Startup and general questions

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I have recently gotten a 5 gallon filtered and heated tank. It has an established biowheel, and I filled it up with new dirt and gravel, and put in some new plants right away. I have been letting it cycle itself by using the plants and biowheel. I have some questions now, however.

-I was away for a number of days, and upon returning, I see some white fuzz on a few of the plants. One of the plants where it is quite bad, the top of the plant looked OK, but the bottom was rotted out, and the plant split when I tried to pull the fuzz off. What is this fuzz, and how do I get rid of it? Is there a fungicide (Id guess thats what it is, as there are no fish in the tank or anything else) to rid the tank of this stuff so tyhe plants cna be healthy and happy?

-Can I put a fish in (I wanted to get my first tetra) while the fuzz is there? I cleaned it all off, so there is hardly any visible currently.

-How do you deal with dead leaves on plants? I had one on another plant in my aquarium, and pulled it out with my fish net. Is it better to let them decompose in the water and let the bacteria have their way with it?

-I cannot get my water temperature below 80-82. It never goes higher, but unless I set my AC to below 75, it doesnt cool down. I have unplugged my heater and tried leaving the light off... No help. Will this temperature be OK?

-With a 5 gallon heated and filtered tank, how many small fishes may I have in there? I wanted silver dollars, but they grow o are, so Im thinking of maybe four tetras (two of two varieties), and then maybe a ghost shrimp on the bottom to keep things clean. Would this work or is it too much stff in the tank?

-How long should i have the light on in my tank, pr day since I have all real plants?

-Will fish eat the white fuzzy stuff and dead plant leaves to keep the tank clean? Will this, or just the presence of this stuff make the fish sick?

Thanks very much for your help with my lengthy question session. I hope to have my first aquarium going (with fish) soon.

JMH

[tkos]

Don't know what the white fuzz is but always get rid of decaying plant material. That will only lead to ammonia spikes.

What kind of lights do you have? Most 5 gallons have incandescent bulbs in them and this will not allow plants to grow. You need flourescent lights.

With that temperature and tank size you will be very limited in what you should keep. No goldfish should go in a tank that size or temp. Maybe a small school of neons would be okay. I would stick with one type of tetra as they like larger groups to be happy. Shrimp should do okay in that tank as cleaners.

Also most aquatic plants do not like the temp that hot. You need to find hardy varieties to get things going. Try Java Fern as it is a low light plant.

Lights should be left on for 8-12 hours a day for plants. It all depends on how many you have, how strong the lights are and whether or not you use fertilizer.

You will need to get fish in the tank soon or another food source as the bacteria in the biowheel and gravel only last so long without a food source. For now I would get rid of the sick plants and get the fish in there after a water change. Then keep testing the water every couple of days to watch out for ammonia spikes.

Try and get the names of some of the plants that are available at your LFS and then post those names here and people will be able to tell you if it is a good idea for your tank.

Also all your parameters will be needed. Temp, light type and wattage, substrate, atnk size, ammonia pressence, nitrite pressence, pH, hardness. The more we know the better we can help.

[TankGirl]

As tkos posted, there is no cycle going on there without fish, or bottled ammonia. I don't think the biobugs will last more than a day or two, though I could be wrong. I personally keep my tanks at about 80-82, and am having no trouble with plants, like hygro, amazon sword, corkscrew vals, java fern and dwarf lillies. It would appear that you will be doing a fishy cycle once you put some fish in there, so be ready to test your water regularly for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Read up on cycling a tank, too, as this is very important to understand. A small school of the smaller tetras would be very nice in there, with the shrimp, like you mentioned. Cardinals look really wonderful in a planted tank, IMO!

[TankGirl]

I forgot! I love cardinals but don't do a fishy cycle with them - they are relatively delicate and require a fully cycled, stable and established tank for best results.

[JHZR2]

Hi,

OK, here are my specs:

Ammonia <0.5 ppm (down from ~1 a week ago)
Nitrite 0.5 up from ~0 a week ago)
pH 6.0 (down from 7 a week ago)
Temp 81F

Tank: Galaxy 5 w/ heater, bubbler and biowheel type filter
Light: fluroescent

Plants: 4 groups, unknown pet store varieties:
-one green broadleaf with white centers of leaves
-one 'stringy' green plant with thin leaves and hints of pink on leaves
-one short plant with odd shaped, jagges end leaves of rich gren color
-one tall plant with lots of small leaves all around it

Gravel with .5+/- in of aquarium dirt underneath

I am going to suck the gravel a bit with my vacuum, and change the water a bit.

Any advice/info based upon data given would be great. Thanks!

JMH

[tkos]

Don't bother suctioning the gravel yet. There is still a bit of ammonia registering in your tank as well as nitrite so I would keep testing and when those get to zero then add the fish. A school of 4 or 5 silver tip tetras would be nice. Cardinals and Neons tend to be a little sensitive to tanks that aren't really stable. Another choice would be platies, which are very hardy and a group of three would look very nice. They are a bit larger but seem to do well in a smaller tank. Otherwise a single betta with a few cory catfish on the bottom might look great, especially since you have plants.