Setting up my first aquarium, need advice

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Rolltide1980

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 30, 2014
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Ok so I'm relatively new to this, I've had a couple small fish tanks in the past, but they were given to me already stocked so I never really had to do the while setup from scratch. A few months ago I had a customer give me a 75 gallon tank (he told me it was 90 gallon but the dimensions say otherwise). It came with the whole lid and lighting setup, guess it's called a hood (?), a stand, and a Penguin BioWheel filter that sits on the back of the tank. I don't know the particular model of the filter off the top of my head, but I also had a smaller Penguin BioWheel filter so I'm going to use that one as well.

As far as gravel goes, the guy at Petco told me one pound per gallon, or 75 pounds,so I bought 60 pounds of some gravel that's supposedly suited for African cichlids and a 20 pound bag of regular white gravel.So anyways,I haven't bought a heater yet even though I know I will need one eventually, other than that, im not sure what else I need to start up my aquarium. I have a few assorted large rocks, all purchased at an aquatic store, mostly lava rocks with some Holey Rocks, Lace rocks etc. I plan on adding some plants, probably the fake variety but I want some that look somewhat real.

So anyways, I rinsed the gravel last night as best I could before putting in the tank, but after I added the water it still looked pretty cloudy a few hours later but hopefully it will clear up by tonight. I asked the guy at Petco how long do I need to let the tank run before adding any fish, he said one day should be fine but that just doesn't sound right to me. So I'm asking you guys, I set it up last night, how long should it run before I add fish? I was hoping to add an Oscar and then later maybe some assorted Cichlids. I was also gonna ask you guys what kind of Cichlids would be safe to add with an Oscar? I appreciate you guys taking the time to help out a novice lol.
 
Sounds like you are off to a good start!

You are right, the guy at the shop is wrong. So wrong! You first have to get the nitrogen cycle started in your tank, and that can take a few weeks, so prepare yourself to be patient while this happens.

You can read all about it here: The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice

Or if you prefer to do a fish-in cycle:
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

Are you planning to keep chiclids? I have no experience with those, but I have the impression that they are not necessarily the best fish for a beginner to start with, having their own challenges such as keeping the PH just right. Others will advise you on that, though.

About the gravel - while dust does typically take a while to settle, it's possible that you did not rinse it enough. You have to rinse the **** out of it :) Nothing worse than having a situation where every time you touch the gravel, the tank clouds up again. If it doesn't settle down in 24 hours, it might need a bit more rinsing. :/
 
I was planning on keeping Cichlids and adding an Oscar eventually, I have heard mixed things about them as far as being easy or hard to maintain. A few years back I did have a couple Fire Mouth Cichlids in my 20 gallon and they lived 6 or 7 years and never seemed to get sick although they were highly aggressive. As far as the gravel not being rinsed enough, I hate to say it but you're probably right. I was pouring it into a bucket, probably about 8 pounds at a time, and I put it in my bath tub and rinsed it under the faucet, stirring it with my hands to agitate the gravel. I would then tilt the bucket over enough to let the dirty water put out. I repeated this maybe 10 times with each bucket til it wasn't near as cloudy. Do you think a few good water changes will remedy this? I sure would hate to pull all the gravel out again lol.
 
I was planning on keeping Cichlids and adding an Oscar eventually, I have heard mixed things about them as far as being easy or hard to maintain. A few years back I did have a couple Fire Mouth Cichlids in my 20 gallon and they lived 6 or 7 years and never seemed to get sick although they were highly aggressive. As far as the gravel not being rinsed enough, I hate to say it but you're probably right. I was pouring it into a bucket, probably about 8 pounds at a time, and I put it in my bath tub and rinsed it under the faucet, stirring it with my hands to agitate the gravel. I would then tilt the bucket over enough to let the dirty water put out. I repeated this maybe 10 times with each bucket til it wasn't near as cloudy. Do you think a few good water changes will remedy this? I sure would hate to pull all the gravel out again lol.


I think water changes would help
 
Ok I'll try that, maybe a 50% change tonight and a 50% change in 3 days. I imagine that should make a difference
 
Ok so I took a bag of water up to the store to get it tested, all the numbers looked good except the pH is still low, registered as a 7.4. They acted like I could go ahead and add some fish but I really would like to get that number higher first. I tried to buy some limestone but apparently they don't sell it ANY WHERE around here. They mentioned something about I should get some Holey rock and maybe do a 25% water change instead of 50%, because that would cancel out any good bacteria growing and would basically be like starting over the cycling.
 
You're upping the ph because you plan to add cichlids, right?

Changing water won't affect the cycle. The beneficial bacteria float in the water only while they are dormant. As soon as they are active and multiplying, they glue themselves to a surface where they have access to lots of water flow and food, eg the filter media, plants, gravel etc.

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
That's correct, I'm going with African Cichlids. The man I talked to says that the reason my pH level is too high is because I've been removing too much water when I change but I imagine it's because the tank hasn't even cycled for a week so it's still stabilizing. One more water change might not hurt though.
 
That's correct, I'm going with African Cichlids. The man I talked to says that the reason my pH level is too high is because I've been removing too much water when I change but I imagine it's because the tank hasn't even cycled for a week so it's still stabilizing. One more water change might not hurt though.

Do you maybe mean "the reason my ph leve is too low" ? Otherwise I'm very confused!

I guess that if you have something in your tank, like holey rock, which is supposed to up the ph, then doing constant big water changes would slow the process of getting the ph to rise.

Now as I said, I don't have any experience with getting a tank ready for chiclids, but I would consider doing one thing at a time - just for your own sanity. Get the cycle established first, and then once you've got that right (which usually takes about 3 weeks), get the ph where you want it. Cycling a tank is already enough of a headache, and usually, doing two things at once just makes everything more complicated. :)

Especially as many people experience ph swings as part of the cycling process, as the bacteria take hold, and that evens out once the cycle is established.

It might be worth posting a question on the chiclid board of this forum, you'll hopefully get some more informed answers there!
 
Get yourself some Dr. Tim's One & Only. You can get it here:

www.drtimsaquatics.com

Follow the directions exactly. Despite what you may hear to the contrary about bottled bacteria, this product WORKS. While you're letting the tank cycle, learn all you can about the nitrogen cycle. There's lots of information online about it - some good, some not so much. The Dr. Tim's site is a good one.

I can't speak to your stocking choices other than to say I'd limit it to one Oscar in a 75. Hope this helps!
 
The person at the lfs should have told you that South American cichlids, Oscars, do not mix with African cichlids because they have very different water requirements, mainly ph and hardness. I also fear that the Africans would bully and torment the Oscar as they do tend to be more aggressive.
Seeing that you have already used gravel for Africans, I assume some type of crushed coral or aragonite sand, then that precludes getting an Oscar.
Sorry, but the guy at the store should have known/mentioned that.

See if you can get some used filter material from someone or even a couple handfuls of gravel from an established tank to seed yours with the bacteria to help kick start the process.
You would do well to purchase yourself a liquid test kit, not the strips. There a few different brands on the market, but the API freshwater master kit should suffice and usually run around $25-$30 and last for approximately 500 tests.
That will save you from running to the store to get your water tested, something that should be done daily during the cycling process, especially if you chose to do a fish-in cycling.
 
Get yourself some Dr. Tim's One & Only. You can get it here:

www.drtimsaquatics.com

Follow the directions exactly. Despite what you may hear to the contrary about bottled bacteria, this product WORKS. While you're letting the tank cycle, learn all you can about the nitrogen cycle. There's lots of information online about it - some good, some not so much. The Dr. Tim's site is a good one.

I can't speak to your stocking choices other than to say I'd limit it to one Oscar in a 75. Hope this helps!

I second this, and I would like to add oscars and african cichlids have way different water requirements. Oscars like about neutral to mid 6's in terms of ph, and most africans like the ph at about 8.
 
The person at the lfs should have told you that South American cichlids, Oscars, do not mix with African cichlids because they have very different water requirements, mainly ph and hardness. I also fear that the Africans would bully and torment the Oscar as they do tend to be more aggressive.
Seeing that you have already used gravel for Africans, I assume some type of crushed coral or aragonite sand, then that precludes getting an Oscar.
Sorry, but the guy at the store should have known/mentioned that.

See if you can get some used filter material from someone or even a couple handfuls of gravel from an established tank to seed yours with the bacteria to help kick start the process.
You would do well to purchase yourself a liquid test kit, not the strips. There a few different brands on the market, but the API freshwater master kit should suffice and usually run around $25-$30 and last for approximately 500 tests.
That will save you from running to the store to get your water tested, something that should be done daily during the cycling process, especially if you chose to do a fish-in cycling.

Oh, sorry i didnt see your post when i was making mine! :banghead: Oops.
 
My apologies, I did mean the pH was too low, sorry for the confusion. Yes I'm trying to slightly raise it, and I personally thought water changes might be preventing this. Maybe I should do only 25% changes until the tank cycles?? I will definitely look into the bacteria in a bottle if my water doesn't test well today. I haven't tested since Sunday so maybe the water is fine?? I am purchasing holey rock today, that should slightly improve it I imagine. As for mixing in Oscars and South American Cichlids, I knew better even though they didn't advise me of this. I originally intended to go with an Oscar and several South Americans but I decided against that due to tank size.
 
Also, great advice about getting my own test kit, much more convenient than taking samples up to the fish store 3 times a week. I think after I get some Holey rock in place maybe the pH will be where it needs to be. As of Sunday, everything looked great except for the pH which was a 7.6 so maybe it's getting there lol
 
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