New tank help

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ellen_aaron

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 14, 2004
Messages
2
Location
Louisiana
I just got a second new tank yesterday, a 5-gallon Eclipse kit with the bio-wheel filter and 15-watt incandescent light in the hood. My first tank is a 20-gallon, only a few weeks old, with 3 dwarf gouramis, 6 black neon tetras, and 2 small cories. I got the 5 gallon so I could put a few guppies in there, since I was scared to put them in with my gouramis.

I set the small tank up yesterday, put Bio-spira in it and the good news is it appears to have fully cycled already after only one day, since the ammonia and nitrites are at 0 and the nitrates are at 20. (I can't say the same thing about my larger tank - after 2 weeks it still has some nitrite. I think the off-brand water conditioner I used in there may have interfered with the bio-spira.)

The bad news is that the female guppy and 2 fry I put in there last night (she had babies on the way home from the store) are dead as of this morning. The female appeared to have a string of something hanging off her last night, and I'm not sure if that was a parasite or something to do with the fact that she was giving birth yesterday.

Then, today I transferred my male guppy into the small tank, and he started acting weird - barely moving, resting at the bottom. When I moved him to the larger tank, he perked up again.

This seems weird in a way, because the larger tank is the one with the nitrites, whereas the ammonia and nitrites are both at 0 in the small tank. You would think he would be happier in the small tank.

BUT - I've been having trouble keeping the temperature down in the small tank. It appears that probably the incandescent light is putting off too much heat. I've been trying to find a fluorescent bulb today but I can't find one in that tiny size. The temperature has been hovering about 81 degrees (it was 82 before I turned the light off.) Could that be the source of the problem? Does a few degrees make such a difference? The larger tank is at about 78 degrees. (If anyone has any comments or suggestions regarding the incandescent bulb/heat issue, I'd appreciate help with that too!)

Also, I realized today that I forgot to rinse out the inside of the small tank before I filled it up. Could that cause a problem, possibly some residue from when the tank was manufactured?

~Ellen
 
Ellen, Welcome to AA!!!

possibly some residue from when the tank was manufactured?
Yes, this could be the biggest problem.
Also, any decorations in the tank? I would be surprised that the light gave off that much heat. Where in your house do you have the tank? There are small heaters (25 watt) out there (maybe move the tank to a cooler location)--you may want one for your little tank--that is what I am currently using in my 2.5 gal QT tank.
What you are using to heat your larger tank? How warm do you keep your home?
 
http://www.guppies.com/PAGES/FAQ.html
This site has lots of info on guppies--I don't keep them, but I was interested in what the site had to say.

The more information you have on the species you keep, the better informed you are and the happier, healthier your fish are!
 
I put one made-for-aquariums rock decoration in the tank, but I did rinse that off with warm water before putting it in.

I put a small 50-watt heater in the tank, but the heater has rarely been on because the water has always been hotter than the temperature it is set to (there is a light on the heater that comes on when it is operating, and I've barely seen it come on at all.)

Our house is pretty cool, probably about 72 degrees. I have the tank in the corner of the living room, on top of a shelf that is built into the wall. It IS next to the fireplace, which makes me realize that I will eventually have to move it, but since we haven't had a fire in the fireplace in months that couldn't be the problem now.

I read today that incandescent lights give off much more heat than fluorescent lights, so that's why I thought the light could be the problem.

I can't think of anything else near the tank that would be emitting heat.

~Ellen
 
15Watt incandescent = 14.25Watt heater and .75Watts of light output.
15Watt flourescent = 11.25Watt heater and 3.75Watts of light output.

Thus why you usually have 180-240 watts of incandescent light for your living room...and lighting up our country sucks down nearly 12% of our electricity output.

A 15Watt LED full spectrum (its coming in a couple of years) would give about 1.5Watts of heat and 13.5Watts of light output.
 
Guppies do not like very warm water, unlike many other tropicals, so this is important to keep in mind. Incandescents are indeed hotter, so if it will fit in your hood, see if you can find one of those pigtail-type fluorescent bulbs that will screw into an incandescent fixture. They make some that are relatively small in diameter, but it still might be too bulky for your hood.

Stringy poop usually indicates a parasitic infection, so there may have been more than one thing going on.
 
I gave up on guppies because I couldn't keep them alive for more than a week or so...the only one we ever kept for any length of time was the one who died when the new ice age came to my aquarium.

I have no idea what it is about our aquariums that guppies can't live in, but the last few died when all parameters were normal. The same tank has five neons and two catfish and they're all happy and healthy.

We've sort of become the tetra household...two blacksirts, one gold skirt and eleven neons.
 
Kwenbee said:
I gave up on guppies because I couldn't keep them alive for more than a week or so...the only one we ever kept for any length of time was the one who died when the new ice age came to my aquarium.

I have no idea what it is about our aquariums that guppies can't live in, but the last few died when all parameters were normal.

Guppies seem quite frail to me...I read (back in December when I first started) that they were a good choice to cycle a tank...NOT! They became aggressive, fin rot ran rampant, and none survived. I have common "feeder" guppies now but even then, in a fully cycled tank as soon as my nitrites went out of whack from meds one of the adult females was the first to go and with only a few hours of warning signs before hand. All other fish had no problems (the fish in my signature).
 
LOL - I was just thinking of getting some guppies for my tank - hmm maybe I will stick to my original idea of rainbows!
 
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