help...need advice on 90 gal. tank

[st3]

i have a 90 gal. tank that was amazing at one point..i spent over 5k on it and through time everything died off slowly..the only fish still alive were my 2 clowns and they eventually died..after all that i kinda gave up on the tank and just let it run with no fish in it for about 4 months..i decided to start it up again and filled it up with fresh water to make it topped off again..3 days later i did a 40% water change which created it to cycle again i believe..how long do i have to wait for the cycle to be completed? i have about 150 lbs. of LR and LS..i cleaned up the whole tank also..its been about 2 weeks now..the tank is about 3 years old and so is everything in it, so would'nt it cycle quicker? my ammonia levels read safe but nitrites are almost at zero but not quite..i also had 2 crappy fluval canister filters that i threw out cuz they were crap so i am just running my tank on 4 powerheads and a crappy prizm skimmer that barely works..its junk..can i put in new fish yet?should i buy another canister filter?and if so what kind?i dont have a sump and dont want one. i just want a simple set up that will work.i know the secret is to have a minamal fish load butdont know if i should have a few small fish or one big fish. can a clown trigger live in a 90 gallon?is it true fish only grow to their tank size?

 

[dragonzim]

A 90 will definitely be too small for a clown trigger. They need a much bigger tank to be healthy for the course of their life.

 

[mie]

IMO you should have left the fluvals alone, Just replace the media contents, I run a 75 gal reef with two power heads, red sea prizm skimmer and a fluval 404 filter, and everything is beautiful and healthy. Eventually i am going to upgrade to a sump just have not gotten around to it.

 

[tinmanny]

you need a good skimmer to keep the tank clean if the skimmer you have is crap then you need to get a good one to put fish in it again without the proper cleaning ability you will just be doing it all over again.
so invest the money you would spend on fish and add a lot more and buy a very good skimmer the fact that you do not have a sump means you should have a real good skimmer then you could get fish that will survive
Good luck
Manny

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by tinmanny
you need a good skimmer to keep the tank clean if the skimmer you have is crap then you need to get a good one to put fish in it again without the proper cleaning ability you will just be doing it all over again.
so invest the money you would spend on fish and add a lot more and buy a very good skimmer the fact that you do not have a sump means you should have a real good skimmer then you could get fish that will survive
Good luck
Manny

Exactly!

 

[st3]

so what kind of skimmer should i buy?

 

[reefjunkiee]

Originally Posted by DragonZim
A 90 will definitely be too small for a clown trigger. They need a much bigger tank to be healthy for the course of their life.

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by st3
so what kind of skimmer should i buy?
With no sump; I don't think you can do better than an Aqua-C Remora Pro. They say this is good for tanks up to 120 gal; but mfg sales pitches are often on the high end...but you should be ok. They are, by far, the best HOT (HOB, if you prefer) skimmers I've ever used. You can have it running 10 min after opening the box. I'd get the optional surface skimmer box, it really eliminates bubbles. They also have great tech support.

 

[mie]

Originally Posted by st3
so what kind of skimmer should i buy?
Red sea prizm (hob)

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by mie
Red sea prizm (hob)
Re-read original post.

 

[bessycerka]

I totally agree with ST3 on the Fluval thing. My first burned out after 1 year almost to the day. Got another and the crappy packing of the hoses caused it to kink and collapse, and killed my trigger, the other one would have to be re primed constantly after cleaning or a power out, they made noise, and the plastic parts crack, they're enough to make you quit fish keeping..........OH, yeah, I'd go with the trigger, but I'm partial to them........

 

[mie]

That is weird that you did'nt have good luck with that skimmer. I love mine, Now I can agree that the fluval does have its fare share of problems, I might have been a bit to quick to say keep the fluvals because now that i think about it i have had to fix mine three different times this year not counting today. rena makes a really nice filter a bit pricey.