Anything Ive Forgot

[mcgee9t2]

hey all.

new to the forum and to tropical fish so go easy

right now ive been wanting tropical fish for a while and decided to finaly take the plunge.

right so ive got a old tank which will need steralising (sp?) ive been told that bleach waterd down 1 part bleach 9 parts water and left in the tank/scrubed around for 15 mins then a good half a hour or so washing down in the shower is a ok way to do it? any advice? this ok aslong as its washed out right?

now so far ive got a filter and heater and tank. how essential is a light? can the light just be bought when i get the fish and hooked up that night?

im going to be going to get some water conditioner tomorow after work, i am going to disinfect the tank then fill it up with water, add the heater and gravel ect and leave untill sunday, that should be long enough? and will this water conditioner be ok? seen it in quite a few places and this was the cheepest.

wanting a few live plants and rocks/coral ect. in there should i buy them when i buy the fish and put them in on sunday or should i buy the rocks and plants tomorow and put them in just after ive put in the water conditioner.

aything else ive forgot. ive had a read through the threads on here and a few other websites but sure im bound to forget something.

cheers for any help guys

 

[markandhisfish]

the most important thing youre forgetting is cycling your tank , take a read through this link http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

specificly the section on cycling.

as for the light unless youre growing plants while youre cycling you can get that last of all as it wont matter.

the dechlorinator youre looking at will work out expensive. 2.5ml for 10 L of water isnt good .

id reccomend seachem prime 2.5 ml of that will do 100L
http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/index.php?keywords=seachem+prime&p=shop&submit=+Search+

the method you were given for cleaning the tank out is fine , just be sure to rinse it thouroughly before using the tank tho

 

[Skins]

the most important thing youre forgetting is cycling your tank , take a read through this link http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

specificly the section on cycling.

as for the light unless youre growing plants while youre cycling you can get that last of all as it wont matter.

the dechlorinator youre looking at will work out expensive. 2.5ml for 10 L of water isnt good .

id reccomend seachem prime 2.5 ml of that will do 100L
http/www.warehouse-aquatics.co.uk/index.php?keywords=seachem+prime&p=shop&submit=+Search+

the method you were given for cleaning the tank out is fine , just be sure to rinse it thouroughly before using the tank tho

Agree with Mark, you will also require a good liquid test kit, most of the members on the forum use the Api freshwater master kit. This is proberly the most important bit of kit you will need.

Keith.

 

[mcgee9t2]

ah yes. water test kit.

and cheers for that link.

any other tips or hints welcome

 

[Lolly123]

hello and welcome to the forum,

Thumbs up for asking questions before you dive in to fish keeping, its normally the other way round and we get a lot of distressed new fish keepers that have been given bad advice by LFS...but the people on here are always willing to help if you want to listen

Its good that you've searched through the threads, as someone else said the cycling process is extremely important so have a good read.

Starting out right makes a huge difference to your experience and it seems so far you're going in the right direction. All I can say is, try and be patient when it comes to your cycle process. I'd recommend doing a fishless cycle using a bottle of ammonia from somewhere like boots, you'll need to invest in a good liquid test kit which is mentioned in another response on this thread. You can do a fish-in cycle, but it's more delicate and water changes can start to mount up and there is always a risk of the toxins causing damage to the fish if the levels get out of control. So thats why i'd recommend fishless, its a bit less stressful and you're not constantly worrying for your livestock.

A cycle can generally take 4-6 weeks, it may seem like forever, but this is a great time to research the fish you'd like and read up on their requirements and also plan your aquascape and gather the bits and bob such as wood, plants etc. Thats the fun part, spending your money

As for lighting, like markandhisfish mentioned its not of huge importance unless you are wanting to have plants, plus when your cycling keep the lights off as ammonia and light is not good lol.

So, have you any ideas as to what you want in term of tank layout etc? Tell us what you got in mind

 

[BPB]

Welcome to the hobby. As stated before, please please please read up and be patient on cycling your new tank. Unfortunately I was one of the many people who dove in and bought everything including fish in one trip to the store without even thinking to visit a forum or doing research. How hard could it be right? Just take out the chlorine and you're good to go??? Wrong. It actually is very easy...once your filter is cycled. No matter what, if you put fish into a tank without cycling the filter, they will die 99% of the time. It may take a couple weeks, but they will certainly die.

I didn't learn about cycling my tank until I had enough fish die to find out what was going wrong, by that time, my tank was cycled. This way of doing this is not only expensive, but also depressing and disheartening. Once you get your tank properly cycled, it is lots of fun. Plus, the weeks it takes to cycle a tank give you plenty of time to research what specific kinds of fish you want to keep, compatibility, plant growing, ect...

Ask any question you want. Everyone is super helpful. Best of luck!

 

[mcgee9t2]

I've had another read through the cycling bit. Now can someone explain in lamens terms it to me

Tonight I'm going to go to get all the kit (including some water conditioner) so will pop in to boots as I've been told you can get amonia from there cheep. And I will get a water testing kit that.

Now as I understand I should wash the tank out and fill it up with water, and test the ph levels of my water and note them down. Then add the water conditioner, and add amonia. And then I get lost
Cheers for any help.

 

[Warehouse]

Welcome to the forums. There are 3 stages to the fishless cycle, but for now just concentrate on stage one which is getting the Ammonia crunching bacteria to grow.

Put in the substrate, (gravel or sand), add the water and treat it to remove the chlorine, turn on the filter and heater, then leave it all running like that for a day without doing anything else.

24 hours later add enough ammonia to raise the level to 5 parts per million.

Basically the ammonia you're adding is simulating fish waste, and bacteria will grow in your filter that love to eat the fish waste, so adding the ammonia will help that to happen. Once the bacteria are growing, the ammonia levels will start to drop as they crunch through it. This normally takes between 5 to 10 days in a clean tank and filter. During that first few days you can read up a bit more .

 

[mcgee9t2]

Ah ok. I think I'm starting to understand it a bit more now.

So if I got some of the bacteria from a filter in a different tank and added it to my filter then the process would be sped up right?

My sisters boyfriend has a few tropical fish so may try to get some from him.

 

[Warehouse]

Ah ok. I think I'm starting to understand it a bit more now.

So if I got some of the bacteria from a filter in a different tank and added it to my filter then the process would be sped up right?

My sisters boyfriend has a few tropical fish so may try to get some from him.

That would help the whole cycle enormously. If you can do that then you really must.

 

[Gilli]

You are going to need a gravel vac to make your water changes and clean the substrate when you have your fish and a thermometer to check on the water warmth!

 

[mcgee9t2]

were can i get ammona from?

had a look in boots cause i was told i could get it in there but when i went they only had ammonia that wasnt pure ie had other things like purfume in.

cheers

 

[Rogue4Fish]

I'd buy some Milton and forget the bleach. Just incase you can't get all of it out. It's used to sterilising baby goods. Costs like £2 from a supermarket. Good stuff!

 

[Little_Nemo]

Boots is usually the place where we all get it from. Its in a white bottle with a red lid, it says on the back of it 9.5%

Ammonia

Last time i had to get some, I asked and was taken to a little section in the store that also had a few small household goods, and I mean a little section! (Just one shelf)

 

[mcgee9t2]

hmm, youve basicaly descirbed one of the bottles i picked up, thought it said something about perfumes in though. gota have a look in there with the gf as she needs to get something tomorow so will have another look at it tomorow.