Im New

[twingogeekeo]

Hi guys

Im new to here but not to forums. I run and own my own car forum so know my way around a forum or two.

I have bought a new fish tank a few weeks ago. I use to have cold water fish (Goldfish) but now gone tropical as i want to play with more colours plus the fish look so much better. Im a bit rusty as i have looked after fish for about a year and a half but its slowly coming back to me.

The new tank ive just bought in a 64L fishbox. Ive added a few nice decorations and a few live plants (First time with live plants) This is what it currently looks like.

Day light on

Night light on

Ive got 3 Red platys and 6 cardinal tetras in the tank they went in at the weekend. After a polarva with a dealing with Pets At Home with 3 angel fish where i was told once they are fully grown my tank will be fine for them but to be told by a local fish specialist that they will out grow the tank within a year. Even just the one would so they kindly took the Angels from me and supplyied me with the current fish i have.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Soooo are you and -Richard- buddies?

 

[twingogeekeo]

Whos Richard?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

How weird....check out this guy: http/www.fishforum...59#entry3318859

Same tank, into cars, into forums, new today!

 

[twingogeekeo]

Must be a lovers afair!

Few differences though. I work for Renault and the owners club i run and own is www.twingo133.net. But yea very spoky!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol

well I better ask the question before someone else does. Did you "cycle" your tank before adding fish?

Welcome back to the fishkeeping world though, you're in the right place

 

[twingogeekeo]

I had it running for 4 days with everything except fish in the tank with adding filter start everyday for 7days. Also of course i used the tap water treatment before adding the water into the tank in the first place.

I read on the bottles that doing this for the first 4 days will be fine to then add the fish. I know with cold water they use to tell you to leave a tank running for 7 days before adding water but seeing the bottle said 4 days i left it that long.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Okie dokie well I'm afraid that those products aren't the greatest and a lot of people in the fish world think they may as well just be pure water for all the help they give.

I'm going to point you in the direction of the beginners section and you should read the section on "fish-in cycling" as that's what's going on in your tank now I'll warn you that you are going to have to do daily water changes for the next couple of weeks because your fish produce waste that cannot be processed yet because the bacteria in your filter haven't grown enough to process the waste.

If you haven't already got one, you really must go out and buy a liquid test kit that lets you check for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. These things are harmful to your fish and can actually kill them quite quickly. Then you will need to test your water every day and if the ammonia and nitrite levels aren't 0, then you need to do a water change. Eventually, the bacteria in your filter will have grown to the point where you can do small weekly maintenance water changes as the bacteria will "eat" all of the bad stuff.

Sorry if this is a lot of information - but go have a read and come back to ask 100s of questions if you need to!

 

[twingogeekeo]

Gonna sound stupid but i cant find this. Can you help with a link?

If done about 3 water changes in the last weeks or so just to get rid of come cloudyness due to me moving gravel around leveling it out after i got plants i wasnt happy with.

**EDIT**

Found it now

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Gonna sound stupid but i cant find this. Can you help with a link?

If done about 3 water changes in the last weeks or so just to get rid of come cloudyness due to me moving gravel around leveling it out after i got plants i wasnt happy with.

**EDIT**

Found it now

Glad you found it - also cloudiness is a normal part of the cycling process it's called a bacterial bloom and isn't harmful to your fish

 

[twingogeekeo]

Thats cool well ive been taking about 10 - 15% out and refilling. Slowly getting there. But i will admit i dont have a test kit. I looked at them and looked a bit confusing so never bothered.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I have the API test kit, it comes with everything you need. It's really easy to do you just add drops of the test solution to the tubes that come with it shake them up, the water turns a colour and that tells you how much ammonia etc. you have in your tank. Besides, without the test kit you'll not know when you can give the water changes a rest. 10% probably isn't enough to keep the ammonia and nitrite down. Well, you just can't know how much to change without testing the water first tbh

 

[twingogeekeo]

Thank you. If there that easy i might aswell get one plus it will help me keep my fish healthy.

Is this the kit you have?

http/www.drgarra.co.uk/store/image/cache/data/api_freshwater_master_test_kit-500x500.jpg

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That's the one! I'm probably a bit of a weirdo but I actually find it fun to test my water lol

 

[twingogeekeo]

Ill try pop out and grab one today. Im office bound today

How often should i check the water?