Hey Newbie From Derby!

[mick11]

hi guys joined today after a member of a car forum posted up the link. i have recently brought a fish tank and listened to the guy at the pet store to which he said keep the tank set up for 3 days. i did this added fish and they all died within 2 days! it then happened again afterwards when i had left it set up for 2 weeks (to which i was told by another pet store)... looking around i have found that i haven't let my tank cycle long enougth question is how long would i need to leave it before adding fish to my heated aquarium. i work alot rougthly 60 to 70 hours a week and the mrs dont understand quiete a lot of the things about the ammonia that i have read on here so a long standing tank would be best for me... any help will be much appriciated

michael

 

[mattlee]

Hi michael and welcome to the forum
if the tank is now empty of fish then look at the top of the page to where it says calculator and at the bottom is a rough guide to ml of ammonia to add to the tank to get it to 5ppm. simply add the ammonia and wait until it starts to reduce, you will need to buy a test kit for this API freshwater master kit is ideal (order if from ebay its loads cheaper).when the ammonia reduces you will get nitrite readings keep topping the ammonia up to 5ppm until both ammonia and nitrite readings are at 0 for at least a week then add your fish. this may take a while but it will cycle the filter ready for the ammonia produced by the fish. in an uncycled tank as you have fish will die in their own waste as there is no bacteria to break it down to nitrite and eventually nitrate which is the ned product of the nitrogen cycle. to keep nitrates down weekly water changes of about 25% are recommended to try and keep it as low as possible. fish will be fine with nitrate unless it gets mega high. also dont forget to add dechlor to the tap water to remove the chlorine as this will kill of the bacteria in the filter hope this helps

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Mick. I feel particularly bad because we might have saved all of your fish up until now if you had the right information. There is a link in my signature area to a subject of fishless cycling that can be followed to help you understand how to properly prepare your tank for its first fish. If you are too impatient for that approach, I have another link to the topic of fish-in cycling that can be used by those too impatient for fishless cycling. I also carry around a link to our beginner's resource center where these, along with other topics, can be reviewed. If you have the time and inclination, that is an even better way to look at things. Much depends on your ability to read and understand these various topics but if you decide to go one way or another, we are here to help you get through almost any situation with good results.