazy



Amie said:


> Also, is there any sort of rule about how that effects fish capacity??


Yes and no. A filter that is under sized for the tank may mean you can't have so many fish because of water quality. With a larger filter it doesn't give fish more room so it partly depends on the type of fish you have and their space requirements. Also small fluctuations in water quality are not unusual prehaps a fish dies or a plant is rotting or the power goes out, even with extra filtering an over stocked tank can go wrong very quickly as there is just not enough water to dilute the problem.



Amie said:


> I know that generally 1 inch of fish per 1 gal of water is a good rule to go by. But if that is with a filter that is only filtering a tank once per hour and your filter is filtering the water 4 times per hour then does that mean you could have 4 times the fish???


That rule is very general. It works ok for smaller fish but an oscar for example will still need much more than one gallon per inch. A filter that only filters the water in a tank one time in an hr is usually too little and would require a very low fish load. A minimum of 4 times per hr is about right. More than that you may be able to push the stocking limits a bit more but it only goes so far. A better filter will help to keep the water quality higher and makes your job easier as you can probably do less water changes etc. Most agrea you can't have too much filter as long as the flow of water isn't too strong for the fish to swim against.



Amie said:


> Also, does a bubble wall effect total capacity. There seems to be some debate about the definition of that so, to me, a bubble wall is a series of long air stones hooked up to an air pump. Does that increase the fish capacity of the tank??


It can help in some ways but it won't change capacity much. For example my fish some times suffer from low oxigen when it is very hot in the summer so I use bubbles in the summer. Some use them for extra water flow. 

If you are trying to keep a bunch of fish in a bucket overnight because your tank just broke then bubbles might just save them but long term, in a tank with a propper filter, mostly they are just pretty.


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