my new tank - suggestions required!

[mlennox]

still both at 0 & nitrate at 20 to 40 (colours hard to tell) - i did the big water change will test it again in the morning.. all things going to plan i'm going to buy a school of tetras to start me off this w.e.

Cheers
Mark

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

still both at 0 & nitrate at 20 to 40 (colours hard to tell) - i did the big water change will test it again in the morning.. all things going to plan i'm going to buy a school of tetras to start me off this w.e.

Cheers
Mark

Sounds good, just keep the prawns in there and make sure it still stays at 0 ammonia and nitrite, then you can remove them early the day(or night before) you plan on getting your tetras.


Good work so far Mark!! Keep us updated with pics

 

[mlennox]

Cheers for the assistance has got me up and running very quickly!

taking photos of fish is a hard game.. i ended up with 6 black widow tetras and 6 zebra danios.

Nitrate was sitting at 10 this morning after the big water change last night. Fish are incredibly active and look in good shape so i'm stoked might get another 2 schools tomorrow!!

I also ordered a 3FT Double T5 39W aquarium light off ebay LINK

And a Hydor koralia copy 3000L/H - can't do any damage having more circulation ?!LINK

this is the best shot i could get (might try again tonight when theres no reflection!)

Thanks again
Mark

 

[Sahabo]

very nice! congrats on your success with the cycling!

 

[JohnPaul]

Congrats on getting the tank cycled and running. Looks like you did a really nice job along the way. However, I would make one suggestion regarding what you said here:

Fish are incredibly active and look in good shape so i'm stoked might get another 2 schools tomorrow!!

If you do, just be sure to watch your water parameters really closely for a few days. If you add too many fish too quickly, you will overwhelm the capacity of your filter with more ammonia than it can handle. When that happens, you'll get an ammonia spike until the bacteria in your filter multiply enough to process the extra ammonia. While that multiplying is happening (may take anywhere from a day or two, to two weeks depending upon how much you overwhelm them), you may need to do some PWC's to keep ammonia at safe levels.

This might not be an issue at all, it depends upon how much you add. If you were to add a half dozen juvenile neon tetras, I suspect you would see no visible spike at all. But if you added, oh I don't know, 24 Giant Man-Eating MegaPoop Tetras...then you might see a spike.

Just a little warning.

 

[mlennox]

PWC = part water change? Will monitor my water closely, so far ammonia still 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 10 ppm, pH has finally dropped from 7.6 sitting at 7.2-4 - also noticed the fish are hanging out on the opposite side to the heater so have dropped the temperate a few degrees as may be a little to warm for them (thermometor showing 25-27c( top of the range for most of these species i believe?!?))


i added some guppies and sucking catfish today - light, powerhead and co2 diffuser will come this week then i will add plants next w.e. ( all things going to plan )

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

PWC = part water change?

PWC= partial water change

 

[mlennox]

PWC= partial water change

cool will keep an eye on my water - cheers

 

[mlennox]

watching my water closely as suggested..

ammonia 0-0.25ppm (too close to call, i'd still say 0) nitrite 0, nitrate 15ppm & pH 7.2

am yet to lose a fish and they seem as active as ever..

q. with cleaning my filter (fluval 204) how often should i be aiming to clean out the filter pads? and i'm to use tank water only correct? also how often should i be doing PWCs, once a fortnight?

Thanks
Mark

 

[Alaris]

q. with cleaning my filter (fluval 204) how often should i be aiming to clean out the filter pads? and i'm to use tank water only correct? also how often should i be doing PWCs, once a fortnight?

PWC's : 10-25% once weekly, twice weekly, or once every two weeks. It really depends on your tank. I suggest at least 10% weekly for now. You'll soon find out what schedule to put your tank on. Once your nitrAtes get to 20-40ppm, it's a good idea to do a PWC.

During a PWC you'll want to vacuum the tops of the sand with the siphon and stir it. Just stir a bit at each PWC. If you stir all of it at the same time it will cloud your tank bad and settle on everything. (If you don't have sand, then disregard. If you have something to tunnel in your sand, then you don't need to stir.) If you have gravel, vacuum as much gravel as you can while siphoning.

Filter pads: How many do you have? Rinse them once a month in the tank water that you just siphoned out during the PWC. If you have more than one, don't rinse them at the same time. For two: rinse one, rinse the other two weeks later, rinse the first one again two weeks later, so on...

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

What do you have in the Fluval? In the baskets

Since its kinda newly setup, I would clean more often then you normally would. So maybe every other week. Or at the next PWC if you have not cleaned it yet. But after things get going some go as long as 6 months between cleanings.

Yeah just do a water change, flip the shutoff valve(aqua stop?), turn it off(unplug), open the filter(dont pry to hard or lift the top with the handles as they are known to break), take all the media out and swish it in a bucket that has used tank water, put back, flip the valve, pump a couple times(if necessary) and plug in.

Also if you have not yet, its good to take the impeller cover off of the top/motor unit, and clean the impeller and area. You can use a toothbrush for this.

If you have ribbed hoses, then watch for flow to drop as these(mainly the inlet) can get clogged easy. Some kind of snake like brush(like for plumbing) can be used to clean them. You can replace the hose cheap at any local hardware store if you need/want to. I'm running a sponge pre-filter on mine so the hose stays cleaner and so I dont suck up my baby shrimp and small fish(yes it will)

You can use 100% polyfiber(pillow stuffing), its cheap, in the top tray for a "polishing pad", its fine so removes fine particles.

In the middle/bottom baskets you want some kind of bio material, like ceramic rings/noodles, bio-balls,ect.. This is surface area for the benneficial bacteria to live on, for cleaning I just dip/dunk/swish the whole tray in the bucket for a couple seconds then put back.

Then you should have the long coarse foam down the side which is like a pre filter wish catches all the big stuff. So wash this out good, sometimes, pull the foam out and flip it around.

 

[mlennox]

PWC's : 10-25% once weekly, twice weekly, or once every two weeks. It really depends on your tank. I suggest at least 10% weekly for now. You'll soon find out what schedule to put your tank on. Once your nitrAtes get to 20-40ppm, it's a good idea to do a PWC.

During a PWC you'll want to vacuum the tops of the sand with the siphon and stir it. Just stir a bit at each PWC. If you stir all of it at the same time it will cloud your tank bad and settle on everything. (If you don't have sand, then disregard. If you have something to tunnel in your sand, then you don't need to stir.) If you have gravel, vacuum as much gravel as you can while siphoning.

Filter pads: How many do you have? Rinse them once a month in the tank water that you just siphoned out during the PWC. If you have more than one, don't rinse them at the same time. For two: rinse one, rinse the other two weeks later, rinse the first one again two weeks later, so on...

beauty thanks 15% a week it is.

What do you mean exactly by vacuuming the sand with the siphon ? am i to buy a gravel cleaner for this ?

Thanks alot Alaris
ML

 

[mlennox]

What do you have in the Fluval? In the baskets

Since its kinda newly setup, I would clean more often then you normally would. So maybe every other week. Or at the next PWC if you have not cleaned it yet. But after things get going some go as long as 6 months between cleanings.

Yeah just do a water change, flip the shutoff valve(aqua stop?), turn it off(unplug), open the filter(dont pry to hard or lift the top with the handles as they are known to break), take all the media out and swish it in a bucket that has used tank water, put back, flip the valve, pump a couple times(if necessary) and plug in.

Also if you have not yet, its good to take the impeller cover off of the top/motor unit, and clean the impeller and area. You can use a toothbrush for this.

If you have ribbed hoses, then watch for flow to drop as these(mainly the inlet) can get clogged easy. Some kind of snake like brush(like for plumbing) can be used to clean them. You can replace the hose cheap at any local hardware store if you need/want to. I'm running a sponge pre-filter on mine so the hose stays cleaner and so I dont suck up my baby shrimp and small fish(yes it will)

You can use 100% polyfiber(pillow stuffing), its cheap, in the top tray for a "polishing pad", its fine so removes fine particles.

In the middle/bottom baskets you want some kind of bio material, like ceramic rings/noodles, bio-balls,ect.. This is surface area for the benneficial bacteria to live on, for cleaning I just dip/dunk/swish the whole tray in the bucket for a couple seconds then put back.

Then you should have the long coarse foam down the side which is like a pre filter wish catches all the big stuff. So wash this out good, sometimes, pull the foam out and flip it around.

Not sure what's in the baskets i will wait for my prime water conditioner to arrive before doing the water change and discovering what is in the filter.. from memory though it had 2 bits of foam and some noodley looking things in the basket ?!?

Thanks alot for the post though i know exactly what to do now!!!
Cheers
Mark

 

[mlennox]

Time for a new picture too.. i think i need a better camera i can't seem to take any good shots.. you can just see the sucker cat fish below the middle rock in this one.. guppies on the right, danios hyper up the top as usual and black widow tetras (my fav) in the middle!!

Thanks to you guys these fish look so healthy it's not funny!!

Oh and the powerhead is installed on the left hand side of the tank at the bottom pushing the water in a clockwise direction from the output on the filter... is this the correct position to have it?

P.S. That lettuce on the right hand side is for the catfish and yes i know i have to remove it after 72hours - Am going to supplement their diet with algae tabs - picking these up on saturday!

Thanks!
ML

 

[mlennox]

Water:
pH 7.2
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
nitrate 20ppm

so nitrates spiking.. hope my prime comes tommorow so i can do this water change - ammonia hasn't moved as yet..

will keep testing
Cheers
ML

 

[Purrbox]

As long as you are getting good water movement throughout the entire aquarium then the filter position is fine.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Oh and the powerhead is installed on the left hand side of the tank at the bottom pushing the water in a clockwise direction from the output on the filter... is this the correct position to have it?

Looks good!

As long as you have good surface ripple from the Fluval outlet it looks great.

On mine since I have plants and not a lot of surface to plant them, I ended up putting my PH basically the same spot as yours, just on the top pointing down to get the same effect. I just wanted to put plants in that corner so no room for the PH on the bottom.

 

[Alaris]

Don't you use a siphon for pwc's? Just wave/skim it over the top of the sand to pick up the debris. Siphons double as gravel vacs, so you don't need another piece of equipment.

 

[mlennox]

Ok picked up a siphon ( Alaris - i did my previous big water change with 2 buckets ) and did a little gravel cleaning... still waiting on my prime to come (should be here tommorow) then i can do a PWC, water conditions still perfect no ammonia/nitrite and nitrate is fluctuating below 20.

I found a fantastic aquarium in Melbourne called St Kilda Aquariums they have just about everything and i spent the best part of 2 hours admiring their tanks.. and yes i did purchase some things. 2 Gouramis, 2 Swordtails & an Angel - i also picked up some plants!! pic below..

I'm beginning to worry about overstocking.. how many more fish if any could i put into the tank? i would really like to get a few more gouramis or a school of cardinal tetras.. obviously bioload wise the cardinals will barely show up?

Cheers
Mark

 

[mlennox]

Catfish hiding in the powerhead