Hello, And Some Advice :)

[Spanerman]

Hi, i have recently decided id like to start a small aquarium i want to start with something around 10 gallons i have

http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/interpet-i...ter-p-2177.html

and

http/www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/fish-watt-...tres-p-555.html

and also a thermometer

my question is, where can i buy a simple tank from? all the ones i can see online or in local shops are quite complicated, i just want a glass tank and fit the light and other equipment i will fit it myself...

also, when talking about cycling, is this the ''nitrogen cycle''? i have been studying this in environmental science recently....

also heres a list of thing i need to get

Tank
Light/timer
Substrate
Decorations
Declorinator
Test kit
Amonia
Some time
Then some fish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there and welcome to the forum, glad to see you're wanting to go with a fishless cycle, there's a link in my sig with details incase you haven't spotted it.

I'm sure if you've been studying environmental science you'll find it very interesting to put some of it into practice...... I can just see waterdrop having kittens reading that

if you trawl round your local fish shops you're much more likely to find a plain glass box tank, or if you have good DIY skills you can always make one yourself!

there's a helpfyul topic in my sig callde 'step by step guide to setting up an aquarium' this has a shopping list and some explanations of how to choose a suitable fitler, heater etc etc for your tank so that may be a good read for you as well.

 

[Spanerman]

Hey thank you miss wiggle, i have allready read though all of those

just to clarify is 10 gallons enough? and how would i go about cutting/joining the glass?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

here's a guide to building your own tank, only to be attempted if you're quite handy though!

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=91049

is 10 gallons enough ........ well see that's a tricky question.

I've seen some really beautiful little 10 gal set up's however they can be a bit limiting, you're not gonna be able to have loads of fish and you've also limited your choices as obviously plenty of fish will be too big for the tank.

a larger tank gives much more flexibility, it's also easier to maintain and is more stable as any toxic substances are diluted by the larger body of water.

a lot of beginners will say that they just want to start with a small tank as it's less expenditure which I can understand.

really it's your choice how much you want to spend, how much room you have and weather you'll be satisfied with just keeping a couple of species to start out with.

 

[Spanerman]

^i am quite limited to space, so i think i will have to stay small, im normally pretty imaginative so i dont see why i couldn't make it a nice looking aquarium...

il have a read though some more threads now

 

[waterdrop]

Hi spannerman and wecome to the forums!

Well, typical early morning here, I write you a long answer, hit the wrong keys, lose all the editing and "miss fast keyboard" by then has already answered your questions, lol!

So I will just add that I agree with MW's comments about tank size. You can make a really nice 10g, but probably 25g or 30g is more of a "sweet spot" for beginners, with the extra volume giving extra "dilution" of mistakes and more for the beginner to recognize a problem developing. The UK folks will probably keep giving suggestions for finding nice glass tanks and I think you're smart for working on individual purchases rather than kits - it takes longer but you may be happier in the end. If you add your location to your profile, as many of us do, that'll help too.

Yes, the Nitrogen Cycle in environmental science is one and the same. In the freshwater tropical tank environment, a particular species of Nitrosomonas bacteria is predominant in processing ammonia into nitrite(NO2) and a particular species of Nitrospira is predominant in processing nitrite(NO2) into nitrate(NO3), allowing us to then remove nitrate(NO3) via weekly water changes. Part of the challenge of cycling is learning to create the right growing situation for these two species in the filter and then knowing how to test and interpret results that tell how the process is going.

Understanding filters and choosing media to go in them and choosing test kits are good things to learn about prior to starting fishless cycling. You are very lucky to have stumbled across these forums so early in the game!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Well, typical early morning here, I write you a long answer, hit the wrong keys, lose all the editing and "miss fast keyboard" by then has already answered your questions, lol!

sorry wd!!!



just so's you know, i took that job, will officially be a charideeeee worker next monday.

 

[Spanerman]

ok, i think i may build my own tank

 

[waterdrop]

Well, typical early morning here, I write you a long answer, hit the wrong keys, lose all the editing and "miss fast keyboard" by then has already answered your questions, lol!

sorry wd!!!



just so's you know, i took that job, will officially be a charideeeee worker next monday.

Yes, I know from seeing it in a thread yesterday, was going to PM you! Congrats!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks, appreciate it.

hopefully this it the beginning of life getting sorted

 

[Spanerman]

Well good news, i can get a 16x16x16 tank from my local fish store, it is plain glass with a lid, so i can add my filter/heater and from the calculator on this site it is around 14 gallons which is also good news....

what kind of fish should i be looking at for 14g?

 

[waterdrop]

Well that's really good news! Any extra bit like that will be a help.

Planning what fish to stock in a tank can feel like a long drawn out thing for a beginner if you do it right, but taking your time over it has many pay-offs in the long run. First you have to get a feel for the overall numbers and size you can have. Then you have to figure out some fish you like and start trying them on the members for comments. There are individual species that have special considerations (need high or long tanks), there are minimum shoal numbers for some, there are species to species interactions for some and some are just very individual and vary from fish to fish.

There is a rough guideline that has all sorts of problems but we use it to get beginners started. The guideline is one inch of fish body (fins don't count) per one US gallon of water volume. This works reasonably well for medium to small fish and would guide you to be thinking about a total of 14" of fish body. The number you use for each fish is the size it can grow to at its adult maximum and you have to do your homework, looking around to get this information.

Besides the things I mentioned in the first paragraph there are also guidelines about which species are ok to put in the water right after the filter has been cycled and how many months to wait before introducing various other species. For instance, platies, swords, rasboras and danios all make good early fish, whereas cardinals/neons need the tank to age another 6 months and there are any number of other species that do better when introduced later.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Spanerman]

Hey! thanks for the advice, after doing some research(google) im realy enjoying the appearance of danios

As zebra dainos can grop up to 2.5'' could i have 4 of these now and then add another fish later, i think my aim would be to have a few smaller fit and a larger one aswell... would this work? the larger fish would hopefully be a betta of some sort

 

[Miss Wiggle]

unfortunately betta's and community tank's don't really mix. it can work sometimes but more often than not it doesn't. betta's AKA Siamese fighting fish, are not called that for no reason, while they are only small they are very agressive and will oftne kill other fish. If you have your heart set on a betta I'd recommend you get a small 5 gallon tank and keep it in there by itself. It;s far and away the best way to keep a betta.

There's a link in my sig called 'guide to stocking lists' which will help you work out which fish are compatible.

It's often difficult for us to make suggestions as to which fish are suitable because people's tastes vary so much and what is available in their local area and within their budget is also very varied. So it can be helpful to do a little tour of all the fish shops local to you, don't buy anything but write down the names of all the species that you like, post them up here and then we can start to make a stocking list for you from the fish that you like.

the 1" per gallon guideline is not infallible but it's a good starting point. It gives a nice easy to maintain level fo stocking for a beginner with an immature tank, once the tank is around 6 months old you can push it up to 1.5" per gallon and if you have excellent filtration you can go up to 2" per gallon. So don't feel that the 14" of fish is all you can ever have, it's just a good starting point then a little bit down the line you can add a few more, people often find that from the fish they like there are a couple of species which are quite delicate and can't be added to a newly cycled tank, if this is the case they can do the rest of the stocking once the cycle is complete and add the delicate ones after 6 months.

 

[Spanerman]

Ok thanks for that advice, i realy do love this site

i have baught the tank and have it all set up and after reading the sand treads on here have decided to go with sand and i love the natural look of it

so i have a

50w heater

filter

ornaments

sand ~1-2'' deep

2 plants

thermometer


i washed the sand very thourogly before i put it in and the water is still cloudy after 2 hours with the filter would it be worth putting filter wool in the filter to help filter the silt....


and how long should the heater take to get it up to temp


also, is a ph of 6 acceptable

Sam