Setting Up a Goldfish Tank - 55 Gallon size tank

Good afternoon,

I am new to the list.

I currently do not have a tank set up, but for a number of years I had South African Cichlids in my 55 gallon acrylic. I still have the tank, stand and accessories, but it is not set up. My boyfriend and I are thinking of setting it up at his place, and have goldfish in it.

My question is, I have gravel that is mixed with crushed coral (I think), which was great for my cichlids. Would this mixture be OK for goldfish? Or would it cause the PH to be too high. Or do I need to get all brand new gravel. I have a 5 gallon bucket that is about 3/4 filled with the mixture.

The filter I have is the kind that hangs on the side of the tank. Will that work for them, or should I buy an undergravel filter.

Thanks for your help.

Please register on the site.

Hi Mikey,

Sorry, when I posted, I thought I was signed in. I had joined, and then I posted my question, thinking I was still signed in.


Thanks, Steph

You want the PH to be higher than 7.4.

Here is a little care sheet for gold fish:

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Gold Fish are like tanks in my opinion, They can make it threw almost anything. They are very tough and can live and adapt to almost any conditions.
That filter should be fine, but its always good to have some air stones in there. what type of filter do you have? If you have a Aqua Clear 70 your definitely good to go.

Thanks for the link. That was very informative. My gravel mixed with crushed coral should be fine.

The filter I have is the Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel 350, which is for tanks up to 70 gallons.

One more question, do I need to use a heater in the tank? The house during the day is no lower than 55, going up to 60 in the morning and evening (in the summer, when it gets warmer out, the temp of the house does increase). I am probably not going to go with the fancy goldfish, but get something like the Shubunkin.

Thanks, Steph

It depends on the type of gold fish you have. The common single tail variety will do perfectly fine in cold or warm water because they are pond fish. It it is one of the fancier gold fish they would do better in a tank around 72deg F. What type of gold fish is it? just a normal fish tank/pond gold?

That is what I am planning on doing, common single tail variety.

Yea your good to go then I wouldn't worry about a heater.

No heater is fine, but an AC70 for a 55 gallon GF tank is not going to be enough bio filtration when they get bigger, cause you know you won't stop at just 'one' fish in a 55...

An acceptable solution to this is to add a sponge filter to the mix, this uses air power to 'uplift' water through a tube and draws water across the sponges many porus holes. These holes hold good bacteria, the kind that break down amonia and nitrates-fish waste.

Another option would be to add another 350 for purely bio. Fill it with ceramic rings and your golden!

I am running a Magnun 250 this way(good to 50-60 gallons I think), no carbon, but the media basket holds about 2.5 cups of ceramic rings, I put 2 sponge prefilters over this and it is lasting a while before any type of maintenance is done to it. I have this on a 35 hex with one fancy GF, cory cats (5) black ghost knife, a gourami, dwarf frog, and a albino pleco(3"). This mght be slightly overstocked, but my water is PRISTINE!

I also use an AC110 (550gph) on a 45gallon show tank, and I am thinking a sponge filter might add a bit more umph to my bio on this one as well.

It NEVER hurts to overfilter a tank!

I have to agree with racersk, I think you need to add filtration. Goldfish are piggies and create plenty of waste. I personnally would just add a cannister filter. Undergravel filters are out of fashion but still get the job done.

Just a little advice never never never use a reptofilter or any other fully submersible filter like the reptofilter in your gold fish tank. I had 3 in my old tank and the water still got cloudy and the fish would get stuck to it. lol

And you would be surprised how much they poop and eat.

Reptofilter?

This is a reptofilter:

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Don't get any filter that looks like that.

I got one that said it was rated for gold fish but it was not they are cheap but ineffective.

Pleco_Party wrote:I got one that said it was rated for gold fish but it was not they are cheap but ineffective.

They can be fine as long as you fill it up with ceramic rings instead of the filter floss cartridge they use...Plus it has no means for ANY bio filtration. That is purely a mechanical filter as it comes out of the box.

My point exactly they are not worth it. Just buy a good AC. That was my point in saying "don't be fooled even if it says rated for gold fish don't buy one."