My new 180 gallon tank! Need Help!!

[jasonwilks]

Hello guys, I am completely new with aquariums, I just got my first aquarium ever! It is 180 gallons, and it is in my office room as an in-wall, and also the other side is in my bedroom. I paid about $9,000 dollars for the whole thing including cabinets and setup etc..

Check out a bunch of pictures of it here:
180 gallon freshwater fish tank

I did have a professional guy set it up, but now it's up to me to do the rest.

I had it setup for a week with water before I put fish in it. The first time I put fish in it, I put 25 fish in, it turn out that within a few hours they ALL died! well except for 3 of them, 2 of which was angel fish, and 1 other one was one of those sucker fish. They are still alive today, after 3 weeks, and like i said, the rest died.

I'm not sure why the rest died, maybe because I put too much fish in at once, or the tank had too much ammonia in it or something, I don't know. I recently just added 2 gold fish into it and they are doing okay now. So maybe the tank is now settled down and healthy now for fish.

Here are some more details of the tank:
-180 gallons, freshwater.
-100% starphire glass around it.
-all fake plants.
-2 under gravel filters. No other filters.
-A heater set at 75 F.
-There is a bubbler in it that spits bubbles up.
-Two T5 florescent bulbs, one is a glow light, the other is a regular white light, both are on a timer that is on 14 hours a day and off for 10 hours a day.
-There is a very small amount of natural sunlight coming in.
-There are 4 real rocks in the tank.

But since this is my first tank ever, I am a newbie with all this stuff, and I am going through a big learning process about this, so I have a TON of questions that maybe you guys can help me with. Here they are:

1. How often should I do a water change? And I should do a 20-30% change correct? Remember my tank is 180 gallons!

2. I am concerned about doing the water change because I use my garden hose attached to my faucet outside. I live up north, so it is cold and the tap water is very cold up here, so it makes my water a bit colder for a short period of time until the heater heats it up. Will this be okay for the fish, is there any alternative I should consider?

3. Should I chose a different filter method, Or should I add another filter? Remember I am using 2 under gravel filters.

4. I am now seeing a build up of what I think looks like little white turds in the gravel, I assume these are fish poop?? Am I right? Is this bad? Do i need to clean these out and if so how??

5. How often do I need to clean the filter, and how do i do it? Im not sure how to clean an under gravel filter's filter!

6. My fish food they provided for me is in huge flakes, should I crumble these up, or just put them in as big flakes? Or it doesn't matter?

7. One of my rocks has a large growth of green fuzz on it, should I take the rock out and clean it, or just leave it in there?

8. When I feed my fish I do not see the fish to come up and eat anything, should I give them less or not feed them at all?

9. I see a lot of small particles floating around in the water. Should I be concerned about this? If so how do I remove them? It is kind of annoying to look at!

Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks for those who help me with any of these questions, it is greatly appreciated!

 

[EscVelocity]

Sorry to hear about all your fish loss.
Your fish died because your tank was not and still isn't cycled. Adding so many fish at once also contributed. Your tank, as it is now ,does not have the beneficial bacteria to keep levels of ammonia and nitrite from being toxic. The only way to remedy this for now is water changes.
You are gonna have to do a massive water change to make life a little better for your remaining fish, like 50-70%.
For your water changes i would suggest you invest in a python. Your garden hose may not be fish safe if it contains an anti-mildew type coating on the inside.
Another very important investment is a Fresh water test kit. Avoid the test strips, they are usually inaccurate. Most people use the API Fresh Water Master Test Kit here. While your tank is cycling, with fish, you should be testing every day and doing water changes to bring down any toxic levels of nitrite and ammonia. If you would rather avoid the daily water changes, you could return your fish to the fish store and fishless cycle.
IMO, i really don't think an under gravel filter would be sufficient filtration for a tank of that size. I think you should upgrade to a nice canister filter. I would suggest a brand, but i have yet to have any experience with canister filters. I currently just use HOB. To clean your under gravel filter you just need to gravel vac weekly. If your UGF has cartridges i would replace the carbon w/ poly fiber (that is not treated to be flame resistant.)
You should reduce your lighting period to about 8-10 hours a day to avoid more algae. After your tank cycles; Not over feeding and the weekly water changes will also help keep algae under control. For now you can remove the rock and scrub the algae off. Just use plain ol' hot tap water, no soaps.
Your fish are not eating probably because they are sick. You fish should be fed a varied diet, not just flake food. Like frozen or freeze dried bloodworms, shrimp pellets, spirulina, ect...

 

[mfdrookie516]

welcome to the hobby my first piece of advice is dont get frustrated, dont get mad. we all have to learn how to do this, and you will learn very quickly. there are two links in my signature on cycling... read through them so you can better understand the whole meaning of cycling. I would definately suggest getting one or two canisters (depending on size of them) as the ugf filters are not the best in the world. The size of your water change will depend on your water parameters. I do 50% weekly in all of my tanks, even my 150g, but i do have messy eaters in it, so it requires a bit more than a typical community tank. Now i dont know if i missed it or if you didnt mention it, but how are you testing your water parameters? If you dont already have one, an API Master Freshwater Test Kit is a must... not necessarily that brand, but liquid test for the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Python water changing systems are in my opinion the best, especially for a big tank like yours... you can suck up the "poop" and other waste and it makes filling so much easier.

 

[thincat]

Someone should touch on water treatment and the changing of water. chlorine is bad for fish....

 

[jasonwilks]

They said 2 UGFs is all I would need. Remember I am a complete newbie to this stuff so at the time I thought it was okay. I am now getting ready to order a canister filter, Im not sure If I should get one good one, or a couple of them. I am not concerned about price, so what would you recommend?

Also, I just added a bunch more pictures of my house for those of you would like to look at them, check out my signature link!

 

[mfdrookie516]

That is a very nice looking setup I wish i could have something like that. I would recommend this. It is rated for up to a 400g tank so it would definatley handle your tank. Its a little pricy, two of these would probably work too, but if money isnt really a big deal, id definately suggest the fx5.

 

[hbeth82]

I'm sure it's included in the links provided by mfdrookie but if you can get ahold of some driftwood or gravel that's been in an established, healthy (emphasis, healthy) for a while, the good bacteria on the surfaces can help jump-start the cycling. Using biomedia seems to help also but with a UGF filter, not sure where you would put it.
Good luck & congrats on the new tank!

 

[Da Squid]

The warnings about ammonia and nitrates is all very important... but if the fish all died within HOURS of entering your tank then it could be that the water was not treated for chlorine/chloramines. Did you add any chemicals to remove that stuff?

 

[jasonwilks]

Okay I think I am going to get an Eheim 2250 Canister Filter, and I am going to just get one of them. I really only have one place to put a canister filter, I think that should be good enough you think? Also Is there anything else I need to buy along with this canister filter to make it work good?? And would this be good to replace my UGFs?

 

[mfdrookie516]

well the filter in the first link i gave you is a bigger filter and in my opinion a better filter, along with the fact that it is cheaper... but yeah, either one of them will work, and i would also suggest removing the ugf's as they are a good way to trap debris underneath

 

[jasonwilks]

Another question.. Is it okay to mix my tap water with some hot tap water in so it makes the correct temperature I need when I do water changes? Or are you only allowed to use regular cold tap water and stay away from the tap water heater?

 

[dkpate]

I do it. Just make sure you use dechlor, and mix the water in a bucket or something. Don't just dump the cold water in and then the hot water into the tank, you will shock the fish. You want to put the same temp of water in the tank, as you are taking out.

 

[mfdrookie516]

i have a python, if you dont, you need one... i just use a plastic cup and dip out some water from the tank im changing water in, run the tap until i get the temp the same, then start filling the tank back up... i occasionally reach in and make sure the temp going in is the same temp as the tank. and of course i add prime. on tanks bigger than 20 gallons, a python is a must

 

[dkpate]

I take one of the hanging thermometers and hold it under the water to make sure it's the same temp.
+1 for the Python