Common Newbie Pitfalls

[MarkhamDave]

You haven't stated what you plan for your tank.If you want marine (salt) then you need to take some extra precautions.
Cycleing refers to the process of allowing good bacteria to become established in your tank. In a salt environment, if you have some Live Rock", it has enough live growth that you won't need to risk a fish. If you set it up with theright environment of chemicals (see much research) you can watch the chemcal changes in your aquarium go from being high in Ammonia, to being high in Nitrate to Nitrite which is finally safe for fish as long as it is below 20-30 PPM.
Use Google, use this site or anything else for research. You will save a lot of time, frustration and money by reading and learning before diving in. This pastime is much more compicated than you may realize.
And ask questions on this site.

[veggievettech]

Laugh at the lady at Petsmart when she tells you to add fish after the tank has been "running" for 3 days.
Have much patience... I'm in my 8th week of cycling with fish (thanks to the lady at Petsmart)
Make friends with someone who has an established tank so you can "borrow" some of their bacteria and make your cycle go faster!

[authorize]

I'm planning on going with the freshwater route. I don't think I have the skills to pull off a saltwater tank, at least not yet. Good thing I have a consultant I can go to (he's an ex-coworker's boyfriend). This site has also proven to be very helpful. I was going to get a tank and put a crayfish with a few other fishes. Good thing I didn't do that.

[martiniduck]

I am a newbie to the new ways of fish keeping. Ten years ago I had an aquarium and I did all the wrong things discussed in this forum. I have decided to return to this hobby. I have a 29 gallon tank and would like to introduce Tropical fresh water fish to it. I use to live in Chicago which has soft water, I now live in the far suburbs and I have hard water with a water softener. The water at my faucets are soft, but I am worried about the salt from the softener. Will the salt from the water softener be a problem? Also I saw a post that said never change the filter just rinse it off. Don't you have to change the filters? I was always told the charcoal removes the ammonia from the water. I have read all about the cycling and I know the bacteria eat the ammonia, but if there is too much ammonia wouldn't you want it removed with the charcoal filter?

[Squareheads]

Yeh i kinda dumped the fish and the plants in less than a week...

I dont get the cycle part... can someone expand on this? what does it mean to have a balanced cycle?...

im happy that my fish survived a week from my noobish mistakes... so where do i go from there?... btw all i have is a gravel vac, and some samples of water conditioner, food, and bacteria cycle stuff...

[HN1]

Hmmm... maybe better for a new thread, but I'll try to paint the broad strokes for ya Square. Cycling... in a nutshell, there are bacteria that consume Ammonia and excrete Nitrite. There are also bacteria that consume Nitrite and excrete Nitrate. Both Ammonia and Nitrite can be lethal to fish and inverts in small concentrations. The goal of cycling is to allow the bacterial colonies to grow in pace with the wastes your creatures produce. The Nitrate is relatively harmless and is removed by doing water changes. In a cycled tank... fish poop etc = ammonia, ammonia becomes nitrite, nitrite becomes nitrate, water change removes end product and makes for healthy fish.

The best suggestions I can offer are to get a good liquid test kit (API Master FW is good quality for the money) and to test regularly and do water changes anytime ammonia or nitrite are .25 or higher.

There are quite a few good conditioners on the market. I'm a big fan of Prime made by Seachem. Feel free to make a new thread or PM me for any additional explanations.

[Squareheads]

Well I got some plants in my tank, so i guess the nitrogen cycle is working decently. A guy in the fish store said that 2 weeks is long enough for bacteria to grow, i agree with that, but it he didn't say that bacteria has fully grown yet...

I just recently bought 2 flower shrimp ( got it on sale, i believe it was $13/each but got it for $4) and got a bushy nose plecos.

hopefully i made the right move... and i got Prime as well and put half a cup in the tank for the heck of it... any constructive criticism?

[mgamer20o0]

even once you been keeping fish for a couple years you are not a expert. i dont know this one bugs me at times. i been keeping fish 10 plus years and am far a expert. some people get a little knowledge than becomes a expert. nothing wrong with trying to help people but pass the info as fact when still dont grasp all the basics isnt always helpful.

[GJ-Anderson]

ok, by the post defining newbie and noob - not a noob, just a newbie to fish (not a newbie to other aquatic animals or tanks).

Please correct me if I'm wrong (fish are different than turtles) but I was always told (by vets and other experts) the Ph should never be below 6.6 and never higher than 7.7 even if appearing to be stable. I know many people do not check the Ph levels with their turtles and then wonder why they get sick and die.

I posted in the "Welcome" section and asked for advice in a new thread...got treated as if I have no experience with tanks, ponds or anything else. I did act the part: "ok..add in to what I need one water test kit" type comment.

I also see people commenting on no stupid question, but it seems like my question there must have been pretty stupid or something. First, I didn't use the word "planning" but referred to the definition of the word. "need to know what to get..." and I get treated as if I'm rushing. I also stated that I was on a tight budget.

Now I know, people in here say to research before but then they act like if you don't follow their advice then you were wrong...very very confusing.

My advice to the one about Ph levels is this: get a bucket or something else to practice with (same size as tank); empty 50%-60% like you would do a PWC and in another bucket, adjust the Ph then put into tank/bucket. Adjust Ph back about where it is naturally out of the faucet and do again until correct. I found for the Ph levels for turtle tanks that I usually only had to lower Ph levels by about 50% solution...always came out to around 6.9 to 7.1 -- which is almost perfect for a turtle tank.

Ok, anyways...after reading many posts in here..I'm almost debating about selling or taking back my 10 gallon aquarium kit (though I can't take back the gravel...store was on clearance-going out of business) and just not getting fish at all. It's not the work for the reason, but it seems that everybody goes against 10 gallon tank people (don't have the room nor the budget for anything bigger)...I guess I'm too poor to have fish though (by an email from member of another website). I might as well, build those wall shelves and then build the 240 gallon terrarium and get something I'm not a newbie on...TURTLES.

Stress on just getting ideas and advice on where to go with a 10 gallon aquarium is just getting too much for me. Only 2 websites gave me any advice, 1 - I'm too poor and this one - I need to know about cycling water (which makes me laugh because turtle waste is higher in Nitrites than a 30 gallon aquarium of fish - in accordance to Dr. Richards from the Dallas Zoo).

One question, just in case I decide to keep my poor man's aquarium. I have seen one in this thread say to keep the Nitrates below 30 ppm while someone else says 20 ppm, which is correct? Dr. Richards is retired and I do not live in Dallas anymore and it seems like nobody around here really knows. Should I just go ahead and make sure it is no higher than 10 ppm (since that is the highest level for turtles)...also I have always had someone else do the tests so it would be the first time to actually do the tests (but even if I get a turtle, would still need to do the tests myself).

Sorry, may seem I'm grumbling at all in here...just frustrated because of getting no ideas about tank and getting treated like a moron or a poor looser from other people. Also just in a bad mood today...stupid med exam... VA hospitals suck royally.

[HN1]

Originally Posted by GJ-Anderson

ok, by the post defining newbie and noob - not a noob, just a newbie to fish (not a newbie to other aquatic animals or tanks).

Please correct me if I'm wrong (fish are different than turtles) but I was always told (by vets and other experts) the Ph should never be below 6.6 and never higher than 7.7 even if appearing to be stable. I know many people do not check the Ph levels with their turtles and then wonder why they get sick and die.

I posted in the "Welcome" section and asked for advice in a new thread...got treated as if I have no experience with tanks, ponds or anything else. I did act the part: "ok..add in to what I need one water test kit" type comment.

I also see people commenting on no stupid question, but it seems like my question there must have been pretty stupid or something. First, I didn't use the word "planning" but referred to the definition of the word. "need to know what to get..." and I get treated as if I'm rushing. I also stated that I was on a tight budget.

Now I know, people in here say to research before but then they act like if you don't follow their advice then you were wrong...very very confusing.

My advice to the one about Ph levels is this: get a bucket or something else to practice with (same size as tank); empty 50%-60% like you would do a PWC and in another bucket, adjust the Ph then put into tank/bucket. Adjust Ph back about where it is naturally out of the faucet and do again until correct. I found for the Ph levels for turtle tanks that I usually only had to lower Ph levels by about 50% solution...always came out to around 6.9 to 7.1 -- which is almost perfect for a turtle tank.

Ok, anyways...after reading many posts in here..I'm almost debating about selling or taking back my 10 gallon aquarium kit (though I can't take back the gravel...store was on clearance-going out of business) and just not getting fish at all. It's not the work for the reason, but it seems that everybody goes against 10 gallon tank people (don't have the room nor the budget for anything bigger)...I guess I'm too poor to have fish though (by an email from member of another website). I might as well, build those wall shelves and then build the 240 gallon terrarium and get something I'm not a newbie on...TURTLES.

Stress on just getting ideas and advice on where to go with a 10 gallon aquarium is just getting too much for me. Only 2 websites gave me any advice, 1 - I'm too poor and this one - I need to know about cycling water (which makes me laugh because turtle waste is higher in Nitrites than a 30 gallon aquarium of fish - in accordance to Dr. Richards from the Dallas Zoo).

One question, just in case I decide to keep my poor man's aquarium. I have seen one in this thread say to keep the Nitrates below 30 ppm while someone else says 20 ppm, which is correct? Dr. Richards is retired and I do not live in Dallas anymore and it seems like nobody around here really knows. Should I just go ahead and make sure it is no higher than 10 ppm (since that is the highest level for turtles)...also I have always had someone else do the tests so it would be the first time to actually do the tests (but even if I get a turtle, would still need to do the tests myself).

Sorry, may seem I'm grumbling at all in here...just frustrated because of getting no ideas about tank and getting treated like a moron or a poor looser from other people. Also just in a bad mood today...stupid med exam... VA hospitals suck royally.

I'm sorry you're having a bad experience with fish. They can be very rewarding to keep. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with a 10G tank. I'm not sure what type you're starting, but I will say that cycling is indeed very important. I haven't kept turtles in years, but will point out one primary difference... the fish have gills and any potentially toxic compounds in the water effectively pass through internal organs. The pH info is incorrect for fish. 6.6 to 7.7 is a good general range, but plenty of fish will thrive outside that band. For instance, Discus and other SA species at the low end and African Rift Lake cichlids (plus SW) at the higher end (8+). Modifying the pH very often leads to more trouble than it helps. Stability is truly key for fish. As far as the Nitrate thing goes... the "rule" I subscribe to is that fish will be fine up to 40, can survive up to 80, and keep my levels = or < 20. "Old tank syndrome" (long term water neglect basically) can push that survivable number even higher. The only "issue" with a 10G is that it limits the inhabitants you can keep. Just like it would for turtles or any other animals.

If I can help at all, feel free to ask (here or PM). Hang in there... I have a little experience with the VA as well, I know the frustration...