Help For A Newbi

[weejen]

hello all and merry xmas. i got a tank for my christmas and i have never had a tank before. i was just wondering if its ok to add the gravel and ornimants to the tank and add some water before i get some dechlorinator for the water. i have a filter and a heater for the tank to. any help would be appriciated

thanx jen x

 

[Nick16]

it is alot easier to do it all at once, it can still be done but then you would have to stir all the water and make a mess, wait until you have everything. i hope you have read up on cycling. so no fish for the next 6-8 weeks.

 

[Tolak]

Hello, Merry Christmas, and welcome to TFF! This is a fairly comprehensive guide to setting up your first tank; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729

One of the most important things, as mentioned, is cycling. There are several topics on cycling, as well as other hints for the new aquarist here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643

 

[weejen]

Hello, Merry Christmas, and welcome to TFF! This is a fairly comprehensive guide to setting up your first tank; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=247729[/URL]

One of the most important things, as mentioned, is cycling. There are several topics on cycling, as well as other hints for the new aquarist here; [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=88643[/URL]

thanx i have been reading alot about cycling and i am deffo doin a no fish cycle .i have a heater and a filter are there any other bits of kit i am missing?

 

[Tolak]

You will need a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. A thermometer is cheap, many heaters are not calibrated to what the dial on the heater reads. If you can find someone near you who is willing to donate some mature media this will get your tank cycled more quickly, the list is here; http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=150631

You are so going about it the right way, asking before just jumping in by tossing fish in a tank that is not cycled. I love new aquarists who go about it this way, thank you for the Christmas present!

 

[rabbut]

A very promising start Very few people research first, prefuring to run into trouble before bothering with it, so and a big Well Done for starting right, and if Righguard adverts are correct, you will end right also (This might be one for the UK folk, not sure if this advert is shown elsewhere..)

Anyhow, a few would contest whether the De-chlorinator is even needed, but with patchy eveidence for or against it, it would be advisable to use it untill you are convinced personally that it is safe to do otherwise I have been experimenting without it on my Discus tank for about 4-5weeks now, with about 9-10 waterchanges of 50% each carried out without, with no negative effects. After this time, Internal Bacteria has infected my tank. I'm not sure where it has come from, but I will take that as a cue to go back to using De-chlorinator for now, as I can't rule it out as a caursing factor in the problem...

Back to the origional question, rather than ramblings now

It will be fine to set everything up now and add the De-chlorinator when you start the cycle, as there is nothing living in there that would be affected by Chlorine or Chloramine untill you start your cycle (plants will utilise both as fertiliser)

HTH
Rabbut

 

[weejen]

thank u all. i am planning to buy a test kit asap (API freshwater master liquid kit) it seams to be well liked by alot of ppl on here. i have gravel in my tank and was wondering if live plants will live well in gravel? and can i add live plants straight away or am i best to wait till the tank has cycled?

 

[21rm]

hey congrats on the new tank
patience is the key for the first few weeks, it'll nearly kill ya lol, but it'll be worth it in the end.
great that you've read up on the fishless cycle, checkin up stuff on the net was my life saver

 

[rabbut]

Plants would be best waiting untill after the cycle if you plan to heavily plant, as they can mes with the readings and get smothered in algea like everything else while cycling...

 

[weejen]

so how do i start my cycle off. do i just turn the filter and heater on?

 

[waterdrop]

Welcome WeeJen!

You've got a couple of important things for the start. It would be ideal to describe the media (the filter materials in your filter) to the members for a quick review. Its good for them to check whether there are any chemicals in there that could hamper the fishless cycle and that the sponges, ceramic rings or whatever in there will provide good surfaces for your two beneficial bacterial species to grow on.

The other important thing, sometimes a little harder, is to go shopping and find some pure household ammonia. It is often found in the mops and brooms sections of housewares places and often you have to find it yourself, despite what the store helpers say. It needs to be clear, without dyes, fragrances or soaps. So if you can see in the bottle, its important that when you shake it, you only see bubbles like you would with water, not any foaming. If they know generally your country etc. location, sometimes members can help with where they found these products.

Its also important at fishless cycling startup time that you have your master kit and that you test your tap water and post up results here and then of course you'll start posting up some of your tank results here thereafter. You should keep a logbook and enter date, time, each days test results and all observations you can about your tank and exactly what you do to it.

Good luck. The members here are great and they will help you out all along the way hopefully,

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rabbut]

To start your cycle, you need the heater switched on and set to about 30c (24-26c if fish-in cycling), along with the filter and then you need to add an ammonia source. For fishless cycling this is fish food or bottled ammonia. For a fish-in cycle this is fish. The latter is frowned upon on here, as there are many welfare issues associated with fish-in cycling, as you deliberately expose the fish to poisonous chemicals when you undergo a fish-in cycle. Fishless cycling with liquid ammonia where possible, fish food where not, is the prefured and lower work-load option

As Waterdrop above says, a logbook is very helpful. If you run into trouble at any stage, you will need it to give us all the info we (or a helpful friend whom keeps fish and steaps in to help) will need to diagnose the issue and advise on how to fix it

HTH
Rabbut

 

[weejen]

To start your cycle, you need the heater switched on and set to about 30c (24-26c if fish-in cycling), along with the filter and then you need to add an ammonia source. For fishless cycling this is fish food or bottled ammonia. For a fish-in cycle this is fish. The latter is frowned upon on here, as there are many welfare issues associated with fish-in cycling, as you deliberately expose the fish to poisonous chemicals when you undergo a fish-in cycle. Fishless cycling with liquid ammonia where possible, fish food where not, is the prefured and lower work-load option

As Waterdrop above says, a logbook is very helpful. If you run into trouble at any stage, you will need it to give us all the info we (or a helpful friend whom keeps fish and steaps in to help) will need to diagnose the issue and advise on how to fix it

HTH
Rabbut

thanx . i have a 55l tank and i have the heater set to 30 and the filter turned on the filter i have is a fluval 2 plus. i have ammonia i got from homebase (sed on here you gould get cheap ammonia there). i am not sure of ammonia dosing. any help on the issue would be great


thanx

 

[rabbut]

OK, the Aquarium Calculator is still bust, so we'll have to do this the old fassioned way; With Mathematics (Disclaimer, I failed AS-Level maths, so it would be advisable to check my working before trying to use it )

You are targeting ammonia levels of arround 5ppm, or parts per million, or 5/1000000 of a liter in the tank being pure ammonia. So, assuming you have 100% ammonia in that bottle (Which you don't) you work out the following.

55l * 5 / 1,000,000, which equals 0.000275l of pure ammonia required.

Homebase ammonia is usualy 9.5%, so you need to accomodate this, by doing the following;

0.000275/9.5 * 100 = 0.0026l of ammonia required, or 2.6ml

Some ammonia will evaporate out of the solution, so this may come in a bit low. Start with that and test to see if it's ok. Add more if required

A quick check says that should be right. I needed 16ml for 335l, so a check would be to do the following;

16/335 = 0.477... * 55 = 2.63...ml required

All the best
Rabbut

 

[weejen]

OK, the Aquarium Calculator is still bust, so we'll have to do this the old fassioned way; With Mathematics (Disclaimer, I failed AS-Level maths, so it would be advisable to check my working before trying to use it )

You are targeting ammonia levels of arround 5ppm, or parts per million, or 5/1000000 of a liter in the tank being pure ammonia. So, assuming you have 100% ammonia in that bottle (Which you don't) you work out the following.

55l * 5 / 1,000,000, which equals 0.000275l of pure ammonia required.

Homebase ammonia is usualy 9.5%, so you need to accomodate this, by doing the following;

0.000275/9.5 * 100 = 0.0026l of ammonia required, or 2.6ml

Some ammonia will evaporate out of the solution, so this may come in a bit low. Start with that and test to see if it's ok. Add more if required

A quick check says that should be right. I needed 16ml for 335l, so a check would be to do the following;

16/335 = 0.477... * 55 = 2.63...ml required

All the best
Rabbut

thanx the hombase ammonia says 9.5. on it. so how often should i dose the tank with ammonia?


and should the 9.5 ammonia be ok to use ?