Hints And Tips

[TropicalJuwel]

What top tips has the members of this great forum got for any new fish keeper that we could help them with in making general fish keeping easier. Wether it be the best way to vac a subsrate, clean algae off glass, speed up water changes, cleaning filter media, anything. We are all doing the same routine every week yet I bet we do things slightly differently. So whats your best way of making certain jobs that little bit easier and quicker by perfecting over the years. You never know someone who's been keeping fish for 15-20 years may learn something new.

 

[ripil]

for new fish keepers =
1. read as much as you can, learn how to do fishless cycles.
2. get a liquid test kit. learn how to test the water properly (when i started i really didn't know you had to be so precise)
3. once you know your water parameters workout what fish you want to keep and the parameters of their tolerance to the water.
4. don't always believe what your told by shops. ask around gather info from various sources.
4. don't be afraid to ask questions on here at all.
about all i can think of. if i'd of known all that when i started keeping fish i'd of been a happier fish keeper in the early stages.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, you should go to the beginner's section here (click on "New to Fishkeeping?" in my signature). There's a wealth of information there that should be interesting to read as well. Good luck!

 

[TropicalJuwel]

Oh its not for me, I have been fish keeping for over three years although I would never say that theres nothing for me to learn, you never no it all. I was just thinking in general over the years people make there lives and maintenance alot easier by creating things to make the job easier. For instance when doing a water change I used to fill a container that holds roughly 70 litres then wheel that to the tank and then break my back every week slowly bucketing it in until ithought why dont I use a small pump so now, the container stays in the bathroom, I throw in the pump have 8 meters of tubing that takes the water straight to the tank, no heavy lifting and can be doing other jobs while its filling. This may be obvious to others or the norm but exactly something that I thought may help others.

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm relatively new to fishkeeping - I've had fish the whole of three days lol!

My little piece of advice to anyone starting up is to do some research on the equipment you need. I was intimidated by all the stuff you can get and in the end bought a set with a tank, filter and heater all in one so that I knew it would be okay for the tank. The filter was kinda rubbish, and ideally I'd like a new heater as I don't like this one.

Buying separately isn't a big deal. You save yourself a lot of money and you'll end up with better stuff at the end. The heater just needs to be at least 1W for every litre of water in your tank, and the filter just needs to have a LPH rating of at least 5 times the volume of your tank (after halving the LPH rating on the box).

 

[BigbruiserAl]

The filter just needs to have a LPH rating of at least 5 times the volume of your tank (after halving the LPH rating on the box).

Thats a misconception, some brands rate LPH with media in so no need to half at all, other brands dont rate with media in but are not even close to half (eg ex1200 has a 900LPH with excess media)
Doing your homework first is always the best

 

[CezzaXV]

The filter just needs to have a LPH rating of at least 5 times the volume of your tank (after halving the LPH rating on the box).

Thats a misconception, some brands rate LPH with media in so no need to half at all, other brands dont rate with media in but are not even close to half (eg ex1200 has a 900LPH with excess media)
Doing your homework first is always the best

True, but the point is that you can't always necessary trust the LPH rating that's on the box as you can't always know how they've measured the LPH. If in doubt, it's better to over-filter than underfilter I guess.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

which is why you do the homework to see which ones are tested with or without media so you gauge LPH, instead of just halfing the box is what i was getting at