Stu.H

Evening folks

Been doing a fair bit of homework on this aquarium malarky, just after a bit of advice/tips if possible...

The tank I will be getting is gonna be around 36" x 12" x 18" (28 gallons, 127 litres). I reckon I need a 150W heater and a filter something like the Tetratec EX700.

To start with, I was going to fill the tank up with tap water, and add the required amount of Chlorine reducer. I was then going to "feed" the tank with fish food daily and wait for it to break down to release the ammonia required, and wait for it to turn into nitrate, then nitrite.

After a few weeks, I need to make sure the PH is around 7, the Amonia is 0, nitrate 0 and nitrite 0. At this point though, the nitrites might be slightly high, so a 20% change in the water to dechlorified tap water may be beneficial. Then I believe its safe to add the fishies

Removing the 20% water, I was going to use a suction pipe, to remove as much "crap" from the bottom while removing the said 20% water as well?

Ive read fish food isnt the best to use tho to release the initial amonia, due to it giving off other harmful bacterias? Best to use live food? Or cheap fish?

Also, whats the difference between marine and tropical? Apart from the salt?

Can see why so many peoples fish die after reading up on all this stuff

Sounds like fun tho

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Stu, your theory sounds great, but if I were you I would stay away from Marine. Lots more work and it's not quite a case of putting in additives and waiting for Nitrite to disappear.

For one thing you will rarely have an Aquarium with zero Nitrate, once it has completed its biological cycle. Well, tap water has a fair bit of Nitrate in it already, so you won't do any better than that unless you use RO water.

The Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate levels are a constant balance of how many fish you have, how you feed them and how good your filtration is. A dramatic change in any direction and your fish are brown-bread etc etc.

Stick to Tropical IMO.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Also, no need to use De-Chlorinator. Just run the water fast into a bucket before pouring into tank. Then leave it to stand for 2-3 days and all the Chlorine will be gone anyway. Speed this up by fitting an Air-Stone.

I don't agree with using additives where they can be avoided.

Stu.H

Thanks Christian

OK Tropical it is to start ....



Have I got the basics OK?

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Just fill the tank as I said, connect the heater and air-stone and leave it for a 3-4 days to be safe. Then chuck a dozen Mollies in there and feed them normally. Monitor Ammonia and Nitrite and we will take it from there......

Stu.H

Cool, for the temp, there is a temp meter on the one I was gonna get, for the amonia, you can get a stick on patch thing that changes colour, and for the nitrate/nitrite/PH, would you recommend the test tube tester papers or is there something better?

Mr S1

iTrader: (2)

Stu - I'm having murders with both my tanks at the moment. The nitrate levels in both are now subsiding but it's taken weeks and I had to drain and refill my outdoor one 4 times...........in the end I changed the complete filtration system and that's sorted it.

I'd steer clear of marine too.............freshwater are easier to maintain and easier to sort if there's a problem. Usually it's to do with the amount the fish pee and crap in the water and it's reasonably easily remedied. Just make sure you haven't got too many fish in the tank and make sure the filktration system is absolutely the best you can get.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Use a normal boggo standard Thermometer. Or, if you feel flush, one of the proper digital ones. Nothing inbetween. I would use an electronic thermostatically controlled heater too.

Don't have the light on in the tank for longer than about 8 hours a day too.

Then get proper test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. The tablet ones are easiest, but I would still get the ones where you add drops to a sample of water in a test-tube, they aren't that hard to use.

Christian and Beccy

iTrader: (14)

Oh, never change more than 30% of the water at any one time and don't clean all the filtration system out at once. This is why an external canister filter is good, because they have 3-4 layers which can be cleaned one at a time thereby keeping the bacterial content alive.

Mr S1

iTrader: (2)

Christian - I had no choice with mine mate, believe me............I had to drain the whole thing, quickly......the water was toxic.

Agree on the filters - I only clean the mats inside, never touch the bottom.

BlueSmoke

Stu, setting up a similar size tank to that in the past I have always filled it, added some chlorine remover and left it for 4 days with the filter running and the heater on. After the 4 days I will add 4 or 5 fish along the lines of Mollies.

This has always been fine for me. Other good starter fish to add are female Siamese Fighters. The females don't have the long fins or the violent temperament of the male fish and I think of them as "tropical goldfish", but they handle chlorine etc a lot better than many other fish and will be a good starter set to get your aquarium going.

As for marine, these actually take a lot of skill and expense to run successfully and I've always wanted to yet never dared attempt it!

Good luck and get some pics up as you go

Stu.H

Yep, and never use tap water to clean the filters

Mr S1, sounds like you had a nightmare, sounds like you're getting it sorted though...

Looking forward to this new "hobby", sounds fun, albeit expensive

Stu.H

Dogsmoke

Will do mate



With the marine fish, surely its just a case of treating the water like before, leave for a week, when u pop to the chippy one night, tip salt on ya chips and then in the tank, then throw nemo in and everyones happy?



Surely tho, it cant be that much harder to keep marine fish?

Prolly is tho

Stu.H

I take it that its not just as simple of another thing to monitor, ie salt levels?

Cos some marine fish are fookin cool

craig todd

stick with tropical, loads more equipment to buy with marine.
no need to leave your tank running that long with no fish, just set it up add a couple of hardy fish to cycle your tank for you, also add some bacterlife, these are the bacteria your filter needs to convert ammonia to nitite and then to nitrate.

craig

Stu.H

Thanks for your input, Craig

What "hardy" fish would you recommend personally, and how many?

I am also keen to get some invertibrates in there as well at some point

craig todd

hi stu
we use small plecs, very hardy, and can be kept with most fish so they're a good starter, you have to feed them algea wafers as thiers no algea in a new tank for them to graze on.

craig

Stu.H

ahh ok, another thing to add to the very much growing "shopping list" then

Anyone else got any comments? I guess I must be heading in sorta the right direction as I havent had to put my flame suit on yet

Stu.H

BTTT

Stu.H

BOING!

lickshot0

Hey matey...
i used to work in an aquatic ctr years ago and am the keenest of carp fisherman. all the avove replies are pretty much spot on

if u have no fish in there at all sling 5 neon tetras in there... a hardy fish and cheap also...

or u cld sling a goldfish in there too, u can mix cold water fish with tropical if u kno what ur doing but dont put tropical fish into cold water... if ur having a community tank goldfish are fine....

oh and as for the plec... great fish but they get sooo big and end up wrecking ur tank (ie scenery) when they are on the move... a red gibbicep may be better, these are a better looking sort of plec , also grow quite large but not nearly as quick...

its best to end up with some sort of plec or ancistrus or sucking loach as they live on the algae build up in the tank..

and to top it off if any1 says u cant mix trops and colds i have a large tank and the girlfriend wanted fancy coldwater fish and i wanted trops... so we have five or six large (grown from tiny) fantails and moors and calicos and things and i have trop sharks like silvers and red tail and that oh theres a tench in there too which will end up in my pond at home... but remember i said u have to be carefull when mixing as alot of colds have large fins and alot of trops love to attack them (ie barbs)

Ur local aquatic ctre should tell u which fish go with which... and this mite sound a bit stupid but try to ask some1 that looks like they kno wot they are talking about or ur new tank could end up as an illegal fighting artena!!! LOL...

Hope this helps u fella!!!

Dave

Stu.H

Cheers Dave, excellent information, much appreciated pal

I do have a massive goldfish upstairs, but its now too big for the tank.. Might try him in the tropical tank then, see how he gets on