Ive just recieved 2 aquariums from a friend of mine, one 50 gallon and one 60 gallon. The 50 is already set up and has been running for 4 days. Im now ready to start looking for fish but no idea how many or what kind. So just looking for any suggestions
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- Thread starter Anthony_G
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
Welcome to AA Anthony, hopefully we can help you out. First thing you might want to do some reading on is cycling your tank. If its only been up for four days, its really not ready for fish, unless you're willing to put the time and effort into a lot of water changes and chemical testing when doing a fish in cycle. You might be better off to consider fishless cycling since the tank is currently unstocked.
So far Ive put the tank start chemicals in it which was the cap per 10 gallons. Did that the night I set the tank up. I have to large filters on it that have been running the whole time. They each have two seperate filters in them. The water is sitting at 79 degrees. So that is where Im sitting right now
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
By start chemicals do you mean some type of bottled bacteria starter? Or are we talking more water treatment like prime? Cycling has to do with establishing a population of bacteria in the filters/substrate of your aquarium in order to help with the breakdown of waste and prevent the build up of toxic organics like ammonia which can result in the death of your fish.
Bottled bacteria is notoriously ineffective at preparing your tank for fish, although it may give you a bit of a jump start on introducing the bacteria populations. Regardless, you will still need to build those bacteria populations.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
What type of pump/filters are you running?
I used two types of chemicals. One was tank start up and the other was to put some kind of bacteria in the tank that it needed. Honestly I couldnt tell you the name my buddy had them on the tank when he was using it. He upgraded to 120 gallon so he gave me the 50 gallon and 60 gallon. So he gave me all the filters and chemicals to put in it to start off.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
This link will help you understand the fishless cycle;
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
And this may help with the fish in cycle;
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling
And this may help with the fish in cycle;
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
Where the filters running when you got them, or had they been allowed to dry out? If they were still wet, you may be ok on bacteria, if they were allowed to dry out or you put all new media in, then you will need to recycle the tank/filters.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
You may be in pretty good shape then. Did he have fish in it or was it empty when you moved it. Over the course of the last four days have you been feeding the bacteria with anything or just letting it run?
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
You probably have an established population of bacteria in/on your filters then, but running it empty for the last four days will have allowed that population to drop. Do you filters have foam or sponges inside of them? IF so, you will be ok to start slowly adding fish, just be careful not to over stock too quickly.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
Are the regular filters white spongy material with carbon inside them? Does each filter have one or two? BTW, you should be able to look at the filters themselves, and they should have a name and number stamped into the plastic somewhere. ie. Whisper 10i for example
Yea its a white filter and its almost like lil rocks in em. Each filter has two filters in them. Four including the black ones I had to cut out and put in front of the white ones. Couldnt tell ya the name Im not at home right now.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
Most likely its some type of Whisper or Aqueon filter based on the description. Next time you change the filters, you can leave the lil rocks (carbon) out of them, and I would replace only one of the two in each filter when you do. These surfaces are were your beneficial bacteria are growing, removing them removes the majority of your filters. Once you have replaced each of them (and thereby removed the carbon), I would rinse the filters both white and black as needed in tank water (not chlorinated tape water), and reuse them until they wear out.
Wy Renegade
Aquarium Advice Addict
You may want to post another thread in the freshwater area with a title like, "Stocking Suggestions for a 55gal Tank". It will probably get you better results than this one, which is in the introduction forum.
