My Tank Advice Thread !

[Cartosbartos]

i was wondering i think iv been feeding my fish to much because i cleaned out the tank today and there seemed to be a huge amount of waste in the gravel admittedly i havnt cleaned out the gravel in 3 weeks because i only did a 25% water only change last week because i thought that it would still be pretty clean.

As i was refilling the tank i was treating the water and adding in the prime and water conditioner before adding it into the tank. Is that the proper way to do it or should i just be getting the PH to the right level before i add the new water then doing the conditioner and prime afterwards treating the whole tank.

I didnt add in any salt because i have clown loaches and i know they are sensitive to it. There is salt already in my water from a few weeks ago but im just wondering would it be alright to leave the salt out this time and pick up on it next time when i get some proper aquarium salt from the pet store. Id also love to know everybodys oppinion or normal shop rock salt and aquarium pet rock salt. ( sea salt ) either one.

 

[James_in_MN]

i was wondering i think iv been feeding my fish to much because i cleaned out the tank today and there seemed to be a huge amount of waste in the gravel admittedly i havnt cleaned out the gravel in 3 weeks because i only did a 25% water only change last week because i thought that it would still be pretty clean.

I recommend that you clean your gravel every time you do a water change.

How often do you feed your fish? I vary between once a day to once every other day when I feed mine. More than once a day is too much IMO.

As i was refilling the tank i was treating the water and adding in the prime and water conditioner before adding it into the tank. Is that the proper way to do it or should i just be getting the PH to the right level before i add the new water then doing the conditioner and prime afterwards treating the whole tank.

Yes, you want to dechlorinate your water with Prime before you add it to your tank.

When you say you treat your water with Prime and water conditioner, what other product are you using besides Prime? FYI, Prime is water conditioner.

I didnt add in any salt because i have clown loaches and i know they are sensitive to it. There is salt already in my water from a few weeks ago but im just wondering would it be alright to leave the salt out this time and pick up on it next time when i get some proper aquarium salt from the pet store. Id also love to know everybodys oppinion or normal shop rock salt and aquarium pet rock salt. ( sea salt ) either one.

It's not necessary to add salt to your tank. It's primarily good for helping cure ich (along with water temperature over 80 degrees).

 

[mudraker]

Why do you add salt?

Unless you have brackish fish it is unneccissary at best, harmful at worst.

Is that the proper way to do it or should i just be getting the PH to the right level before i add the new water then doing the conditioner and prime afterwards treating the whole tank.

Prime should be the only conditioner you need. Adding it before refilling is fine.

What do you mean by "getting the ph to the right level" ?

Your fish should adjust to whatever your natural PH is from the tap...

 

[Cartosbartos]

Why do you add salt?

Unless you have brackish fish it is unneccissary at best, harmful at worst.




Prime should be the only conditioner you need. Adding it before refilling is fine.

What do you mean by "getting the ph to the right level" ?

Your fish should adjust to whatever your natural PH is from the tap...

oh ok i just thought i needed to add salt in everytime i changed the water to help with the ammonia levels as that is what the lady i bought it off said.

I have clown loaches in my tank so i try and keep my PH to neutral as i read they cant have high ph levels in there tank and my tap water at home is a bit over 8.0 last time i checked.

 

[Cartosbartos]

I recommend that you clean your gravel every time you do a water change.

How often do you feed your fish? I vary between once a day to once every other day when I feed mine. More than once a day is too much IMO.



Yes, you want to dechlorinate your water with Prime before you add it to your tank.

When you say you treat your water with Prime and water conditioner, what other product are you using besides Prime? FYI, Prime is water conditioner.



It's not necessary to add salt to your tank. It's primarily good for helping cure ich (along with water temperature over 80 degrees).

thanks alot for the advice i feed my fish once a day with a pinch of flake. about 7 or 8 pellets and 2 algae wafers.

 

[Cartosbartos]

The other treatment is a thing called aquarium science complete water treatment ( Double Strength ) or something like that. I also have another treatment that makes the water go cloudy for 6 - 8 hours called easy-life which i bought of the pet store the other day because the guy said it is great stuff.

I recommend that you clean your gravel every time you do a water change.

How often do you feed your fish? I vary between once a day to once every other day when I feed mine. More than once a day is too much IMO.



Yes, you want to dechlorinate your water with Prime before you add it to your tank.

When you say you treat your water with Prime and water conditioner, what other product are you using besides Prime? FYI, Prime is water conditioner.



It's not necessary to add salt to your tank. It's primarily good for helping cure ich (along with water temperature over 80 degrees).

 

[mudraker]

The lady you got the tank from was not correct, you absolutely should not add salt unless treating for ich, and then under strict, controled conditions.

Toss those other conditioners (except for dechlorinating) away.

They are not good for your fish, especially anything that changes your ph.

Messing with ph levels is a frustrating for you and very bad for the health of your fish. It goes up and down with additives, when the truth is, your fish will adapt to almost any steady ph level, but can get stressed and die if you change the ph too quickly, and it is almost impossible to maintain a steady ph level through the use of chemicals.

We were all new once and made a lot of mistakes like this. Mostly because we love the fish and are doing our best to keep them healthy.

 

[Cartosbartos]

The lady you got the tank from was not correct, you absolutely should not add salt unless treating for ich, and then under strict, controled conditions.

Toss those other conditioners (except for dechlorinating) away.

They are not good for your fish, especially anything that changes your ph.

Messing with ph levels is a frustrating for you and very bad for the health of your fish. It goes up and down with additives, when the truth is, your fish will adapt to almost any steady ph level, but can get stressed and die if you change the ph too quickly, and it is almost impossible to maintain a steady ph level through the use of chemicals.

We were all new once and made a lot of mistakes like this. Mostly because we love the fish and are doing our best to keep them healthy.

So i shouldnt use anything bar the prime ? can i use the easy life aquarium stuff i got or shouldnt i bother ?

 

[mudraker]

Forget the Easy life.

Clean dechlorinated water is by far the best way to keep your fish healthy and happy, period

Un-needed additives often do more harm than good for the health of your fish, no matter what it says on the bottle.

 

[Cartosbartos]

Forget the Easy life.

Clean dechlorinated water is by far the best way to keep your fish healthy and happy, period

Un-needed additives often do more harm than good for the health of your fish, no matter what it says on the bottle.

thanks for the help, Also what is your advice on what i should get instead of clown loach, i do really wanna keep them particularly one of them that is my favourite but i know that the tank is to small. I mean i will upgrade my tank eventually but im thinking i should get rid of the clowns until i have enough space for them. I would like something very similar in personality to a clown loach though. what do you think i should get ?

 

[pantherspawn]

the fish will adjust to your local ph levels, as long as within reason of their natural habitat. This is why doing research on the fish species suitable for your local water is most important. Salt should only be used for brackish water tanks and for treating fish in a separate quarantine tank. Salt does not evaporate out of your tank like water does, so the salinity of the tank gets stronger and stronger each time you add it. Best bet on doing water refills is to buy a 5 gallon bucket from your LFS and designate it for your tank only. use this bucket everytime you add or remove water from your tank and dont use any soap or chemicals to clean it. adding .5 ml of prime and then filling with luke warm tap water is all you should need to use unless medicating or doing a planted tank that needs fertilizers. Also remember depending on your filter and media, whatever chemicals you made be adding to your tank, will be mostly filtered out and null anyways if you are using a carbon based media. Just my .02

 

[Cartosbartos]

the fish will adjust to your local ph levels, as long as within reason of their natural habitat. This is why doing research on the fish species suitable for your local water is most important. Salt should only be used for brackish water tanks and for treating fish in a separate quarantine tank. Salt does not evaporate out of your tank like water does, so the salinity of the tank gets stronger and stronger each time you add it. Best bet on doing water refills is to buy a 5 gallon bucket from your LFS and designate it for your tank only. use this bucket everytime you add or remove water from your tank and dont use any soap or chemicals to clean it. adding .5 ml of prime and then filling with luke warm tap water is all you should need to use unless medicating or doing a planted tank that needs fertilizers. Also remember depending on your filter and media, whatever chemicals you made be adding to your tank, will be mostly filtered out and null anyways if you are using a carbon based media. Just my .02

Lol thanks for the help i got the idea im really not sure where the lady i bought it off got the idea to use salt.

 

[pantherspawn]

You'd be surprised how many big chain stores do it just cause.

 

[mudraker]

Salt can kill or prevent certain fungus diseases, but clean water does a much better job.

As for different fish, how big is the tank you have now?

What fish do you have in it now?

What are your water parameters?

Here is the most important question before you add more fish: Is the tank properly cycled?

A lot of questions, I know. But it is important to know these things before anyone give you proper answers.

 

[Cartosbartos]

Salt can kill or prevent certain fungus diseases, but clean water does a much better job.

As for different fish, how big is the tank you have now?

What fish do you have in it now?

What are your water parameters?

Here is the most important question before you add more fish: Is the tank properly cycled?

A lot of questions, I know. But it is important to know these things before anyone give you proper answers.

I have a 90 L tank i have 2 Gouramis, 2 Angels, 10 barbs, 3 Clown Loaches and a bristlenose catfish

Sorry im still new so what do you mean by parameters ?

Yeah this tank is properly set up because the lady i bought it of has had it for 2 months before i got it off her and she has had the 2 gouramis, 2 angels and 10 gold barbs before i got it. They are healthy and well so im guessing the tank is in tip top shape aswell.

 

[pantherspawn]

Parameters, meaning tested the water, checking for ammonia levels, Nitrite levels, Nitrate levels, PH, KH etc..

 

[Cartosbartos]

Parameters, meaning tested the water, checking for ammonia levels, Nitrite levels, Nitrate levels, PH, KH etc..

I checked them all today the nitrites,nitrates ammonia and ph level was fine. Ph is sitting around 7.2 not sure what KH is though.

 

[pantherspawn]

kh and ch are measurements to determine how "soft" or "hard" the water is, or how acidic or alkaline

 

[Cartosbartos]

oh ok Ph is 7.2 or close to

 

[mudraker]

I have a 90 L tank i have 2 Gouramis, 2 Angels, 10 barbs, 3 Clown Loaches and a bristlenose catfish

At 90 liters, you are already way overstocked.

You should rehome the clown loaches right away (They get over a foot long each). If you keep your tank super clean and the fish don't get overly aggressive, you might be able to keep the remaining barbs and angels. Even that will be tight when the angels get to full size.