New tank

[balton777]

I need some advice on my new 156 gal. aquarium. It's going to be a S American tank. My local store has some really nice big pieces of driftwood that look like small tree stumps (apx. 25-30 lbs.) that they want $79.95 supposedly on sale only this week. It's usally double that they tell me. Does that seem reasonable? Question 2 is regarding sand subtrate. If I buy sand from the Home Depot, how do I go about rinsing it and how thouroughly does it need to be cleaned? Or is it better to stick with gravel, I've been using it for 8 years in my 55 gal.

[autoxevo]

sand is actually easier then gravel, IMHO. All the gunk sits on top of it, making for easy cleaning rather then sinking down between the gravel. So you end up stirring up less debris and having the cloudy tank for hours. Plus a lot of SA cichlids lover to sift through it, so they'll be happy. Lots of people use pool-filter sand, sand-blasting sand, play sand....yada yada. Its safe, just make sure you rinse it very well. Not sure on the wood, but that really doesnt sound too far off. Store bought aquarium safe wood is expensive. There are ways of using driftwood you find, but it require a LOT of cleaning and such, becuase you run the very serious risk of introducing things into the aquarium you dont want there. Go ahead and spend the money on the good stuff.
What kind of fish are you gonna keep? What kind of filtration? Sounds like a GREAT future tank. Keep us posted!

[balton777]

Thanks. I have 2 green terrors in my 55 gallon with 2 firemouths. I'm going to make my 55 a firemouth tank and the G. T.'s can grow big and fat in the larger tank. I'll need some new fish, too. I'm interested in Peacock Bass but they might need more space and they might be too high maintenance. More research is necessary. As for the filtration, I just posted a new thread asking about filtration systems.

[LoJack]

Peacock bass is an excellent choice. I am thinking of converting my 150 into a peacock bass tank with some other large pike like predators.