soulgaazer

I have a 55 gallon tank water from my well. had the water tested and was told that is was very good for an aquarium, no need to add anything except some salt due to hardness. That was last year. As of now I have 1 mid size oscar, 2 small african cichliids, 2 mid size wood cats, one medium pleco, and just today a 6 in dragonfish. Now everyoncve in a while ( once a month I do add some aquarium salt to keep the hardness down, I change my filters( 1 50-60 whisper and 1 30-40 whisper running) three at a time at leaste once a week if not once every two weeks. Water temp is between 73 and 80 ( 2 different threm) I have holes and caves for the cats and the Dragon, all seems to be good. I recycle the water at leaste once every three weeks. at that time I add in live bacteria( due to having well water and no bacteriain it), I add water and clean the bottom and the sides. So Far everything is good. I feed once a day. My hood lights are covered with Blue Celaphain paper to dimm down the brightness. Lights on for no more then 3-4 hours a day, plus my offce room has plenty of sunshine with one window. Not to much with disorder among my fish. Is this ok? or should I be doing something else? If there is anything I need to do please let me know, I want to do the best I can for my little family.

aquarist48

Hello and Welcome to Fish Lore Sounds like your aquarium is doing very well. I have well water also but I don't have to add any additional bacteria to it. I see in your aquarium information that you are not aware of the nitrogen cycle. It could be a great help to you should problems start arising in your tank (let's hope not)
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
Too, I would like to suggest that you have an API freshwater, chemical test kit. This kit will test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, pH that are explained in the nitrogen cycle.
73 to 80 degrees is a wide range for temperature. As long as your temperature doesn't fluctuate everything should be ok.
If you have the means we'd all love to see pictures of your fish family
Glad you came aboard So much good information here and friendly people.
Have a great weekend.

soldieroffortune1974

Hello soulgazzer and WELCOME to Fishlore.

Well water generally is excellent for aquaria. I add salt to my aquariums as well, but you may have a potential problem with the Pleco with added salt. Some do OK, but many get sick from the salt. scaleless fish don't do well in salted aquariums. Keep an eye on him hopefully he will do fine. Oscars and cichlids do well in hard water,high PH and require trace amounts of salt. Adding salt every month (without changing the water) will eventually give you a high salinity reading.Keep in mind salt does not evaporate when the water does,The water level will drop from evaporation,but the salt remains in the water,so be careful not to add too much.

Keep an eye on those 2 issues and everything else sounds good.

soulgaazer

I thank you very much for your insites. I will get pics up as soon as I can, and I have already planned on a water tester for myself. I do understand about about my pleco and the salt issue, I started with small puffers and the same pleco, as long as i keep to my 15% recycle as I have been doing every other week, I add my salt about every three weeks and hopefully things will still be good. I will keep you all informed as to my progress. Thanks again