Brand New Tank!

[1staquarium]

I have just bought a brand new 64 litre tropical tank with included heater, filter, and two lights in the hood. I have just finished setting it all up and turned on the heater and the filter, and have added tapsafe to the water. The instructions say to leave it 3-4 days before adding the first couple of fish but I have read in most places to leave it for a week or more, which is best?
Also, what are some good beginner community fish? I would very much like to keep guppies along with other fish, maybe some neon tetras. I have also got a coldwater tank with 5 white cloud mountain minnows, which I have had for around 2 years or more now. I would like to add these to the tropical tank if at all possible as I have read that they can live in tropical temperatures, is this true, and if so would they also live peacefully with the fish I have mentioned? This is obviously my first tropical tank and I want to do everything properly, but I can only go on what I have read so any advice at all would be much appreciated!
The store where i bought my tank have promised to test the water if I take some samples in when the tank has had a chance to start cycling.

 

[Azeron]

I recommend getting a test kit of ebay to make sure its safe to add the fish, guppies are a good start and make sure you have at least 5-10 neons there better in groups

 

[1staquarium]

thank you! how many guppies should I add at first, a couple? and when?

 

[razer121]

have you heard of cycling? its something id recommend you did before you add any fish....you run a high risk of your fish dying if you add any now

 

[Truck]

neons must be kept in a mature tank...so cycling and then waiting an additional 5 months will ensure your tank is ready for them

 

[holidayinn]

Welcome to the forum!

There are some fishless cycling threads in the New to the Hobby section, have a look at those, they might seem complicated, but it is essential to cycle a new tank. Leaving the tank running for a week doesnt really help it prepare for fish. The filter media needs to be matured/cultured, if you know anyone with a running tank and filter media, this can speed things up. HTH.

Like truck says, neons need a more mature tank.

 

[1staquarium]

Hey thanks for the advice, yeah I do know about cycling, as I have mentioned in my first post, but am still a bit unsure of how best to do it. I have a coldwater tank with 5 white cloud mountain minnows as I say, so i have added plants, decorations and gravel from this to the new tank. Should I also add some water from the old tank? And would even adding some fish waste from my current tank help or is that a bad idea?!
The store where I bought the tank from said they would test the water for me and tell me whether it is suitable to start with, then I will obviously buy my own kits so I can keep checking the water.
I will wait a few months until I get tetras then maybe just get a couple of guppies as my first fish? I have read that they are quite hardy.
Thanks for the replies, I could use all the help i can get whilst I am learning, I want to do things properly!

 

[zoetetra]

when i did my first tank the fishless cycle tok me a while but it is a better way to do it and it means you can fully stock when it is ready.
you have to get a test kit to check and monitor the water i did this daily. you have to add ammonia to 5ppm and check it stays at this level.you can probably give yourself a bit of a start by squeezing some of the filter media into your new tank as it might help kick start it a bit quicker.

 

[1staquarium]

when i did my first tank the fishless cycle tok me a while but it is a better way to do it and it means you can fully stock when it is ready.
you have to get a test kit to check and monitor the water i did this daily. you have to add ammonia to 5ppm and check it stays at this level.you can probably give yourself a bit of a start by squeezing some of the filter media into your new tank as it might help kick start it a bit quicker.

Thank you! I have just added the first dose of "filter safe" by interpet to try and give it more of a kick start, I got this with the aquarium. I have just realised that the plants/gravel etc from my WCMM tank is probably no use as it has no filter or anything?? Or would it be beneficial to keep the gravel etc from the old filterless tank in?
This might be a stupid question but where do I get ammonia from? It says on this site to just use "normal household ammonia" but I have never seen this before, is it literally just a bottle labelled ammonia?!!!

 

[Essjay]

It must be pure ammonia, no perfume, soap, detergents or surfactants. If it doesn't give a list of ingredients on the bottle, shake it. If it forms large bubbles that burst quickly, it's OK. I see you are in the UK, so try Homebase or larger branches of Boots, in the household cleaning section. I found Jeyes KleenOff in my local diy shop (the kind that sells loose screws and nails) and that's pure ammonia.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum 1staquarium.
Cycling a new tank will go very easily for you. The gravel in a 2 year old cold water tank will be a great source of live bacteria for the new tropical filter. If there is a way to do it, place part of it into the new filter in a bag like the ones they make for carbon. That will seed the new filter will let you get a nice cycle going in fairly short time. It is not quite as effective as moving some media but it can be an effective method of seeding a new filter.
Guppies in small numbers are a nice hardy first fish for a newly cycled tank. Neons are often not a good idea for a new tank but rather are better left for a mature tank.

 

[1staquarium]

Thanks for the ammonia tips, this is a very good forum, I have tried a few and got no replies or help whatsoever which was frustrating!

Ok I will move some gravel from the filterless WCMM tank into the tropical tank, I don't think there is a way to put it into the actual filter but if I put a net of gravel (as I don't want it in the tank long term) near the bottom of the filter and leave it there. Should I also put some water from the filterless coldwater tank??? This may contain fish waste, will this help?

I have put a bit of goldfish flake food in the tank to try and start the nitrogen cycle off, and turned the heat up a little more which I read can help. There is also a live plant in the tank. I plan to buy my testing kits soon, I will test for ammonia first so I don't put too much in as I have already started adding the food which is supposed to start building up ammonia.


Does this sound like a good plan or am I messing things up already! lol

 

[glolite]

It's a good plan but even better would be to take 1/3 of the media from your established coldwater tank and put it in your new filter. If you can't do this, rinse your cold water tank filter material in your new tanks water. This will give it a boost of beneficial bacteria. Then get some pure ammonia from somewhere like Homebase plus a testing kit, most important ones are ammonia, nitrIte and pH. ( This is if you intend to do fishless cycling)

If you want to use hardy fish to cycle the tank omit adding ammonia to the water. You will need to test daily for ammonia and nitrite as once the fish produce waste these may build up quite quickly. Then if you get any positive readings of the above do a 25% water change and test again. With added filter bacteria this may not happen if you're lucky but in any case if readings of ammonia and nitrite stay at zero you will still need to do 25% water changes once a week.

Good luck

PS The water doesn't contain much beneficial bacteria, most is in the filter media and then the gravel

 

[zoetetra]

if you have an old pair of tights you can put the gravel in there and just place it in the tank.
i got ammonia from boots had to ask for it as it wasnt on display.

 

[1staquarium]

Thanks guys! I'm not sure yet whether to do a fishless cycle or use a couple of hardy fish. As I mentioned before, I have no filter or anything in my coldwater tank and it is quite small, so it might not help much, if at all, by putting the gravel from this tank into the new tank as it probably isn't a good quality. This is why I want to take my white cloud mountain minnows (which I have had for around 2 years, they used to be in a bigger tank but it cracked not long ago) and introduce them into the tropical tank as I think they can live in tropical water? Obviously I would slowly adjust them to the higher temperature.