senio
Aquarium Advice Newbie
OK so, heres my story... i know i know. i really wish i would have done my research before hand and NOT trust the guy at the fish store!
So at home we had a 10 gallon tank sitting in the basement doing nothing (empty), and my boyfriend and i have always wanted to own fish.. so we went to the fish store and told the guy our story.. heres what he sold us. 1 Silver arowanna, 2 bala sharks, 1bristlenose pleco, and 1 ghost knife fish (OMG). Told us to use distilled water, becuase we have well water and well water is to hard to keep stable for the fish.. ok sure, sell us what we need mr fish man. Sold us a powder substance to use to mineralize the distilled water and what not.. gave us a GH and KH test kit and sent us on our way. So as uneducated as we were we go home and do as the guy says, bam, a week later my arowanna is dead and so is my ghost knife fish. (big suprise right?), i do a water change and try and save the other 3. through this week i had been reading and reading, learning about the nitrogen cycle, that my well water is actually better then distilled water, and the fish he sold me are a) to many for the tank, for various reasons, size, bioload in a new tank etc and b) are going to out grow the tank, which in his defence, we told him that in a month or so we were going to get a larger tank.. he gave us no recomendations on what size i would need or anything. This guy completly talked out of his butt and we soaked it all up So we go to a diffrent store, tell them our story and they recommended us switching out the water to well water. so we go home and do this, added API Stress coat, and top fin bacteria. fish look alot better, but i still feel aweful about thier lack of space.. soooo I buy a HUGE 90 gallon tank, ehiem filter, heater. set it up, put peat ( to lower the PH) in the filter the next day the water looks like coffee. Empty tank, take peat out and start again, get some seeding material (gravel in a media bag, and an old filter).
Day 1 (90g)
Day 3 am
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my horror story that is my life for the past month.
So at home we had a 10 gallon tank sitting in the basement doing nothing (empty), and my boyfriend and i have always wanted to own fish.. so we went to the fish store and told the guy our story.. heres what he sold us. 1 Silver arowanna, 2 bala sharks, 1bristlenose pleco, and 1 ghost knife fish (OMG). Told us to use distilled water, becuase we have well water and well water is to hard to keep stable for the fish.. ok sure, sell us what we need mr fish man. Sold us a powder substance to use to mineralize the distilled water and what not.. gave us a GH and KH test kit and sent us on our way. So as uneducated as we were we go home and do as the guy says, bam, a week later my arowanna is dead and so is my ghost knife fish. (big suprise right?), i do a water change and try and save the other 3. through this week i had been reading and reading, learning about the nitrogen cycle, that my well water is actually better then distilled water, and the fish he sold me are a) to many for the tank, for various reasons, size, bioload in a new tank etc and b) are going to out grow the tank, which in his defence, we told him that in a month or so we were going to get a larger tank.. he gave us no recomendations on what size i would need or anything. This guy completly talked out of his butt and we soaked it all up So we go to a diffrent store, tell them our story and they recommended us switching out the water to well water. so we go home and do this, added API Stress coat, and top fin bacteria. fish look alot better, but i still feel aweful about thier lack of space.. soooo I buy a HUGE 90 gallon tank, ehiem filter, heater. set it up, put peat ( to lower the PH) in the filter the next day the water looks like coffee. Empty tank, take peat out and start again, get some seeding material (gravel in a media bag, and an old filter).
Day 1 (90g)
- Filled with water
- Added seeding material
- Added API stress coat
- Added Top Fin PH decreaser
- Added Top Fin Bacteria
- Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, and ph 8.86 (known becuase we have had the water tested from the county)
- added driftwood (cured)
- added anubius plant attached to driftwood
- bubble wand
- Added the fish (reason? because i thought they would be less stressed out going through a fish in cycle in a bigger tank)
- Added API Stress coat
- Added PH decreaser
- Added bacteria
Day 3 am
- Added PH decreaser (trying to get the ph under 8)
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my horror story that is my life for the past month.