my first real fishtank

[MrMiyagi]

Well i've finally decided to start keeping fish. I've been working at an aquarium store for the fast couple of months and i just cant stand not having my own fish . I decided i would start out on a small scale with an old 10g that i've had laying around.

I got it setup with with substrate and my plastic plants (i'll do a planted later on). I'm using a AquaClear 20g powerfilter and also have a little air pump for some airation. I was wondering, from what i've read here, weather or not i should use the carbon or not.

Right now I got the ph down to 7.0 and my NH3, NO3, & NO2 levels are all about 0. i haven't really decided on exactly what fish i'm gonna get so i might have to adjust the ph accordingly.

I do know that i wanna make it a small community tank and am thinking about maybe a little school of guppies or tetras with a pair of dwarf gouramis.

I just wanted to know wut yall think and see if there might be anything that i missed. My only real concern was the temp level. Right now the tank is staying at about 86-88 (and thats without a heater, it may be my lights). I didn't know wut to do or if this was ok.

Thanks,
Mr Miyagi

 

[Toirtis]

1. You need to cycle the tank....the reason your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels are all at 0 is because you have nothing biological in there. Please see the threads on fishless cycling.

2. How did you 'get the pH down' to 7.0, and what was it before?

3. That temperature is a good 10ºF too high, and will probably be fatal to any fish you put in. What are you running for lights and what are you using to measure the temperature of the water (type of thermometer, and is it new?)?

 

[MrMiyagi]

yea for the cycling i was gonna add my fish a little at a time or i was even thinking of using some of my feeder rosies.

My pH was somewhere around 8.0 and i used Jungle pH Decreaser.

As for my lighting, I'm using an 18 in. Coralife 50/50 flourescent. I was also gonna use 2 incandescent bulbs that i already had. One was a blue 25W and the other was a color enhancing 15W but now that i think about that may be a bit of overkill i guess. My thermometer is somewhat new. It's just a simple suction cup tube kind. I guess i could change it out with another one that i have to make sure it's not broken. If i just use the flourescent i guess that would lower my temp. hu?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It is best to cycle fishless because then you don't have to worry about ammonia levels or your fish dieing. Since you work at a fish store, see if you can borrow some gravel from one of their tanks to help seed yours. You can just put it in a bag in the corner of the tank. Make sure you get it from a healthy tank though. Carbon can also be used from one of their tanks, but again, make sure it comes from a healthy tank.

I personally don't use carbon in my flexible filters. But in the eclipse, I can't really help it. The only time I ever use it is when I am removing meds (which is maybe once a year).

I'd advise against using feeder fish to cycle a tank. Mainly beacuse they spread diseases.

Regarding your pH, don't use chemicals to alter the pH. You will have big fluctuations. A stable pH is better than a perfect pH. With every water change you will be adding pH 8 back into the tank which will stress out your fish and they will ultimately die. Instead try using peat or driftwood in the tank.

The suction cup thermometers are fine. Digitals are the most accurate, and the sticky ones are crap. Yours is fine though, as long as it isn't broken.

On a 10 gal tank, 40 Watts is ALOT of light on that tank. What type of light strip is it if you can use incandescent and flourescents in the same output? Or did you just switch out the light strip? For a tank that small (since you're not looking for plants), try to get around 15 Watts. Otherwise you will have algae issues.

If you can upgrade to a larger tank you will find this alot easier. Larger tanks are easier to maintain for beginners because of the large quantities of water. But since you already have it, why not use it, right?

What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[MrMiyagi]

Ok i have some gravel from my 90g turtle tank that is already cycled along with carbon from there too. I could use some of that. If I were to have used the feederfish they would have been from that tank. The fish were supposed to be food for the turtles but my turles are very friendly and the fish have been living in there for a few months now .

Ok i'll be sure to get some driftwod then. I have the perfect place to put it. Or i just remembered that i could buy some water from work. We sell that prefiltered 7.0 and 7.5 I don't know though.

My light hood that I have has the fittings for 2 incandescent bulbs and the 18 in. flourescent. I went ahead and took out the other bulbs and just have the 15W tube. I can already tell a diff. in temp commin from my hood so hopefully that will help bring the temperature down.


Also I would reall like to start putting fish in with my turtles since it looks like they won't be bothering them . That would be another project though. I need to buy some smaller gravel for that tank and maybe build a hood for it because i don't like the way it looks with the top open. This tank holds a bigger problem though. It's in the garage/game room and i don't have any real cooling in there. The water in that tank stays around 87 or so but the turtles love it. I was thinking about getting a chiller but i don't know how much they are.

I'll see what the water temp in the 10g goes down to.
Thx

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Chillers are expensive. There are some DIY projects, but I don't know if it's even worth it.

I don't know how well the turtle rock would fare in the tank since I've never done it or heard of anyone doing it before. So I can't comment on that.

Feeders are in general not a good way to cycle a tank. If you don't plan on keeping them as pets, don't cycle with it.

When you say prefiltered, it is RO/DI water? You could mix half RO/DI and half dechlorinated tap water. That will help reduce the pH. But then you need to test for hardness and the like. Alot of people do that.

The single bulb is adequate for you. Some time down the line if you ever get into plants, you may need to upgrade. But like you said, it's not something you want to do right now.

What type of hood are you thinking of? Maybe glass?

Give the 10 gal tank overnight and see where it's at in the morning. You may have to end up getting a heater.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

BTW- What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[MrMiyagi]

We don't use RO we have a cold sterile system that we use. I kinda like the idea of mixing myabe. I'll look into that some more.

Well it seems like my aquatic turtles have adopted the feeders as pets anyways so i'll be keeping them but i guess it makes sense to stay away from them, i'll do that.

If i put a hood on the 90g I would build it myself to corespond with the stand that I made. I've seen a lot of nice wood tops that have nice hinged lids for acces to the lights and stuff.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Canopies are nice to have on tanks. I actually thought you mean the actual hood, not the canopy.

Try mixing half of their water with half of your tap. Let it sit overnight and test the pH in the morning and see what the reading is. I'm not sure exactly what a cold sterile system is, but would be interested to know what it is.

 

[MrMiyagi]

I don't wanna say anything about the cold sterile system right now because i don't wanna give out wrong info so i can check on that when i go in.

As for the test kit i'm using Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Kit. I wanna get a hardness kit and maybe a phosphate kit as well later on. As well as the other tests out there like for the copper and stuff in case i ever get crustaceans on a later, prob saltwater, tank. I don't know the name of the company that makes the other kit's i've been looking at but they look pretty good. We have the whole line there at work and is super precise.

 

[Menagerie]

Have you done a proper test of the pH? Allow a cup of tap water to sit out over night and then test the pH in the morning; the gases will equilibrate and you will get the correct reading. I do not advocate the use of chemicals to bring down pH, as that can cause wild pH swings and kill your fish. It's best to own fish that do well in your water, or to adjust the pH naturally.

 

[Toirtis]

Agreed on not mucking about with your pH....with a few live plants, some bogwood and a seasoned tank, your pH will probably settle at around 7.0-7.5 anyways....and a stable pH is far more important than a 'perfect' pH.

Fishless cycling your tank will be faster and less grief than cycling it....and don't use the turtle gravel...it will just bring muck (and possible diseases, etc) into your tank...fresh gravel and a fishless cycle will have your aquarium fish-ready before you know it.

 

[greenmaji]

The lighting your talking about should have fans built into it.. are they running.. and it is overkill unless you want live plants right away.. the little glass thermometers are cheap so you could get a second one to make sure the one you have is working right.
And your PH is likely perfectly fine for anything you might want to keep... spawning fish is a bit different.. you could need some RO water and slowly acclimate the fish to the new TDS then, I say that because PH really isnt the problem it's the minerals that are dissolved in the water.. as Tortis has already stated stable PH is very important for keeping fish healthy exact numbers usually end up in PH swings that get the fish sick or kill them.. so its safer to use your source water or if you have to lower the PH an exact % mix of RO water will be the best bet for changing ph but you have to do the mixing before each water change.. since you have access to RO water I would think about using it for topping off evaporation if I were you..

 

[MrMiyagi]

well i just got home and it seems as though the temp has stabalized at 80.

I'll go ahead and work with adding some bogwood or something and i'll get that cup of water to do the pH test tonight.

My hood doesn't have any fans on it only vents on the sides. Now that i'm only running the flourescent light there is barely any heat comming from there.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

That sounds good. You may want to change out the water you have in the tank if you have already messed with it. Also, have you tested hardness?

 

[greenmaji]

I was thinking that your CF lightstrip should have fans.. but if it doesnt then I would rethink using it in the furture unless you can install some personal computer fans or some 120v fans that they sell on lighting sites..
Do you have a KH testkit? If so have you tested the KH of your water?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

As for my lighting, I'm using an 18 in. Coralife 50/50 flourescent. I was also gonna use 2 incandescent bulbs that i already had. One was a blue 25W and the other was a color enhancing 15W but now that i think about that may be a bit of overkill i guess.

They aren't cf, they are incandescent. He never said anything about cf's.

 

[MrMiyagi]

Yea i don't have CF lights and that KH kit was one of the ones i have to buy. i haven't gone to my LPS yet though cause it was really rainy today.

Is 80 F gonna be ok because it doesn't look like it's gonna go down much more. The fact that I'm putting it in my office it gets warmer in here than in my other rooms. With the TV, Comp, and all my other electionics in here it the temp is a little higher. When i do a saltwater tank I'm gonna put it in my bedroom and it stays cooler in there so i doubt there will be a prob with temp.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

80 degrees isn't bad. My african Cichlid tank is at 80 degrees. Just make sure you aren't getting into cooler water fish. But I wouldn't let it get any water than that. And have a heater on backup in case you get ich.

Does your lfs do water tests for you? Call them and see if they test for KH and GH. If they do, take a water sample into the store. I bought one and have only used it a few times. I should probably use it more often, but I don't. 8O

 

[MrMiyagi]

Yea i can do a water test when i go into work on sat. or i could go in tomorrow and ask for one. How important is GH and KH. Around where should they be.