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Hungbduong

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Messages
2
Location
Tonawanda NY
Hi, my name is Hung and I have a 1 year old who loves to go to the aquariums. He gets so mesmerized just watching the fish swims, so I decided to start a tank. At first, I wanted to jump into a saltwater reef but my wife talked me out of it. So we just started with a freshwater 15 gal tank. We got everything we needed at our local fish shop, 15 gal fluval tank, artificial plants, rocks and even 10 gal of the fish store water so we can get the tank going. So far we have a pink Glow Tetra, and 3 different platies - sunburst Mickey Mouse, Red wagtail and bumble bee? The shop is guiding us through our first tank and testing our water to make sure we are doing things the right way. We want to eventually want to get live plants and more fish for our current tank and work our way up to a saltwater reef, if our son maintains interest. We are hoping to read and learn from this forum, learn from our local fish store and reading on the Internet. Thank you in advance if we have newbie questions!!
 
We got the water from the lfs that has been cycled to set the tank up, we brought in a water sample for them to test it for us and they said that everything looked good and allowed us to get those 4 fish. They told us to bring in another water sample in a week for them to test it.
 
We got the water from the lfs that has been cycled to set the tank up, we brought in a water sample for them to test it for us and they said that everything looked good and allowed us to get those 4 fish. They told us to bring in another water sample in a week for them to test it.

You should ask them for some cycled media.

The water is no different than using conditioned tap water.

Google "fish in cycle" and get the siphon ready ;)
 
I agree with Z. There's virtually no beneficial bacteria in the water itself. If they tell you that then they're wrong. Try to get used filter media from them.

Now that you got fish you will need to test the water frequently. I'd advise you to buy an API Freshwater Master test kit and do this yourself as you maybe testing water daily to every other day.

A lot of fish shops, especially box stores, if they test water and you have 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites, and 0 nitrates they'll tell you your water is fine when in actuality if you are reading 0 nitrates chances are your tank isn't cycled.

Google nitrification cycle, how to cycle a tank, and fish in cycle. There's plenty of information on how the process works and what to do during the cycle to maintain fish health. First thing I would do is begin changing out 25% of your water daily until you get a test kit.
 
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