Newbie....kind of....need advice

[happygirl65]

Greetings!

I have read many posts here and know you guys can help me with some advice. I have had FW tanks before quite sucessfully but it has been a few years and I will be getting ready to set up my tank again finally after having it in storage for about 5 years. I am not feeling terribly confident at this point on how much I can remember.

I have a 55 gallon acrylic tank, biowheel filter, thermometer, heater, nets, plants, driftwood, and a med sized lava rock. Of course they have been in storage for years and so I would think any bacteria is dead by now.

I am trying to decide whether to use white sand at the bottom or river rocks (as I live close to a river and can get some gorgeous rocks for free totally legally.) or some combination of both.

Is it safe to use white sand? Is that only for marine tanks? I know that I do need to be careful about what to put in there so I am hoping someone can advise me on that.

I also have questions about cycling since it has been a really long time and someone helped me before....this time I am in charge and I want to do it right. My water is fresh natural spring water as I live in the mountains and we collect our natural runoff water...it is not chemically treated but does have a fair amount of mineral content a test strip done a while back indicated it is hard water so I know that much is certain. The water itself is very clean, clear and beautiful, perfectly safe to drink etc.

So my question is, will this effect the cycle time....or does it simply mean that I dont need to ADD chemicals to clean the water first?

For this size and type tank how would you recommend I go about cycling? And do I just let it run a few days then add a fish or two and then let it go another couple of weeks? I know I have a test kit in all my supplies and have no problem checking for levels and all of that. I dont remember doing all of that before but I think someone else may have done it without my knowledge. I think the whole process is exciting and now that I have children I want to share it with them letting them help me choose a fish or something like that.

The eventual stock I would like to include would be:
Bala Sharks
Opaline Gouramis
Blue Gouramis
Clown Loaches (maybe...not totally set they seem more sensitive)
Plecostomus
Barbs or Tetras (not sure what kind....everytime I ever chose one from a book they didnt have them at my LFS)

So you can see I want a community tank, not looking to breed anything just want a variety in ones or twos except for the sharks I would like 6 or so of those because I think they are so beautiful.

Any ideas also on having a crab or two OR those tiny water frogs? I would like to add something like that for extra interest.

I am open to all opinions and advice so please, anyone help me out!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jchillin]

Welcome to AA.

I can address the water and cycle issues. Your water sounds perfectly ideal for FW fish. That being said, you will do yourself a huge favor (and monitor your cycle at the same time) by purchasing liquid re-agent tests for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and ph. You can see what is in your water prior to using it for the tanks and then use it to monitor the parameters during the cycle.

I seriously doubt you will need to add chemicals but if you get a positive test for ammonia, the possibilities of having a small trace amount of ammonium nitrite is possible. If that is the case, a dechlorinator will help remove this trace element from the water.

If you need info on cycling, take a look at the articles section located on the banner page at the top. There is a complete article on the Nitrogen cycle there.

Good luck.

 

[joannde]

In the saltwater section there is an article called "how to cycle a tank with out the use of fish" - read that to learn how to do a fishless cycle - here's a link:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[Guest]

Agree with the previous comments.

Make sure you clean everything, especially the bio wheel, or it may be better to buy a new bio wheel.

Is it safe to use white sand? Is that only for marine tanks?

Many here including myself use PFS (Pool filter sand) which is white and is cheap for a 50 lb bag. Any pool supply store will have it. Just wash it good. River Rocks could be oj providing that you "acid" test or identify that the rocks are safe and be positive that they are not contaminated. You could post pics of rocks on here.

 

[happygirl65]

Thanks so much! I will look for the PFS what a great idea! I am very excited to start testing my water now.

 

[hc8719]

when you say river rocks, you mean the kinda bigger than pebble rocks?

remember that excess food and poop sinks down to the bottom, may be a pain to clean out. as for crabs/crawfish/lobsters, dont get any, they look cute, but will hunt and brutally kill and fish they get their claws on, even if the fish is bigger, they will tear at the fins.

as far as frogs, rescuse some from wal-mart, they keep them in those tiny cups for $3.22 which is also cheaper than most places, just make sure the frog is an african dwarf frog, not an african clawed frog, clawed frogs get real big, and will eat any fish their own size or smaller.

but just the same, even if you get a dwarf frog, most babies cant make the swim to the top of a 55 gal all the time for air, so make sure they are big enough, perhaps grow them in a 10 gal tank till they get bigger.

one last thing on the dwarf frog, only feed them frozen foods, as they refuse to eat flakes, and dont care much for freeze dried foods

 

[m_e23]

as for crabs/crawfish/lobsters, dont get any, they look cute, but will hunt and brutally kill and fish they get their claws on, even if the fish is bigger, they will tear at the fins.

It may be in many cases but I've had a red clawed crab in my 20 gallon for over a month now and havent had any problems what so ever. I've even watched my platys come up and try and steal food away from the crab and nothin happened. Maybe I've got lucky but thats just my experience.

 

[happygirl65]

When I say river rock, I mean small pebble sized rocks tumbled smooth by the river. We have a "sand bar" at one bend of the river near my home but it is actually a bit larger than gravel sized rock. It is larger than the typical acquarium gravel though. Good point though about being a pain to clean. I had not even thought about that aspect. What ever I use needs to be able to shift easily enough with the siphon vaccuum so thanks for pointing that out.

Also thanks for pointing out the aggressive nature of the crabs. I remember having a couple before but it has been about 10 years since I had them and I cant remember anything about their behavior only that they would escape from time to time. Thanks for the heads up I definitely need to think about all of those things. I dont want a bully in the tank that's for sure!

I thought it would be nice to have something stiring things up down there and cleaning up really good....any other ideas.....anyone partial to a particular bottom dweller? I definitely want a pleco but dont know what else I will need/want.
I am leaning more toward the PFS for substrate at this point.
Thanks to everyone who has replied or will reply. You guys are awesome!

 

[joannde]

If you're doing the PFS you'll want MTS (malaysian trumpet snails) for the substrate - they'll stir it up and keep anerobic bacteria pockets from building up.
Re the pleco - look up the species that you want - many species actually eat wood and not algae.