Hello From Singapore ! New to forum, new to everything

[Eugene Teo]

Hi, my name is Eugene, and I am totally new to having a fresh water aquarium.

My wife got a fish tank for me for my 35th birthday about a month ago.

I need some advise !

The fish tank I am using is Aquacurv 380
Covered Plugsd & Play Aquarium

Dimension(mm) : L380 x W265 x H395
Tank Volume : 32L
Filter type : Top Fliter
Pump Wattage : 5.5W
Pump Flow Rate : 250L/H
LED Wattage : 4.5W

The tank now is a month and has went through three 25% water change.
(The third time I change, I was shock, too many left over food at the btm , well I manage to slowly clean them up)

Initially one week in, it has only 3 guppies! All the water test were fine,

2 weeks in, my wife added in 6 diamond head tetra. I didn’t do any water taste and also added in the air ball thingy.

3 weeks in, I added some plants in, Java Moss, Java Fern and one more that I have no idea what it is. Hahah. (Sorry if I got the name wrong).

I notices that the one of diamond heads break off from the school, I was worried and I was reading up on diseases and what not but he seems fine, but he does swim strange and time, like twerking on a spot.

One reading brought up about water current and someone mention that the water current might be too strong due to air stone. So I tried to off it, and now the loner has went back to school.

I honestly hope he is fine.

I did a water test today, and I am sad
Ph level is 8.2
Ammonia level is 1.0
Nitrite no2 is 0
Nitrate no3 is 10 or 20 ppm, I can’t tell the difference. It’s too close haha.

Temp is 29 its Singapore, it’s humid)

I would love to have the fishes be in the best condition that it can be.

Is there anything I can improve on?

I would also love to add in 4 more Cory cats. Will I be over crowding the tank ?

Sorry for long posting and asking so many things...

Any advises is appreciated. ! Thanks

These are two pictures of my fish tank !

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Do not add any more fish until the filter has cycled.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the ammonia is 0. Ammonia is very toxic in alkaline water (pH above 7.0) and your pH is 8.2 so the ammonia is going to do some damage to the fish. Doing a 75% water change each day will dilute the ammonia and get the levels down so it is less harmful to the fish.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If you get a basic model gravel cleaner like the one in the following link, you can suck the gunk out of the gravel while you drain some water out.
https://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

Reduce feeding to once every second day and only give the fish as much food as they can eat in 30 seconds. Try to remove uneaten food that sinks to the bottom.

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Keep the filters running continuously and do not clean it for the first 6 weeks. When you do clean it, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water and then put them back in the filter. Tip the bucket of dirty water onto the lawn/ garden.

In a couple of weeks the ammonia should go down to 0 and the nitrite will start to go up. A few weeks after that the nitrite will come down and the nitrates will go up. When this has happened, your filter will be cycled and you can feed the fish each day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

You should check your tap water because it might have nitrates in. If it does you can just live with it or get a filter that removes nitrates from tap water. But if the nitrates are less than 20ppm you should be fine using tap water.

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If you can get a couple of new plastic buckets and write "FISH ONLY" on them with a permanent marker, you can keep these buckets with the gravel cleaner and fish gear.
*NB* Never use a bucket that has been used for cleaning products.

If you need to wipe the inside of the glass you can use a new sponge. Just make sure the sponge has no chemicals in it like mould inhibitors or anti-bacterial sponges. These will kill the fish. If you get a new sponge look for a cheap variety that has no additives and then wash it several times in warm soapy water. Then rinse well and keep it in the fish only buckets.

 

[Eugene Teo]

Hi Colin,

Thank you very much for the details yet easy to understand reply.

Thank you for the patience for answering the answers too.

Can I check, the reason for a 75% water change weekly when the Fliter is cycle is due my tank is small or due it being new.

I need to read up more on the cycle thingy. It is kind of confusing for me. Haha

I will immediately do the 75% right now.

Thanks !



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[Eugene Teo]

Hi Colin,

Thank you very much for the details yet easy to understand reply.

Thank you for the patience for answering the answers too.

Can I check, the reason for a 75% water change weekly when the Fliter is cycle is due my tank is small or due it being new.

I need to read up more on the cycle thingy. It is kind of confusing for me. Haha

I will immediately do the 75% right now.

Thanks !



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Omg I just realize I change a new filters sponge... stupid me... I will not change it for 6 weeks for now....




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[Colin_T]

When the filters have cycled and have lots of beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean, the ammonia and nitrite levels should remain on 0. However, the end result of the filter bacteria doing their job is nitrate. Nitrates build up over time and these can harm the fish. If you do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week (after the filter is established), you will dilute the nitrates and remove the fish waste in the gravel. You will also dilute microscopic organisms that are in the water.

Aquariums have lots of microscopic organisms living in them. They have bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoa, flukes, worms and a few other things. In low numbers these microscopic organisms do not affect the fish. But if they build up in number, the fish can get sick. Doing a 75% water change each week will reduce the number of these organisms in the aquarium and the fish will remain healthier.

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This is a basic rundown of the filter cycle.

Anything that breaks down in the water (fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants) produce ammonia. Over a couple of weeks you get beneficial bacteria that start to grow in the filter. These bacteria eat ammonia and convert it into nitrite.

When you start getting nitrite in the water, you get more bacteria that live in the filter and they convert nitrite into nitrate.

When the ammonia levels have gone up and come back to 0, and the nitrite levels have gone up and come back to 0, and the nitrates start to go up, the filters have cycled. This usually takes about 4-5 weeks but can take longer. During this time you do daily water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 (or as close to 0 as you can).

Once the filter has established and there is no more ammonia or nitrite in the water, the nitrates go up and you do a weekly water change to keep the nitrates as low as possible. The weekly water change also dilutes the microscopic organisms in the aquarium water.

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There is more information about the filter cycle at the following link.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/

 

[Eugene Teo]

Hi Colin,

Once again ! Thank you. I going to do the 75% change now, and closely monitor it, hope it does not stress the poor fishes ! It’s hard to convince my wife about all these. She kept saying they are fine !


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[Colin_T]

If the aquarium water has ammonia in and the pH is 8.2, the fish are not fine. The fish might look fine and be swimming around and eating, but they will be suffering some physical damage due to the ammonia. The water changes are necessary to dilute the ammonia and keep it as low as possible.

Typical symptoms of ammonia or nitrite in the water include:
the fish have clamped fins & tail, or fins that are right next to the body, instead of standing up,
the fish develop a cream or white film over their body.
Fish swimming erratically or gasping at the surface.

These symptoms indicate the fish are close to dying so it is best to monitor the water with the test kits, and do a water change whenever you have any ammonia or nitrite in the water. The test kits pick up very low levels of ammonia and nitrite and show you there is something wrong with the water. And you can do water changes to dilute this before it kills the fish.

 

[Eugene Teo]

I have done the water change ! 75%. I will take a shower, and text the water again ! thanks haha .

I notice now, this is the 4th water change I have done. The gravel does not cloud the tank anymore.

The first time i clean the gravel, it was not clean enough, so I have to rewash the whole tank and the gravel. Now it is so much after a month.

Once again thank you


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[Essjay]

Omg I just realize I change a new filters sponge... stupid me... I will not change it for 6 weeks for now....

Do not change the filter sponge even after 6 weeks. This is where a lot of the bacteria you will soon grow live. If you replace the sponge, you will need to do the cycle all over again. Just wash the sponge in water that you take out during a water change as Colin said.

If the instructions tell you to change the sponge, it sounds as though it is a carbon impregnated sponge. Yes, carbon does get full and stop working which is why they say to change it frequently. But you don't need to run carbon full time so leave the sponge there till it starts to fall apart. Just wash it.

 

[Eugene Teo]

Do not change the filter sponge even after 6 weeks. This is where a lot of the bacteria you will soon grow live. If you replace the sponge, you will need to do the cycle all over again. Just wash the sponge in water that you take out during a water change as Colin said.

If the instructions tell you to change the sponge, it sounds as though it is a carbon impregnated sponge. Yes, carbon does get full and stop working which is why they say to change it frequently. But you don't need to run carbon full time so leave the sponge there till it starts to fall apart. Just wash it.

Hi Essjay,

Thank you ! Understood ! Will do


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[Eugene Teo]

Ok. I done the water change, 75% with the usual, new water guard & super battle bacterial 8000.


Tested the water again, and here’s the results


PH : 8.1 maybe ?

Ammonia : 0.5

Nitrite : 0

Nitrate : 5.0

I guess I will do another water change the next day to have to drop to Ammonia drop to 0.

 

[Colin_T]

Yes the ammonia will come down a bit each time you do a water change so just keep doing a daily water change and keep the feeding down and in a few weeks the filter should be established

 

[Eugene Teo]

Will do once again thank you so much !
I will try the fishes life as comfortable as I can


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[Eugene Teo]

Hi Colin,

Did another 75% water change and it went down to 0.25, I am getting near . Thanks again

I am just wondering, those are not white spot ya ?

 

[Colin_T]

the guppy does not appear to have whitespot