I'm new-intro and plea for help and mercy ;)

[Yikes]

Hi all!

So for those who don't want to read a novel, summary below

I want to say up front: I am soooo just a beginner and need your help and expertise and also that anything I've done wrong, please be gentle!! I'm sensitive but respond well to criticism

Soooo
I have a 26 gallon freshwater community aquarium -newish. Less than three months old. This is my second aquarium.

I had a ten gallon-I know, smaller the harder, but I had to get my foot in the door with dbf (dear boyfriend )...I had a betta in there, with a filter for 20 gallons. My major messups were water changes were once a month, and when I changed the filter media. Not doing a heater right away-what a dummy. People do well with betta's in a bowl and I mess up with no heater. Read online and corrected that issue. My dear SamIAm passed away and I set up a community 26 gallon (The biggest I can squeeze in my house until we move)

Background:-I'm a total noob. I had fish growing up, mom and dad took care of them. I'm actually a bit phobic of fish (yeah i know...I also scuba dive-no sense here!!) but I REALLY want seahorses eventually. To do that, I have to be good at saltwater, to do saltwater I have to be good at freshwater. So there is a goal and a reason to this. But understand, as noob and dumb as I may seem, my fish are my pets, I care about each deeply and want to do as best as I can. I'd adore and cherish any advice I can get.

Futher-I picked this forum as it seems the best run and friendliest I've seen out there. Definitely come here lots for advice. I'm not ok with a mean or picky forum. I acknowledge I'm new and totally novice=please be kind, I'll learn and try

My setup now is a 26 gallon, freshwater community. I have one filter rated for 50 gallons and a biowheel filter rated for 20 gallons. I do 1 5 gallon water change daily or 2x 5 gallon daily.

My parameters test great-zero's all around.I know I take good care, well as best that I can figure!! I've made silly mistakes being new, and not checking what I assumed, so I'm joining up to hopefully learn as much as I possibly can!!! (Those worrying about someone like me having a saltwater....don't worry that's years down the road I'm sure!!)

So I have panda, emerald cory's, mollies and two guppies, and a few neons.

Soo....can y'all ask me any questions I should be asked, let me know anything I should know? I'm so worried I'm missing something I should know, and I know I could be doing better!!

 

[steez]

Maybe I missed it it but..

Are you replacing filters or just cleaning and returning to tank?

Dosing your water with a good water de-chlor. like Prime?

 

[Island_Emt]

Welcome to aa!

How long has your tank been up and running? Cycled? Don't know much about your stock (I'm a cichlid Guy), but others who do will chime in.

I liked your post...found it entertaining

 

[Yikes]

Thanks-wow you guys are quick!!!
I am replacing filter media-with two filters now; i alternate which I replace. So I replace one filter cartridge, and then the other, not both at the same time. The one for 50 gallons (not biowheel) has extra media in it (a bag with ceramic and carbon) and the 20 gallon biowheel filter is just as is. So I replace one every two weeks-i.e the filter media from one, then the other, then the extra media....I'm thinking I'm doing good by staggering it, and by having overfiltration and by having extra media....am i? If it's overkill, fine, if it's bad I need to know.

My water changes go down the drain of course-I treat with Prime. This is another question i have. Prime, a whole capful of supposedly treats 50 gallons...but I cannot find true instructions on water changes...so this is what I do. I take out five gallons, I put in five gallons of treated water...if I'm doing that twice do I need to treat both doses? (I.e. I treat in the bucket I put the new water into...is that right"?) ...so I dump five gallons, fill up five gallons (with water at the same temp as my tank) and I put Prime into the bottom of the empty clean bucket before adding the water. Is this on par, or am I dolting up somewhere?

Thanks Island EMt-I'd hoped to be entertaining If I'm going to complain or bother people, best they laugh I'd LOVE A cichlid tank -I'll have to look for your pictures somewhere!! Way complicated for me to figure who can go with who, how many etc. But one day...maybe

Tank is cycled, running for two weeks before adding fish, one at a time, slowly and with stability. This is my second tank, the first I did a fishless cycle as seemed the humane way to go. Got a bit pressured into a fish cycle with an LFS I visited, sent me home with five neon tetra's and stability. They are alive and healthy so seemingly it went well. Never added more than two fish at once to be careful with my bioload.

How am I sounding? Major messups? Advice?

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!
Actually you're not supposed to replace filter media, that's where all your beneficial bacteria is so there's no need to unless it's literally falling apart.

So long as nitrates are not high and nitrites and ammonia don't go over 0 and .5, respectfully, you're doing great so far
What fish do you have?

 

[Yikes]

@BBS1997 THanks!!! That sounds like a compliment and I'll take it!!! My water tests at zero -I have a full kit, an indicator in the tank itself and test strips-I test 5x a week, 2x by kit and 3x by strip. So far, I'm all good. I'm huge on water changes because I just hate aglae so want to keep nitrates low, but also, i couldn't imagine being kept in gross water so I change every day so my water is clear....but I'm so lost...what is a normal filter/tank cleaning routine? What do people normally do? How much cleaning, filter maintenance, water changing, scrubbing etc? I know it depends for sure...but a ballpark would be helpful!


I'm lost... I thought you were supposed to replace your filter cartridge 4-6 weeks? no?

I have three mollies, 6 cories and two guppies, few neon tetra's....and YIKES babies (NO idea who had babies...)...that's my YIKES!!!! What do people do with babies...?

(Disclaimer: we had a livebearer tank growing up...the other fish ate the babies....as far as we knew. I read about community tanks...livebearers kept...so I'm so lost...I set one up, now have tons of babies, not getting eaten, flourishing babies...what does one do with the babies? Should I be doing something to prevent this? *sigh* I know, I must sound like such a ..gah...sorry I didn't expect this...)

 

[Yikes]

I think I should clarify-I have no specific questions...just wondering what I'm doing wrong, how far off I am, yada yada...I just-it seems so many people have different advice, my LFS though reputable through what I've read online has not been helpful nor available for answers and I feel like I'm struggling. Soooo though I don't have specific concerns...I'd love some criticism and questions and comments-I can only learn

 

[steez]

Nope. that's just what pet stores / filter manufactures will tell you. You should use it until it's pretty much falling apart...replacing just makes you restart all your BB on your filter ( better bacteria)

No idea on the babies sorry.

 

[Yikes]

Ohhh thanks!! I'd wondered-like your basically throwing out your bacteria and spiking amonia and mini cycling...from what I can figure-when you change your filter...That makes sense not to do it.


Soo.....if you don't change filter media...do you do lots of water changes? Am I doing enough?

 

[Yikes]

More.....if you keep it and don't throw it out....do you rinse it? In tap water, fish water or treated water? I've read online, but no specifics for process for rinsing filters and I ....don't want to mess up

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Your just rinse them in tank water when you're doing PWCS
I am guessing the livebearers had babies, neons need specific requirements to breed, livebearers will breed in anything.

 

[librarygirl]

Yeah you don't need to replace filter media unless it's literally falling apart which can take a long time. Even then, you'd replace one pad at a time. The manufacturers say to replace the media every x number of weeks or months but that's just so they can make more money. By replacing media, you're not allowing the beneficial bacteria to grow and establish the tank.

If you let the tank "cycle" for two weeks before adding fish, it probably isn't truly cycled. The pet stores (again, ugh) tell you to let the tank "run" for a while before adding fish, but this doesn't do anything to prepare the tank. To truly cycle a tank, you need to grow the right bacteria. To do that, you need an ammonia source. Either you add it yourself by the way of pure ammonia before you get fish and cycle fishless, or you do it with fish (the fish provide the ammonia when they pee and poo) which is a fish-in cycle.

Since you have fish, and fairly new filter media and your tank was only up for a couple of weeks before you added fish you may be in a fish-in cycle situation.

Do you have your own test kit (API Master, or other good liquid kit)? If so, here's what you do (if not, go out and get one ASAP):

1. Test your water daily with the kit for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia.
2. Any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25, do a water change to get them down to as low as 0 as you can. Same with nitrate over 20. You may or may not need to do a pwc every day; you may need to do one or two large ones per day, it all depends on what your test kit says.
3. Depending on how far you are in the cycling process, this can take a few weeks on average. Just keep up with the tests. When ammonia and nitrate can stay at 0 on their own without water changes, the tank is cycled. Have you ever had nitrite? If not, you might not have even gotten to the nitrite phase yet, which can be rough; nitrites can rise suddenly and quickly, so stay on top of water changes and testing.
4. Using Prime as a dechlorinator is great. What you can do is for a water change, drain your water from the tank, then add a dose of Prime directly to the tank for the whole volume of the tank (not just the amount you are replacing); so for a 26 gal tank you should use maybe 2/3 of a capful (I think a capful is 55 gals). It's OK if you use a bit extra. Then just replace the water into the tank from the tap (make sure the temperature matches as closely as you can get it).

There's two links in my signature: "new tank with fish" and "what is cycling." Give both a read, they'll help.

Welcome to AA!

 

[Yikes]

Thanks all again-you are most helpful!

Yes, my first tank I did a proper fishless cycle, as I'd read that was the most humane way to go. While dropping into stores to see what fish they had (so I could research what needs what, who goes with who)-he said fishless cycling was not necessary and sent me home with Chem Stability and neons. I also had my new filter in my old tank for a day though no fish was in there, and used some gravel in the begginng.

I did test for weeks after and never registered any ammonia spikes, and low nitrites and nitrates. (Remember though I was adding Stability, doing a water change daily, and I use Prime to treat the water-does this make a difference to readings?)
Now I test zero all around, except nitrate I test the lowest level-between zero and five. (This is in my API master freshwater test kit, -does ph, high ph, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite)-I also have an ammonia indicator in the tank and test strips but I use the kit as well.

Is it possible it's STILL cycling? It's been months since I got the neons and am not registering ammonia...

Could this be because I've overdoing water changes? Can you overdo water changes?

 

[BHead707]

you cant overdo water changes IMO. but if your tank is cycled then all you need to do is a water change once or twice a week.
I test my water everyday and do pwc's based on the results. thats worked the best for me

also water changes don't really affect the cycling process at all.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

you are really quite lucky with the babies you know XL
i clean my filter media in tank water. i get a big bowl, fill with some tank water, take all filter media out and swill it round in there so it doesnt lose bacteria. then i drain the 'pits' of the filter where the media goes and let the filter fill it again when the media's back and the PWC done.
as for PWC weekly about 35-40% seems norm and cartridge should only be replaced in halve, i.e if u have 4 cartriges, remove 2 and get 2 new ones so the bacteria is still balanced.
PWC should have tap water with a dechlorinator and preferably should be left to sit for a day before a PWC.
scrubbing can be done when necessary, if the glass gets algae do it there and then, no hassle.
yes you can overdo water changes, thats when the bacteria is running too low, nitri/ates whatever too high and chlorine in dangerous amounts.
it could still be cycling, maybe a cycle assisting liquid could help?

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

and um i thought PWC does affect the cycling? i.e removing alot of toxic amounts of whatever the cycling is producing?

 

[BHead707]

and um i thought PWC does affect the cycling? i.e removing alot of toxic amounts of whatever the cycling is producing?

that is the purpose of a pwc is to remove the toxins, yes. however it doesnt affect the progress of the cycle because the water contains very little of the beneficial bacteria needed. It is located in the filter media,substrate, etc.

 

[Mouth-Brooder-Fanatic]

therefore you could use older tank water and mix in a previous tanks cartilage to speed it up? does that logic work?

 

[BHead707]

the older tank water wouldn't help. but yes old filter media is often used to speed up cycling in new tanks

 

[Yikes]

Thanks both!!
I definitely think I must be lucky with these babies, we'd had babies happen when we had a tank growing up, but only once and only a few survived. I know not all did survive right away or I'd have hoards right?
But as it stands, I definitely have two platty babies and at LEAST 9 (9 I can see at any given time at least) -I think-molly babies. They could be guppy, they are so closely related that they can interbreed (is what I've read) so little gray fry are hard to figure if they are guppy or molly, but I guess Molly as she is fat.
I guess I will call around to the LFS's and see if any accept babies, maybe once these guys are bigger?


Now you've piqued my interest-the water used for a water change should be prepared one day ahead??? YIKES again...I dump the water, then put Prime in clean bucket, then add water (measuring temparture) -and put it in....this is bad? I've read again and again instructions but none have ever mentioned waiting, OR putting the chemical into the bucket first or after water is in or if it should go in the tank. So..? *le sigh* I hope I'm not driving you guys crazy yet!