Complete Newbie here .

[Angel-Leaf]

Hi, I’m Lea.

We recently purchased a starter Aquarium four our family to enjoy. It has been up and running since Friday 22nd, it is a 19litre tank with a Q112 Aquarium pump, a Delta Therm flat heater 15 Watts. Gravel and a little house, we plan on getting some plants along with our fish in the coming weeks. I have attached a picture ( I think, assuming I have done so correctly.) my issue is the water is very Misty now, despite following instructions and cleaning everything before hand and using a water clarifying solution to make the tap water suitable for fish.

Any advice on what I’ve done incorrectly with the set up would be appreciated as I don’t want to add fish ( and cause harm) is something isn’t right.

Thank you.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Cloudiness is a normal phase a newly set up tank goes through. Its bacteria consuming nutrient inbalances in the tank and growing in such numbers that they become visible. As a tank establishes and "cycles" these nutrients start to balance out and the bacteria start to die out and the cloudiness goes away.

What do you understand about the nitrogen cycle? Do you know how to cycle a tank?

 

[Angel-Leaf]

Thank you, yes I am aware of the ‘Cycle’ but only because I stumbled upon the information during research. I have opted to use the fish flakes method, I’ve popped some flakes into netting and set it inside the tank for a few days ( as I await my testing kits being purchased) if that fails I will use the more chemical route though I must confess I found the detailing of the process a lot to take in. But I really want to teach my children to do things the correct and humane way when owning pets and thus being patient by waiting to have the correct equipment and environment for the fish.

Is the fish food method any good or do you recommend another way?

Will adding a plant help with the cycle or should I wait to add these later?

Many thanks ��

 

[Aiken Drum]

Personally i dont like the fish food method. Its very difficult to judge how much/ how often to get ammonia up to where it should be. Uneaten fish food goes mouldy. Ideally you want to be feeding as much daily as you would feed the future fish in your tank, but if you dont have experience of fish how would you know how much to feed. If you are doing a fishless cycle, then dosing ammonia is simpler. Get an aquarium specific ammonium chloride product, it tells you on the bottle how much to add to raise a given volume of water to a given concentration. Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride, 4 drops per gallon raises ammonia to 2ppm.

If you really want a recommendation, then get a fish and do a fish in cycle. We get a lot of traffic on this forum, and by far more people have issues doing fishless than fish in. People dont understand how to do fishless properly, they expect it to run to a timetable, they get impatient looking at an empty tank for a couple of months. When people have issues with fishless cycles, almost without fail getting a fish and doing a fish in cycle gets the job done. If done properly its risk free and humane.

Im assuming your plan is to get something like a betta for a 20 litre tank.

 

[Angel-Leaf]

Ah, I see. We have been looking at the Zebra Danios to start off with in our tank, which I have actually just researched and apparently they are quite hardy and would be okay going through a cycle.

So assuming the Zebra Danios’ are hardy enough to withstand a cycle then I’ll heed your advice and follow the easiest route.

Obviously once this tank is all set up, cycled and properly running can I use anything from it in the future ( when we purchase our larger tank) to cycle a new one quicker?

I think I did read that somewhere but there’s some many channels of information in a Google search.

Thank you kindly for your advice and input. This is exactly why I joined this community, to find helpful, friendly people to guide me along the journey.

 

[Danio8]

You puke be able to move the filter and gravel to a larger tank and it should either cycle faster or already be cycled. The bacteria lives in the filter and the gravel.

 

[Aiken Drum]

A 20 litre tank isnt big enough for zebra danios. Zebra danios are social fish, active swimmers etc and to support a suitable sized group of zebra danios and give them sufficient space to swim around in you would want a "minimum" of 40 litres, 60 to 80 litres would be better.

The only fish i would recommend in a 20 litre tank would be a single betta. You could add a snail in there if you wanted something else to look at. You could make 2 or 3 guppies work, but thats pushing it.

 

[Angel-Leaf]

Oh dear it’s all so confusing, thank you for pointing that out. I think I’ll go along to our location Aquarium shop later today and see what they recommend, perhaps buy a good book as Googling seems to flag up conflicting advice.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Just be aware that aquarium stores are there to sell you stuff. They often know no more than you do. I notice you are from UK, if your aquarium store is a Pets at Home their current advice for goldfish for instance has just gone from recommending they are good in 20 litres, to now saying 40 litres. In reality a goldfish should be kept minimum 80 to 120 litres depending on type of goldfish. They dont really care (or just dont know) if they sell you something unsuitable. If they do they get to sell you medication when they get sick, or more fish if they die. They might get to sell you a bigger tank or more filtration.

Forums like this are useful resources because you are talking to people who actually keep fish and arent commercially endorsing products. Even youtube, which is often a great resource, just look at the number of commercial links they have on their video descriptions. They make recommendations based on being paid to do so.

Im curious as to what conflicting information you have seen with regards tank sizes for zebra danios. Ive never seen a write up saying anything smaller than 10 gallons/ 40 litres as being suitable. Ive just had some in a 60 litre tank temporarily, and i feel they would have been ok in there long term, but they are much happier now with the extra swimming space their permanent home gives them.