New to aquariums, always liked fish

[iheartmyed9]

Just got me a 55 gallon kinda square yet with a touch of a hexagon shape, not sure what to call it maybe a "corner tank" for $ 50.00 from the nieghbors, came with twin air pump, filter, water heater , thermometer, decorations and cover/lighting hood. Thought it was a fairly good deal.

Got some all black rocks with a lil neon rainbow rocks mixed in in spots kinda ive it that stars look to it, still a lil hazy, didnt read till after it was filled that i had to wash the rocks. Joined this forum to further educate myself, evantually want to go salt water and have all sorts of fun marine critters in the tank.

 

[tarpon]

Hey! Congratulations!

Did you inspect the silicone sealant and make sure it was in good shape?

And that's an amazing deal. My filter alone cost $50

 

[iheartmyed9]

I didnt inspect the seals on the glass too thoroughly but its filled and has been running for a day or so now with no leaks, it is a fairly new tank i suspect, yea, hard times i guess and he said it wouldnt fit in his new place, came with a stand but the stand is kinda ugly though. The filter never would prime so i just went and bought a Tetra Multi stage 30-60 gallon aquarium filter since ive heard a couple thing bad about the "bio wheel" filter and this one wasnt much more than that style of filter and it sure is way quieter than the other tank.
Ive been reading "Tropical Fish - A beginners Guide" a free E-Book i found on a site since the water got a little cloudy so i could better understand this before i dive into it. Im going to get some cheaper fish to start off with but like i said my main goal is to go saltwater and have clown fish and sea anemones and other cool lil fish like that.

 

[tarpon]

You should run both filters if you can. Having more filtration is better.

And you need to cycle your tank before getting fish! Other wise they will die from ammonia poisoning! Hopefully someone will post the link up here to the cycling articles.

Basically its either adding pure ammonia,fish food, a dead shrimp, or using a few (live) fish as an ammonia source to build up bacteria that breaks down the ammonia and nitrite into less harmful nitrate.

If you use fish you'll have to do daily water changes and wont be able to add as much fish all at once.

If you already knew about cycling I apologize

 

[iheartmyed9]

No, im not aware of cycling, i added some tablets to the water that supposed to make the water safe. There called Tetra Aqua Safe tablets, not sure if anything else is needed before adding fish but if so, do elaborate cause i want this to go as easy as possible. From what i understand my cloudiness is from not prewashing the gravel, because before i started my filter up my water was clear.

 

[iheartmyed9]

I would like to run both but the other one wont work, the filter i have now is a Tetra advanced multi stage filtration 30-60 gallon filter

 

[tarpon]

Yeah not washing the gravel will do that.
And I would not use tetra safe start. It can cause instabilities in your bio-filter and cause problems later.(I've heard, but I've also heard its the best product for that) And I think its for fish in cycling.
You would need to buy the api freshwater master test kit. The liquid one, as the strips are unreliable. It will be your best friend and help you determine when your tank is fish safe.
Id just google how to cycle a tank as idk how to give you the link as I'm on my phone.

If you know anyone with an already established tank you can take their filter media and put it in your filter to greatly reduce cycling time.maybe even almost instantly cycle it. I also bought driftwood out of a tank at petsmart to help. Beneficial bacteria (the bacteria that breaks down the harmful chemicals) lives on tank decorations and in the gravel, but most is in the filter media. Hardly any is in the actual water itself.

And also! Make sure you treat any water going into the tank with dechlorinator or the fish will die.

 

[iheartmyed9]

According to the box the Tetra safe start removes chlorine and such. I tested the ph with a home test kit i bought from Petsmart and got a reading of aroun 7.7 ph. Id like to start off the tank with some tropical fish from Petsmart and maybe a couple of ghost shrimp they had since i think those are cool looking. The filter will have been running for 24 hours as of tomorrow at 1pm. So i can add fish then?

 

[iheartmyed9]

Also any fish you recommend that i can get from Petsmart that are good starter fish?

 

[tarpon]

Nahh you really need to read about cycling, it takes a while. Unless you get seeded filter media.

And cory catfish are some of my favorites. They need to be in groups of 5 at least and are active and interesting. You'd need to feed them algae wafers and shrimp pellets and blanched veggies..I personally like the looks of neon tetras, they are schooling fish as well.

Whatever you do, do not buy a common pleco. The brown suckerfish sold at pet stores. They can grow to 2 feet long. There are other species that max out around 5" though. Just don't get a common one.
Many people bring those home and the pet store people don't even inform them of this

 

[iheartmyed9]

Wow, good advice. Ill read up on cycling, i imagine its in this book somewhere. Im reading into alot of things i shouldve done beforehand for the tank i didnt do so i might just get all the water out, clean and start over cause i hate that cloudy look on the tank, its ugly.

 

[WendiDell]

According to the box the Tetra safe start removes chlorine and such. I tested the ph with a home test kit i bought from Petsmart and got a reading of aroun 7.7 ph. Id like to start off the tank with some tropical fish from Petsmart and maybe a couple of ghost shrimp they had since i think those are cool looking. The filter will have been running for 24 hours as of tomorrow at 1pm. So i can add fish then?

Getting rid of the Chlorine is always necessary, but it doesn't mean that your tank is cycled.

The pH is the last part of the water that you should worry about after you cycle your tank and before you add some fish.

I've never added a link or file and I've tried many times but it never worked. But you can go to the articles on the AA home page, there are 2 very helpful articles you should read before you start anything. There are a lot of helpful articles there, But these are 2 you need start with.

One is called "New tank Syndrome"
and the second is "the almost complete guide and feq to fishless cycling"

 

[iheartmyed9]

Thanks, ill read both of those.

 

[Deckape]

Hi and welcome. There is a link to the fishless cycling guide in my signature if you're interested.

 

[redsea]

Welcome to aquarium advice!

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

 

[iheartmyed9]

So it might be a minute before i see any fish in my tank, well i always say do it right the first time so im gonna clean my water out clean the rocks and start over with the cycling, thanks everyone, if i get a camera ill post a pic of this tank, its really nice for 50 bones

 

[Deckape]

So it might be a minute before i see any fish in my tank, well i always say do it right the first time so im gonna clean my water out clean the rocks and start over with the cycling, thanks everyone, if i get a camera ill post a pic of this tank, its really nice for 50 bones

Hey before you clean the rocks. Was this tank running when you found it at a wonderful price? If it was, then you may be killing beneficial bacteria if you clean it too much

Edit: same with the filter. If it was running before and stayed wet, then you'd have something most people would pay for when starting up the
cycle.

 

[iheartmyed9]

No all the stuff, except for the brand new filtration system i bought, was sitting in the garage unfilled, i cleaned the tank out the water hose and a scrubbing pad, the rocks were brand new from the store.

 

[Deckape]

No all the stuff, except for the brand new filtration system i bought, was sitting in the garage unfilled, i cleaned the tank out the water hose and a scrubbing pad, the rocks were brand new from the store.

Ok. Thanks but if you have some friends with tanks, call in some favors. If you lived close to me, I would gladly give you seeding material