Hello Everyone I am New to the Forum!

[Coyote251]

Hello Everyone, I just wanted to make a quick post as I have just joined the forum. I am relatively new to keeping an aquarium. My 2yr old loved the fish in the pet store so we bought him a little beta tank. The beta lasted about 4 weeks and then had to make the short journey down the porcelin highway. I felt really bad about this so I started doing some research and found out that keeping those fish in that environment is pretty cruel. I wanted to get an aquarium that I would have a better chance of controlling the environment. Friends of ours had a little 5 gallon setup that they didn't want, so I set it up and cycled it. I added 6 Harrlequin Rasborras after a few weeks, and they are doing well. I did some more research after this and found out that this is also a hard tank to run, and I was having trouble keeping the gravel clean and not drain out to much water. I now clean the gravel weekly and have configured a plastic pop bottle into a filter I returned the filtered water to the tank and then change out about 20%. I don't know if this is right or wrong but my weekly water tests have all been good since and the fish seem to be thriving. After having success with this tank I wanted to upgrade so I went out last night and bought a 33gallon setup. I have planted some plants in the tank and am going to the beach tomorrow to look for some rock and wood this is where my questions start:
1) Can I boil the rocks and driftwood and add it to my tank? My only concern is the salt from the driftwood, chemicals are not a concern for me. Will any salt in the water affect the fish, or will the content be so low that it will cycle out in a few weeks?
2) How can I tell from water tests when the tank is ready for fish? I currently have the capability of checking for PH,NH3,NO2,NO3. Should I also be checking hardness of the water? How do you check for salinity if I put driftwood in the tank?
3) I would like to have a community with an assortment of sizes and colours with as many fish as I can safely put in this new aquarium. Can anybody make a stocking suggestion that will accomplish my goals. I would like to have as many different species as I can. I am also in no rush to get fish in the tank, I want to make sure that it is ready before I put anything in there.

Any help or suggestions that anybody has would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[Alyxx]

Hi, and welcome to AA! While I can't answer all of your questions I can tackle a few. For the driftwood, boil it. Change the water it is boiling in until it doesn't turn brown and then you can add it to the tank. That will take care of any bacteria and the salt, and it will reduce any tannins that may leach into your water. Tannins don't hurt anything, they just make the water kind of tea colored, and many people don't like the look of it. Don't boil any rocks though, they could explode. A good rinse in hot water is better. Have you read up on cycling? If not there are some good stickies on the getting started section of the forum. Your tank will be ready for fish once the cycle is complete and you are reading 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and <20 nitrates. In short, you must add an ammonia source (a couple fish or bottled ammonia), and test daily. The details of what you need to do will depend on whether you decide to cycle with fish or without fish. The ammonia will convert to nitrite, then the nitrite will convert to nitrate, which is removed with water changes. Testing the hardness of the water can be helpful, especially if you want fish that prefer hard or soft water. I test mine, mostly for my brackish water tank because I add in buffers. Never add anything you don't test for! If you really want to be sure about any salt in your water, you can get a hydrometer but it isn't really needed for freshwater. As for stocking, livebearers like guppies, mollies, and platies come in lots of colors and get along well as long as you keep a good male to female ratio. Usually one male for each 2-3 females. There are lots of colorful tetras as well. Many are schoolers, though, and need groups of 6 or more to thrive. A good place to start your research is liveaquaria.com. They have many different fish listed along with good descriptions of their care requirement. Browse around there to get some ideas then research the ones you like in more depth. Also, the members here have lots of experience with lots of different fish, so once you get some ideas post them here to get more information from the personal experiences of others. Good luck!

 

[Hholly]

Hi and welcome! I highly recommend this article. It will make things a lot easier for you starting out.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html

And if you would like to try fishless cycling( which is easier) this is a great article.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-Guide-and-FAQ-to-Fishless-Cycling/Page1.html

 

[Coyote251]

Thanks for the help

I actually found these articles yesterday after I posted. I have started my fishless cycle today, so we will see what happens. I changed the filter in my small established tank yesterday so I cut the filter material off of the plastic holder and put that in my filter on the new tank. I put it in between the charcoal and the biological filter material( the little round blocks). I had already used the Nutrafin Biological Cycling Aid so I will finish off the suggested dosing of that tonight and start checking my ammonia levels. I understand from this article that most people don't use these aids. Lots of other places suggested using it so I will see what happens in the end. The one question that I do have is, in the article on fishless cycling it suggests having a ammonia level of 4ppm. The color code on my test kit shows either 4.9 or 7.3. Is their a more accurate test available for ammonia? How crucial are these values? After I added the ammonia today I waited about an hour and checked. It looked to me that the level was close to 4.9ppm. I didn't do a partial water change to get the level down because I have no way of determining a more exact measurement of the ammonia level anyways. I figured that when I have to re-dose with ammonia I will just add less than what I added today and that should get me closer to the 4ppm. If my logic is faulty or if there is a more precise test that somebody can suggest I would appreciate the help. Or if the readings I am getting now will be close enough to accomplish the cycling I would love to know that I am on the right track. Thanks again!

 

[Hholly]

The API master test kit is the way to go. It will give you much more accurate and precise readings. If you are using test strips, they are highly inaccurate. You can get the API kit cheapest online. For fishless cycling, 3-5ppm is the range usually recommended. Since you replaced your filter on your other tank I should warn you that it may go through another cycle, unless you pre-seeded the new filter. So you need to watch the ammonia and nitrites in that tank too. Contrary to what the filter manufacturers tell you, you should only replace filter media when it is falling apart as it is the home for your beneficial bacteria. And when you do replace, always add the new filter for a few weeks prior to taking the old one out. When your filter gets very dirty, just rinse it in used tank water, to preserve the bacteria. You want clean water for your fish, but not a clean filter.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

Moving this to the FW getting started forum. You`ll get more looks there as this is just the welcome wagon.