halfguard

would it be better to have a heater for my 10 gall tank. i want to have 2 platys and 2 danios in it. or will room temp be ok?

Angela_96

They are tropical fish so yes they do need a heater. The temp will stay a constant w/in 2-3 degrees w/ the heater.

Torez

most definately. and there not so expencive now with all the sales. i just got them both for 16.99!

agabr123

It also says you don't know about the nitrogen cycle. You need to let your tank cycle before you can put fish in. There are some great articles you can read here on this site that can is explain it very well to you, but for the time being and just in case...

Fish produce waste and excess food breaks down which puts ammonia into your tank.
Bacteria builds up on the filter in order to deal with this problem during the cycle.
What you will see during your cycle is a spike in ammonia while the bacteria is building up.
Then, your nitrites will spike, because the bacteria on the filter is converting the ammonia into nitrites.
Finally, your nitrates will go up and eventually level out around 5-20ppm, and you're ready to add fish!

You will need some form of test kit in order to establish where you are in your cycle, because the time frame can very greatly from tank to tank.

If you already know this information, I apologize, but so many people on this site have had problems because the didn't know about the cycle, it's better to be safe than sorry!

TropicalGrimmish

yes you need a heater, a 10g heater runs about 20 bucks. good luck with your tank.

halfguard

ok, bought the heater, was 30$ and its fully submersable...the brand is marineland......

agabr123

that is an excellent brand, pricey, but definitely top of the line.

FishJones

Hope your marineland heater shows a light when it is on, mine didn't so took it back.

Lucy

The stealths don't have a light but I prefer them because they're shatterproof.

halfguard

yea, its a stealth 50. i also got my water checked at pet supermarket and they said everything was fine. im hoping the heater is the thing i need to make this tank come together. so now ive got 2 platys and in a couple weeks i want to get 2 more fish. my son wants fish that are a little more colorful than the platys, any suggestions?

Lucy

Did they tell you the eact numbers for ammonia nitrites and nitrates?
Your tank isn't that old and I'm concerned that it's not fully cycled.

halfguard

no they didnt give me the numbers. its been about 5 weeks since i started the tank. i will test it again tomorow with my strips. i also just changed my filter for the first time and since then my water has been very clear.

Lucy

You can just rinse your filter cartridges in used tank water and re-use it. This helps to preserve as much bacteria as you can.
The carbon needs to be changed regularly if you use that.
Many of us don't bother using carbon except to filter out meds.

Blub

Bare in mind that the pet store often sends people home with 'fine' water parameters of 5 ammonia, 10 nitrite and 0 nitrate! (Deffinetly uncycled)

Test strips aren't the most accurate kind of test - I used to have one and all the different pallets mixed into each other making it almost impossible to read, along with the fact they are not very precise. I would recommend getting a liquid test kit (the API Master test kit is highly recommend by folks around here) as soon as possible.

eaglescout316

When you say you don't use carbon, what do you mean? For instance, my whisper filter has carbon in the filter cartridge and i'm not aware of other cartridges without carbon, so would i just not use a cartridge?