Filters?

[Jue]

Hi

As you will probably appreciate I'm VERYnew to this. My 40l (9 UK gallon) tank has been set up for 3 weeks with no fish added (on the advice of lfs) until 3 days ago (5 guppies). I have not done a water change as yet nor have I done anything with the filter. It is the original sponge filter which came with the filter. Having read some of the threads on the various forums I am now concerned that I should have been doing water changes daily - if so how much? And also should I have the carbon filter in instead of the sponge?

My lfs helped me with setting up (I didn't find this forum until tonight ) My ph level is 6.5, but I was not advised to do any other tests such as nitrites, ammonia etc. I can get the relevant testing kits for these tomorrow, and as far as I can tell from what I've read these should be 0. If they aren't, I will probably be posting again about that

If you can think of anything else I should be doing, please let me know.

Thanks for any help you can give me, it is very much appreciated
Jue

 

[Rooster]

Welcome to the board...
You local shop needs shooting by the sounds of it ! Would be handy if you were to tell us what else is in the tank.. plants, substrate (ie whats on the bottom of the tank) etc....

Really you ought to have done a "fishless cycle" which is basically, getting the bacteria we NEED to process fish waste growing in the filter/substrate BEFORE adding fish... think about it, the poor fish have to live in their toilet... how would you like it ?

Having said that, the fishless cycle is a relatively new technique, I came into fishkeeping 30 odd years ago, where I did EXACTLY as you did... and lost a few fish. SEVERAL times ! there is more of an understanding of the chemistry involved these days, and the word cruelty is bandied about more (too much, if you ask me !) but if suffering CAN be avoided, then why not ?

You are already commited by the sounds of it (unless there is a local who can babysit your fish for a few weeks ?)

Its just down to waiting now... a "master" test kit will enable you to measure ammonia, which ideally "should" be zero.... same with nitrites, but these are dealt with by the bacteria I spoke of earlier, so yours will probably be quite high, the test for nitrate (notice the A !) will tell all.... if there is any, you have bacteria growing, converting the ammonia into nitrite - then onto nitrate - which is the less harmfull of the three, but non the less needs keeping in check with regular water changes of approx 25% every week... this is a rule of thumb, however as each aquarium is unique....

I would leave the sponge in place (thats where the majority of the bacteria will live !) until the ammonia and nitrIte fall to ZERO.... then only clean it when water flow through the filter drops off - due to the sponge being clogged, then clean it in some aquarium water NOT tap water (tap water contains chemicals intended to kill bacteria... this will put you back at square one !) just squeeze it out a few times under water... errr, no NOT in the tank !!! in the bucket you use to change water ! lol
Finally, NEVER forget to treat the new water with a conditioner to remove chlorine etc.

Good luck, and NEVER be afraid to ask a "stupid" question

 

[tttnjfttt]

Unfortunately, leaving the water sit for 3 weeks and doing nothing with it has absolutely no benefit. Many LFS tend to give some pretty bad advice.

Essentially, you are beginning to cycle the tank with fish. Get a master test kit, and make sure it tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. What will happen is your fish produce ammonia, which is highly toxic. You always want the ammonia reading to be zero, which will happen only in established tanks. You will need to be daily testing your water, and the MAX reading i recomend you keep is 1.0. Even this is stressful for fish and may kill a few of them. Do daily water changes of 25%. If the ammonia is getting very high, do a few changes in one day. Be sure to space these atleast 3 hours apart. After a while, bacteria will develop and break down the ammonia and turn it into nitrIte. Nitrite is also toxic, and again, try to keep this reading below 1.0. Sometimes adding aquarium salt can help make nitrite less toxic to fish. Keep up with the water changes. A second set of bacteria will develop and break the nitrIte into nitrAte. Nitrate is relativley harmless, and is the reason why you do weekly water changes. Idealy, try to keep this below 50, however, some people have a very hard time wiht this as their local tap water has nitrate in it. So basically, test your tap water for ammonia and nitrate.

Inside your filter should be atleast two things. One is a carbon filter, and the other is a spounge or some place for the bacteria to grow. The carbon you can change, but NEVER change the spounge. If it gets too gunked up, shake it out in old tank water and put it back in.

Hope that helps!

 

[Jue]

Hi

The set up is as follows:

40 Litre tank
Fluval 2+ Filter (only normal sponge inserted at present)
Rena 50w Heater
Standard Aquarium gravel on bottom of tank
6 plants - general for aquarium
1 small piece of bogwood (approx 12 inches)

Was first filled up 3 weeks ago (tomorrow)
Added 10ml Stress Coat on 1st day
Added 10ml Stress Zyme on 2nd, 8th & 15th day
5 Guppies added on 16th day. All look healthy. Feeding well and very active.
Feeding on TetraMin tropical flake food

The last time the ph level was checked (a few days ago) it was 6.5

Thanks again
Jue

 

[OohFeeshy]

Luckily, at that pH the toxicity of ammonia is reduced by quite a bit. Although guppies are hardly the best fish to go through a cycle with... But its a bit late for that. Get a test kit ASAP, if you can't/don't want to get a master test kit then you can get away with just ammonia and nitrite.

 

[Jue]

Please can someone tell me about doing a water change as I've not done one yet?

If i fill up a bucket with as much water as I need, do I then add Stress Coat or Stress Zyme to the water? According to the bottle I should add 10ml per week of Stress Zyme

How long should be water be left before adding it to the tank?

Do I need to get an additional heater to heat the water in the bucket prior to adding it to the tank?

Sorry for so many questions, but I want to make sure that I do this properly

Thanks
Jue

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmm... To be on the safe side, I'd do 10% water change every day.

If i fill up a bucket with as much water as I need, do I then add Stress Coat or Stress Zyme to the water? According to the bottle I should add 10ml per week of Stress Zyme

Add whichever one says it removes chlorine and chloramine, to the directions on the bottle. The other one (stress zyme, I think) is pretty useless.

How long should be water be left before adding it to the tank?

It doesn't need to be, as long as the dechlorinator works instantly (check the bottle).

Do I need to get an additional heater to heat the water in the bucket prior to adding it to the tank?

Nope, just run the water at as near to the tank temperature as you can get.

 

[Jue]

Thanks for all your help. I've been out and bought the Master Kit so I'll have a look at that shortly.

Jue