Habitat - Indoor :: New Tank setup - advice sought

[Callie]

I finally purchased a 65G tank, with stand - for $50. I'm crazy excited!

I certainly want to do the sand thing, and was reading the threads on that.

I was also wanting to add live plants in there - we'll see how those fair.

My brat is only 3" at the moment, and when the Chinese algae eater was in there, he never bothered him (actually, sometimes I think he enjoyed having Goldie clean his shell for him lol).

I have 2 fish tanks, one with a pair of kribs, and the other with guppies and tetras. Is it possible, or highly non-advisable to add those fish in there with him? (being that, thus far, he's not interested in fish).
He adores his snails though....so I wouldn't be able to transfer those out.

Also, is there benefits, or cons, with having driftwood in there?

It's so exciting! Plan to have everything up and running this weekend, so will take pics.

[Daniel3507]

guppies are good feeder fish for when he does become inerested in fish. alot of people have driftwood in the tank for decoration so i dont really think are any cons to it besides taking up swimming room. im curious to see how the live plants work in your tank

[zoologist]

drift wood is amazing..... at first. soon it will turn your tank a tea color (its natural, non toxic) and THEN it will make your tank smell like a pond! it stinks soooooo bad. i couldnt figure it ou until i took out the wood. i would advise against it.

[Callie]

drift wood is amazing..... at first. soon it will turn your tank a tea color (its natural, non toxic) and THEN it will make your tank smell like a pond! it stinks soooooo bad. i couldnt figure it ou until i took out the wood. i would advise against it.

Really? Is that with turtle tanks?
I've had a driftwood in both my 30G fish tanks and never caused any problems - it's actually the home of my lazy-behind pleco ..lol

The only thing I'd heard of driftwood's benefit with fish tanks is that it softened the water.

Yeah, I'll see how the plants work - currently there's no canopy at all for the 65G tank, and I'm not sure how the UVB light I'm going to get (as I found out that the one I have now is the very weak one) is going to affect the plants....

Anyone have planted (at least partially) tanks?

[Daniel3507]

you could put the uvb above the basking area and then get a canopy for the other half of the tank and put a flouresnt bulb in for plants

[spaceapple]

I have a piece of driftwood in my tank that my turtles love to sit on half-way under the water. Boiling the wood before you put it in the tank will make it release most of its tannins (what turns the water tea-colored). I collected a whole bunch of driftwood at the beach (where I got my turtles!) to see which pieces would fit best in my little tank, and I felt like I was cooking up a huge pot of driftwood soup when I boiled all that stuff! Anyway, I just put the biggest piece in the tank; the water was only slightly discolored for a few days, and it has never smelled bad. I love the look of driftwood in turtle tanks!

[Callie]

Ok
Indecision struck.

The 65G was originally purchased with the intent for it to be George's tank, but, now I'm wondering if it's the best route. How long til he outgrows 65G?

Other option is if I take my current two 30G tanks and amalgamate them into the new 65G tank, then I could, obviously, get rid of one of the 30G tanks, switch RES into that one (he's in a 20G tank), and have two, instead of 3 tanks (in a one bedroom apartment, with a slew of other critters).

But then I'd have to switch his tank sooner.
But, then the fish would take up less room, and be happier, and it would look more pretty/filled tank space.

OR, do I put the RES in the 65G, and add in the tetras/guppies, etc. from the one tank, and leave the other 30G intact...?

Just call me indecisive Libra...lol
Anyone care to vote/make a decision for me?