Finally decided to take the plunge... :banghead: than

[superfly]

Okay, hello all! First, I want to say I am a reptile guy. Have been for the past 10 years or so. Always liked aquariums but never tried my fancy. Then learned I cannot keep reptiles here, only a max 30g aquarium.

I have been a member a while and have spent the time reading and researching.. a few weeks ago I went to the LFS and bought everything I thought I would need. Set it up, let it run, and tested..and tested.. and still tested.. until I nearly gave up and realized I, being new, poured too much ammonia into the tank from the get go. My test kit only goes to 8ppm and that is where my test read until a few days ago when I did a 50/60% water change which got rid of most of the ammonia.

Now, tests show 0 ammonia, 20-40ppm for nitrate, and roughly 5ppm for nitrite. PH is consistently 7.5-7.8. The water here is very hard and basic. Temp stays steady at 79-80. Here is my set up:

-29g
-gravel
-aqueon heater
-hang on back aqueon power filter 30
-lot's of real plants from petco I do not know the name of but am researching
-air pump with two air stones on either side of tank
-light hood that came with the tank not sure if it is conducive to growing plants or not. I have been researching that and bought a book on it but most info is kind of confusing.

-I currently have 1 silver molly. It was 2 but one died. They were placed in the tank last night along with the new plants I bought from petco.
-I will post pics as soon as I can.

My question is how am I doing so far and why potentially did my molly die? Any and all advice/criticism/anything is welcome and don't sugar coat anything. I want to learn and I can take much more than you can dish out I promise

Thanks!!
Brien

 

[superfly]

I forgot to add I seeded the tank with plants, gravel, and filter media the guy at petco gave me. This petco is shockingly good it seems. I actually don't mind going there because even the reptiles seem well taken care of. There is a first for everything I guess. I'm not sure what else you all need to know to help but I can answer almost any questions

 

[blert]

If you are doing 'fish in cycle' you do not want to dose ammonia. At anytime ammonia or nitrite get to 0.25 or above you need to do a PWC to bring it down or risk losing the fish.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Just out of curiousity, since you stated that you're more of reptile guy have you considered doing a tank with newts or other amphibians or even a turtle rather than with fish? Or are those things also off limits?

 

[superfly]

I would have already gotten a mud or musk turtle, I even asked if an Axolotl would be okay and nope. I would need to go through so much red tape and higher up approval and ridiculous headaches, and even then it would take a lot of time and isn't guaranteed. Only fish... for now. I will, however, be getting shrimp, snails, and maybe crabs though. They can't stop that from happening.

 

[Wy Renegade]

I would have already gotten a mud or musk turtle, I even asked if an Axolotl would be okay and nope. I would need to go through so much red tape and higher up approval and ridiculous headaches, and even then it would take a lot of time and isn't guaranteed. Only fish... for now. I will, however, be getting shrimp, snails, and maybe crabs though. They can't stop that from happening.

Gotcha, some pretty strict guidelines there I see. Best of luck.

 

[wvanderborg]

Mollys are more brackish water fish. U really need to add aquarium salt to make them thrive. Also what kind of hood do u have? Is it flourescent or incandescent? U need a flourescent hood with a plant bulb. I know petco carries them (I'm the aquatics specialist at a petco) I just can't think off hand what they are called. But if I could make a suggestion. If u want to do live plants get a 2 bulb T5 ho hood and put two 6700k bulbs in it. I just set up a 55gal planted tnk for a friend and that's what we used and his plants are lookin mighty fine.

 

[superfly]

In this new lifestyle, rules are very very strict.. for now. But they are changing. Fish are already a new love anyway so I don't mind.

To wvanderborg, I read in a few places that mollys will thrive in either one, and my concern is for futre residents as well.. I want other fish as well as some inverts and don't know how they will do in a brackish situation. As for a hood, it is just a plain flourescent that came with the tank and a "plant bulb". I will double check when I get back to my room. The set up I got was a 29g aqueon kit at petco since it was on sale and a very good price with my discount.

 

[wvanderborg]

Yes. Mollies can live in either. But in my 12+ years of exp they thrive in low salinity. 1.005 like the lowest form of brackish there is. And almost all fw species can live at this. Even shrimps. So long as u aclimate them properly by drip acclimation ull almost never lose them.

 

[wvanderborg]

And those aqueon kits come with a standard flourescent bulb. (Done sold hundreds of those) The max plant grow is the bulb u want.

 

[superfly]

Thank you very much! About how much salt would that be?

 

[wvanderborg]

Best way to go about it man is to buy a refractometer and add maybe 2 tablespoons of salt a day. Test it with the refractometer and if u need a little more add a little more until u reach desired levels. And remember. Salt doesn't evaporate. So u only need to add it when you do your water changes. Not on your top offs.

 

[superfly]

Thanks. I am really disappointed in myself. I got off duty and when I got to my room, there was the other, motionless on the gravel. I don't care about the money or anything like that, but because of my mistakes yet another had to die. No more fish until perfection. Now... so the plants don't die, this is the hood I have:

30" 20 watt single fluorescent hood and bulb:
Aqueon 8,000K Full Spectrum Daylight 17W T8 24"

Do I need to change out the hood as well or just the bulb or what? I can run to petco or petcetera but before I do, I want to have a grocery list. I am also bringing smaples of water as well as the fish just to see what I can do.

Also, anything else I need? Plant food, different test kits, anything?

Last but not least, should I add any more ammonia? Readings earlier today came up 0 ammonia, 5ppm nitrite, 40ppm nitrate.

 

[wvanderborg]

Don't be disappointed. I've killed thousands of dollars worth of stuff in my years. Lessons learned man think of it like that. I think an 8000k should be fine but maybe post a thread about bulbs on the live plants page for a few more suggestions. Just a thought.

 

[wvanderborg]

Get ur nitrite and trate down to 0 before u add fish man. If u want something to help maintain the cycle get some zebra danios. Cheap and u can always get rid of them if u don't want them down the line.

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome. Your fish likely died due to nitrite poisoning. Nitrite is as toxic to fish as ammonia. With nitrite at 5 your fish were swimming in high toxins. Even though PetCo gave you some media (wow, great!) and you have live plants your tank isn't fully cycled (growing the proper bacteria to keep the ammonia your fish put out through waste at 0). You want to keep nitrite and ammonia at under .25 at all times until the tank cycles; same with nitrates under 20. Once your tank is cycled your tank will keep ammonia and nitrite at 0 on its own and then you'll keep nitrate down with weekly water changes. There's a link in my signature: new tank with fish. It'll explain this more and what you need to do to keep your fish alive through the process.

Do you still have fish or no? If you still have fish do as stated above but don't add any more until the tank cycles. If you don't have fish and want to cycle the tank fishless, give the link in my signature a read called: new empty tank.

Good luck.

 

[superfly]

I think part of the problem is that I don't know what lesson I learned, because I don't know why it died.. But I will make **** sure I get things straight before it happens again. Here is a link to the pics.. well they are actually videos even though it is a picture. Somehow they ended up this way. I have no idea.

Aquarium 1 pictures by super_fly13 - Photobucket

 

[superfly]

And no, I no longer have fish. I will check out our links and thank you both!!