Newbie with questions ;)

Hi,

I have been sorting over the web now for a week looking at fish and tanks and all the info. I bought home a 46' Bowfront and A Fluval 305 today which is more filter than I need but was reccomended to go a bit higher.

I'm looking to set up some live plants maybe a couple dwarf frogs and a bunch of Miscellanious fish includeing A redtail shark and a couple catfish etc.

I am getting a lot of different answers as whether to use tap water, distilled water or soft water to get this thing going. I have been all over the web with fish compatabilites and all I'm looking at right now is an empty tank and a filter system that looks a little complicated.

Anyone have any advice here.

Thank you,

Kris

 

The water you use to cycle your tank really isn't as important as the quality of the water when you add your fish. For your fish tap water is good because it has trace minerals that distilled water doesn't that your fish need. However if you have really hard water you may need to use a mix of your tap water and soft water.

Couple of other questions to think about: Have you read up and understand the nitrogen cycle? if not here is a great link to learn about it:

Are you planning on cycling your tank with or without fish? - Most around here recommend cycling without fish as the cycling process is very stressful for them. But if you want to get fish in there right away the most recommended product is BioSpira (beneficial bacteria to cycle your tank instantly) but it can be very expensive as it needs to be kept cold so it must be overnight shipped or purchased locally. Hope this helps. Best of luck to you and welcome =))

 

Thanks you for reply,

I will cycle without fish, water is hard here. I had 3 different answers the first being distilled, which was debunked by a second individual who said tap water because you need the PH levels. Then today I grabbed the tank and the guy who seemed quite knowledgable told me to use soft water which made sense to me, so maybe a mix of tap and soft might be better.

I would get the impression that this should cut down on the cycle time and the filter I got is more than enough and should cycle through all these issues quickly. I'm also wondering about live plants as it appears that different plants have different needs as well. A lot of information to absorb with these tanks.

I'm going to water up on Tuesday and start the cycle and see what happens. Appreciate the link and the welcome.

Best,

Kris

 

The tap water here is hard and higher in pH (around 7.5) but seems to not bother the fish. i've never heard of using tap water because of pH levels.. i've found higher pH levels in spring water from the store. it's just the good minerals from tap water that you need. a combo of soft & treated (when you have fish) tap sounds fine to me. Cycling a tank seems to be a varied thing on how long it takes from 3 weeks to 2 months. just keep the ammonia source steady and remember the 15-hour life cycle on the bacteria.

Best of luck with your tank.

 

i'd probably go with tap water (either aged or conditioned). I have really hard water here, and it's not been a problem for me.

 

Thanks guys,

I am going to get the gravel now and will set up the filter tonight after I water up, gonna use the tap I guess. I'm not in too much of a hurry that I need fish today. I may try that chemicl bacteria Biro spira or cycle to see what happens with the readings and get a quicker cycle.

If anyone has anything to add let me know and I appreciate the help from all.

Best,

Kris

 

Do yourself a favor and pick up an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit. This will help you to monitor your progress through the cycle and also while keeping your fish. It's important to remember that good water chemistry is the key to keeping healthy fish. Test y our water out of the tap so you know what your base chemical levels are.

I assume that you know that by cycling fishless that you have to 'feed' the tank using flake food or some other food source to get the cycle moving? If not, the chemicals never build and subside and the tank will never cycle.

If you want to cycle with fish, I used feeder goldfish to get mine going. They aren't expensive (5 for .50 cents) and while it may seem cruel I looked at it this way - they were going to die eventually....I just prolonged their fate. You can add "Prime" as a water conditioner so they don't feel the effects of the cycle. But in the event they don't make it through you haven't spent a lot of money on expensive fish to have them die on you.

 

Do yourself a favor and pick up an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit. This will help you to monitor your progress through the cycle and also while keeping your fish. It's important to remember that good water chemistry is the key to keeping healthy fish. Test y our water out of the tap so you know what your base chemical levels are.

I assume that you know that by cycling fishless that you have to 'feed' the tank using flake food or some other food source to get the cycle moving? If not, the chemicals never build and subside and the tank will never cycle.

If you want to cycle with fish, I used feeder goldfish to get mine going. They aren't expensive (5 for .50 cents) and while it may seem cruel I looked at it this way - they were going to die eventually....I just prolonged their fate. You can add "Prime" as a water conditioner so they don't feel the effects of the cycle. But in the event they don't make it through you haven't spent a lot of money on expensive fish to have them die on you.

uh what do you do with the feeder fish if they live through the cycle....let me guess flush em?

 

Tank and filter are up and running, broke the bulb in the hood kit and now waiting to hear if ther have a replacement.

I used enough spriro for 60 gallong and running 46, that shoud be enough bacteria to cyle the system I hope. But it running anyway, very cloudy but used fine gravel and rinsed the out of it. see what it looks like tonight.

Thanks for the help, gonna try and run down this bulb

 

Is it a chain store or a small LPS/LFS that you get the BioSpira. I'd love to get it local and save the overnight shipping costs.

 

Is it a chain store or a small LPS/LFS that you get the BioSpira. I'd love to get it local and save the overnight shipping costs.

Being a complete novice, I went to the computer first, then like any other hobby you get different answers but a lot of substance to ask the right questions. Also gave me a chance to read past posts.

But I went to a specialty store and they packed it with ice and wrapped it to keep it cold, they had a real cold system for all kinds of things there.

I threw 15 guppy feeders in the tank tonight and will see what happens, I will bring some water over there in a couple days as I was in no mood to get into a kit after I busted a 60.00 bulb and they can give me the readings and will start with live plants and grab the kit at that point.

Everything ap-pears to be running properly.

Thanks again to all and will keep you posted as I progress.

Best,

Kris

 

When you get your kit, I'd recommend this testing kit: . It's popular with the members, easy to use and accurate.

That does stink about the bulb. I've broken a few things myself. Can that specialty store open a sister store in our town? Sounds like a pretty nice store.

Did you check here: for the bulb you need? Could be cheaper and you can always order a few other things from them and have the same shipping charge.

 

uh what do you do with the feeder fish if they live through the cycle....let me guess flush em?

UH....No. I brought them back to the pet store to be bought and fed to other fish who need live catch. Sorry if you have a problem with allowing nature to behave naturally....

 

When you get your kit, I'd recommend this testing kit: . It's popular with the members, easy to use and accurate.

That does stink about the bulb. I've broken a few things myself. Can that specialty store open a sister store in our town? Sounds like a pretty nice store.

Did you check here: for the bulb you need? Could be cheaper and you can always order a few other things from them and have the same shipping charge.

Hi,

Thanks for the link, They do seem cheaper but do not have the exact bulb but close, shipping and all things considered they do seem a lillte less. Only one store that I know of is here but I will check tomorrow when I go over there.

The tank has cleared up a lot overnight and the guppies are all alive, so I guess that's god news, at this rate water might be clear by tomorrow this time and then I will grab some plants and do a little landscapeing.

Best,

K

 

Well, the water wasy pretty clear yesterday so I went and bought a rainbow shark and several tiger barbs, need a few more as I thought 3 was the number.

Going to get some plants and a couple fish and start adding. Will get a couple pics.

Best,

K

 

Have you been checking your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Can you post them?

 

Have you been checking your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? Can you post them?

Hello Gunnie,

I went yesterday and had them check the water, all was fine except slightly high ammonia reading, my first water change will be sunday. Guy really know his stuff and he is from my area. I asked if it was safe to add a few more fish and remove some of the feeder guppies that I initially put in and he told me no more than 4 fish. So I came home with 2 live plants 2 striped loaches and 2 upside down catfish.

I had the reading written down but cannot find them now. But the tank is crystal clear and the fish seem to be pretty happy.

 

Watch your levels very closely. You have added more fish to a tank with an existing ammonia level, which will probably make that level increase quickly. You will probably have to do a water change sooner than Sunday.

 

Gunnie is absolutely right. If you have any ammonia reading at all you should not be adding fish. Depending on what your ammonia does next, you may need to be doing water changes as often as daily if your tank goes into a mini-cycle.

 

HI guys,

Thanks for the notes, I will do the change tomorrow and flush out 30% of the water.

I do have a question, I used a fine gravel for the bottom of the tank, what vacuum system would be best and what order should I do the change in.

Remove water and vacuum gravel at same time? Do I rinse filter media in the water before I take the water out or after I have replaced it. Curious about that. As I can do it tomorrow.

 

Use a siphon, which when jammed down into the gravel will vacuum it out at the same time as removing water. Leave it in one spot until no more "stuff" is being sucked out of the gravel, then move on to a new spot. Once you have a bucket full of tank water siphoned out, swish your filter media in the bucket. Do not swish it around in the tank or you will just release all the gunk back into the water that the filter has already taken out once.

 

Use a siphon, which when jammed down into the gravel will vacuum it out at the same time as removing water. Leave it in one spot until no more "stuff" is being sucked out of the gravel, then move on to a new spot. Once you have a bucket full of tank water siphoned out, swish your filter media in the bucket. Do not swish it around in the tank or you will just release all the gunk back into the water that the filter has already taken out once.

It won't suck the gravel out? I saw the one setup you hook to a sink and just hold it over the gravel and it sucks all the up and taked the water out at the same time. Bit a siphon would be fine as long as it does not take my gravel, but I guess it wont.

I'm going to pull some of these feeder guppies that I got when I setup and to make things more interesting my roommate bought home a red clawed crab, which I'm watching very closely.

 

Monday



Today





Crab



1 Rainbow Shark
3 Tiger Barbs
2 Upside down catfish
2 striped Loach
1 I'm not sure its a good idea Crab
14 Feeder guppies soon to be 4 feeder guppies

Various Vegitation

 

It depends on how fine your gravel is, as well as on the particular siphon. The one I use has a little flap over the hole where the tube connects to the vac, which blocks any gravel that is sucked into the vac from proceeding on into the tube.

 

Be careful with the crab as they are pretty aggressive. My syphon will take the gravel up into the tube, but one little shake and the gravel falls back into place. The item you're talking about is called a python. They vacuum, remove water and with the turn of the valve will replenish the water as well. You just have to be in close proximity to the faucet in order to fill or be prepared to drag a fairly long hose.