So I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I figured it was my best shot at getting solid advice. I recently inherited a 140 gallon (72" L x 23 H ) aquarium from my godfather who passed away in 2016. I have no idea what I am doing and I feel like I have bit off more than I can chew, but I am determined to make this tank look good and keep it going. I knew it was in rough shape so the first thing I did was have the cabin refinished and the tank professionally cleaned. It probably would have been cheaper to get a new tank, but since it was the one thing I always remembered seeing at my Godfathers house since I was 6 I wanted to keep it all. So right now the few fish he had are currently in a 20 gallon tank while I get this monster of a tank set up. I have purchased a new FX6 canister filter.

I am looking for good recommendations on what kind of light set up to use. I don't plan on having live plants, just the fish which currently consists of 2 large plecos and a 20 or so barbs. I am sure it will look empty with so little fish so I will probably need to purchase a few more so recommendations on some no violent easy to maintain fish, that look good. Also any general advice on life with a freshwater aquarium would be a huge help. Thanks!

Barbs are medium to high aggression as far as freshwater fish go. You won't be able to put any fish with long fins with them as they will nip them off. Barbs will do well in an aggressive tank as will plecos. You should probably steer away from all non-aggressive community tank fish with that many barbs.

Thanks! I will get two gold fish to start the process once I get it all set up.

IMO, you can keep it simple if you don't overcrowd, and if you siphon-clean some percent of the water every week or two. My goal is to set it up so it's not a big chore. Get a siphon that attaches to your sink faucet so you can move water back and forth easy - treat with chemicals to get rid of chlorine.

I like a few live plants, and don't do anything for them. They'll be fine with any ol' LED light and a little window light.

If you let your house get real cold during the winter, consider a small aquarium heater.

When out of town, you can use time release food capsules or get an automatic feeder.

Do you think the Plecos would be hearty enough to move first? Or should I move some barbs in to start the process since they would probably beat up the goldfish??

You can also buy bacteria to jump start your bio-filtration. Starting with a few fish is easier, and add more over time. Have fun!

Things like silver dollars, red-finned sharks, corydoras catfish, pictus catfish, large gouramis (small ones will get their feelers bitten off, loaches, hatchet fish, danios (not long finned species), and tetras are OK in groups of 10 or more (also not long finned species)

The plecos would probably do fine, but I'd get rid of the goldfish after your tank is set up. Goldfish are great tank starters cause they make so much waste, but they are poor tank mates in the long run and will make your tank need a lot more care.

You can jump start the nitrogen cycle with a quick start or safe start, bio starter. But like AC said the bio load will determine how much bacteria continue to live in the filter.

With a tank that size I would actually advise adding some plants but stick with easy one's that don't need fertilizer. Anubias or Java fern are a couple that are almost impossible to kill. The plants will help keep various forms of algae from growing. You grow one type of plant to absorb the nutrients and keep another type from taking over.

With barbs you probably want to stick with barbs. They look really cool in a large school and you could support as many as 50 in a tank that size.

Lights are troublesome because there are a lot of options depending on what you want to do. Any of the smaller LED's will be fine.
Finnex Stingray LED
If you aren't growing a fully planted tank and just have a few low light plants then I would go with a smaller light and only run it a few hours a day. I run the lights on my tanks at night, when we are home and leave them off most of the time.

Check out this guys 800 gal tank with over 200 barbs, among other fish.

Finn Maccumhail said:

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I don't have anything constructive to add other than I've always wanted to set up a big ass freshwater aquarium with a couple largemouth bass, bream, and baitfish to watch their behavior.

Good luck with what sounds like a really cool project.

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I have thought about this, but am more interested in some of the native chiclids. They get big so it would take something like a 140 to make it work.

I thought the Texas Cichlid was the only species of cichlid native to the US...

Badace52 said:

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Things like silver dollars, red-finned sharks, corydoras catfish, pictus catfish, large gouramis (small ones will get their feelers bitten off, loaches, hatchet fish, danios (not long finned species), and tetras are OK in groups of 10 or more (also not long finned species)

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Silver dollars and gouramis do well with barbs. Pretty sure I could spend hours a day watching silver dollars in a 6' long tank.

Badace52 said:

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I thought the Texas Cichlid was the only species of cichlid native to the US...

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They are, not sure why I pluralized it. Just one species and they exist in Texas rivers.

talk to DRAINS05

I stand corrected I have swordtails and not barbs. I only have two males and the rest are females.

Well swordtails will do well in a community tank with just about anything.

I'm cycling a new tank that I set up at christmas right now. Hoping I'm near the end. Nitrites have been high for a week. Doing partial water changes, and only have 4 platy fish right now. It's only 10 gallon so maintaining the balance will be a little harder than I'm used to.

Oh well that is good to hear! I want to get one or to Texas Cichlids.

Well unfortunately Texas Cichlids aren't a community tank fish. They eat everything that's small enough to fit in their mouths. If you had some small ones they would do OK until they get big enough to eat the swords and then they will eat whatever they can catch.

Well I am glad you guys are here to share advice. I would have made some bad choices with out ya'll.

So far I have added some low light plants to my list and I have a general idea on how I will prep the tank to take fish.

Goals for tonight, rinse/clean the gravel that was in the tank originally and start setting up the tank dcor.

Keep the ideas coming. I did not realize so many people had aquariums!

I like to pick a sort of realistic natural community and replicate it in my tank.

I really like South American style tanks: lots of community fish that school and move along with catfish. Tetras and silver dollars.

I've also done a native tank that I had native sunfish species in, plus some other native fish, which was fun, but they do grow rapidly. Feeding them live food was a blast though.

African cichlids make a great colorful tank, but they are all aggressive and can only go on with other African cichlids and tough larger fish.

Additionally, unlike barbs which are a little more sensitive to poor water conditions, swordtails are very hardy and you could probably use them to condition your tank if you don't want to buy goldfish, but I wouldn't put all of them in there at once. Maybe 5-10 to start and then slowly add more fish in after a week or two with the initial group 5-10 at a time.

Do a big cichlid tank

https://instagr.am/p/BeIqnPPBhQl

Cichlids are fun and lots of variety. We were even able to try a few other things with them with success (some ended up cichlid food) if you don't overstock and give some protected areas.

Post of a pic of your tank. I had a cichlid tank years ago and enjoyed it.

Picture of your stand?

BrownCoat said:

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I stand corrected I have swordtails and not barbs. I only have two males and the rest are females.

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Swordtails are live bearers and fairly prolific. You'll probably end up with more unless they are getting eaten.

Regarding live plants, your plecos will probably eat them.

I have 3 plecos and while they eat most aquatic plants, they won't touch the anubias species.