Undergravel filter help

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We have well water too, which is awesome because I don't have to dechlorinate anything.
 
rachelives said:
Thank you, Clem! I would consider my uncle but he lives a good 10 hours away from me :( It could be possible though! But I do love keeping fish, it's always been very interesting to me, and I can see it getting out of hand ? But hopefully someday I can build some awesome tanks and learn a lot about the hobby :)
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Your very welcome, and you have plenty of time for da fish too, no rush. I'm glad to see young people involved in the hobby, you seem to know your stuff already, keep up the good work with fish keeping and learn all you can. Fish people are cool !!![emoji6]
So keep us posted on your 10 gal, it looks good already[emoji106]

Clem
 
rachelives said:
I for sure will! Hopefully the cycling process won't take too long :)
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Yea, I know its boring looking at a tank with no fish. When I cycled my 90 gal it took 12- 15 days to see the proper results on my tests, I used pure ammonia and a bit of fish food , and it was a planted tank so I had to keep dosing to keep my ammonia level between 2-4 ppm each day cause my plants were eating up the ammonia. After about 9days my nitrates and nitrites started spiking and then I knew my filter was starting to grow the BB and now I did about 3 water changes 1st one about 80% and took some testing on the water, I noticed a drop in ammonia, and my pH level was coming down, good news. I still had to dose my ammonia level up to about 2-3ppm and repeated my water tests now keeping a closer eye on nitrates and nitrite levels. Another water change 50% and repeated my ammonia dosing and repeated my water tests the next day.
The second water change I started to see better results as pH started to lower and stable, nitrites were almost gone and my nitrates started about 40ppm , a real good start. The 3rd water change was about 60% and I was hoping it was the final dosing of ammonia, when I check the results next day, I was amazed it work!!! [emoji38]
The levels were very good 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and 30-40ppm for nitrites. So I did actually another water change , checked out the water test results and they were safe to add fish!
The next day I added my Angels that outgrew their small tank, but I added fish in slowly not to add to much stress on them and allow my newly cycled filter to absorb the fish waste and grow the BB in the filter even more and make it stronger. When you complete this your fish will be happy and less stress reduces disease in your fish and tank. Your plants will be OK , thru the cycle and in about a month or 2 everything will balance out nicely. [emoji225]

I hope this helps and you will learn from this greatly when you complete your own cycle.

Clem
 
Finntastic said:
I have to pay for everything but electricity and water (I use a well)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G800A using Aquarium Advice mobile app
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I'm impressed with your knowledge already my young man.
The Force is strong with you my young fish keeper!!![emoji38]

Clem
 
That's really awesome! I really need to find some ammonia instead of just using fish food, but hopefully I will do that soon. And I have a question - I use water from a well, which is very hard water and has a very high ph. (somewhere around 7.6-8) This is good for my snails (I'm pretty sure) but I'm not sure that it's good for fish. Do you have any advice?
 
Mind fish that require low pH and let them alone. Some like higher pH, others don't care. Whatever fish you think of, there's information on the Internet to tell you what they need.
 
Okay! That makes sense. I still have no idea what I want to put in the tank but I'll keep looking
 
rachelives said:
That's really awesome! I really need to find some ammonia instead of just using fish food, but hopefully I will do that soon. And I have a question - I use water from a well, which is very hard water and has a very high ph. (somewhere around 7.6-8) This is good for my snails (I'm pretty sure) but I'm not sure that it's good for fish. Do you have any advice?
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Try a piece of driftwood, it will help lower your pH, or they sell pH down if its not helping much.
I prepare my water first hand, I have a few tanks now so my water is ready when needed.
I still have my fist tank 8-10gals, its home to a betta fish and 2 baby BN plecos. Low lighting plants , Amazon sword, moneywort, some java ferns, with a piece of driftwood. The only thing I upgrade was the light and new fish!!![emoji39] and it still looks good.
I'll try to post a pic but I'm having problems now with that, it keeps saying my photos are too large, something must of happened on my phone or the site?

Clem
 
That's weird, I've never had a problem with that. But the driftwood sounds like a cool addition to a tank! I live in Michigan, which is by freshwater beaches, if I find a piece of driftwood there what should I do to make it okay for a fish tank? Or should I just buy a piece of wood?
 
rachelives said:
That's weird, I've never had a problem with that. But the driftwood sounds like a cool addition to a tank! I live in Michigan, which is by freshwater beaches, if I find a piece of driftwood there what should I do to make it okay for a fish tank? Or should I just buy a piece of wood?
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That's cool, I'm just up north in Canada, Ontario, we share the great lakes!!!
You can use natural wood but no pine, check out YouTube on driftwood or the net, you will will have to prepare either wood anyways. I think if you buy a piece at your lfs it would be a little easier, since most are imported from regions where most tropical fish come from the Amazon, but if you choose natural driftwood you wood have to boil it and make sure there is no toxins in it. The fish will feel more of a natural surrounding and with plants and wood , gives them a place to hide out or rest. The nice thing is while your tank is cycling it will give you time to plant and make adjustments before you add your fish!!![emoji6]

Clem
 
I'm starting to research fish... Lots of people say that cichlids are good starters but I was under the impression that they were hard to take care of. What do you think?
 
Also... Platys seem cute, does anyone have a suggestion on which kind would be good for my tank?
 
rachelives said:
I'm starting to research fish... Lots of people say that cichlids are good starters but I was under the impression that they were hard to take care of. What do you think?
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That's great!!! Keep reading , and remember your tank size, and the growth size of the fish when your reading, not all fish get along .
I must say cichlids are many types, I got a few, two Discus , and a bunch of Angels, which I'm moving to other tanks soon and going to reduce my stock in my 90. If you want to do cichlids you would have to keep up on their water changes but only limits how much fish you can keep in your 10gal, the fish get big !!! They require softer waters and very clean too. [emoji1]

Clem
 
Okay, they sound difficult for me because there's no way I can consistently keep a low ph ? I'll look for different fish
 
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