Need Your Advise For my Tank.

[why]

Hi, i started my hobby last year with a 5 gallon tank and 2 sunburst platys. People here advised me that the tank is too small and to return them to the store. I gladly did and took some time and started with a 20gallon one this time. Got a New tank kit from petsmart, and got 10 gallon of water and some gravel from a very kind and generous lady . The aquarium from where i got water is of 40 gallon big and it has goldfishes, frogs and some other fishes.

Its been 10 days i started my cycle, i have used those water along with my tap water and gravel and started cycling and almost every 3 day or so i have introduced a new Live plant into the tank and now it has around 6 different live plants.. and also added one Aqueon Fluval 20-50 gallon filter along with 20 gallon filter and using some quick start liquids and other things as below..

i have tested the water and got the following results, yes i did one time water change of around 3-4 gallons 2 days back and added one tablespoon aquarium salt. it has a Heater tweaked at 75-80 temperature. Kindly please help me what else i have to improve and what i can do for that and when i can add fish and what kind.

I am not at all in rush for fish, wanted to make the water is ready and good to go first.

I have two Amazon Sword plants, two nanos and two rorrippa aquatica plants.

Thank you in advance for your kind encouragement. Wanted to go big like 40 gallons in few months with yoru advise.

 

[mikey11]

you only need one of those filters....pick one,

i would recommend keeping the aquaclear, and use TWO foam inserts....no charcoal

 

[why]

thank you, any reason to avoid charcoal insert.. it have one foam,one charcoal and one stone.. so you are advising to avoid charcoal and stone and just keep foam and add another foam one..

 

[mikey11]

thank you, any reason to avoid charcoal insert.. it have one foam,one charcoal and one stone.. so you are advising to avoid charcoal and stone and just keep foam and add another foam one..

yes two foam....more surface area for bacteria....no need for anything else

 

[seangee]

Did you put ammonia in the aquarium to start the cycle? Check out http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/421488-cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first

 

[why]

No i havent put ammonia.. saw various threads and replies and no one is exactly pointing to particular ammonia brand and where to get and some have ups and downs. I have kick started my cycle from 10 Gallons of water from well established aquarium and also filter squeezes and gravel from that aquarium and added quick start bacteria and water conditioners .

 

[Byron]

No i havent put ammonia.. saw various threads and replies and no one is exactly pointing to particular ammonia brand and where to get and some have ups and downs. I have kick started my cycle from 10 Gallons of water from well established aquarium and also filter squeezes and gravel from that aquarium and added quick start bacteria and water conditioners .

I would not suggest pure ammonia here. You have live plants, and ammonia if overdosed will kill them. With plants, once they are growing, you should have no cycling issues.

"Dirty water" meaning water from an existing aquarium has no benefit; bacteria live on surfaces. Moving filter media will move over bacteria, but not water. [You don't need to do any of this now, you are already started.] To be honest, I wold do a water change or two, complete (down to the substrate) and fill with dechlorinated fresh water (Prime is your dechlorinator, only use the amount for the replacement water being added). You can add a dose of the Stability, no harm there. And a dose of the Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the plants. Then just run the filter and heater for a few days.

I agree with only using one of those filters; filtration is rather misunderstood by some, stores especially. There is no benefit in so-called "over-filtration," but it can be detrimental. Just use one of those filters at one end of the tank; this will create a natural flow down the tank and back.

What sort of fish were you intending? To deal with that, we need to know your water parameters for your source water (tap alone), the GH (general or total hardness), pH, and KH (carbonate hardness or Alkaliniity). If you don't know yet, you may be able to get this info from your water authority, check their website.

You will like the 20g, nice change.

 

[seangee]

Should find it in a supermarket. If you say where you are someone may be able to point you to a brand (its usually the cheap ones). It is pretty important because the bacteria that deal with the ammonia produced by fish can only grow if they have ammonia in the first place. There are other ways of providing ammonia but the method detailed in the link is by far the most effective.

 

[Byron]

Should find it in a supermarket. If you say where you are someone may be able to point you to a brand (its usually the cheap ones). It is pretty important because the bacteria that deal with the ammonia produced by fish can only grow if they have ammonia in the first place. There are other ways of providing ammonia but the method detailed in the link is by far the most effective.

In the present situation I really would not recommend this. Adding ammonia is certainly not necessary here, and he might well kill the plants and bacteria if anything goes wrong. No point in making things more difficult.

 

[seangee]

In the present situation I really would not recommend this. Adding ammonia is certainly not necessary here, and he might well kill the plants and bacteria if anything goes wrong. No point in making things more difficult.

Whoops our posts crossed. I've never used plants alone without a lot more of them, but your advice is sound

 

[Byron]

Whoops our posts crossed. I've never used plants alone without a lot more of them, but your advice is sound

No problem. If the OP asks, I will explain the cycling with plants in detail. But there is also clearly some bacteria present already, and the Stability helps too. I'd just hate to see the OP do something that kills the whole system when it is chugging along nicely.

 

[NickAu]

Hi
You do not need both the API water conditioner and Prime,

 

[why]

Thank you very much one and all, i truly feel so happy seeing your replies and so grateful. I am all yours and i will follow your suggestion. I love to stabilize the tank to my best and then adding fish.i am not at all in rush for adding fish. I want to do better, practically i am bit scared of adding ammonia of reading some places. So the next best thing i got water, filter squeezes and gravel from an established tank..and over that added plants to add more life to the aquarium. if i can do cycling better with plants i will surely do.

just found the values from the water distribution company

Ph avg of 7.1
pH, field avg of 7.4
Hardness, total not detectable at testing limit

 

[why]

fish i dont have any specifications.. all i want is few good and very healthy fish to start with.. i have my heart on Black Moly, Mickey Mouse Platry, Sword fish, black clown fish.. but at this moment i want a sturdy one and to make it right.

 

[Byron]

fish i dont have any specifications.. all i want is few good and very healthy fish to start with.. i have my heart on Black Moly, Mickey Mouse Platry, Sword fish, black clown fish.. but at this moment i want a sturdy one and to make it right.

From what I can decipher from the water data, and your own tests, it seems you have water on the soft side. It is hard to see the colour of the chart, but the test strip seems to be brown, which is soft? The Alkalinity in the water data is 40 mg/l (= ppm) so this is low, which would make sense with soft water.

Now, I don't know your level of knowledge with all this, so I will very briefly explain about soft/hard water. Freshwater fish species have evolved over thousands of years to function in very specific water parameters; they will be healthier with fewer problems if they are maintained in similar water. The hardness has to do with minerals in the water, especially calcium and magnesium. Fish that have evolved in water containing higher levels of these minerals need such water to provide them and for their internal functions to work. Soft water fish on the other hand do not need these minerals, and while some species can tolerate some mineral, other species have more difficulty. Soft water fish kept in hard water frequently do not live their normal lifespan and if dissected thee reason is usually calcium blockage of the kidneys. So it is important to keep in mind the requirements of a species and make sure you can provide such water.

Adjust water parameters can be done, but it is not easy and can lead to other issues. It is always safer to select fish species that are closer to the water you can easily provide for them. They will have less stress, which means a stronger immune system and less chance of contracting disease.

Now, the fish you have mentioned are livebearers (though I am not sure about the "black clown fish"?); platy, swordtail, molly, guppy and Endlers. These fish occur in Central America and Mexico where the water is moderately hard. In soft water they simply will not be healthy and they will not last very long. Mollies are especially sensitive but the others are too.

The fish that should be more "at home" are any of the tetras and rasbora. Many of the catfish. Danios and barbs, but these are often very active and need more space. All of these fish are also what we term shoaling species, meaning they live in very large groups and must have a group in the aquarium, so that needs to be kept in mind when thinking about a species.