Any and all advice will be gegeratly appreciated

[Johnnyti]

I wanted to get my wife a decent aquarium for Christmas a my luck my sister in law nweeded to get rid of hers(46 bow). Her tank was over ten years and poorly kept so i also purchased a 26 bow for her gift. She owned a 10gal.
I was told that I could put the old water and fish (12 assorted gold, 6 cichlids, 5 tetras, 0ne 6"-8" alge eater whom I have lovingly named "Bubba"!
Being cautouis I set up the 26 and 10 gal tanks before I made the move. I have zero nowledge and have been depending on my sis in law and the people from petsmart to answer all questions.
I trashed her old roscks for new, her tank seemed very neclected. But I was told to use the old water to settle the fish sooner.
To date I've probably cleaned out all the used water because of the high spikes in natrate.
We started last Saturday so in a week we've settle in: 6 cichlids, & Bubba to the 46 ; 6 gold 10 gal; and 5 tetras, 6 gold in the 26. All the fish all lived in the 46 gal tank but I plan to keep them apart and aren't planning to add any unless mother nature does.
I've a milion question but i'll try and give enough information of what i've learned, bad and good.
1)We started of useing Aqua Safe, aquarium salt, stress zyme. And used Amquel plus when needed
2)As of today am I just seeing any sign of nitrite in the 10 gal. We purchased the testing strips but figure there's a less expensive way to test.
3)I spent a bit of time reading trough the sites and am curious what
cycling means?
4) someone stated the importance of a variety diet and will apreciate advice for the diferent fish.
:pThanks so much

[fort384]

Welcome to AA!

Start with this article - it will explain cycling.

Fishless Cycling for Dummies

[middlechild]

Welcome to AA. I check this site almost everyday, and always find some new information. The pics posted occasionally just fire my imagination on what I can do. I have a low light 10g currently, and am dreaming in high light 55g color.
AA is a great place to learn.

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

Well, you're on your way. First - the info you got about saving the water is useless. While there is benefit to this in a saltwater tank, there is not in a freshwater tank. You're beyond that now so it's OBE, but for future reference.

For additives, I like Prime, and it's all I use. There's no need for salts or any of that other stuff. Amquel plus is probably fine, and you don't need the other stuff. Whenever you change your water, add your dechlorinator, and that's good.

In order to ensure your fish remain healthy, you'll want to get a better test kit. Those test strips are horribly innaccurate. API Freshwater Master Test Kit is the way to go for testing your pH, ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte levels, and this is all you should need. It's a bit pricey up front, $20-$30, but it will last you for a long time.

Fort gave you a pretty good link. There are additional links in our articles section that discuss these topics as well. In my signature (below) is a link to the Nitrogen Cycle which I recommend that you read through. The bacteria that it will talk about live primarily on surfaces within your tank. Since you opted to get rid of all the rocks and decor from the old tank (which I would've done as well) you essentially wiped out most of the beneficial bacteria and will need to cycle your tank, as described in the article. It just means that you need to watch the water parameters, and since you have fish you'll need to do water changes to keep the levels in a safe range for them to survive.

HTH, and again, welcome to AA!

[jsoong]

Originally Posted by Johnnyti

... 6 gold 10 gal; and 5 tetras, 6 gold in the 26. ...

I hope that is not goldfish you are talking about .... that is awfully crowded for a 10 or even the 26. Esp. now that you have essentially uncycled tanks, it would mean a lot of water changes just to keep parameters in check .... You definitely need to get your own test kit & monitor things closely.

I know you inherited the fish & are now trying to do the best for them .... kudos for that .... I would hate to see you run into trouble with the smaller tanks.

[Johnnyti]

Thanks to each of you for your advice. I have along way to go but am willing to dive right in if you'll excuse the pun! jsoong, your right and I,m going to move a couple of the goldfish from the 10 gal. I've already made a couple major water changes and am fine with it.
I'll pick up the test kit tomorrow or Monday.
I'm still not sure if one food is equal for my different kins of fish? I have a can of tropical flake. I had a sample bag of pellets for the cichlids but they didn't come to the top to eat it so I took them out. And that is another thing of how do you remove what they haven't eaten in a few minutes?
And then there's the alge eater, what should I feed him?

[jsoong]

Goldfish should NOT be feed tropical flakes <they get gut & swimbladder troubles with that.> Feed them goldfish pellets, preferably sinking types. <Or soak floating types till they sink.> Goldfish also like a bit of variety ... feed them some veggies (chopped blanched peas, cucumbers, zucchini ....) and an occasional meal of chopped shrimp if you really like to spoil them.

You feed the algae eater algae wafers, preferably just before lights out as they like to eat in the dark. A slice of blanched cucumber is also good.

You can feed the flakes to your tetras & other small tropical fish. The cichlid (what is it?) may want sinking food ... try soaking the pellets first. Some also like "live food" - worms & stuff. <Cichlid keepers please pipe up here!>

You fish out uneaten food with a net .... although with goldies, that is never needed, they will eat as much as you feed them!